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John Denver - Live In Japan

Rather than analyze new releases song by song, we offer  'overviews' designed to give you a better idea of how likely you are to like the album as a whole. Click on the cover art  to hook up with more reviews.  And Listen for  yourself.  Sample songs from the release through the player below the review.

John Denver
- Rocky Mountain High Live In Japan

Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. entered this world in Roswell, New Mexico, the son of a US Air Force officer.  Like most military families, his lived in a number of places.  Childhood friendships were few and fleeting.  Music became his most reliable companion.  Drawn to Colorado, John adopted the name of it's capital as his own.  He dropped out of the Engineering School of what is now Texas Tech in 1964, moving to LA where he joined the Chad Mitchell Trio. His song Leaving On A Jet Plane was picked up by Peter, Paul & Mary, becoming #1 song and making Denver's 1969 solo debut, Rhymes & Reasons, a modest success.  John himself hit big in '71 with the release of Poems, Prayers & Promises, containing the hit Take Me Home, Country Roads. He went on to become one of the most prolific and successful writers and performers of his time.  For all of his success and acclaim, Denver remained an outsider in most musical circles.  He was considered too pop by Country fans, too sentimental by Country Rock fans and too wimpy to be taken seriously by Rock fans.  But millions of music fans and musicians not hung-up on labels came to appreciate Denver as a great writer and performer.  This DVD captures Denver at his peak - and in a setting that really conveys what a compelling artist he was.  On a simple, understated stage Denver manages to mesmerize an audience in Japan with songs rooted in a foreign culture and language.  The fact that so many in the audience know every song is remarkable.  So is his band, which includes the masterful but understated guitarists James Burton and Herb Peterson, drummer Hal Blaine and Jim Horn on saxophone and flute. The audio and video quality of the DVD  make this 1981 recording seem much more recent, thanks to outstanding 5:1 surround audio and video restoration.  This 18 song performance of most all of his strongest songs gives us a chance to hear and appreciate his strength as a writer and performer and, quite possibly, to to elevate our opinion of Denver's music.