Live on the Double Planet [Live]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Michael Hedges hardly needed to prove that he was an astonishing performer in person as well as in the studio, but Live on the Double Planet does the job nonetheless. Hedges features a number of songs from his brilliant Breakfast in the Fields release, including that album's title track and the acrobatic "Silent Anticipation." He throws a few vocal numbers into the mix as well, including standard-issue covers like Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," the Beatles' "Come Together," and one from far out in left field, Sheila E's (courtesy of Prince) "A Love Bizarre." The album shows off Hedges's sense of humor as well, as he interpolates a vocal riff from the Rolling Stones' "Miss You" into "The Funky Avocado." --Daniel Durchholz

Live on the Double Planet,Michael Hedges,Windham Hill Records,Contemporary Instrumental,Jazz Music,New Acoustic,New Age,New Age / Meditation,Pop,Solo Instrumental

Tracks:

All Along The Watchtower
Because It's There
Silent Anticipations
Ready Or Not
A Love Bizarre
Breakfast In The Field
Rikki's Shuffle
Woman Of The World
The Double Planet
The Funky Avocado
Come Together
Two Days Old

Amazon.com essential recording

Michael Hedges hardly needed to prove that he was an astonishing performer in person as well as in the studio, but Live on the Double Planet does the job nonetheless. Hedges features a number of songs from his brilliant Breakfast in the Fields release, including that album's title track and the acrobatic "Silent Anticipation." He throws a few vocal numbers into the mix as well, including standard-issue covers like Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," the Beatles' "Come Together," and one from far out in left field, Sheila E's (courtesy of Prince) "A Love Bizarre." The album shows off Hedges's sense of humor as well, as he interpolates a vocal riff from the Rolling Stones' "Miss You" into "The Funky Avocado." --Daniel Durchholz

Customer Reviews:

A TRAILBLAZING GUITARIST.......2006-09-04

This is a wonderful cd but just hearing him does not fully depict how amazing of an artist he was.

If you are here, then you must be a guitar nut. Go all the way and get the dvd "WIndham Hill Live" where Hedges plays 3 or 4 songs.

He is not only phenomenal but also you can see the physicality of his playing. It puts his music in a totally different light! That dvd is the absolutely best work by this tremendous musical visionary.

bizzare and beautiful.......2006-02-10

this being the only Micheal Hedges album that i own and the only one that i have heard, i cannot comment in much detail about how this compares to his other recordings; but Live On The Double Planet is an extraordinary listen. full of inventive and creative playing that is beautiful and mind-boggling. the cover songs are amazing and really break out of the mold of the original...some are almost unrecognizeable until the vocals begin. the quiet pieces are the most effective compositions on here... the mood is very reflective and the beauty in his playing is astonishing.

A watershed.......2004-11-23

Unaware of how into the genre I had become, a friend of mine, one day, told me that if I combined the words new and age it would be read "newage." That, he went on to say would rhyme with sewage, a word perhaps best describing the former. I laughed at the little quip. But in the back of my mind I tried to search for an example of genius in the genre which might turn the tide in his thinking should it come up again. My conclusion was Michael Hedges and specifically this album. "Live on the Double Planet" is a snapshot of the full range Hedges' genius.

An authentic original. Sadly missed........2003-11-26

You ever had that feeling after deciding to be adventurous and plunking down $17, that you wished you'd played it safer? I had this feeling with this CD--for a day or two at most. It grew on me like few CDs have, until it became THE CD of the summer in which I bought it, and one of my very favorites of all time. It's original without being self-indulgent, technically astounding without losing the music, full of different moods, a great live ambience, and even humor. I adore it. I missed hearing Michael Hedges in person, and now I'll never get the chance (it was one black morning indeed when I heard he'd died). Don't you miss this CD.

Accurate for the Era.......2003-09-03

I was fortunate to see many of Michael's shows around the time this was recorded and also got to sit down a few times and talk with him about what he was trying to accomplish with the live recordings. His previous studio album (Watching My Life Go By) had been the first to include vocals, which had not overly impressed the bosses at Windham Hill. So they sent him on the road to do some live recordings, hopeing it would be a learning experience that would eventually yield better studio vocal performances.

For those of you that didn't listen to Michael at the time, many fans seriously disliked Watching My Life Go By, much in the way ardent Dylan fans revolted when he went electric at Newport. Hedges fans just wanted to hear Michael play his Savage Myth Guitar and keep the vocal parts trimmed down to the introductions. But Michael had a vision for his future and a big part of it included singing to compliment his Heavy Mental approach.

I guess I wasn't the typical Hedges fan - I enjoyed his singing, mostly because of the spirit of joy that he experienced while singing. Some of the songs on this set are not my favorites, but they were staples for his concerts in this era. To me, this disc is like sitting through the first half of one of Michael's shows, complete with the crowd energy he was capable of generating with ease.

Also included here are two cover tunes (Love Bizarre and Come together). His live shows often included three or so cover tunes such as the above or possibly Pinball Wizard, Emminence Front, Let's Get It Up, She Drives Me Crazy or Sofa, among others. I always got a kick out of hearing him cover tunes - I mean, think about how many solo acoustic acts have successfully covered AC/DC, Prince, the Who and Frank Zappa? But this just goes to show how versitile and gifted Michael was. I'm so happy to have had (and to have taken) the opportunity to see so many of his shows early in his career. His later tours were also excellent, but these were before the loss of innocence, while he was very hungry for success. That hunger also meant that the negative feedback he got about his vocals was difficult for him to take. But rather than receeding into a shell and reverting back to all-acoustic material, he continued to sing. I believe that this was the right decision. Singing while playing live gave excellent counterpoint to his instrumental works and, in his own words: "Gave me a few minutes to relax, then to focus more intensely on the instrumentals".

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