| You Need to Live a Little | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Larry Garner |
| Cover: | Larry Garner - You Need to Live a Little.png |
| Released: | 1995 |
| Recorded: | March 1994 |
| Genre: | |
| Length: | 63:33 |
| Label: |
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| Producer: | John Snyder |
| Prev Title: | Too Blues |
| Prev Year: | 1994 |
| Next Title: | Baton Rouge |
| Next Year: | 1995 |
You Need to Live a Little is an album by the American musician Larry Garner, released in 1995.[1] [2] Garner's contract with Gitanes/Verve Records allowed him to quit his day job in order to promote the album.[3] He supported it with United Kingdom and North American tours.[4] [5]
Garner was signed to Gitanes/Verve after successful shows at the Parisian nightclub New Morning.[6] You Need to Live a Little was produced by John Snyder. Willie Weeks played bass on the album. David "Fathead" Newman played a saxophone solo on "Miracles of Time"; Garner wrote a letter to Gladys Knight, his favorite singer, to ask if she had listened to the song as he wanted her to cover it.[7] The Legendary White Trash Horns contributed to a few tracks. Garner considered his lyrics to be of an observational nature, touching on problems in his own life that were also universal.[8] "Four Cars Running" describes the financial burden of supporting grown children.[9] "Rats and Roaches in My Kitchen" is a cover of the Silas Hogan song, on which Sonny Landreth played slide guitar.[10] The album is dedicated to Hogan.
The Times Colonist wrote that "Garner's gifts for songwriting, singing, guitar playing, and arranging shine through the recording's unpretentious stance."[11] OffBeat determined that "the moody urgings of the title track open with a minor-key arrangement that recalls the jazzy 1eanings of the Allman Brothers classic instrumental 'In Memory of Elizabeth Reed'."[12] The Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph noted that "although his roots are in Louisiana swamp blues—characterized by bleak guitar grooves and shuffled backbeats—Garner's music is surprisingly fresh and soulful."[13] The Home News & Tribune listed You Need to Live a Little among the best blues albums of 1995.[14]
The Chicago Tribune said that You Need to Live a Little "showcases a witty, innovative writer and tasty guitarist who refuses to limit himself to standard 12-bar forms."[15] The Michigan Chronicle opined that "Miracles of Time" "may be among the decade's most enduring songs."[16] The Record labeled Garner "a wittier version of Albert Collins."[17] The Miami New Times stated that "Garner's guitar playing services the song, rather than vice versa, although he squeezes off some clean B.B. King-like solos."[18]
AllMusic called Garner "a witty, imaginative songwriter, crisply concise guitarist, and convincing singer". MusicHound Blues: The Essential Album Guide considered the title track, "Nobody's Special", and "Another Bad Day" to be "moody, minor-key masterpieces".