Absolutely Live

Toward the beginning of his 90-minute set recorded on May 27, 2000, in Belfast, Ireland, George Benson gushes that he's always had a fantasy of fronting a big band and covering jazz classics…

Absolutely Live is a live album by Rod Stewart, released in 1982. It is compiled from shows at The Los Angeles Forum, Long Beach Arena, San Diego Sports Arena, and Wembley Stadium (London).

Stark Naked and Absolutely Live is the first official live album by Alphaville. While the Dreamscapes compilation featured a full CD of live material, its tracks were culled from many different concerts: The tracks on Stark Naked and Absolutely Live were recorded specifically for the purpose of creating the album. The final listed track, Apollo, is followed by a hidden track: an acoustic version of "Dance with Me".

Rod Stewart's liner notes to ABSOLUTELY LIVE go out of their way to stress the purity of this 1982 stadium concert recording. The mistakes have been left in, he swears, and audience interaction has been left intact (including a lewd show of appreciation by two young women during "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?") As the "Stripper" theme dissolves into the energetic "Tonight I'm Yours (Don't Hurt Me)," the album bears out this claim. As the album careens through hit after hit (16 in all), Rod can be heard working his magic; strutting, seductive, in all his raspy glory. Swaggering latter-day classics such as "Hot Legs" are crytstal clear in performance and over-the top in pure live energy.

And he is live, absolutely! Rod Stewart in concert from L.A. to London and beyond on this great live album. 17 performances across 5 venues from a 1981-81 international tour.

Juan de Marcos González is one of the most important figures in Cuban music today. He has a mission to show the world the wealth, diversity and vitality of Cuban music. His work with the Afro-Cuban All Stars, the Buena Vista Social Club, Rubén González, Ibrahim Ferrer, Sierra Maestra and others has made an extraordinary contribution to raising the profile of Cuban music throughout the world.

While this double disc (later combined with Alive, She Cried and Live at the Hollywood Bowl for CD release under the title In Concert) is valuable in that it contains material the Doors didn't release on their studio albums, it's also tilted toward some of their more boorish aspects. Recorded at concerts in 1969 and 1970, this was an era in which Jim Morrison was becoming increasingly dissolute and increasingly disinterested in the whole rock machine. During much of this set, he seems not to be taking himself or the songs too seriously, tossing flippant asides to the audience that seem to treat the whole exercise as a charade.