Amy Grant - Time Again: Amy Grant Live All Access

Time Again...Amy Grant Live was captured during two sold out performances April 11th and 12th, 2006 at the exquisite Bass Hall in Fort Worth, TX. Weaving a retrospective journey through a lifetime's worth of her most treasured songs, Amy invited audiences into her "living room" for a live concert experience unlike any other. Album Description

Surprisingly good, but not without its flaws.

Having yet to see Amy Grant in concert, I was drawn to this album -- especially because it came with a four-song DVD of Amy doing some live performances. I enjoyed the body of the album quite a bit. I was particularly impressed with how well Amy integrated her contemporary Christian music with her regular pop; she really melds the two into a cohesive, non-alienating show. One would think Amy would have strung all her pop hits into a show, but she didn't. In fact, some of her biggest hits (such as "Find A Way" and the #1 hit "That's What Love Is For") are omitted in favor of lesser-known material like "Simple Things" and the exquisite "Stay For Awhile," an slow-burning anthem to old friendships.

So, if you like Amy Grant and enjoy live recordings, you will probably like this. Amy's voice sounds almost as good as it does on her records, but not quite. (However, I vastly prefer the original version of "In A Little While" to the new studio version tacked onto the end of this CD.) And Amy's band (particularly the bassist and the harmonica player) hit some sour notes; though the band is quite good overall.

Now, about the DVD. I get the sense that the DVD was a freebie to promote the full-length DVD that is available. Honestly, from viewing the selections from this bonus disc, I would certainly NOT buy the DVD. The editing is distracting and poorly executed. It's like the director wanted to make the show as jerky and difficult to focus on as possible. In the four cuts on the DVD, I didn't get any sense of what Amy Grant would be like in concert, because the cutaways were abrupt (apparently trying to be "hip"), and Amy's mouth was out of synch with the lyrics on the soundtrack. Just bizarre. I think I'll skip that DVD and see Amy the next time she breezes through town.

The CD is definitely worth owning; the DVD, not so much. January 15, 2008

wicked good!!!!!!!!

AMEN amy - you rock...I saw you rock boston common a "couple" years back - thanks for your spirit, soul and voice. August 7, 2007

Amy still delivers

And the kids wonder why she's still a dominant force in Christian music, even though she hasn't had a number one pop hit in years. Well, she has a back catalog of 200-plus quality, honest, lived-in songs and a charming and lovably unadorned "Ideal Friend" public persona that no other CCM artist can touch. That's why.

As others have noted, she was sometimes given short shrift for her singing and songwriting abilities because of her unmatched popularity and her looks. But time has proven her impressively capable in both arenas. In fact, some of her lyrics are revealed as prescient and are even more powerful as she (actually, we) go through midlife. Sandi Patti was the premiere Christian vocalist in the 1980s but Amy was the impassioned voice of everyone's hopes and doubts.

A word of caution: If you're fixated on being able to sing along note-for-note with these classic songs, you may be in for a disappointment. Not only have the arrangements and instrumentation of her older synth-pop tunes been altered for a casual stripped-down feel but Amy is more experimental in her phrasing these days. if you appreciate the Frank Sinatra/Willie Nelson school of reinterpretation with each performance, you'll love this set. If you're interested in a perfectly recreated nostalgia session, not so much.

The constraints of the single-CD format cause some of Amy's trademark just-folks banter and pindrop-quiet stories of the DVD presentation to be lost. But this is a mandatory audio version for the car and iPod. July 16, 2007

Helps to the fill the "void" of a recent live set in Amy Grant's portfolio

Amy Grant may just be considered the greatest Christian Contemporary Artist in modern music history. She has both the commercial and critical success to back this up. It's hard to believe that Amy's career spans nearly 30 years. On top of achieving this success in the Christian Contemporary arena, Amy had a very successful "crossover" to the mainstream pop-music scene in the 1990s. Surprisingly, most of Amy's most successful material - in both the Christian and Pop arenas has not been on a live album. Yes, Amy released two albums very early in her career (1981's "In Concert" and "In Concert Volume 2"), but this did not contain the material that fans are most familiar with. It would be 25 years later when "Amy Grant - Time Again" would be released. This would be the long-awaited live album that would draw from her most successful material. Overall, this album while not perfect - does help to fill this one void in Amy's very successful career.

I can look at Amy Grant's career as encompassing three main phases. The first phase covers 1977 through 1981 (her debut self-title album "Amy Grant" through the "In Concert Volume 2"). In this phase, Amy definitely showed her youthful side (her first album was released while she still was in high school). For the most part, Amy did some nice songs and was able to establish herself as a Contemporary Christian Artist. In Phase 2 (this would cover 1982-1988, starting with "Age to Age" and going to this album "Amy Grant - The Collection"), Amy ascended to legendary status in the Contemporary Christian music-world both commercially and critically. This is where her husband to be Gary Chapman would begin to have an influence in her music. In this phase, Amy would show the most depth with her Christian music. When Phase 3 (1988 to present, starting with "Lead Me On" to present), Amy went into her full-fledged crossover into the mainstream (pop) music arena. 1981's "In Concert" albums do a great job at showing some of Amy's best live work from Phase 1 (in fact, many fans will find some really "hidden gems" in Amy's career on these albums). "Time Again" will focus more on her work from Phase 2 and Phase 3.

As mentioned, this collection does help to fill the void. It has its good points and weak points. Here are ten things to look from:

1.The collection draws its music from performances on April 11-12th, 2006. For the most part - there is something magical about hearing a great performance on a single night captured on a collection. For the most part, I find that when taking live songs from different concerts on different nights, the flow is disrupted. . However, this collection does a nice job at getting as close to creating a single night experience as possible.

2.The collection includes a CD and a "Bonus DVD". The "Bonus DVD" should not be confused with the separate full DVD release of "Time Again". It is important to know that not all of the songs from the April 11-12th shows are included on here. A more complete version is found on the full-length DVD. Songs such as "Carry You", "Lucky One", "Fathers Eyes", "El Shaddai", "Big Yellow Taxi", and "If These Walls Could Speak" are only included on the full DVD. "Lucky One" is also not on the CD, but is on the Bonus DVD. The band Rush released an identical CD copy to their DVD "Rush in Rio" - and it was a complete concert from a single night. I wish more artists would follow this lead.

3.The Bonus DVD didn't do a lot to sell me on the full DVD release. I found much of the camera work to flip too much between Amy and the band - breaking focus on the performance. There are split screens that are on "Stay For a While" and "Lucky One" which I also found to be very distracting and annoying.

4.The nice thing is the small venue that these performances were taken from. The performances were from Bass Hall in Fort Worth, Texas. I think the intent of having an "intimate" live recording is successful. The Bonus DVD helps to demonstrate this visually. In addition, Amy has a strong band backing her up - and this helps Amy make the most of this setting.

5.There is a very interesting version of "Baby Baby". Amy does a country-spin on the song. I felt this spin in a live setting was actually a better version of the song.

6.The version of "Every Heartbeat" is outstanding. It is the best live cut from the collection - the only problem was it was too short.

7.One can make an argument that albums such as "Lead Me On" and "House of Love" are not well represented on the set list. However I think a more glaring omission is that there is no material from "Unguarded".

8.The set includes an Acoustic "unplugged" Set midway through the performance. This is typical with most live performances today. This helps enhance the "intimate" setting of the show.

9.I liked the inclusion of "Believe" - the theme song from Amy's reality show, "Three Wishes".

10.There is a solid new studio version of Amy's 1982 show, "In a Little While". This new studio version not only has more of a pop feel than the 1982 version, but it also reflects Amy's maturity as now a 40 plus year-old woman. You will also hear more guitar on this version.

The liner notes include acknowledgements from Amy herself and producer Steve Bishir. There are also musician and songwriting credits listed. Overall despite some of the weaker points of this collection, I don't think anyone can complain about the quality of the performance. This is one that should help fill the void of the lack of a live album from Amy Grant and should also appeal to the mainstream fan.
June 24, 2007

Grantster Rock!

Before listening to this CD, my favorite live album was KISS ALIVE II Alive II, but no more! Amy leaves them in the dust! And without the blood, pyro, and makeup. Trust me, this one makes you want to scream! Rock On! May 24, 2007

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