Omnivore Recordings has announced Van Duren & Good Question’s Cartwheeling: Live In Memphis, a previously unissued live recording from 1992, which will be released on December 1, 2023.
Van Duren shares in the liner notes:
It was such a memorable, electric night. And when the room emptied and we dispersed into the cold Memphis night, no one dreamed it would be 30+ years later before that performance would finally be available to hear.
Van Duren spent his early days playing with Big Star’s Chris Bell and Jody Stephens, was discovered by Andrew Loog Oldham (The Rolling Stones), and went on a celebrated solo career, which inspired the documentary Waiting: The Van Duren Story. Now, he continues to be associated with his native Memphis.
Van Duren also fronted Good Question, a band whose only release in 1986 fell through the cracks. In 1991, the band began work on a follow-up, and invited a group of Memphis friends to a performance to showcase the new album material. The set simultaneously acted as a retrospective of Van’s career as a solo act, featuring material from his albums Are You Serious? and Idiot Optimism, plus a last-minute addition of a Beatles cover, worked up during rehearsals.
The second album never materialized, and this performance has sat in the vaults, waiting to be heard.
Cartwheeling: Live In Memphis is that show, presenting that 1992 set from Van Duren, James Lott, Ray Sanders, Joel Williams, with special guest Rick Steff (Lucero). It is newly restored and mastered by Grammy winner Michael Graves, and Van Duren contributes new liners outlining the show and its significance.
Cartwheeling: Live In Memphis Tracklist:
1. Is She Ever
2. I’m Looking For A Wife
3. Her Name Comes Up
4. A Man Would Be Crazy To Give Up All This
5. One More Real Kiss
6. The Love That I Love
7. Tennessee, I’m Trying
8. Cartwheeling
9. Fool For The Face
10. Such A Secret
11. Midnight In Memphis
12. Jane
13. Got To Get You Into My Life
14. The Naked Eye Of Love
