Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Announcement
2. Pancho & Lefty
3. Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold
4. Don't You Take It Too Bad
5. Two Girls
6. Fraternity Blues
7. If I Needed You
8. Brand New Companion
9. White Freight Liner Blues
10. To Live Is to Fly
11. She Came and She Touched Me
12. Talking Thunderbird Blues
13. Rex's Blues
14. Nine Pound Hammer

Disc 2:

1. For the Sake of the Song
2. Chauffeur's Blues
3. No Place to Fall
4. Loretta
5. Kathleen
6. Why She's Acting This Way
7. Cocaine Blues
8. Who Do You Love?
9. Tower Song
10. Waiting 'Round to Die
11. Tecumseh Valley
12. Lungs
13. Only Him or Me

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91953 in Music
• Released on: 2007-02-05
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Import, Live, Original recording remastered

Album Details
Culled from Van Zandt's Years of Independently Released Country-folk Records, the Austere Collection of Songs Here Serves, in Effect, as a Greatest-hits Package, Albeit with Glitches, Errant Noises, Goofy Jokes and Witty Anecdotes. Van Zandt's Dry, Narrative Wit was the Source of Influence for Such Singer-songwriters as Lyle Lovett, but One Would Be Hard-pressed to Find a More Simple, Prettier Love Song Than "if I Needed You" (A Hit for Emmylou Harris) Or a More Riveting Ballad Than "Kathleen", Both Sung with Focused Precision. The Old Quarter Falls as Silent as a Church. "Brand New Companion" Shows off Van Zandt's Blues-picking Expertise. "Talking Thunderbird Blues" Demonstrates his Wit. One of his Best Creations, "For the Sake of the Song", Shows off his Poetic Strength. This is the Place to Start If You Are Just Entering the Parched, Spare Domain of Townes Van Zandt. By Album's End, You Will Be Thirsty for More.

Customer Reviews

Total disbelief
My reaction to this double album is total disbelief. Disbelief that it took me thirty years to find this, after encountering Townes van Zandt's songs through so many other musicians over the years. But more importantly, disbelief that the power of his performance riveted a rowdy, sweltering Houston barroom to pin-drop silence. What on earth was he doing, writing songs like that, going to places outside of time that few others can go?

Don't talk to me about 'unplugged' albums -- "Live at the Old Quarter" is the original, and probably the greatest one. It features Townes van Zandt in top form, performing a lifetime's worth of stellar songs, at the age of 29. His poetry set to music is original source material, seemingly channeled from a different and better place:

To live is to fly
All low and high
So shake the dust off of your wings
And the sleep out of your eyes

"Live at the Old Quarter" is a treasure trove and a masterpiece.

Better than Dylan?
Next to Cash's Live at Folsom, this is the best country/folk/Americana live album ever made. I personally have always considered Bob Dylan far and away the premier songwriter of his time and I was put off by Steve Earle's oft quoted statement that TVZ is the best songwriter in the world (and he will stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in his cowboy boots and say that).

Ahhhh, this album shows Earle to be very close to being right. Townes' songs are PERFECTLY written, every word and phrase in their exact places. Like Mozart hearing his opera in his head fully formed, Townes seems to do the same, like an angel sent down to Earth to be a conduit from the Creator to us mere mortals. Like Van Gough, his work will prove to be timeless, growing in stature and value as the ages roll.

Dylan's work is, of course, wonderful,immense, historical - a body of work that will stand the test of time as surely as any of the great classical composers.

Van Zandt's work is different. It's poetry in its pure form. It's lovely and understated and complex and timeless and it, too, is a great body of work. Not revolutionary, no anthems, just songs to be sung and LISTENED to and enjoyed. Songs that grow with every listening, songs that stand as art, songs that sound like every other song until it hits you that they are like no other songs.

Recorded at The Old Quarter in Houston, TX over five steamy nights in July 1973, Live at The Old Quarter captures for posterity the genius that is Townes Van Zandt at the artistic height of his live performances.

The best
This is simply the best album I've ever heard. The depth and sophistication of Townes' lyrics are plenty evident, but the performance is nearly flawless too. He's in his prime, playing his songs the way they were meant to be played, and playing them flawlessly. I honestly consider this to be a major work of art on par with anything--music, painting, literature...anything--anyone has ever done.