Sorry I never got back on this topic. Yes my copy of Joe’s Live From Nowhere arrived last week. Had a few listens to it, and I really like it. I am starting out from a perspective as a big Joe fan so I could not be really objectionable about it, but the sound on it is superb. For one you can hear the keyboardist Rick Merrick well in the mix, but not to the detriment of any other instruments. Joe’s guitar work is as always very impressive and to my ears it sounds a little more fluid than the studio albums, while I think the songs selected highlight the best of Joe’s vocals. On songs such as If Heart Aches Were Nickels and Sloe Gin you can hear that he has matured to be a great singer. It’s also good to hear how some songs have developed, the aforementioned Nickels is a slow ballad whilst High Water is Everywhere has a more organic acoustic feel. There have been suggestions the crowd noise is not high enough, but where it needs to be heard, for example the singalong part of Walk In My Shadow and the chearing at the end of songs can be heard clearly. There is no annoying hollering during quiet parts that you would find in a bootleg. I suppose its hard to please everyone with the tracking listing, personally I’d rather have heard either The River and/or Burning Hell rather than A New Day Yesterday/Starship Trooper/Wurm and possibly one more rocky song. However as a collection of songs it is hard to beat from probably the top man in his genre of music.
Thankfully both play.com and amazon uk are now both showing the CD as being in stock. Delays meant I got mine late. However it was certainly worth it!
PS Robster, have your bought some Joe B yet?