Live: Sittin' in Again at Santa Barbara Bowl (CD - 2005)

Columbia/Legacy's 2005 release of the compilation The Best of Loggins & Messina: Sittin' in Again spurred the duo to do a full-fledged reunion, complete with a nationwide tour in the summer and fall of 2005. At the end of the year, Rhino put out Live: Sittin' in Again at the Santa Barbara Bowl, which documented one of the first of those concerts. It's a warm, friendly show, with just the right amount of slickness. These are a couple of old pros and they know how to polish these songs for the stage, and how to sequence a set list so the hits are scattered among the 13 featured songs, all positioned in precisely the right place to give the show the right amount of momentum. While that doesn't necessarily make for an exciting live album, it does make for a pleasant one -- Loggins & Messina play all the hits, from "House at Pooh Corner" to "Your Mama Don't Dance," and they have a nice, easy rapport that is as enjoyable on record as it is on-stage. While this certainly won't replace the original recordings, any fan excited by a Loggins & Messina reunion in 2005 will find this to be a good souvenir. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine minimize