In addition to the incredible songwriting, singing and playing, Owens and his band show just what hotshot entertainers they were. Their staging, replete with skits, song stops for quick punchlines, and Buck's interaction with the audience (something he continues to do to this very day) weave their brilliant work into a whole lot more than a simple recitation of their hit song catalog.
By this 1966 date, their catalog was too extensive to be played through in a single show, hence three medleys are used to cover a lot of ground. Even with those thirteen abbreviated titles, they had plenty of material left to play in full form. Owens' voice carries from the stage even more powerfully than it does in the studio, and the tightness of his harmonies with Don Rich are mesmerizing. The telepathy between Owens and Rich goes a long way to explaining the former's depression upon the 1974 death of the latter.
The confidence with which the band kicks into every number is simply astonishing. Owens segues his introductions seamlessly into the opening line of a song, and the band follows without the slightest hint of hesitation. They are at once tight and coherent as on record, but with the looseness and swing of musicians intimately familiar with each other's playing. Each track bursts with the elation of musicians playing in a band firing on all cylinders. The response from the audience echoes the energy coming from the stage.
If the Buckaroos weren't the very best band playing live in 1966 (and this recording suggests they might have been), they were certainly among the very top. This recording captures them in a signature show; a must-have for fans of the Bakersfield sound. Sundazed's reissue (apparently the first since the album's original release) adds bonus tracks to the original (all in superb stereo), along with backstage photos, the original and new liner notes and remembrances from original Buckaroos, Willie Cantu, Doyle Holly and Tom Brumley.
