Cartwheeling: Live In Memphis ((Live In Memphis))

Van Duren & Good Question

Released on 01/12/2023 by Omnivore Recordings
Main artists: Van Duren Good Question
Genre: Alternative & Indie

Available in

24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo

Unlimited Streaming

Listen to this album in high quality now on our apps

Start my trial period and start listening to this album

Enjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription

Digital Download

Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.

Of the key figures on the Southern power pop scene of the 1970s, Van Duren was the one who seemed most likely to break through to mainstream success, and it's hard to say why he didn't. Compared to peers like Big Star, Chris Bell, and the Scruffs, Duren was nearly as good at writing a memorable tune, and he was less given to the sonic eccentricities that made those other acts favorites with hipsters while puzzling the average radio listener. Problems with his record company prevented Van Duren's 1978 debut Are You Serious? from reaching the audience it deserved (and kept its follow-up, Idiot Optimism, from being released until 1999), and in the 1980s he began working with a Memphis-based band called Good Question, whose approach was a good bit more polished and commercially minded than his early work. In January 1992, Van Duren and Good Question set up a concert with the specific intention of making a live recording that would show off their chops and Duren's songwriting. Cartwheeling: Live in Memphis gives that recording a public release for the first time, and the performance walks a fine line between capturing the excitement of Van Duren's music at his best and showing how much he was willing to sand down what few edges he had in order to be heard. Duren and his band are in superb form here, with guitarist James Lott, bassist Ray Sanders, and drummer Joel Williams sounding tight and fully supportive at all times, and guest keyboardist Rick Steff reveals impressive chops, though he emulates horns a bit more than is necessary. However, here "Is She Ever" plays like it was made to be played in a rom-com of the late '80s (and not in a good way), and "Her Name Comes Up" sounds like Duren was trying to write a song for Journey, not a good look for one of the great men of power pop. (The bid for slickness also seems a bit odd when one remembers Nirvana's Nevermind was ruling the charts the night this was put to tape.) But when Duren and the band get up a full head of steam on "A Man Would Be Crazy to Give Up All This," "Such a Secret," and "The Naked Eye of Love," they sound like a crack rock & roll combo delivering the goods, and "The One That I Love" is a sweet ballad made all the more inviting by Steff's accordion. Cartwheeling: Live in Memphis is a bit more uneven than one might hope, especially when Van Duren and his band are most eager to make nice, but there are moments here that show he was not just a power pop hero but a rocker with humor and muscle to spare, and it does invite the question -- how is it that a band this good and this versatile couldn't land a record deal?

© Mark Deming /TiVo

More info

Cartwheeling: Live In Memphis ((Live In Memphis))

Van Duren

You are currently listening to samples.

Listen to over 100 million songs with an unlimited streaming plan.

Listen to this playlist and more than 100 million songs with our unlimited streaming plans.

From €13,50/month

Is She Ever ((Live In Memphis))