Pairing exceptional artists with memorable concert venues -- offbeat locales such as the Harvard Club in Boston and Tiffany & Co. in New York City -- Artists Den celebrates the ephemeral magic of performance in its series of PBS shows. That luminous quality translates well to the audio-only realm, as borne out on this varied and sumptuously recorded compilation. The phrase "intimate PBS concert" evokes the kind of singer-songwriter strum that Johnathan Rice delivers so well here, but the series spotlights more than just the coffeehouse crowd. Alanis Morissette kicks things off with a snarling, Middle Eastern flavored track from the release party for Flavors of Entanglement, while Raphael Saadiq ingratiates with his impeccably reimagined '60s soul homage, "Love That Girl." Perhaps no other track signals that this is not your father's public broadcasting than the Hold Steady's hard-charging "Sequestered in Memphis." Rocking the Emigrant Savings Bank in Brooklyn harder than 2008's economic turmoil ever could, the band show off the strengths of the Artists Den series: This is why we leave our living rooms to see music. Of course, not everyone has the fortune of living in the Den-friendly confines of New York, Boston, or L.A., and that's why documents like this exist. For the exclusive-feeling intimacy of these performances -- by Jakob Dylan and Aimee Mann, and others -- Live at the Artists Den is the next best thing to being there.
Condition:NEW. Brand New Factory Sealed
TRACK LISTINGS
Disc 1
1 Citizen of the Planet (4:23)
2 Evil Is Alive and Well (3:54)
3 31 Today (4:48)
4 Love That Girl (3:03)
5 Keep Breathing (3:38)
6 Sequestered in Memphis (3:35)
7 Present/Infant (3:32)
8 Disappear (5:22)
9 The Middle of the Road (4:17)
10 Go to Hell (3:54)
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