On this latest CD, Jonathan Butler returns home to where it all began.  This is a live recording done in his native Cape Town, South Africa.  Jonathan takes many of his popular songs and does them up right before his hometown fans.  He covers a lot of ground with this live concert, moving from R&B to contemporary jazz to African grooves, to folk and even a dab of gospel.  These are the musical styles that define Jonathan Butler’s music.

There are 14 tracks on this CD, eight of which are primarily his more popular vocal tunes. He pays homage to the legendary Staple Singers with one of their classic tunes, “If You’re Ready.” He captures the same soul/gospel feel intended in the original song.  “I’m On My Knees” is reminiscent of some of the great 60’s soul singers.  Jonathan and the band have a good time with this one, singing, crooning, begging, and pleading their way through this song.  “This Is Love,” “Do You Love Me?” and “Lies” are definite crowd favorites and he does not disappoint when delivering these songs in concert.  Audiences love singing along to them.

Of the eight vocals tunes on the CD, the emotional and heartfelt version of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry,” is one of the highlights.  It begins as an acoustic song, with just Butler and his guitar, but by the time the song ends, the band has joined in and the song reaches a crescendo.  This is a showstopper every time he performs it. Butler performs a short acoustic medley of three songs, “Sing Me Your Love Song,” “Take Good Care of Me,” and “More Than Friends.” Whether he’s got a full band, or whether it’s just Butler and his guitar, the music sounds good, and you can’t help but get drawn into it.   

For as much as I enjoy listening to Jonathan Butler the singer, I love hearing Jonathan Butler the guitarist even more.  Some of the most moving and powerful songs on this CD, for me, are the instrumentals.   “Afrika,” the first track on this CD, is one of his early releases.  He appropriately begins the concert with this song. He plays his guitar around an African groove, and accents the whole thing with a vocal repetition of the title word; it becomes almost an invocation.  “7th Avenue” is another heavy hitting highlight on this release.  The playing is powerful, and punctuated by a strong refrain throughout. The ballad, “Song for Elizabeth,” another favorite, gives Butler a chance to add some scatting and vocalizing to his songs.  “Wake Up” is another African influenced song.  This is a very up tempo song, and Jonathan really stretches out on this one with extended guitar highlights.  It’s hard to sit still when you hear this song.  He’s raised the bar with this one.

For some reason, there are two back to back versions of his biggest hit, “Sarah, Sarah” – the live version recorded as part of the concert, and another version (the Mano Mix.)  “Sarah, Sarah” was released as a vocal on the More Than Friends album, but he chose to perform this as an instrumental for this album, which works well.

This is a CD that gets better with every listen; however, I do have two regrets: (1) since I am a fan of instrumental music, I would have loved to hear more of Jonathan Butler’s instrumental tunes, especially the ones influenced by his South African heritage.  I thought there would be more of them since it’s recorded in South Africa, and (2) I would have been very happy if this were a double CD live recording.  Yes, I know there are 14 tracks on it already, but I’m a Jonathan Butler fan.  I’m greedy and I want more.  One cannot have too many Jonathan Butler songs on a live CD.  Thank goodness this one comes with a bonus DVD.