 | | | | Marshall Crenshaw - Greatest Hits Acoustic |  | Artist: Marshall Crenshaw
Label: Bmg Special Product
Category: Music
List Price: $6.98
Buy New: $2.91
You Save: $4.07 (58%)
Buy New/Used from $2.47
Avg. Customer Rating:  (4 reviews)
Sales Rank: 77447
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 755174689321
EAN: 0755174689321
ASIN: B000068OQ2
Release Date: June 4, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Someday Someway - Marshall Crenshaw, | | • | Yoau're My Favorite Waste of Time - Marshall Crenshaw, | | • | Cynical Girl | | • | Little Wild One | | • | Whenever You're on My Mind | | • | Better Back Off | | • | Tell Me About It | | • | T.M.D. | | • | There She Goes Again | | • | Dime a Dozen Guy - Marshall Crenshaw, Cantor, David |
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| Customer Reviews:
 You'll like it better if you put your preconceptions aside October 5, 2006
The audience's enthusiastic response on this recording (and on "I've Suffered for My Art. . .Now It's Your Turn") belie the two surprisingly negative reviews this album has been given. Crenshaw recently did a show in my town, and I bought this album in anticipation of that, but with some hesitation because I only knew some of his studio recordings and wasn't sure what to expect.
The album is a pleasant surprise. The recorded sound is "close," but fine, about what you would expect from an intimate venue -- it's not muffled, and his acoustic guitar playing, which sounds very good to me, is clear and detailed, interestingly different from the high gloss of his early studio albums. A few of the songs are well complemented by an accordion (played by Charlie Giordano) that adds a plaintiveness that doesn't always come through in the studio. To me, it's less a question of which performance style is preferable than that the different styles bring different insights and responses to the music.
It's no surprise that after 25 years, his voice is no longer the light, flexible tenor of the early 1980s, but (a couple of iffy high notes aside) the ravages it has suffered are not severe, just enough to give the performance some welcome texture, certainly appropriate given that he says himself that his two big subjects are love and melancholia.
Finally, Crenshaw seems very good-natured and generous about satisfying his audience's demand for his greatest hits. There is no hint of resentment at having to play "Someday Someway" for the umpteenth time (this was also true of the concert I attended). He seems to take real pleasure in his audience's pleasure and it comes through despite the trivial limitations of the sound.
An enjoyable album, then, to which I give only four stars because I think that there is some duplication of material between it and "I've Suffered for My Art" (the two albums are put out by different companies).
 Not THAT Bad November 24, 2003
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
For a discount-priced CD, this is actually not a bad buy. It does not have the same candy-coated production as MC's albums, obviously, but it is at least a decent live show. Just not exemplary.
If anyone has listened to Elvis Costello's mini-box-set with Steve Nieve, COSTELLO AND NIEVE, then they know the stripped-down musical aesthetic to expect.
Also, it was nice to hear a different take on the classics, particularly the guitar workout on "Cynical Girl."
 should never have been released October 19, 2003
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This CD should never have been released. It sounds like a bad bootleg with some guy holding the microphone out in the middle of the audience!! Anyway, I've heard worse live recordings but this one is right up there!! I like Marshall Crenshaw but this is not one of his better offerings. Very mundane and boring, I couldn't even make it through one complete listen!!! The sound quality sucks and as far as the performance? Marshall sounds like he's either drunk stoned or a combination of both!!
 Live without a net - or any of his strong suits February 3, 2003
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
Would you buy a recording of the Beatles "unplugged," with no George Martin producing & no crafty overdubs, playing all cover tunes, with no harmonies? Oh, yes -- and Ringo's doing all the singing.Well of COURSE you would, and I would too. But wouldn't we set our expectations a few notches lower than for Beatles recordings where they were playing to their strengths? Marshall Crenshaw is a master of the catchy, guitar-driven pop-rock tune. Who else can combine head-turning hooks and rocking grooves like that? And he makes exquisitely crafted studio albums, though not often enough. Because of this infrequent output, fans hunger for more... and could be excused for buying anything with his name on it. Like his aptly titled "I've Suffered for my Art - Now it's Your Turn," this collection of "greatest hits" is a live album, designed to buy time until his next studio turn. And like "Suffered," this one should be avoided. It is a slapdash affair. The playing and production are amateurish, nothing like the sparkling playing, singing and arrangements he puts together in the studio. What might make for a nice night out at a folk club -- or an interesting radio show -- merely limps along as a standalone CD release. Few will be able to give it a second listen. And besides - what's the point? In this setting, we miss his amazing electric guitar sound, the snappy grooves of his rhythm section, and his exquisite layering (harmonies and instruments alike). Crenshaw is a vastly underappreciated gem and worthy of more fan support. However, instead of reaching for new (and pale) versions of his classic hits, consider exploring some of his less-well-known releases. (His relatively recent "Miracle of Science" is brilliant, and followup "No. 447" is strong.)
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