townes van zandt / albums

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Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas,Townes Van Zandt

- Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas
- - 9,991 plays
  - 1 favs
  - 0 shares
Townes Van Zandt
Released 1977

Pancho & Lefty
04:07
808 plays

Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold
03:40
725 plays

Fraternity Blues
03:07
610 plays

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songs

- 1
- Announcement
- 00:45
- 368 plays

- 2
- Pancho & Lefty
- 04:07
- 808 plays

- 3
- Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold
- 03:40
- 725 plays

- 4
- Don't You Take It Too Bad
- 02:57
- 440 plays

- 5
- Two Girls
- 03:52
- 484 plays

- 6
- Fraternity Blues
- 03:07
- 610 plays

- 7
- If I Needed You
- 03:18
- 526 plays

- 8
- Brand New Companion
- 04:20
- 459 plays

- 9
- White Freight Liner Blues
- 03:26
- 523 plays

- 10
- To Live Is to Fly
- 03:20
- 579 plays

- 11
- She Came and She Touched Me
- 04:09
- 363 plays

- 12
- Talking Thunderbird Blues
- 02:33
- 442 plays

- 13
- Rex's Blues
- 03:05
- 436 plays

- 14
- Nine Pound Hammer
- 03:05
- 506 plays

- 15
- For the Sake of the Song
- 04:48
- 336 plays

- 16
- Chauffeur's Blues
- 04:33
- 266 plays

- 17
- No Place to Fall
- 03:08
- 256 plays

- 18
- Loretta
- 02:26
- 227 plays

- 19
- Kathleen
- 02:54
- 187 plays

- 20
- Why She's Acting This Way
- 05:43
- 255 plays

- 21
- Cocaine Blues
- 03:20
- 266 plays

- 22
- Who Do You Love?
- 03:44
- 216 plays

- 23
- Tower Song
- 03:47
- 262 plays

- 24
- Waiting 'Round to Die
- 02:35
- 220 plays

- 25
- Tecumseh Valley
- 04:29
- 236 plays

- 26
- Lungs
- 02:34
- 240 plays

- 27
- Only Him or Me
- 02:42
- 179 plays

album review

Townes Van Zandt is better regarded as a songwriter than as a performer, and not without reason -- he was a peerless lyricist with a singular ability to capture the landscape of the heart and soul in words, but while he was a fine singer he wasn't exceptional, and the ravages of alcohol, tobacco and drugs took a fearsome toll on his voice in his last years. But Van Zandt could work magic in front of an audience under the right circumstances, and while a wealth of live recordings of Van Zandt have emerged since his passing on the first day of 1997, Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas ranks with the very best of his concert albums. Live at the Old Quarter is simple and spare, capturing Van Zandt in a 1973 solo performance at a Houston saloon with just his acoustic guitar for company, and the engineering ably captures the ambience of the room, with the audience clearly caught up in the spell of these songs. The set features 26 songs, all originals except for covers of "Cocaine Blues," "Nine Pound Hammer," and "Who Do You Love," and Van Zandt brigs these tunes to life with an easy grace that's a striking complement to the emotional gravity of his lyrics, though he also gives his lighter side an airing here, occasionally cracking jokes and offering a pair of funny talking blues numbers, "Talking Thunderbird Blues" and "Fraternity Blues." If the renditions of "Pancho & Lefty," "If I Needed You," "Rex's Blues," "For the Sake of the Song," and "Tecumseh Valley" aren't quite definitive, they're beautiful and affecting, and thanks to the sharp performances, on-point vocals, and superb set list, this is a superior document of Townes Van Zandt on-stage, and is a fine introduction to his body of work. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide