then Brewer
& Shipley proceed to make fun of their biggest hit by changing the words on
the first verse to "One toot over the line." They were having a lot of fun,
and using this concert as a celebration of the end of what was, at the time,
a 12 year musical partnership.
I much
prefer the 1971 "Lost Live Album" bootleg for hearing Brewer &
Shipley covering their key songs in their performing prime,
but this live bootleg has a couple of things to make it a distinctive Brewer
& Shipley live album: (1) they were obviously celebrating the end of their
musical partnership that night, and the audience was treated to a lot of
humorous banter between songs, and a 20 song set, including
songs that they hadn't written or recorded when they performed the 1971 live
show ("Black Sky", "Crested
Butte", "How Are You", "Brain Damage", "Yankee Lady", "Tied To The Wings of
An Angel", & "On The Road in Kansas"); and, (2) it has
two wonderful B&S original songs and a cover song that have never been
released. I assume these songs were being crafted for a never
materialized Brewer & Shipley album in the making. It has a cover of
Lonnie Mack's "What Ya Doin' Tonight" that isn't found on any
other Brewer & Shipley recordings. It also includes a very funny unreleased original
song titled "Eugene" about a character whose excessive living is about
to catch up with him. But what I treasure the most about this
bootleg is an
unreleased original song titled "Bringin' 'Em Back Alive," presumably about
veterans coming home from the Vietnam war. It has hauntingly poignant
lyrics that could have just as easily been written for soldiers coming back
from the current war, or it could even have been written as analogy to Brewer &
Shipley's coming home from the excesses of ten years living on the road.
Whatever the intended connotations, it is a great "missing" song from
Brewer & Shipley.
At the close of the show, Brewer and Shipley thank the fans for their support
at what they think is the end of their musical partnership: "It has
been our pleasure playing for all you people for the last 11 years. We
love you. Goodnight!" Luckily for all of us,
Brewer & Shipley reformed that musical partnership in 1987 and are still
adding to their musical legacy.