"Live" is Leo Kottke's first concert recording in 15 years, and while a rehash of previous songs, it has something special that's missing from other recordings: a couple of comedy segments.
Kottke's a genuinely funny guy, a surprising blend of brains and dumb luck. A listener might experience the sensation that Kottke's "lost it," only to discover that he's known where "it" was all the time, sort of like when he's picking a frenzied melody and you wonder where it will all end, and when it all ends it's just plain sublime.Recorded over Easter at the Fox Theater in Boulder, Colo., "Live" includes renditions of Kottke's ever popular "Jack Gets Up" and "William Powell" - along with covers of the Platters' "Twilight Time" and Duane Allman's "Little Martha."
While there's plenty to admire on "Live," the best part of the disc is Kottke's humorously aberrant stories, told while he picking out little ditties on his signature model Taylor 12-string. The first and longest comedy piece is titled "Combat." Here are a couple of slices:
"My first job was in a morgue. I was a volunteer."
"My father's deaf in one ear but he can always tell when you've put on weight. He can sleep standing up. It's something that's a source of endless pride for me . . . to even be related to someone who can do that."
In "Roy Autry" Kottke prefaces a song, "Parade," by telling us about a cowboy parade in Cheyenne, Wyo., where, as a boy, he would wait for the cowboys riding in the front float. It was either Roy Rogers or Gene Autry every time. "That's when I made my discovery," he says: "They're the same guy."
The disc also contains finger-slamming renditions of "I Yell at Traffic," "Flattened Brain," "Oddball" and several others.
Kottke's recorded with Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Joe Pass, Rickie Lee Jones, Lyle Lovett, the Violent Femmes and John Gorka, to name just a few.
"Live" is Kottke's 24th recording. For "Kottke connoisseurs" it will be a must. If you've never heard this autodidact guitarist you might want to give "Live" a listen.
RATINGS: four stars (* * * * ), excellent; three stars (* * * ), good; two stars (* * ), fair; one star (* ), poor.