Entertainment For Lively Minds
Bands Whose Live Albums Were Better Than Their Studio Albums
Posted by smithylad on 5 June 2009 - 8:05am.
When I was going through my Hard Rock/Heavy Metal phase in the late 70's, the live albums of some of my favourite bands were far better than their studio albums. The examples I give are:
Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous
UFO - Strangers in the Night
Deep Purple - Made in Japan
Judas Priest - Unleashed in the East
Does that hold true beyond these 4 bands - any other bands past or present whose studio albums are pale compared to their live recordings?
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KISS
Alive 1
Alive 2... less so.
...even Alive 3 is superb esp. "Creatures of the Night".
Honest.
'Live and Dangerous' *is* a studio album in all but name...
it's about as 'live' as a cadaver!
Dare I say it in these parts but..........
Wilco's Kicking Television easily surpasses anything they recorded in the studio!
Also, Neil Young. Arc/Weld and Live Rust beat pretty much his studio canon
Got to disagree
As far as live Wilco goes there are several much better (legal) recorings on http://www.owlandbear.com/wilco-archive/ I would particularlly recommend http://wilcoarchive.com/wilco%2020080813%20NYCTaper%20Source/
Dr Feelgood & MC5
Their live album "Stupidity" is widely considered their definitive album.
Same goes for MC5s live debut "Kick Out The Jams"
Feelgoods
A Southend lad of my acquaintance saw about 60 Feelgoods gigs, but refused to buy any of their records (even the live one) because of his insistence they were solely a live proposition
Ramones
It's Alive makes all the studio albums redundant
except...
Except the ones that came out afterwards!
Noooooo...
Apart, maybe, from End Of The Century
It crushed my soul
Thhat was probably their last great album but they still managed the occassional classic track after that. I would rank 7-11 from Pleasant Dreams among my top 20 favourite tracks ever, by anyone so I can't dismiss the album that it was on.
Motorhead
No Sleep..., especially the expanded edition, is way better than the studio albums of that period
Agreed
Quite possibly the only Motorhead album you really need.
Rory Gallagher
Live in Europe, Irish Tour '74 and the BBC Sessions are all you need.
Rush
I've pretty much given up on their studio albums. It's not that they're badly recorded, more that the songwriting was too inconstant in quality. I have a Best Of but it doesn't quite sit right with me either. It's the live albums that make sense when it comes to this band.
Other than 'All The World's A Stage'
I don't get on with Rush live albums (or post 70s shows for that matter). They seem too keen to *exactly* replicate the sound of the studio albums and, especially during the 80's, decended into a pit of keyboards, triggers, samples etc.
J. Geils Band
'Full House' is better than any of their studio albums, and 'Blow Your Face Out' is better than all bar a couple.
The Song Remains The Same
is...as we all know...rubbish. However, the version on it of Rain Song is a personal favoirite. Yes, a woman* involved.
*means 'chick' for authentic Zep heads
But 'How The West Was Won'
blows away every Zeppelin studio album bar, perhaps, Physical Graffiti
The Who's 'Live At Leeds' is far, far superior to...
most of their studio albums, with the possible exception of Who's Next.
I'd also throw in
the original Quadrophenia. Apart from that, you're spot on.
Young Man Blues
on Live at Leeds is possibly the best live anything by anyone in rockular history.
Talking Heads
'The Name Of This Band Is Called...' live album pretty much covers 1977 - 1980 arguably better than the studio albums.
Stop Making Sense...
is possibly the best album they've done.
not here
The Name of... every time
I'd agree on Made in Japan
Great album.
Can I put in a word for "Wings Over America"? All the hits and a fair sprinkling of Beatles songs.
And the Who's "Live at Leeds" has the best versions of My Generation and Magic Bus.
Great shout for 'Wings Over America'...
and may I add that the music DVD I most want to see released is of the Wings film 'Rockshow' from the same tour... McCartney at his absolute peak as a vocalist, better even than when he was in The Beatles.
As if by magic, a shopkeeper appeared
Looks like it's already been and gone.
http://www.amazon.com/DVD-Paul-McCartney-Wings-Rockshow/dp/B000EEE0BM
"This DVD features 23 songs from McCartney and Wings concert at King Dome in Seattle Washington USA in front of 67000 fans .This was part of their epic world tour in the mid 1970's that formed the triple "Wings over America".
TRACK LIST : 1. Venus and Mars / Rock Show 2. Jet 3. Let Me Roll It. 4. Spirits Of Ancient Egypt. 5. Medicine Jar . 6. Maybe I'm Amazed 7. Live And Let Die. 8. Bluebird 9. I've Just Seen A Face / Yesterday / You Gave Me The Answer. 10. Magneto & Titanium Man 11. Go Now. 12. Listen To What The Man Said. 13. Let 'Em In 14. Time To Hide. 15. Silly Love Songs. 16. Beware My Love. 17. Letting Go. 18. Band On The Run. 19. Hi Hi Hi .20. Soily.
Bonus Materials:
BBC TOP OF THE POPS - 2: 1. Hi Hi Hi - 1972. 2. Band On The Run - 1974. 3. Silly Love Song - 1976. 4. Mull of Kintyre - 1977. 5. With a Little Luck - 1978. 6. Coming Up - 1980.
THE VIDEOS: 1. Medley: Bip Bop Maybe I'm Amazed Bluebird Live and Let Die Helter Skelter 2. Goodnight Tonight - 1979 3. Helen Wheels - 1973 4. My Love - 1973 5. Wonderful Christmas Time - 1979"
Check the reviews though...
Doesn't sound too great to me
Live in London
by that well known rocker and metalhead, Len Cohen.....
(OK, I dissed it a month back, as i feel most of the originals are better, BUT they are spread across a multitude of LPs which always have several, um, less interesting songs, rendering this a thoroughly decent greatest hits.
It also has the clearest sound since, well, actually, the actual concert.
Neil Finn / Crowded House
I don't know about a whole live album but the bits and bobs of live stuff I have from Neil Finn and his various band incarnations seem generally improved.
Certainly the live version of "Turn and Run" on the Seven Worlds Collide live album soars majestically compared to the studio recording.
Nine Below Zero
Live at the Marquee.
Their breakthrough, and a big hit at the time.
Mind their studio follow up, Don't Point Your Finger, is still a beaut of the first order.
I don't think they topped either
Seconds Out
This should probably be in the "unfashionable views" thread but I have always considered the live versions on Genesis' album "Seconds Out" to surpass the original studio versions. Pro-Gabriel, anti-Collins fans may disagree, but the early Genesis albums were not very well produced as they sound incredibly dated now.
Also:-
2) Travels - Pat Metheny Group
3) Rock n' Roll Animal - Lou Reed
4) If You Want Blood is the only AC/DC you need in my view.
Good call
I love Travels, and also agree about Seconds Out. I think that was really Genesis' peak.
Wrongity Wrong™ pt.2
Genesis Live is THEE album that changed the way I saw the world.
Seconds Out is good, very good but a pale shadow of the former and you know that!
My favourite Supertramp album....
... is their live one, Paris. Don't have any live ELO albums, so can't comment there.
I'll also go along with the Who "Live At Leeds"
"It's Too Late To Stop Now"
by Van Morrison... may not be his best album but it's a fabulous album and probably the greatest live album ever.
AC/DC If You Want Blood..
Great live album from 1978 with better versions of tracks from the earlier studio albums.
Allman Brothers Band - Grateful Dead
ABB Live at the Fillmore East is almost certainly their defining moment.
With the Dead the good live stuff is almost always better than the studio work.
If you are a fan of early Dead I doubt you'd rank anything over Live Dead.
Hot Winter
Wrongity Wrong™
UFO made some damn fine studio albums, Obsession and No Place to Run are boss!
now to go back and read the rest - so peeved was I by the initial post, Harumph!
A couple more suggestions
Stiff Little Fingers - Hanx was their first album I bought and quite frankly every studio single or album of theirs I heard afterwards just sounded so tame.
Nine Inch Nails - their debut (Pretty Hate Machine) sounds disturbingly Depeche Mode - ish, whereas the live versions (eg And All That Could Have Been) absolutely blows away the original studio versions.
Blue Oyster Cult
On Your Feet Or On Your Knees is one of THE live albums. And kicks the bollocks off any of the studio work.
So many of the great 70's and 80's bands were defined by live performance. A shame this is no longer so.