Classic Album Reviews: Various Artists | SNL 25: The Musical Performances Vol. 1 & 2
This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
For a quarter-century, along with being TV’s sketch comedy showcase, Saturday Night Live has been one of the premiere forums for music on the tube — usually timely, often intimate, and sometimes even exciting and unpredictable. Which is what makes these compilations of on-air performances such a monumental disappointment.
Both discs — Vol. 1 skews to the boomers with Paul Simon, James Taylor, Jewel and the like, while Vol. 2 leans toward the skaters with Nirvana, Oasis, Beck and Green Day — are obviously more geared to producing profit than preserving the past. Which means that for every truly historic moment — like Elvis Costello’s subversive performance of Radio, Radio — you have to sit through pointless inclusions like Eric Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight or Counting Crows’ Round Here. As the liner notes proudly point out, The Rolling Stones, The Replacements, The Pogues, Sun Ra, Patti Smith, Ornette Coleman, The Band and Miles Davis all played on SNL. Too bad the powers that be weren’t proud enough to include any of them here. Ditto Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, Fear, Pearl Jam, John Belushi and Joe Cocker, The Blues Brothers, Ray Charles and dozens of others. As Roseanne Roseannadanna (and Kurt Cobain) would say, never mind.
