by William Ruhlmann
John Denver's first live album, An Evening with John Denver (1975), was a lavish two-LP set accompanying a network TV special, released at his commercial peak. His second live album, The Wildlife Concert, is a lavish two-CD set accompanying a cable TV special and home video, released at his commercial trough. Denver performs most of his Top Ten hits from the '70s (but not &Thank God I'm a Country Boy,& the big hit off the last live album), getting the bulk of them out of the way early on the first disc. He adds some well-chosen covers by folk peers such as David Mallett (the antiwar &You Say the Battle Is Over&) and Tom Paxton (&Bet on the Blues&), selects some of his better, if less familiar, songs of the last decade (&The Harder They Fall,& &Falling Out of Love&), and introduces new material touching on his favorite romantic (&Is It Love?&) and political/philosophical (&Amazon&) themes. With such a balanced set list, he manages to revitalize the best of his catalog, reassert his folk roots, and, to an extent, redefine himself.