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Track Listings
| 1. Alice's Restaurant Massacree |
| 2. Gabriel's Mother's Hiway Ballad #16 Blues |
| 3. Cooper's Lament |
| 4. Motorcycle (Significance Of The Pickle) Song |
| 5. Coming Into Los Angeles |
| 6. Last Train |
| 7. City Of New Orleans |
| 8. Darkest Hour |
| 9. Last To Leave |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Though several of Guthrie's records contain hidden gems well worth seeking out, his best-known songs are fairly obvious and easy to assemble on a single greatest-hits package. A hefty chunk of this record is taken up by the epic "Alice's Restaurant", which clocks in at 18-and-a-half minutes. Yet--while it's a definitive element of late 1960s counterculture--it's not his best song, either as writer or as performer. For the latter, his version of Steve Goodman's classic "City of New Orleans" remains the pinnacle of his career; among his own songs, it's hard to surpass the somewhat lesser-known but equally beautiful "Darkest Hour". Other highlights here include the rockin' "Comin' into Los Angeles" and the comedic "Motorcycle Song". --Peter Blackstock
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Some of the music here has dated, like the humorous Alice's Restaurant and Motorcycle, but the rest remains as beautiful and poignant as ever. Much of it has travelling as a theme, like Coming Into Los Angeles, Last Train, City Of New Orleans and Last To Leave. The Steve Goodman song about a train called the City Of New Orleans is a true classic of epic proportions but my favorite on the album is the soulful and moving Last Train with its poetic and spiritual lyrics and its sensitive treatment. It sounds like a gospel song and I would love to hear someone like e.g. Nina Simone interpreting it. Darkest Hour and Last To Leave have also stood the test of time very well. Although he emerged out of the 60s folk wave along with Dylan, Baez and others, Guthrie's sound is refreshingly distinct and he has his own unique appeal.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Arlo Guthrie always was his own man, but on the way he's paid his dues to many sources, not least his own father Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and the radical American tradition of folk music. His songs are in turn elegaic, entertaining, satirical and often downright funny. He's both a man of his time (which was really the flower power era), and a songwriter capable of classic and timeless soul-stirring American songs like City of New Orleans and Coming into Los Angeles, much as Paul Simon wrote America and American Tune.
You could describe this greatest hits collection as a showcase built around the hilarious 18+ minute epic tale of Alice's Restaurant (not 25 as Arlo claims in the song), but that would underestimate the value of the rest of the material here. Admittedly, there are some odd moments along the way: here for old-time's sake, though not for any musical or lyrical value, is his live favourite, the Motorcycle Song, explaining "the significance of the pickle" (don't ask - too bizarre!)
This collection gives at least a flavour of Arlo Guthrie, the man and the musician, his whims, his humour and above all the music. Enjoy!
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I heard this at a friends house and here i am buying it. Asking around the older generation know this man. If you like Harry Chapin then this is similar if off beat. Remember you can get anything you want at Alice's resturaunt!
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