5. Live On The Road 1983
5. Live On The Road 1983 (original release
1983 - re-release 2007)
In America - Mountain
Music - Davy Crockett - American Made - Skidmore Shuffle - In The Mood - Bump
Bounce Boogie - Find The Cost of Freedom - Still In Saigon - The Wall - America
the Beautiful - Woodchoppers Ball - King Tut - Swingin' - Come Dance With Me -
Dakota Woman - Feels So Right - Even Now - Rock This Town - Celebration
This album was recorded live in the summer of 1983, during concerts in Liberty, Missouri, and Pana, Illinois. It features the Festival Kids, Marty Small (age 5), and Jessi Pottratz (age 4) singing, "Davy Crockett", "American Made", and "America the Beautiful". These “live” recordings feature lead vocals by John, Curt, Don, and Britt, on "American Made". Becky sings lead vocal and plays the piano solos on, "Bump Bounce Boogie". Dan sings lead vocal on, "Swingin'", and Don does the lead on, "King Tut". Ray sings lead on, "Rock This Town". Mark sings lead, and Britt plays the drums on, "Even Now". This is the debut recording of, "Dakota Woman", written by Britt Small, Don Struve, and Dave Small. This album contains the characteristic lush, mass vocals of FESTIVAL, and the first recordings of the big band instrumentals, "Woodchoppers Ball", and "In The Mood", done FESTIVAL-style. There is very fast, live version of the "Skidmore Shuffle", with Russ on trombone, and Becky on synthesizer, and a fast, live version of "Come Dance With Me", with Stan and Dan on guitars. Show versions of Alabama's, "Mountain Music", and, "Feels So Right". Kool & the Gang's, "Celebration", with Becky on the synthesizer that caps the show. This album displays the beginning of FESTIVAL's turn toward patriotic and veteran-oriented music. This was the first live recording of "The Wall", written by Britt, Ray, and Lyle Zoerb. It's also the first FESTIVAL recording of Charlie Daniel's, "Still In Saigon", and, "In America", Crosby, Stills, & Nash's, "Find The Cost Of Freedom", and the Ray Charles version of, "America the Beautiful". From this point on, the FESTIVAL albums became much more thematic. If nothing else, this album contains the raw, unbridled energy of a live FESTIVAL performance, and the screams of an adoring audience.