Cassidy Live! was David Cassidy's fourth solo album and final album released on Bell Records. It was released in 1974 and was recorded live in Britain. It was produced by Cassidy and Barry Ainsworth on Bell Records. The recording captures some of the mass hysteria that surrounded Cassidy's live performances at that time. The album peaked at #9 on the UK album charts.[1]
"Please Please Me" was released as single from this album in the UK where it reached #16 on the British singles chart. The album failed to have much of an impact in the U.S. partially due to Bell Records' mid-1970s slump and that label's scheduled transition into Arista Records the following year.[3]
Writing for Allmusic, critic Dave Thompson wrote, "Recorded live on his 1974 world tour, at the height (and, though nobody knew it, in the final days) of Cassidy-mania, Cassidy Live is a peculiar document, on the one hand standing as an indication of just how fierce the hysteria around the lad was, but, on the other, living proof of what a sensational showman he was." Thompson summed up his review by saying, "Rock history has sidelined Cassidy with a finality that seems almost personal, shovelling him up a teen idol side street from which the only escape was retirement and resignation. Cassidy Live, however, was recorded while he still thought he had a chance of advancing -- and few period live albums come even close to capturing its excitement."[2]
