Product Description

This CD includes the original recording of Here Comes the Sun that became a Platinum hit for Richie Havens, performed at the Cellar Door in Washington, D.C. in 1970. It also contains recordings from the Santa Monica Civic concert in 1972 recorded by Wally Heider. This solid acoustic set features interpretations of All Along The Watchtower, Fire & Rain and other songs.

Track Listing

1. Can't Make It Anymore
2. All Along the Watchtower
3. Helplessly Hoping
4. God Bless the Child
5. Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
6. No More, No More
7. Preparation
8. Here Comes the Sun
9. Fire and Rain
10. Superman
11. Dolphins
12. Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen/My Sweet Lord

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59717 in Music
• Released on: 1995-09-30
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Live

Customer Reviews

One of the Great Concerts (actually two)
This somewhat hard to find Ritchie Havens CD combines two 1970 performances-- The Cellar Door in Washington, DC (now defunct), and the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Ritchie Havens puts so much heart and soul in to each song it will make your hair stand up (then, I've never heard of a concert where he didn't).

As usual, Havens does more covers than originals, but every song he plays becomes a Ritchie Havens song. Especially great are his Helplessly Hoping (Stephen Stills), his famous version of God Bless the Child, and Dolphins, a song which he popularized as far as I know.

Another bonus to this as opposed to a greatest hits collection is his "narrations". Havens is gentle and funny, and tells stories like no one else. Buy this CD, see him live, gawk at his underrecognized talent.

In search of a classic Richie Havens live show
I love Richie Havens as a perfomer. However, I found his live releases to be pleasant, but infuriatingly unsatisfying. Havens performed at lot of classic shows in the late 60s, early 70s such as Woodstock(1969), Isle of Wight Festivals(69 & 70), Atlanta Pop Festival(1970), any Fillmore East show, etc. His classic strumming and poignant vocal power captured the spirit of the late sixties hippie rock generation. Unfortunately, Havens seemed to pass up the chance for the public to hear the showstoppers. This live album and ON STAGE (1972, currently not available on CD) is made up of mainly slow/moderate tempo tunes that really do not epitomize what Havens made famous. A lot of them are covers. Many are good versions, but they are not from classic shows.I really want a live release that is a complete show from a classic concert or venue. One radio interviewer a few years back asked Havens if he ever planned to release his Woodstck set in its entirety, but he avoided the question and changed the subject. Strange. CELLAR DOOR does have its moments, and is from 1970, a classic year, but the entire show should have been released to make it completely worthwhile.

Always welcome
I have an Internet-only radio station that plays this album. I also have these cuts on different music mixes I carry on CD and i-Pod and I never tire of the soft, gently explosive sound of this great musician.

While I was unable to see Richie "Live at the Cellar Door" in Washingon, DC, I did get to see him twice at the Birchmere in nearby Alexandria, VA. It was the first time in years my oldest son and I got excited about the same music.

Buy it because it sounds great or buy it because it has some wonderful human reflection, or buy it just because it brings on such sweet nostalgia, but buy it. You'll be glad you did.

One other thing, go to Richie Havens dot com and look at some of the wonderful artwork he has done. He also has lots of nice gear there, too.

All best.

-Lee