You Had to Be There

Guest · Post by **Guest** » February 23, 2000 12:28 pm

Posted By Anonymous
Submit your review of the album!!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » March 27, 2000 7:37 am

Posted By CaptJim
Got it as a two pack in 8-track way back in 1979. First time I heard "A pirate looks at 40". Recorded live at concerts from Ohio and Atlanta. It has the best version of "a pirate looks at 40".Grapefruit-JuicyFruit,WDWGDAS,Tampico,Gods own drunk, many excellent songs from way back in that time frame, concert greats from bubbas early days.
It is one that I keep the 8-track out for. It was a two pack set of the best of the times of the 70's.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » March 28, 2000 4:09 am

Posted By Son of a beach
All of the songs sound great.The only thing missing is the crowd noise and participation.
Oh well,I guess his popularity was just beginning to grow at the time.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » April 21, 2000 2:25 pm

Posted By Pirate Jean Laffite
A really good live album covering his material from the '70's (therefore it has better songs than those other two live albums, although the sound quality is not as good as the later releases). Addressing the absence of "crowd noise" comment above, this album was recorded at a time when a bunch of noise wasn't needed to express the appreciation for the song, as well as the recording engineers not feeling they had to go overboard by turning up the crowd mics.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » April 23, 2000 1:51 am

Posted By Anonymous
It's supposed to be a LIVE album
The crowd could have been a little more ALIVE

Guest · Post by **Guest** » June 2, 2000 4:23 pm

Posted By Anonymous
This album kicks [color=ff0000][/color]. Ignore the criticism.
Maybe I'm strange, but I buy live albums for the music, not the crowd.

No Buffett collection should be without this album!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » June 3, 2000 2:57 am

Posted By headparrothead@msn.com
to anon april 22:
keep in mind that the recording process of live music back in the '70's is not what it is today, or even 10 years ago for that matter. fully digital studio recordings weren't big until the late 80's and fully digital live recordings didn't take off until about 5 or 6 years ago.

anon june 2: a buffett collection without all his albums is basically an incomplete collection.

phins up

Guest · Post by **Guest** » June 9, 2000 1:21 am

Posted By headparrothead
The only thing you need to know about this live set is that these live versions really compliment the studio versions. The 3 new songs on this set alone are worth the purchase of the disc. "Dixie Diner" will set you on fire if you aren't already. The heat just keeps rising with "Perrier Blues". But the best song on here has to be "Morris' Nightmare" with its rockin' reggae sound it really bites deep.

score: 5 for 5 coronas

Guest · Post by **Guest** » March 5, 2001 5:41 pm

Posted By Proud Member of the Calgary Parrothead Club
Head Parrot Head, I hear ya man. I liked Morris' Nightmare first time I heard it. I think I even first liked the tune when you can hear the band practicing the guitar rift in the background as Jimmy sets up the song. You know, the doo de doo de do do do do doots ?? The versions of He Went to Paris, and Captain and the Kid are moving, and the album intro really kicks some major butt.

BurnThatBridge · Post by **BurnThatBridge** » May 25, 2001 12:41 pm

I love this album, Landfall rocks so hard, i like the change at the end of Margaritaville, and Tampico is awesome.

Mr. Key West · Post by **Mr. Key West** » October 24, 2001 3:27 pm

This is for sure Jimmy's best live album. I'm a pirate looking at 20 and was not even close to being born yet. Not tell 1983. It shows us young Parrotheads what is was like before the Parrothead name and Befor brokers and Young people that go to the shows for two things, under age drinking and free beer. I love the reference Jimmy makes to all the old tunes the crowd. That good s*** I can smell it over here. My favorit album and I only wish I could have been there with the ture parrotheads.
Phins Up

pannick · Post by **pannick** » February 12, 2002 9:34 am

This album was a classic, I actually miss Barry Chance on guitar.

tropic · Post by **tropic** » March 1, 2002 10:37 am

Great classic Live album. I love the fact that JB talks to the audiance between songs. Sure its dated in the 70s but this shows a precurser to what his career was about to become.

The term parrothead wasnt around and JBs showmanship really comes through.
You get a feeling that he truly loves performing for an audiance.
And I would say that many of the songs are superior to the origanals.

tully mars · Post by **tully mars** » March 27, 2002 9:04 pm

JB at his best,recorded in MIami and Atlanta,just as good as Frampton comes alive...dont ya think?

PHat Matt · Post by **PHat Matt** » May 25, 2002 9:58 am

I havent got the cd yet. But it sounds liike it is worth it. I'll be going to Key West soon, so I'll have to get this ALSO. I really cant wait untill my Buffett collection is done!!!

ZeroDuval · Post by **ZeroDuval** » May 25, 2002 11:49 am

This is still one the the albums I play often, not the same on CD without the crackles........ Gods Own Drunk never sounded so good!

When he talks about songs he has to play at concerts "play or be killed", I think this album should be the base set list!

daddymention · Post by **daddymention** » May 25, 2002 12:32 pm

Zero, you are exactly right. This was the first album I got my hands on. Actually it was an 8-track in the .99 bin at Target. I saw that it had Margaritaville on it, so I bought it--at the time (1982) it was the only song I had heard. This was the one that made me crave more. By 1984 I was definitely a parrothead. I always count this as my all time favorite LP and the best recorded live performances.

Reef Chief · Post by **Reef Chief** » May 26, 2002 12:11 am

This is a story that was told to me recently by a friend of Jimmy's named Joe Nuzzo.
He is a local character that owns a surf shop in Treasure Island.
When Jimmy played Maurice Gusman Center in Miami while recording You Had To Be There, he gave Joe 6 front row center seats.

Joe said they showed up wasted and harrassed Jimmy thru the whole show, cutting up and carrying on. He said Jimmy kept trying to hush them up, because the Gov of Florida was sitting right behind them!

Joe was one of the people that put on the Tom Sawyer Cruise on Tampa Bay July 9, 1976 and Jimmy mentions it EVERY time he plays in Tampa.At the last show here in Feb, he dedicated A Pirate Looks At 40 to Joe. That was cool!

I think my favorite part of You Had To Be There is his lyrical change on WDWGDAS. He changed it to Why Don't We Get STONED and Screw! That was pure Jimmy!

KeyLimin · Post by **KeyLimin** » May 26, 2002 11:59 am

A major portion of this album was recorded in Atlanta just a few days after I saw him for the first time in Detroit. It's as close as I can come to having a recording of my first Buffett concert.

As far as audience participation....it was very different than it is now. I assure you we were having just as much fun, we just didn't know all the words yet!

Old Friend the Squid · Post by **Old Friend the Squid** » June 27, 2002 11:25 am

I just listened to this album last night, and it sounded better than ever. You can tell how different JB was back then..he never mentions getting stoned or sex the way he does in You Had To Be There. Miss You So Badly, Morris' Nightmare, Landfall, Tampico Trauma, and Gods Own Drunk are personal favorites...
Best Line from this album:
"Hey thats good s*** I can smell it up here, we better start this song before I get hungry!"