Had to remove these discs from my truck today...
I have been trying to listen this album for some time but it's intolerable.

I listen to Lucinda constantly, have for years, she is a wonderful and soulful artist, I certainly dig her whole style and groove but this performance is just depressing so out of my life it goes. It really upsets me to hear her sounding so bad, it is puzzling how this performance was so bad and why it was released! We should have been spared this.

Lucinda Williams, Live @ Fillmore
I love these CD's. She starts out with slow mellow music and builds to some great rock.

Live @ The Fillmore... Buy it for the new songs...
Fans of singer Lucinda Williams will likely be fond of Live @ The Fillmore (2005), which was recorded at the famed theater on the corner of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard in San Francisco. The players appearing here are Jim Christie, Doug Pettibone, Tara Prodaniuk, and Lucinda herself; basically the same quartet that recorded World Without Tears.

In the interest of balance, Lucinda has included twenty-two songs on this two disc set; eleven of thirteen tracks (excluding Minneapolis and People Talkin') from World Without..., and seven of eleven tracks (excluding Steal Your Love, I Envy The Wind, Get Right With God, and Broken Butterflies) from Essence, right alongside four new sparkling songs.

Let me tell you, Changed the Locks (Track Nine, Disc One) -- a slightly ironic number sung in the style of Warren Zevon -- is almost worth the purchase price alone. The song has a strong percussive kick at the start, with several blistering guitar solos and Lucinda's whiskey-tinged voice ranting above it all.

Lyrical numbers like I Lost It (Track One, Disc Two) and Pineola (Track Two, Disc Two) blend well with songs from Lucinda's two preceding albums. Joy (Track Four, Disc Two) is a bluesy rocker with nuanced drumming from Jim Christie. All four of the new songs mentioned above received thunderous applause and whistling from the audience.

My outlook on live albums is somewhat lukewarm. For example, Lucinda's live performance of Essence (Track Five, Disc Two) is absolutely tepid in comparison to the polished studio version. Conversely, her enthusiastic live version of Atonement (Track Ten, Disc One) changed my mind about a song that I found lacking on World Without....

One or two songs -- like Ventura (Track One, Disc One) and Bus to Baton Rouge (Track Eleven, Disc Two) -- are indistinguishable from studio recordings, save for a dozen extra seconds. I find buying live albums to be a substitute for attending concerts, but I'd rather be there in person to experience the artist.

Really, the band was surprisingly uneven -- especially on Disc Two. This two-disc combo was recorded over three nights and mixed & engineered at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, but you can audibly pick out numbers where Williams' voice was taxed. I'll give Live @ The Fillmore a recommendation because I liked the new songs.

Essentially, this is a live album that is intermittently brilliant -- but at times frustratingly mediocre. If you already have Essence and World Without... you just might consider skipping this particular CD. When Lucinda attempts a live album again, I think she should use guest artist from the Lost Highway label to back her band up.


Amazon.com: This two-disc set can be purchased for only [...]

Lucinda Redux
Lucinda's rough, boozy voice is the perfect instrument for her poetry of unrequited and obsessive love, loss, sorrow and guilt. Her backup matches the mood of every song - inventive, original and pulsing with electricity and virtuosity.

Like John Prine and Dylan her lyrics tell stories with laser insight. Like Janis Joplin, she turns herself inside out, hurling emotion without restraint. Like Delbert McClinton she integrates her powerful lyrics with musical accompaniment that socks it home. But Lucinda with guitarists Doug Pettibone and Tara Prodanick, Jim Christie on drums, are soul mates, soaring above them all in this rare, raw event.

Lucinda repeats some of the best songs from other albums. But this time, they're not done with the same tenderness. Her voice has become more desperate and ragged. Every cut has an edge. Like a wounded woman, stripped to her soul, alone in a dark room with hard booze in a dirty glass, drinking away the pain. Hurt and melancholy, she shares with us the bitter leftovers of rejection and abandonment.

The first disc of this two disc album starts with "Ventura," The morning after, with nothing but emptiness and regret, she longs for redemption. "I want to be swallowed up in an ocean of love." Hawaiian sound - slide guitar. Sweet, sad, spent.

By "Out of Touch" things heat up. The beat gets more insistent and driving. Hints of rebellion. Guitars on the loose. Then back to melancholy.

"Sweet Side" reveals a deeply compassionate understanding of character.

"Changed the Locks" Fury! Revenge! Opens with a threatening drum beat and guitars grinding, squealing, whining while Lucinda lays it down, her teeth gritted, in a heavy vengeful beat.

"Atonement", the last cut on disc one, honors ZZ Top. It starts with a strip club beat as Lucinda calls all sinners to the bible. Drum punches in the march to redemption. The guitars break loose, screaming, twirling, crying, pushing on. The beat is unrelenting. "Come on!" Lucinda bawls out.

On Disc Two things get going. Supersized sixties sound, Hendrix style - a stew of rock, blues, and country guitar - rich with vibe, slide and ride, wail and whine. Powerful counterpoint to Lucinda's raunchy vocals.

"Righteously" - pure sex. [...]. Audience gets turned on. Guitar ramps up, stretching, sliding, vibrating. Drum beat skips, rattles. Hot, hot, hot.

Then "Joy." Primal. Fierce. Raw. "I don't want you anymore. You took my joy." Against Lucinda's furious rant, the music is a bouncy, mellow rock. Mid way it starts to build a fever, then retreats back to the subtle rocking beat, fades down and murmurs a few notes. Lucinda cries out. Guitar rises up, gains speed, shakes it hard, retreats again to a slow drawl, lying in wait for Lucinda's final exhausted lament, then gently carries her off in a soft retreat.

"Real Live Bleeding." Old style. Like a Stones number. Bitter lyrics.

Those Three Days." A killer. Skin crawling heartbreak and loneliness embraced in elegant language.

"American Dream." Her rap number "Everything is wrong!". Military beat with a raoomp drum, sticks, and a smooth guitar glide.

The finale, "Words Fell." Slow. Country blues. Guitar wails like a soft wind. Beautiful lyrics. Words fall, like roses at her feet.

In this well balanced duo of lyrical and raucous, Lucinda is the musical mistress of anguish, anger, regret and love.

LOVE it or HATE it...
I love it and think just about every song on it is amazing. Thing is... she does sing like a druggy. I bought the act and love it. If you don't buy the singin', then you gonna hate it! I don't have many "gritty" cd's so this fills that void for me.