My Notes
This was a promotional album (WBMS 105) released to radio stations for Warner's syndicated "Warner Bros. Music Show." It was recorded at the Cellar Door in Washington DC, on two-track tape (reference).
Guy must have been on tour supporting Guy Clark because of the release year (1979) and the large number of songs from that album that are heard here (tracks 1,5,8,9,10), most of which did not go on to become the most memorable part of Guy's legacy. I don't think this is a pristine concert recording because the audience excerpts seem a little off at times. At the very least, the order of the songs was changed.
Some new light was shed when I came across the Talking Heads album (WBMS 104!) with the same name, "On The Road Live," which is where I got the album image. There is also a Devo album (WBMS 115) with the same name; it's where the "DEV-O Live" album stems. What's in common here? Well, Warner Brothers, and the year released 1979, and the amazing coincidence that I grew up listening to Devo and Talking Heads, and have now made a web page for Guy Clark! Weird.
When I talked with Will Skinner, who worked selling merch for Guy about this album, he indicated that Guy isn't very fond of these recordings. Further insight is gained from the book Song Builder (Evans and Horne, 1998). In essence, this phase of Guy's career was directed by the label. After the Warner years, Guy never again toured with a full band as heard here. Guy never felt that his music sounded good with this kind of production, and he frankly couldn't afford to keep a large band on the road. "Seems very chaotic and stupid to me now -- I mean, at one point I had eleven people on the road -- roadies, keyboard players, sound guys, you know, everybody flying, renting cars -- for one, two weeks it cost $35,000. That is stupid."
Please don't ask for copies (unless you can really make it worth my while :)
Here's a list of all of the WBMS albums I could find reference to:
WBMS 102: Van Morrison 1979
WBMS 103: Nicolette Larson 1979
WBMS 104: Talking Heads 1979
WBMS 105: Guy Clark 1979
WBMS 106: Path Metheny1979
WBMS 107: Neil Young 1979
WBMS 109: Dire Straits 1979
WBMS 110: Monty Python 1979
WBMS 111: Robert Palmer 1979
WBMS 113: Shelia Jordan 1980
WBMS 114: Pretenders 1980
WBMS 115: DEVO 1980
WBMS 116: The Who 1980
WBMS 117: U2 1981
WBMS 119: King Krimson 1981
WBMS 120: Tom Tom Club 1981
WBMS 121: Pretenders 1982
WBMS 126: Gang of Four 1982?3?
WBMS 129: Depeche Mode
WBMS 130: Morrissey
WBMS 131: Joni Mitchell
WBMS 133: Lloyd Cole/Dream Academy 1985
WBMS 134: Laurie Anderson1986
I stopped looking after this; how long did this series go on!?
