Excellent John Denver live performance from the mid-80s

By the time John Denver performed this 1987 concert in Cedar Rapids, IA, he was a decade past his commercial peak of the mid-70s. He’d found continued success into the early ‘80s, but his most recent release, 1986’s One World, was both the last he’d recorded for RCA and the first album in fifteen years to miss the chart entirely. The album’s single, “Along for the Ride (’56 T-Bird),” had only middling success on the Adult Contemporary chart, and was left out of this set. Denver had forged a non-music public role as an activist, philanthropist, humanitarian, and social critic, but always remained an in-demand live performer. By this point in his career, his non-music activities flowed seamlessly into his stage performances.

This two-hour, twenty-eight track live set touches on fan favorites, social and political commentaries and well-selected covers. Denver’s voice hasn’t the youthful elasticity of his earlier years, but his investment in the songs, even those he’d been touring for fifteen years, is enthusiastic and resolute. He sings the hits at full length, rather than mashing them into medleys, and performs covers (Lennon & McCartney’s “Mother Nature’s Son” and Randy Sparks’ “Toledo”) that had been in his live set for nearly fifteen years. He was an endearing performer, as engaging with a story or a joke as with a song, and his invitations to the audience to sing-along are as warm as a summer campfire.

Denver performs most of the songs solo with his acoustic 12-string, adding a taped background for “Flying for Me” and welcoming a string quartet on stage for disc two. His material is drawn from throughout his career, going back as early as the title song of his debut album, Rhymes & Reason, and as current as “For You” (which was dedicated to his soon-to-be second wife) and the set-closing “Falling Leaves (The Refugees),” which he’d record the following year. His newer material is easily woven into the set, making evident that it wasn’t the quality or appeal of Denver’s music that had waned, only the interest of radio and the new generation of record buyers.

Disc two includes Denver’s statements on the arms race and world hunger and a segue into his then-current “Let Us Begin (What Are We Making Weapons For).” He reaches back to 1971 for the thoughtful “Poems, Prayers and Promises” and climaxes with a crowd-pleasing trio of hits. A dozen of these tracks appeared previously on a pair of PBS promotional releases [1 2], but having the entire concert start-to-finish gives fans an opportunity to relive the magic of Denver’s stagecraft. Collectors’ Choice delivers the discs in a double-digipack with a four page booklet (with liner notes by Gene Sculatti) tucked into a tight pocket beneath disc two’s tray. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]