Live - THE OSMONDS***

My World Is Empty Without You-I'm Gonna Make You Love Me/I Can't Get Next To You (Medley)/Double Lovin'/Your Song/Sweet & Innocent/You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'/Proud Mary-Free/Go Away Little Girl/ Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child-Where Could I Go But To Lord-Every Time I Feel The Spirit (Medley)/We Gotta Live Together/Trouble-I Got A Woman/Hey Girl/Down By The Lazy River/Yo-Yo/One Bad Apple

The first live album from the bubble gum boy band The Osmonds. Recorded at the Forum, Los Angeles in December 1971, it captures the mania of teen girl fans at the height of their popularity. (US:13 UK:13)

“This supposedly live album is infamous for not being that live. At the time of it's recording the brothers were all sick and the results were so disappointing that they were made to re-do some of their vocals. You can tell, as many of the performances have a double-tracked sound to them. Still, it sounded like a good show and I was surprised to find out from the sleeve notes that the album was a double LP in America whilst in the UK it was edited' to fit on a single album.”

“I read there were technically difficulties and the tracks were re-recorded in the studio. Don't know if this is true, but it stills sounds live in concert and contains songs from the time that weren't Osmond records. It's a fine selection of tunes and I highly recommend it for its rare recordings.”

“I just thought they were some cheesy 70s act - and that's what blind prejudice will do. But then by accident and just for the heck of it I listened to this album, and what a groove. These white boys with soul could rip it up.”

“Osmonds Live is solid document of Osmania at its most delirious. With audiences less choreographed and malleable than they would become in later years this is the sound of teenage mania at its purest and its rawest, a never ending barrage of screaming, keening ecstasy that is already peaking before the band even takes the stage. It continues on its merry, maddening way long after the last roadie has left the building.”

“The Motown medley opens the show with all the pizzazz that its studio incarnation was lacking; further medleys later in the set capture the band hitting gospel and (briefly) rock & roll with equally passion. In between times, meanwhile, a barely audible Donny squeaks gallantly through his hits, and the girls just keep on squealing. It's an awesome sound.”