Entertainment For Lively Minds
Can anybody recommend a live album that is actually worth buying?
Posted by mikechurch on 23 May 2010 - 11:04am.
I very rarely buy live albums. (I prefer dead ones.) I'm nearly always disappointed, particularly if I've heard the studio versions of the songs being performed. You know the typical frustrations: poor recording quality, notes the singers can't reach outside of a studio, moronic crowd chanting, hopelessly screwed-up harmonies, etc.
I have a similar aversion to live DVDs. Even with the video, if the music quality isn't up to scratch, I just don't want to know, I'm afraid.
That said, I'm sure some of you can think of live albums that ought to be part of any music lover's collection . . .
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3 favourites
The Ramones - It's Alive
All the best songs from the first 3 albums, with just a soupcon of post-event tidy-up.
John Coltrane - Live at The Village Vanguard & Live at The Village Vanguard Again
jazz genius, in flight
Live At The Village Vanguard
Sony Rollins' album from the same venue is equally fantastic and Bill Evans' is also brilliant. Must be the acoustics!
It's Alive
Manages to be both the best live album and the best Ramones one.
Two which spring to mind are...
...The Oo's Live at Leeds (obv.) and I've always liked Moz's Beethoven Was Deaf.
Live At Leeds qualification
The earlier the version the better. The original vinyl (hopefully it was properly transcribed to CD) is fantastic.
With subsequent releases and expansions the quality is diluted. I now have the DeLuxe edition, but know I'd be better off with the original vinyl.
A question....
Do you mean the sound quality is not as good, or do you mean the quality dips with a larger number of tracks?
Think of it like a bag of cream cakes...
One cake is wonderful, two is better but any more is somehow too much.
Exactement
Monsieur.
Mm
I love cream cakes. Can I have another one?
(I'll stick with my deluxe edition)
But the Deluxe version
contains the complete performance of Tommy, and that is not to be missed.
My recommendation is for Full House by The J. Geils Band. It's live and no mistake.
I'm not sure
that a complete performance of Tommy is any sort of recommendation. Tommy was all the better in the abridged version they used to perform later in life.
Agree
For Live at Leeds less is more.
Bruce...
Cockburn... the albums can be patchy and some haven't dated well, but I love this live one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-Bruce-Cockburn/dp/B00007KM8H/ref=sr_1_2?ie=...
I'd forgotten that one.
It is very good as is the later You Pay Your Money... by the same artist.
Live at Leeds seconded -
While I don't usually like Deluxe Editions, the second disc has a full performance of 'Tommy'. Highly recommended.
And Tom Petty's 'Pack Up The Plantation' is a terrific album.
The Who / James Brown / Stax-Volt / Stones / Reed / Roxy
If there's one live album that would change ColinRapHead's mind, it's the original version of THE WHO LIVE AT LEEDS - though I must say I think the Deluxe Edition ruins its carefully ordered, carefully edited, creation of what would - had it actually happened like that - been the greatest live performance ever staged. By restoring the long pauses between songs, complete with unengaging patter, Polygram have done the original album a great disservice. Of course Sam's quite right - the performance of TOMMY is an undoubted gain. But try to get the original version if you can.
Other albums that feature extraordinary performances and a palpable sense of 'Liveness' - the electrical current running between the performer and the audience:
JAMES BROWN LIVE AT THE APOLLO - the crowd goes crazy for JB before he even appears on stage, thanks partly to Fats Gonder's declamatory intro. Brown proves he IS the 'hardest workin' man in showbizniz' on this phenomenal 1963 workout.
THE STAX-VOLT REVIEW: HIT THE ROAD STAX - the developing hysteria of Otis's performance, cheered on by DJ Emperor Rosko, on the London part of the record is 20 minutes of the sheerest excitement ever committed to vinyl. And try THE STAX-VOLT REVUE Vol 1 - LIVE IN LONDON for the electrifying Sam & Dave show.
ROLLING STONES: GET YER YA-YA'S OUT - there's quite a bit of 'live' Stones stuff out there. This is the one. It even tops the original mix of 'Got Live If You Want It', which consisted of under-amped power-chords dimly-heard through screaming.
LOU REED - ROCK N ROLL ANIMAL. At a time when going to a Lou Reed gig was a gamble on whether he'd even turn up, or if he turned up, would he actually play, Reed was also capable of turning in quite astonishing performances - and this album cuts a few together into a piece of live dynamite.
ROXY MUSIC - VIVA! A reminder that as well as being a smart, highly-educated fountain of musical ideas, Roxy were a GREAT live band. Always under-valued band member Paul Thompson creates the percussion bedrock. Ferry, McKay & Manzanera shoot and float all over the place - and the crowd goes wild.
Get Yer Ya Yas Out
except forget the re-issue. Ike and Tina Turner are awful - unrehearsed, bass player playing wrong notes etc etc.
Speaking of the latter, somehow it doesn't seem to matter when it happens on "Johnny Cash Live at San Quentin".
Van Morrison's
"It's Too Late To Stop Now" - none finer.
Another personal favourite is Bob Dylan's "Hard Rain", but it's not for the faint hearted.
Van and the Velvets
I'd agree with Van's It's Too Late... I was never much of a fan until I heard that.
The Velvet Underground always sound better live than on their studio LPs. Quine Tapes is their best LP.
It's on the turntable at the moment!
And it really is a magnificent record.
Van was indeed the Man
Was that live album old Van's finest moment? It is an absolute corker. May I also suggest Dylan and the Band's "Wake of the Flood". They play an absolute storm.
Sorry, but
Before The Flood?
Van was indeed the Man
Was that live album old Van's finest moment? It is an absolute corker. May I also suggest Dylan and the Band's "Wake of the Flood". They play an absolute storm.
If you only buy one LIVE album.......
Bob Marley & The Wailers-Live At The Lyceum. This exudes atmosphere and warmth, and any record collection is incomplete without it! In fact i'm going to stick it on now.
Seconded
But make sure you get the original CD transcription, with the extended version of Lively Up Yourself, which is fantastic and the point in the concert when the crowd really go off into the stratosphere. The remastered version has the short Lively Up Yourself and an extra track, Kinky Reggae, in which Bob introduces the band - the most tedious thing to put on a live album.
Warren Zevon
Stand In The Fire. Play loud.
Dr Feelgood's
Stupidity
Lee Brilleaux and Wilco Johnson's spiky stage chemistry captured at its raw peak.
Seconded
Possibly the best Feelgoods album, even better than "...Jetty"
None more metal.
Blue Öyster Cult: On Your Feet or on Your Knees
Billy Joel... no, come back!
The Billy Joel thread has sent me back to "Songs In The Attic" a 1981 live record from the Piano Man. But it's a live record with an agenda: Having finally broken through with the platinum-tastic records The Stranger, 52nd Street and Glass Houses, Joel decided that the live record should be made up of generally unknown songs from his first four non-platinum records where the live version improves on the original studio take. The album succeeds in improving on all the originals, especially the tracks off 1976's Turnstiles: Miami 2017, Say Goodbye to Hollywood and I've Loved These Days. It's great Billy Joel album for people who don't like Billy Joel.
Here it is on Spotify:
http://open.spotify.com/album/5UYfSR6dGz7RT9SiefYsYo
Loudon Wainwright
"Career Moves" and "So Damn Happy" I listen to these again and again and can highly recommend.
I also had a soft spot for Roxy Music "Viva" and although haven't heard it for many a moon now... "9 Below Zero at Live at the Marquee".
BB King
'Live at the Regal' is a must have
and I also like The Derek Trucks Band 'Live at Georgia Theatre'
AC/DC
If you want blood...You've got it.
Best live album of all time.
That's all.
Growing up in the backwaters
I didn't go to many concerts, so live albums have always been the next best thing and I still have a special affection for them. Looking at my CD rack I see:
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Live (cant listen to No Woman No Cry any other way)
Led Zeppelin - BBC sessions
Simon and Garfunkel - Live in Central Park
Cheap Trick - Live at Budokan
Eric Clapton - Just One Night
Neil Diamond - Hot August Night (waits for sound of flying brickbats)
and of course, the mighty - Live Dead
All worth a punt in my opinion if you like that kind of music.
Not sure what kind of music you like, but
Three I find myself return to:
Townes Van Zandt - Live At The Old Quarter (just him with a guitar)
Iron Maiden - Flight 666 (a brilliant live band at yet another peak + loud audience)
The Band - Rock Of Ages (better than The Last Waltz, even if not as legendary)
Seconded 'Rock of Ages'
Although The Last Waltz contains definitive version of It Makes No Difference ... I get something in my eye everytime.
Thirded.
On Rock of Ages.I'm also feeling some love for Waiting for Columbus by Little Feat and Live at the Greek by Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes.
Fourth-ed
Rock of Ages is that very rare thing - an essential live album.
I´m with you
The Waltz´ version of It Makes No Difference is possibly my all time favourite song by The Band and Rick Danko is one of my all time favourite singers. May he rest in peace.
Now there´s no love
As true as the love
That dies untold
Shakespeare could have been proud of those lines.
Now That's What I Call Music!
Thanks, Ola, this is simply wonderful. I'll add it to my list. Looks like I'm going to have to mortgage the mansion in Miami at this rate.
Well, what have got here?
It almost sounds as if we have a new friend of The Band. Welcome to the bearded side!
With the current housing market I advice you to rent out rather than mortgage.
The Last Waltz
will change your life, Mike. Get the DVD while you're at it.
Now That's What I Call Music!
Thanks, Ola, this is simply wonderful. I'll add it to my list. Looks like I'm going to have to mortgage the mansion in Miami at this rate.
Now That's What I Call Music!
Thanks, Ola, this is simply wonderful. I'll add it to my list. Looks like I'm going to have to mortgage the mansion in Miami at this rate.
Sorry!
I'm really sorry, my comment seems to have been posted several times, and I can't see any delete button. Is there one? Anyway, really sorry, as I say.
I heart Robbie's little descending riff
after "fall" at around 1:55. You can just see him move out of frame as he plays it.
That was great
I think I may even have the DVD somewhere.
Off to search it out.
A free one
Perhaps my favourite Steve Earle album is him live with the Del McCoury Band. It's simply called Malmo, Sweden, May 11 1999. The sound quality is excellent as is the performance.
Find it at a torrent site near you.
The other Live At Leeds album to buy is John Martyn's version. There's a load of official live albums available by him, but this was the first and remains the best.
I'd also give a thumb's up to Bob Marley & the Wailers live at the Lyceum.
I'm also partial to The Jayhawks, Live at the Women's Club Vol 1.
The Jayhawks, Live at the Women's Club Vol 1.
..simply beautiful.
Oooh - Loads not already mentioned
James Brown - Live at the Apollo
Thin Lizzy - Live & Dangerous (NB: some of this may not be actually live)
Rory Gallagher - Irish Tour '74
Costello & Nieve - 5 EP box set of the two 'unplugged'
Jimi Hendrix - Live at Monterey (also Otis's set at Monterey)
Little Feat - Electrif Lycanthrope (or Waiting for Columbus if you want to stay 'official')
Jeff Buckley - Live at Sin-e
Johnny Cash - San Quentin/Folsom Prison
Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series 6: Live 1964
Free - Live!
Magazine - Play
And there's many more...
the one you need
Bob Dylan Live 1966
I don't believe you...
you're a LIAR!
(coat)
Type...
FUCKING LOUD.
It used to go like that
now it goes like this.
mmmuuuuhhh mmmmuuuh
mm mmmuuhhh mmmmuuh mmmmuhh Tom Said mmmm MMMuuhh MMuhhh
Tom Said mmmm MMMuuhh MMuhhh mm mmmuuhhh mmmmuuh mmmmuhh
mm mmmuuhhh Ola said mmmmuuh mmmmuhh...
if you only wouldn't clap so hard
From deep in the heart of Texas..
live at the Armadillo World Headquarters....
Commander Cody... and the Lost Planet Ayer-mayun!!!!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-Deep-Heart-Texas-Commander/dp/B000002NWU/re...
Fantastic live album, an absolute blast from start to finish
see my thread below last year
Quite a few listed there. I'd recommend Ziggy Stardust live at Hammersmith (Bowie); Live and Dangerous (Thin Lizzy); Live at the Filmore (Humble Pie); Live at Leeds (The Who); Double live Gonzo (Ted Nugent); How the West Was Won (Led Zep) If You Want Blood (AC/DC), Strangers in the night (UFO); 1964 and 1966 Bootlegs live (Bob Dylan); Live in the Heart of the City (Whitesnake) Irish Tour 74 (Rory Gallagher); Twin Peaks (Mountain).
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/i-love-a-good-live-album-dont-you
Twin Peaks
good call... a fine album. Just a *little* self-indulgent in parts though :-)
I like very much
Tom Waits - Glitter And Doom Live
If you're a Waits' fan, there are different versions of the favourites as well as rare songs. Atmosphere is definitely captured.
The Pretenders - The Isle Of View
At one time, my favourite album. It's basically their greatest hits, live and unplugged.
Steve Earle - Live In Austin TX
Austin City Limits show from about the late 80's IIRC. Songs from his first two albums.
Bruce Springsteen - Live in Dublin
It's wonderful if you like the Pete Seeger stuff.
Honourable mention too for BB King - Live at San Quentin and I agree with the above posters who mention Loudon Wainwright III, Nine Below Zero(though it's a bit quiet)and Simon and Garfunkel.
Springsteen, by a mile. And Todd Snider and Waylon Jennings.
You're absolutely spot on - Bruce's Dublin live album is near perfect. There was an additional CD which came out, as a gift for those who donated to public radio in America, at about the same time - cracking versions of 'Bobby Jean', 'For You' and others. And there are a bucket load of fantastic bootlegs available via Backstreets - many of them are simply fantastic.
Todd Snider, too, is well-served by bootlegs - the atruersound blog has some outstanding things, on which his stories outweigh the songs (which are great too).
And - an official release - you can't go far wrong with the imaginatively-titled "Waylon Live" on which Mr Jennings knocks out hit after hot - You Asked Me To, Rainy Day Woman, This Time... and not a sign of the theme music to the Dukes of Hazard.
'Sinatra...
..at The Sands'.
A man at the top of his game.
It's a ring-a-dingin'
doozy :-)
"Sammy Davis Junior was here..
..last week...sweeping up"
'How did all these people
get in my room?'
Try these
"It's Alive" is magnificent
"Stop Making Sense" by Talking Heads is certainly not a "fans only" album.
"Modern Lovers Live" is excellent.... well I think so but it may be a "if you like that sort of thing" situation
One of my favourite Eels albums is "Live at the Town Hall"
So, we're all agreed then:
there aren't really that many many decent live albums!
I'd add "Live at Leeds" by.... John Martyn.
Seconds Out
Genesis - bought it on CD recently and had forgotten how it could transport me back the Glasgow Apollo and the first rock gig I ever saw.
Seconds Out Seconded
As above - I'd forgotten quite how good it was.
Up there with the very best of Genesis' work
Huge, powerful, with a certain sense of majesty and one of the iconic lighting designs (and a tambourine solo)
Between the ages of 17 and 20...
...it was rarely off my turntable!
The accompanying film was pretty good as well
if a little shorter than the album.
Mark Eitzel
Songs of Love Live.
Plus the dreaded 'moronic crowd chanting' is not a problem since there only appears to be about five people there.
Seconded
Plus
No Sleep til Hammersmith - all live Motorhead albums are better than their studio counterparts.
Carole King - Carnegie Hall
John Cale - Fragments of a rainy season
Nomeansno - Live and Cuddly
and there's at least one Bonnie Prince Billy corker
The answer if of course
David Bowie. "Stage" is awesomely brilliant IMHO.
Late 70s great versions of tracks from "Low" especially.
Scuse me while I dig out the vinyl and play it right now
Not to mention
David Live - where it all began for As Usual and me.
Is there a difference?
I quite like live albums in general - I like a bit of atmos, audience noise, etc - but I would suggest the really 'worthwhile' ones are those that offer you something different from the recorded versions. Surely anyone who was a fan of certain acts at the time was pretty thrilled if their favourites brought out an 'Unplugged'. (Although not sure what Springsteen was thinking.)
Another example: I'm fond of 'Rank' by The Smiths. Sure, it's a radio broadcast released as a cash-in, but with the two-guitar line-up it shifted the Morrissey 'bias' of the relatively delicate album versions over to Marr, who rocks out like a man possessed.
My favourite live album is 'Toward the Within' by Dead Can Dance - the performances are sublime and they deliberately included a lot of material that didn't feature on their albums anyway. I'm sure I've posted this recently in another thread - sorry - but as far as I know, this is the only version of this classic in existence and I wouldn't have it any other way...
Ta Specs...
made my day listening to that.
Genesis ~ Live
that was my 'Road to Damascus' album so shall forever be at the top of my list, others:
Zappa/Beefheart/Mothers ~ Bongo Fury
Humble Pie ~ Performance
RevCo ~ You Goddamned Son of a Bitch!
The Cure ~ Trilogy (apart from the Bloodflowers set)
The Sisters Of Mercy ~ Wake
Suede ~ Love and Poison
The Pink Floyd ~ Is there anybody out there? The Floyd's most overlooked album
and of course
The Who ~ Live at Leeds, I think I'll go for the 25th anniversary version
Santana - Moon flower
Always thought their studio albums sounded a bit dull, but Moon flower
is Jazzy and full of Latin fire.
'Moments from this Theatre'...
by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham is a wonderful record. Beautiful songs, beautifully performed.
Space Ritual
I didn't want to be the one that mentioned it but as no-one else has...
And Tom Waits' Nighthawks at the Diner.
Doh!
<---slaps self oops upside the head
of course Space Ritual and now I've had time to think, I want Uriah Heep ~ Live in here
great album that sums up a "Friday night in Birmingham" back in the 70s and like 'em or loathe 'em they had some great tunes and rocked like a mutha fletcher!!!
Skynyrd
"One More From The Road"
Live from the Fox Theater in Atlanta, it's a brilliant snapshot of a band at the very peak of their power and popularity. Again, go for the original vinyl rather than the extended versions with alternate takes from other shows......
Vinyl
I have my own vinyl transfer of this and it sounds fab!
Full House...
...by the J. Geils Band is really good: raucous, fast, loud and fun.
Cheap Trick
At Budokan.
My fave live album. Now available on 2CD + DVD box set - marvellous stuff.
Awwww, Cheap Trick.
Now you're talking. Might have to have a listen...
Fopp
Fopp were selling the box set for £7 - 3 CDs & a DVD. They're all gone now, but I was pleased to snaffle one for me and a couple for friends.
It's a belter
Of course
it sounds best on yellow vinyl.
I can't disagree!
This thread...
...has resulted in me putting Full House and Live At Budokan into my strictly-limited-to-four-albums iPod rotation. Cracking journey into work this morning....
Todd Rundgren
Back To the Bars... It's a gem!
I'd go for
Utopia ~ Another Live
Stiff Little Fingers - "Hanx!"
Quite possibly the best thing they ever did - I got that before getting any studio stiuff, and the latter just sounds so tame & slooowwww by comparison.
The word "blistering" may be quite justifiably applied, in fact.
SLF
The peel session stuff is nice as well. I was only really a fan of the first album though. Remember getting it on day one (another thread methinks) and playing it to death.
Hanx Is A Top Album
Really shows what SLF can/could do.
Another is the later release 'Live In Aberdeen' (same time period), but contains the full show, unlike Hanx which is two shows spliced together
REM Live at the Olympia, Dublin
I thought I was done with REM but this is brilliant. 39 tracks, very few singles - none of the obvious ones. The playing is sublime, the band are having fun - and you'd swear that Bill Berry was on stage with them. Tons of old - a magical record.
Ooooh
might have to buy this now :-)
Neil Young,s...
Weld...for those who prefer loud Neil over quiet Neil!
For those of us too young to never have seen him live
with Crazy Horse Weld is perhaps the best substitute. Who can resist 14 minutes of Like A Hurricane?
Time Fades Away...
... a remarkable live album, but sadly, hard to obtain...
As a lifelong fan of Taj Mahal...
...I highly recommend his live album from 1972; "The Real Thing".
Bloody amazing, especially one of my favourite tracks of all time, and favourite titles too;
"You Ain't No Street Walker Mama, Honey But I Do Love The Way You Strut Your Stuff"! 18:56 of pure genius!
I'm listening to it now, dancing in my chair as I write...!
scuse me
while I kiss your feet
I've been through 4 copies of this one
OH, the tubas.
Finally
someone who understands me!
I was beginning to feel a chilly wind creeping in through the cracks of this blog every time I said something about Taj Mahal...
Yeah; the tubas, the bloody everythings!
Has The Real Thing
got that fantastic version of Sweet Home Chicago with The Pointer Sisters?
No
But you should get it anyway! :)
Stiff Little Fingers
Hanx!
Macca
Back In The World gets a big thumbs aloft from me. Does anyone know if the subsequent/more recent live albums are better/the same/substantially different?
Substantially the same, but ...
I would recommend the most recent one 'Good Evening New York'. Pick up the deluxe version with the DVD. The other one to get is 'Unplugged'. IMHO.
Seconded and seconded
Good Evening New York is a nice parade of stone cold classics performed by a very nice band, although I would prefer more Wings and solo stuff and less of HJH. Even if I think HJH is the Best! Band! Ever! you just can´t beat the original versions.
Unplugged is a gem and really hard to get a hold on, at least in this corner of the world. And it´s disappeared from Spotify.
The Clash
From Here to Eternity - worth it alone for a brilliant version of White Man in Hammersmith Palais
Talking Heads
'The Name of This Band is Called Talking Heads'. The best available perfomances of their best work. Especially the Remain In Light era stuff - with the great enhanced band including Adrian Belew. Recently re-issued with extra tracks. Better than 'Stop Making Sense'.
Not very legal...
...but Winterland Night by Bruce Springsteen, recorded in 1978, is stunning.
oh yes
This is the best recorded rock performance I have ever heard. Took me to places I didn't know existed when I was 19.
What, no Richard Thompson?
Two Letter Words and Celtschmerz are both excellent self released cds still available I believe from his website.
Aside from these I would also go with John Martyn Live at Leeds, Eels at the Town Hall and Talking Heads Stop making sense as the best of the genre.
Better than it has any right to be
The Guess Who - Live at the Paramount. Julian Cope raves about this record in Head-On and he's right to do so. It's a great night in.
I always liked Live X-cert by the Stranglers and Derek & Clive (Live), because swearing is funny when you're twelve.
Otis/Hendrix/Stones/Feat
One of my favourites is a double header vinyl album from the 1967 Monterey festival. On one side is Otis Redding, the other Jimi Hendrix.
On the 'not exactly legal' side of things, The Stones' Brussels Affair better than any of their official live albums.
And Little Feat's Electrif Lycanthrope really is as good as it's reputation suggests.
Monterey seconded
I've got that on indestructible Japanese vinyl and it is marvellous.
Bill Withers
Bill Withers live at Carnegie hall is one of my all time favourite albums. What an amazing voice, pity he's more or less retired now.
Never mind...
at least we've still got R. Kelly.
Lucky us...
Seconded
I never understand why this doesn't figure more highly in lists of best live albums. It sounds like the band and the audience are all part of the same brilliant party.
The Allman Brothers Band
- 'Live At The Fillmore East'
As good now as it was then.
Rory Gallagher Live In Europe
Nuff said....
Stones
ya yas is great - tho it has a a few studio amendments...
brussels affair is par excellance (imho) - and being a bootleg it's warts and all but the amazing thing is, there are no warts!
also Who Went to Church This Sunday (LA '75) - does have warts but is brilliant nonetheless (check the version of Wild Horses)
the sound track to Ladies & Gentlemen the Rolling Stones ('72) is out there and features certainly one of Keiths' (and with that the band's) greatest live perfomances on Bye Bye Johnny
Side three of Love You Live - the el macombo stuff - hard to credit that a complete recording of either of the two shows they did does not exist - boots of the shows feature a cracking version of Hand of Fate as well as Jagger really hitting his falsetto heights on Worried About You (which of course didn't surface in studio form 'til Tattoo You)
lastly their live version of Movin' On at the end of Out Of Our Heads is awesome - the stones invent cowboy-punk at a single stroke
'Mad Dogs and Englishmen'
by Joe Cocker is pretty amazing. As is 'The Mothers Live at Fillmore East'- very funny and very tight. ( But probably not as funny or as tight as Joe Cocker's trousers ).
Tim Buckley
Surely Dream letter live in London is better than most of his studio material
Both "Dream Letter Live in London"
and "Live at the Troubadour 1969" are mind-blowingly brilliant.
the longest offical live album recording?
I am the shameless owner of the Chick Corea/ Return to Forever QUADRUPLE live recording of their 1977 tour. When I put it on a cassette for the car some years ago, the record jumped (ah, those late 70s pressings) and went back a bit - not that you could notice on the recording given the astonishing noodling and volcanoes being displayed. When it was re-released on CD some years back they edited it down to fit 2 CDs, and again the cuts could barely be noticed given the steady-state jamming.
The thing I really like about it these days is the pic of them on the back cover with some astonishingly nasty 'tour jackets'. Was this the worst bit of promotional tour clothing?
"The Complete Miles Davis at Montreux"
"The Complete Miles Davis at Montreux" is a 20 (twenty) CD official live album set. I suppose that's cheating a bit, as it contains selection from tours between 1973 and 1991.
If we're talking about official live albums culled from just one short tour, then the longest I can think of off the top of me 'ead are:
Keith Jarrett (Trio) at the Blue Note - Complete Recordings, 6 CDs (every note from a 3-night residency, and an out-and-out masterpiece)
... and
Keith Jarrett - the Sun Bear concerts, 6 CDs (every note performed during a short solo tour of Japan)
Keith Jarrett
Thanks for the tip on a different thread for these - I got them from emusic and I've been soaking in them for the last week.
Keith Jarrett
I'd include "Testament - Paris/London", "Koln Concert", "Up For It" on any list of favourite live albums.
I remember borrowing the Sun Bear Concerts from Sheffield library in about 1985 - nearly gave me a hernia carrying all those albums home! I don't own them, but feel I should! There's a lot of good stuff amongst those performances, but you have to put up with a fair bit of stumbling around until he hits on some cracking melodies. That's the nature of fully improvised music, though.
Great picks
'Up for It' is a joy from start to finish.
I can never resist a plug for the solo 'Vienna Concert', though (also took part in the other thread mentioned!)...
I've recently been listening to.....
...The Move's Anthology boxset which contains the whole of the Marquee gig from which the Something Else EP was lifted: I'm sure it's out there on the web if you want to listen to it without buying the whole thing ;)
Kick Out The Jams
The MC5 in full flight. An album that is head 'n' shoulders above anything of theirs that came out of the studio.
Live albums good
I reckon there's a case to be made for live albums sometimes improving on the original. Band having had time to grow into tracks and all that. I'd take the (not really) Unplugged version of Thunder Road over the original from Born To Run any day.
My two live album nominations would be Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band's Nine Tonight and Barclay James Harvest's Berlin: A Concert for the People.
Having heard the BJH before coming across the album version of "Living Is Easy" I was shocked by the latter's plodding delivery.
re Uncle Bob plus etc . . .
I would say that LIVE BULLET is a far superior live album to Nine Tonight, but it's all down to personal taste I guess. I submit in my defence, however, "Get Out Of Denver" into "Let It Rock" which basically rocks right down the hole in the middle (be it double vinyl or CD)
Away from rock; most jazz musicians make much better live albums than studio albums; I cite Weather Report, Miles Davis (Pangea and Agharta being my two favourites), Marcus Miller (Alive and More),Eddie Harris, well, the list could go on for ever. I guess it's all down to the art of improvisation. the more you play it and play with it, the more interesting it becomes.
And then, of course, there are THE BAYS who have never recorded anything in the studio, EVER
I would add my vote for Space Ritual, except I'm on the bloody thing
livingjukebox
PS Francis Zappa made a slew of really outstanding live albums as well. I'd put "Just Another Band From LA" near the top the list.
If you can remember...
...being on Space Ritual, does that mean that you weren't really there?
Seriously, would love to hear more.
I need
more info too...
Um.....my vote goes for 10cc
Live and Let Live.
It was recorded for a radio show I think with Andy Peebles doing the introductions ("Hit albums ,hit singles that you all know about...)
I was about 12 when i got it and it really rocks much more than you might think. Ok, the sound may well have been tweaked after the event but it`s still great to this day.
And i love the gatefold sleeve too.
So there.
Strictly speaking, not an album that you can buy...legally...
...however, it is amongst the best live recordings I have ever heard. I would put this up against any of the albums listed thus far on this thread.
Faces are one of several bands who, despite their reputations as fearsomely good live performers, never really seemed to made a good live album. This set is a pre-FM soundboard master of a BBC Top Gear In Concert - and the quality of both sound and performance are absolutely bloody amazing.
http://qualitybootz.blogspot.com/2010/05/faces-london-1971-bbc-pre-fm-re...
When is a 'live' album live?
I can't help notice that so many of the legal suggestions have been adjusted to varying degrees after the event.
One example I love is Beauty and the Beat, ostensibly Peggy Lee singing to a live audience backed by George Shearing and his orchestra in 1959. Sadly, the sound equipment failed, so they recorded the performance in the studio and dubbed on audience nosises/applause etc. to make it sound live. The latest CD removes the audience and reveals a marvellous album that's well worth exploring anyway.
Kicking Television
Wilco live in Chicago 2005
Full House - J. Geils Band
Live at Carnegie Hall - Bill Withers
Waiting for Columbus - Little Feat
Live - Donny Hathaway
That's all...
I retain a reat fondness
for 'Slade Alive'. The album's unusual in that it kind of announced the band to the mainstream rather than commemorating a particularly successful era; it was the post-skinhead lead-off statement of intent. The handclaps and opening bars of 'Hear Me Calling' still provide a Proustian rush.
Ian Hunter - Welcome To The Club
The Glam Gandalf, with Lieutanant Ronson present and well and truly correct. Recorded at the Roxy in L.A sometime late in 79 (I think).
I've thought this was the greatest live album ever made since I first heard it many years ago. If there are any overdubs on there I don't want to know about it. There are a couple of glaringly obvious edits between tracks but my god, the atmosphere in that room. If there was a gig I ever wanted to travel back in time to experience, it would be this one. Or those ones, if they did it over more than one night.
If the thunderous trashing that "FBI" gets doesn't drag you in, you'll almost certainly be hooked by the time Ian makes his appearance on "Once Bitten Twice Shy" with a trademark "'Ello, 'Ello, 'Ello, 'Ello".
The definitive version of "I Wish I Was Your Mother" bringing a tear to a glass eye. Ditto "Irene Wilde" ("a lotta people ask me if this is a true story. They say... "Ian...""). "Bastard" taking the roof off. Ronno showcasing with "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue". Honestly, it's perfect.
The live stuff takes up three sides, with some studio offcuts on side four. One of them, "Silver Needles" is essential Hunter, as strong as anything else in his illustrious catalogue. That man never, ever lets me down.
Indeed,
and Mott the Hoople Live is excellent too- especially the 'extended version'.
Bowie at the Beeb - bonus disc
...this extra disc (the first two cover sessions from the late 60s / early 70s) is from a TV performance that Bowie did in the BBC studios in the early 00s. The setlist is superb (Stay, Always Crashing the Same Car, Absolute Beginners, some of the better tracks from Hours and Outside).. and the playing is immaculate. What makes this a worthy addition to the existing studio versions is the warmth in the playing and the delivery. The only drawback is that he did this just before he started work on Heathen as the highlights of that album would have been an improvement on the "new" included here.
The absolute showstopping highlight, however, is the re-arrangement of Lets Dance, which begins as a Latin-tinged ballad before exploding into the original arrangement on the second verse... and the inclusion of Man Who Sold the World acts as a reminder of that other great "intimate" live album - Nirvana's Unplugged..
This and the Reality Tour CD/DVD
both knock spots off any of the other live Bowie albums. For me David Live and Stage are Bowie going through the motions but little more. David Live was beset by problems including the band not being told they were being recorded which resulted in much crossing of palms with silver and a somewhat pedestrian performance from the musicians which had to be overdubbed because of technical problems.
Stage was technically a triumph in capturing the sound of the studio albums but almost clinical in its execution.
And don't even get me started on the Glass Spider or Serious Moonlight DVD albums.
By Bowie at the BBC Radio Theatre he's warm and engaging with the audience, a performance which is repeated on the Reality Tour and VH1 Storytellers gigs.
The live Ziggy albums which came much later due to contractual obligations missed the boat by the best part of a decade or more and left me more than a little disappointed by the sound quality.
UFO
Strangers In The Night, anybody?
Very enjoyable, a young Mr Schenker playing well etc.
(Ah, just spotted it above)
And some nice Hammond flourishes on
'Only You Can Rock Me'
The two "Greasy Truckers' Party" albums!!
The first album had a great performance by Man, easily the best version of "Spunk Rock" ever released, and a fine "Angel easy"
The second album had a live side of Gong, from around the "Angel's Egg" period - wonderful stuff!
And don't forget the Brinsleys, Hawkwind, Camel, Henry Cow... worth 99p of anybody's money!
don't think
Gong were on't Truckers, are you getting the 3 disc 'Glastonbury Fayre' mixed up?
I'm usually meringue BTW, but while I'm here '7171 551' is best heard on Maximum Darkness
Clarification:
Gong were on Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hall (described above as the second Greasy Truckers album).
Couldn't agree more about "7171 551", by the way - in fact the whole Maximum Darkness album is a rare treat....
thankee
haven't heard that one, just the double with Man and ver 'Wind
Aye
Two bits of vinyl:
One side Gong
One side Camel
One side Henry Cow and.... (wait for it)
One side Global Village Trucking Company!!
Oh, yes...
I've never seen it on CD, though who knows... it might exist.
thank you Mr. S
def. one I'd like to hear and may I ask, how was the bath?
Maximum Darkness
was recorded the night before I saw Man at the Brangwyn Hall in Swansea. I was 15 at the time and it was my first proper gig. Blown away by the whole experience - the lights, the equipment, the loudness and the just letting yourself fucking go. I think I changed my mind about wanting to join the Royal Navy after that.
Maximum Darkness
I understand that when they came round to reviewing the tapes, John Cipollina's playing wasn't up to much so Mickey Jones overdubbed his solos in the studio.
Too Late to Stop Now
Is surely the ultimate. A better version of Caravan, however, is to be had on the Last Waltz, with the be-sequinned George Ivan going absolutely head-mental. "Just-a-one-more-time!"
The Big O
doesn't disappoint on 'a black and white night live'. As live albums go it's a corker. You're constantly thinking 'how does he do that?'. Talent I suppose.
Roy Orbinson singing for the lonely...
...and boy he could sing.
Is that the DVD where Tom Waits says he used to baby sit for Roy?
Yes, that's the one.
A Few More
Some reggae -
Misty In Roots - Live At The Counter Eurovsion '79
Aswad - Live And Direct
Burning Spear - Live In Paris, Zenith '88
Some rock -
The Fall - Totales Turns
The Triffids - Stockholm
Galaxie 500 - Copenhagen
Robert Forster - Live At Joe's Pub, New York (courtesy of the wonderful nyctaper.com)
Some electronica/jazz -
Fennesz - Live In Japan
Ryoondo Tea label - Electronic Evening : Live At The Honen-In Temple
The Necks - Athenaeum, Homebush, Quay And Raab.
Donny Hathaway Live
The Donny Hathaway Live album from about 71/72, with Willy Weeks on bass, is brilliant.
Not sure how available it is though. Bits of it on compilations, but it's worth tracking down the full thing.
http://open.spotify.com/track/1zSgozTCF928FD2IKThfMf
Thank the lord !
Finally trawled through all of these posts and found someone who actually has listed to the best Live Lp. Masterstoke of capturing the atmosphere of the gig & quality music at the same time. God, Danny could sing !
I think it was re-released in an expanded format a few years ago, which re-jigged the tracklisting somewhat, as I think the new version actually followed the setlist. Whether thats an improvement or not - I'm not sure - but then we are back at The Who - Live At leeds discussion.
Think I will go dig my copy out in celebration !
We've gone all this way and nobody has mentioned
Made in Japan by Deep Purple. Excited me no end as teenager right from Jon Lord's opening notes on Highway Star.
And, at risk of being labelled as stuck in the seventies, I'll add:
Wings Over America.
And Live Rhyming by Paul Simon.
Good picks
I think we would benefit from more Paul Simon in general. It´s a shame he works so slowly.
Little Feat
Feat's Electrif Lycanthrope. A bootleg but one you can find now "semi-officially". An intimate churning urn of burning funk that comes very close to explaining what they really were like live.
Eric Dolphy with Booker Little, "At the Five Spot"
Two young jazz masters on white hot live form in 1961. Just three years later, they'd both be gone.
once again!
So, duc001, do you think I am made of money ? how can I have missed this ? how soon can I buy it ? Vol 1 & 2 ?
It'll be six months before I've fully assimilated the marvellous Keith Jarrett you recommended - Eric will just have to join the queue.
[but thanks. really]
Both volumes on emusic!
6 tracks in total - that's a big £1.30-sh altogether...
'Twas a pleasure, señor malo. Volume 1 is what you need.
Actually, just hearing a little Eric Dolphy can be a dangerous thing. Soon you'll find yourself a hopeless Dolphy fanatic, like me, snapping up "Far Cry", "Out to Lunch", all the obscure live recordings, and all the amazing stuff he did as a sideman (particularly with Charles Mingus). Indeed, if I were to recommend just one other album featuring Dolphy performing live, it would be this incendiary, no-holds-barred Mingus set, recorded on the legendary 1964 European tour, just a few months before Dolphy's untimely death in Berlin from undiagnosed diabetes. Sometimes I think he's the greatest jazzman there ever was.
"When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone, in the air. You can never capture it again." (Eric Dolphy)
Dolphy
I already have "Out To Lunch" which is marvellous, and several albums on which he appears, including Andrew Hill, Freddie Hubbard, some of the Mingus and Ole Coltrane.
I'll dig into more soon!
Hendrix "Band of Gypsys"
Tighter, looser, funkier than the Experience and a pointer to the way he was headed into jazzier, more soulful territory.
Live albums I've played to death
Yessongs - Yes
Welcome Back My Friends... - ELP
Genesis Live (1973)
Live At Leeds - The Who
Irish Tour '74 - Rory Gallagher
Uriah Heep Live (1973)
weren't you and I
best mates back in the 70s?
Yes!
You are James Blast from the past and I claim the £10.00!
here you are
spend it foolishly now :)
I've just bought a wallet to put it in...
...it cost me £10.00!
There have been quite a few genres represented in the
suggestions so far. But I don't think we've had early 70s progressive large ensemble US jazz, have we? I've been listening to this today...
Don Ellis - "Tears of Joy" (1971)
...and it really is 1½ hours of deliciously skronking big band mayhem - live. Try the 17 minutes of "Strawberry Soup". You'll love it. Or rather, you'll love it if you like early 70s progressive large ensemble US jazz. Which, as luck would have it, I do.
Anyway, it's worth taking a chance on. It'll sound like nothing else in your record collection. Unless, that is, you have any other Don Ellis albums.
Roxy And Elsewhere Frank Zappa
Surely on of the best live albums ever. Complex music well played and FZ's humour, good and bad, well represented. "You're still to adagio!". Priceless.
Frampton Comes Alive
Not so fashionable, but it was a massive hit and I enjoy it.
SUICIDE - 21½ minutes in Berlin/23 minutes in Brussels
... now THAT'S a live album for me... ending in a riot, oh yes... bring it on!
Oh, and Throbbing Gristle's '24 hours of Throbbing Gristle (TG)' - 26 cassette's worth of live barminess I seem to remember!
TG....
And very good the 24 hours are. Not to be played in one go though.
Because this is what happens when you do:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2003/jan/01/artsfeatures.popandrock
(I particularly like the reference to GPO's voice managing "to sound out of tune even when there is no apparent tune to be out of")
but... but...
surely it should have only been 23?
Disgusted of Edgebaston!
Harrumph!
But they were 24 separate 1-hour shows
and there was a later addendum set called TG+ which was a further (I thInk) 8 hour-long shows.
Penguin Café Orchestra - "Concert Program"
Most of the live albums we've had so far have been pretty rowdy - and there's nothing wrong with that - but if you ever fancy a really beautiful QUIET live album, look no further than this intricate, playful, sublimely restful masterpiece:
Beautiful
As is the earlier live record, 'When in Rome'.
Lou Reed
Rock 'n' Roll Animal and Lou Reed Live
Both albums recorded at the same venue in 1973
So what is the difference
between the two? And where should one start? Being that I may not be a major fan - which one is the most accessible?
Different tracks, same
Different tracks, same audience between tracks.
I prefer Rock 'n' Roll, particularly the intro and Sweet Jane, and the title track.
FFS!
?
Que?
Fleet Foxes
Sing?!
You´re both wrong
For fuck´s sake. One of the first phrases I learned to say in English. Not necessarily in school. :)
It was used here as a cover up for a double-post.
Bob Marley and the Wailers. "Live at the Roxy"
For many years, the old "Live (at the Lyceum)" set was the standard Wailers live album, and it's certainly a fine record.
But this is even better, an absolute cracker...
Of course it's Take No Prisoners
Lou Reed in a very bad mood. It's a must hear, once at least.
Then there's...
"Me First and The Gimme Gimmes Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah"
As they say around here "It does what it says on the tin"
I would have picked the original Slade Alive but it was already taken
Crowded House - Farewell To The World
Have just driven for two hours in the glorious sunshine, listening to this album... you can almost hear a nation weep at the end.
Sleeve notes by Mr Hepworth too, the only writer I've read who could nail exactly what was so special about them.
wrong topic
Gawd I feel so cheap now
James Brown
Live At The Apollo Volume 2
Side 2 There Waa A Time/Cold Sweat - Absolutey magical
Hmmm.
I've got that album. I'll have to dig it out and give it another listen.
4 Way Street
CSN&Y
a bit patchy - but does have the lovely, haunting "The Lee Shore"
4 way street
I love the track Chicago
Erroll Garner's 'Concert by the Sea'...
life-affirming.
I don't know how I missed this discussion
but I'm ashamed that no-one in the Massive appears to have mentioned what is (imo) the best live album of all time:
Nanci Griffith - One Fair Summer's Evening
Can't find any YouTube clips and it's not on spotify, nor is it one of the 93 million tracks available in The Word download store, but you can risk £3.93 of your hard earned cash at a well known online retailer here http://amzn.to/cHj8Ms
Have an up arrow
It's a remarkable record and I really AM ashamed I forgot about it.
I haven't heard this album....
....so I can't comment about it.
I just have a real problem with her voice.
Most of my favourite artists have unusual, even strange vocals but hers just hurts my ears.
all for 89p
if you can find it
801 Live - Wake up Norfolk!
My suggestion would be the 801 Live album which has always been a favourite of mine; I was thrilled when it was released because some school friends and I went along to the West Runton Pavilion near Cromer to see the first of only 3 dates they ever played; we caught the soundcheck and the gig, and it was still one of the best shows I've ever been to. I think the other 2 shows were either Reading or Hyde Park, and then the live album recording.
I'd already seen Eno with the Winkies (Dunstable Civic Hall), seen Magma/Greenslade/Genesis/VdGG/Camel/Comus/Steamhammer at school, and all had impressed the hell out of me but this was something different.
Of course I'm aware that I have a certain bias! Does anyone else have an opinion on this one? I've often wondered whether I'm so fond of the album just because of my somewhat tenuous connection, and whether everyone else loathes it?
Oh no
it's one of my faves too and I recently bought the remaster with the extra tunes on CD. It still sounds great.
AC DC - If you want blood
Fantastic document of bon on fire. Bought this 20 years ago and it still does it. Rock N Roll Damnation, Riff Raff, High Voltage definitive versions are here. Not only the best Live album but also the best DC album and thats saying something
Jerry Lee Lewis
Live at the Star Club, Hamburg. Pure excitement.
How could I have forgotten....
Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes? Their album Reach Up And Touch The Sky is a very well recorded, a lot of fun and a really exciting live album.
Recorded at a number of gigs in 1980, it shows that at that time as a live draw they were more than a match for their New Jersey neighbours. Backing vocalist Patty Scialfa would later defect to those neighbours. A track on the MP3 came up on the way home and I just had to share.
Live albums
I have love Slade Alive since I first heart it when I was 15
brilliant stuff.
Top Rank
It doesn't often get a mention, but The Smiths' 'Rank' is a corker in my opinion. Obviously it involves liking them in the first place, as i understand there's something of a Marmite factor to The Smiths. That said, this does emphasize what a powerful live band they were and somewhat blows the caricature of them as simply fey miserablists, out of the water.
Sam Cooke Live at The Harlem Square Club '63
Played to a black audience and consequently much funkier than the (already rather splendid) studio versions.
Also, if it counts as a live album, my album of choice by the HJH is probably 'Live At The BBC'.
Bruce Springsteen '75
Bruce Springsteen- Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 is staggering. The E Street band during their first year together, sounding like they'd been doing it forever. Miami Steve before he was sidelined.
Delbert McClinton - Live. What a singer! Small band sounding enormous.
Willy DeVille - Live. Another tremendous singer, possibly my favorite, alongside Danko. Plus the most extraordinarily versatile band.
Delaney & Bonnie - On Tour with Eric Clapton. Delaney Bramlett, another beautiful voice. Don't expect great guitar.
New York Rock and Soul Revue - Live At The Beacon. Fagen, MacDonald, Scaggs, Snow etc. A masterclass.
how can I properly
Communicate how perfect Together at the Blue Bird by Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark is? Oh, I can't. Nor can my words do justice to Christy Moore Live at the Point 2006, with Declan Sinnott on the sparkliest form, like a folk Johnny Marr.
Please, anyone, who likes 'that sort of thing' source these albums. They will, I promise, enrich your lives.
2 instrumental suggestions
2 instrumental suggestions;
Tangerine Dream Ricochet
Mike Oldfield Exposed
Ricochet is an 'almost live' release; about 50 hours of improvised electronic music performed during a 1975 tour of European cathedrals was edited down, and overdubs added, to produce 40 minutes of sublime music.
Exposed is Incantations and Tubular Bells done with a large ensemble at Wembley Arena.
Bruce Cockburn's mid 70s 2LP set...
...'Circles In The Stream' hasn't been mentioned yet. For me, it's a hugely atmospheric, organic sounding record - not a 'DI-ed' sound in sight - with a small acoustic band and some unusual, delightful instruments (like marimba) involved. Lots of space, and a really lovely feel to it - plus some material he's never otherwise recorded, including a stunning, magical sounding guitar piece called 'Cader Idris'.
This is Bruce at his best, easy going yet complex, musically virtuosic and quirky yet accessible, before all the earnestness and rather forced rock of his 80s/90s albums.
It also feels like a great document of its era - if anyone likes West Coast-ish singer-songwriterdom of the early to mid 70s generally, and has a soft spot for cool jazz, but has never given Bruce a chance then this is worth a go.
(I agree, though, with whoever posted above recommending the late 90s set 'You Pay Your Money And You Take Your Chance' - if you have to have a rockist Bruce recording, that's a great one of its kind; but 'Circles...' is in a different league...).
Television
The Blow Up
Originally a cassette only release. Now out on better sounding quality CD. All their best work - great versions plus inspired covers of Satisfaction and Knockin' On Heavens Door that are given a TV makeover in their own inimitable style. The highlights are Marquee Moon and a jaw dropping Little Johnny Jewel - both around the 15 minute mark with Coltrane emulating soloing. Possibly better than the studio albums. It's a cracker.
My nomination is..
Nirvana Unplugged in New York. Probably their second best album after Nevermind.
Advice overload
Looks like you've got the advice you need. I'd get AC/DC "If you want blood", UFO "Strangers in the Night", Thin Lizzy "Live and Dangerous" as essentials in the heavy rock genre if that's your thing.
my thread of a couple of years ago might be worth a browse
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/i-love-a-good-live-album-dont-you
Dave Alvin and the Guilty men
The Great American Music galaxy - best live album bar none. Will cost you a lot of money on Amazon and I think it has been deleted. Anyone wanting a copy email me and I will do the honours.
You will not be disappointed.
three great live albums
In a class by itself: Colin Meloy Sings Live! (guy from The Decemberists, exclamation mark fully merited)
Less brilliant but still worth it:
Handsome Family Live at Schuba's
White Stripes Under Northern Lights
Can I second
REM at the Olympia (it's the songs that long time fans would want to hear), Bruce live 1975, Dylan RAH 66, Van's Too Late, Television's Blow up and add The Complete Live at Raji's by the wonderful and seemingly forgotten Dream Syndicate
I like the .... @ the BBC albums.
I got BB King from my boys for Fathers Day recently and the Joe Jackson one often gets played here.
They're not a single live concert albums.....they're bits and bobs taken from many different sessions.
Great stuff....and there are tons of them!