gift
gift for my day, who introduced me to harry chapin.

harry chapin is an american hero and a great story teller

Harry Chapin - Greatest Stories Live
For those of you who miss the late, great Harry Chapin, this is a must buy! The original two-record album sounds great on CD!

The greatest...
I saw Harry in Ludlow,Vt. in 1977 and laughed my butt off! He was the most personable, loveable act I've ever seen. And his "Greatest Stories Live" album is the closest I've come since to being back there with him and his very gifted brothers, Tom & Steve... not to mention "big" Tom Wallace and the cello player, a lady whose name I've lost over the years. Harry's the man...

He Died Too Young...
While in the Navy 30 years ago, I was stationed on a submarine. Harry Chapin made a tour of our boat and put on a concert on the mess deck. He sang to about 30 of us, but he sang as if he was putting on a concert for thousands. I instantly fell in love with Harrys music. I can't imagine a world without 'A Better Place To Be', 'WOLD' and especially 'Cats In The Cradle'. The radio stations would not play his songs because they were too long. That is really sad. No one has ever been able to put a story into song like Harry Chapin. I miss his music.

Possibly the Best Live Album Ever
I grew up listening to this album, most often on the cross country trips my family would take to visit our relatives in Illinois from whatever air base we were stationed on. My father had this on LP and cassette and he went through multiple copies of the cassette by the time he left the Air Force. This was one of the very first compact discs I purchased while in high school. The sound quality of the CD far outstrips the sound on LP or cassette, giving the instrumentation a glossy shine.

This is the kind of live performance you wish every live album could be. Not only are the songs performed well, but Harry's rapport with the audience is unparalleled by any other performer I've ever seen. He provides humorous commentary between several of the songs. I've heard this album so many times, I probably know his stage banter just as well as the lyrics to the songs.

Speaking of the songs, they are all amazing. I prefer the live versions of "Cat's in the Cradle" and "I Wanna Learn a Love Song" to the studio versions. "30,000 Pounds of Bananas" is a great song and the multiple endings and Harry's explanations of them are worth the price of the disc alone. My favorite songs on the album are probably "Mr. Tanner" with John Wallace's stellar background vocals representing the humble dry cleaner who tries to make a splash as a singer and "Let Time Go Lightly" , a piano driven track sung by Harry's brother, Tom (I believe), which is an absolutely beautiful number.

This album is incredible from start to finish. My only complaint is that the original release on LP and cassette had three studio songs included on it. The CD release, in the interest of space, eliminated two of these songs, "She's Only 17" and "Love is Just a Word" from the album. This Cd has been out for quite some time and technology has improved vastly over that time. I would really like for Elecktra to take the time and put this album out as it was originally released. If the album still needs to go to two discs, that's fine by me. I'm willing to buy it again so I can have it the way I remember it. Still, even without those two excellent songs, I couldn't bring myself to rate this any lower than 5 stars.