Since 1976, Austin City Limits has brought the diversity of popular music into living rooms via public television. More than 500 artists have performed at the KLRU-TV studios, home of Austin City Limits. 4 years ago the show began hosting a 3-day music festival. This is a collection of highlights from 2004's festival on both CD and DVD.
Wide Range Of Genres Represented
As is true of the television show, Rhino Records' Austin City Limits Music Festival collection presents music ranging across a number of genres. From Franz Ferdinand's 80's inspired rock to gospel soul from the Blind Boys Of Alabama and bluesy rock from Ben Harper, this disc covers a lot of bases. There are really no failures hear, but there are tracks that stand out from the pack.
Highlights
- Arista Records artist Rachel Yamagata is a discovery for fans of Norah Jones. She skillfully croons "Be Be Your Love" in a jazzy pop mode. The influence of Carole King circa early 1970's is also abundantly present.
- Shelby Lynne is in fine form. It's nearly impossible to pin her music down to a specific genre. "Your Lies" acknowledges her debts to classic soul.
- The Tucson musical melting pot known as Calexico sound like the Ventures meeting Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass on "Alone Again Or." It's a fine introduction to their seamless blending of musical influences.
Want More?
The biggest drawback of the CD collection is that, at 16 tracks, it is really too brief to adquately cover the wealth of music from the 3-day festival. If you want to hear more, and see the performances as well, consider purchasing the 2 disck DVD version of Austin City Limits Festival.
In addition to the performances already mentioned, you will get DVD only performances by Sheryl Crow, Rosanne Cash, and Jack Johnson among others. The DVD set includes 24 performances in all.
Bottom Line
The Austin City Limits Festival CD gives a good introduction to the amazing musical diversity at this annual 3-day event. Without a bad performance in the bunch, the CD merits 4 stars out of 5. The DVD deserves an additional 1/2 star for including more performances. To truly experience a 5 star event, you will simply have to attend the annual festival yourself.
