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Having restored myself to a semblance of civility and good grace after the anti-Randy onslaught. I thought I’d raise one more burning issue before my limited range of things to say is totally spent. Live albums, and why they are generally not rated as highly as studio albums.

If you look at Uncut’s 200 (as a random example), there are only three: James Brown’s Live at the Apollo, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison and The Who Live at Leeds. Now these lists are often silly and some albums are just famous for being famous, even though hardly anyone listens to them. In fact I think Live at the Apollo falls into that category too. But still.

Theodore Gracyk in his book Rhythm and Noise argues that rock is essentially recorded music. I can understand what he’s getting at; in the studio it’s a whole collaborative artistic process, rather like the making of a movie that unfolds over a period of time, which has all sorts of advantages.

But when a live album is such an outstanding and exceptional document that captures the sheer brilliance of a gig, shouldn’t that be celebrated even more for the difficulty of producing such a thing?

I cannot believe that the Uncut 200 could not have included at least three more: Get Yer Ya Yas Out, Absolutely Live, and Band of Gypsies. In the top 200! I would like to know what others feel about classic live albums. What makes a really great one.

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Comments

  2. ‘Live At Leeds’ (remastered 2cd) really is superb, in my view. The concert has to be heard in its entirety unlike the initial release. The sound of an astonishing band at the top of their game. The best live Rock act at the time.

    CSNY – ‘4 Way Street’ (expanded) is also a personal fave. Such great songs, musicianship, and I love the juxtaposition of warm, intimate acoustic, and full on electric rocking of the highest order.

  3. If an act is recorded live, the venue turns into a recording studio. There’s not so much of a difference – a venue “studio” has a larger crowd of hangers-on, a less-controllable acoustic ambience, and possibly more drugs in circulation. But essentially you’re recording a bunch of musicians performing stuff and then sweetening the tapes with overdubs. Zappa saw no real difference – his recordings have always blended venue and studio performances, often within the same song. Similarly with the Dead, who saw everything as material (“content” as we very smartly call it now). No venue performance is going to transport you in time and space to the recorded event, but there is a possibility of greater excitement, the band feeding off the audience. But many of rock, pop n’roll’s greatest recordings have been made live in the studio, in “one take”, with little or no studio sweetening, as exciting as anything recorded before a venue audience, so the line is always blurred.

    • Very good point. How can I forget The Dead? ‘Live Dead’, ‘Fillmore West ’69’ and ‘Cornell ’77’. Those albums encapsulate this perfectly.

    • I’m not overly familiar with the work of Mr Z or Grateful D, but it seems you’re saying they’re banging out new material sometimes live and sometimes not. I would imagine the reason lists like an Uncut 200 look the way they do is, in trying to ascribe enduring cultural importance to records, they tend to look towards their “epochal significance”. So, a set of songs that landed with the same unignorable impact as a hooligan diving into a public swimming pool in, say, 1973 will almost always get the nod over the same songs performed much better in a joyful atmosphere several years later to those whose primary interest is the zeitgeisty/ initial impact element of this most urgent medium.
      Bob Marley’s Live album would be one that bucks this trend, maybe because the versions of “No Woman” and “I Shot The Sherriff” are so different to the originals and have become the definitive takes…?

      • From about 1984 until he gave up touring in 1988, Frank Zappa stopped making/releasing studio recordings of his band. Everything was sourced from live 24-track digital recordings and mixed at home, often using parts of different live recordings on the same album track.

        • Not only that, but since his death nearly 24 years ago there’s been about another fifty odd albums of brilliant live stuff. I’m think especially Wazoo and the other one with that band whose name escapes me for the moment

    • But then why do so few come up as classic albums, whenever anyone’s thinking about the quintessential ‘classic album’?

      I just thought of another good case: Kick out the Jams is way more exciting than the two studio albums by the MC5.

  5. I don’t think you can beat a great live recording….i grew up with Moonflower,Dylan’s Budukhan and Vans Too late….and to this day they hit the spot,any excuse needed to pick through Spotify? Never got to see Cohen,amazing how many live albums came out in his career….

  9. Bill Withers’ ‘Live at Carnegie Hall’ should be on any list of great albums, live or otherwise. Fantastically tight band, wonderful songs and a real warmth that comes across from Bill.

    • and Donny Hathaway Live, another great soulful album

      Full House by J. Geils Band still packs an RnB punch

      Made In Japan – Deep Purple were on fire at this point

      and it’s not fashionable to say it, but plenty of people bought it – Frampton Comes Alive.

  10. Yes good call must dust that one down,btw there is a horrendous version of Ain’t no Sunshine on Spotify ,should be a law against such remixes I think!

  12. I’m curious as to why you think JB’s Live At The Apollo is famous for being famous. Let me guess you are not a fan of JB.

    It was recorded in 1962. I’ll say that gain 1962. The recording is fantastic as are the performances.I heartily recommend the Japanese pressing of the double album version.

    Of the famous BB King Live At The Regal album. BB said words to effect of “we played 300 nights a year, it was just another concert. My comment – it just happened to be recorded.

  13. I go through periods of playing more live music than studio stuff. Particularly the superb Springsteen (latest ones are from 77) and Wilco downloads. These are acts who develop their songs live over time and they can become completely different animals. See also Van Morrison and (to a lesser extent) Dylan and Young.

    Jerry Lee Lewis’s Live at the Star Club us up there with any of the great live albums

  14. The best live albums are the ones where they shine a new light on the artist – either as a snapshot of a gig showing the interaction with the audience or showcasing versions of songs that surpass the studio equivalent.

    I’m thinking the live part of Ummagumma, Live and Dangerous, Ya-Yas, Live at Leeds, Bob Marley Live!

    The poor ones tend to be the ones that only appear to be released as part of an album-tour-live album cycle. Floyd, The Stones and The Who are repeat offenders on this one, Dave and Nick were pretty sheepish about the rationale behind the release of Delicate Sound of Thunder and Pulse.

    • ClemFandango – the first paragraph of your post is the perfect description of Tones van Zandt’s “Live at the Old Quarter.” One of my favourite live albums of all time.

      • Must have a listen to that one

        You could pretty much just listen to the dialogue on both Ya Yas and Live at Leeds (especially the full gig version) and it would tell you all you need to know about the relationship in between the band themselves and the band and their audience.

      • Sometimes I think Old Quarter is the only Townes you need, and I say that as a fan. No arrangements, just voice, guitar and a bunch of classic song. At least now they are.

  15. Back to the exam question

    There are a number of live albums I listen to regularly:
    Dylan: Hard Rain
    Santana: Lotus
    Stones: Live In Brussels/ Leeds/ Ya Yas
    Franco: Live In Europe
    Midnight Oil: goat Island
    Allman Brothers: Filmore East

    • Hard Rain, deffo, superb ramshackle band and Dylan in superb voice…..Guitars — Mick Ronson, T-Bone Burnette, Steven Soles, David Mansfield
      Bass — Rob Stoner
      Drums — Howard Wyeth, Gary Burke
      Strings — Scarlet Rivera
      Piano — Howard Wyeth, T-Bone Burnette
      Background Vocals — Steven Soles, Rob Stoner

  16. For many years I had no need for either of SLF’s first two albums, because I already had Hanx! which has all the best songs and sounded better to me.

    • Yep*. Tindersticks provided the same service with their Bloomsbury Theatre album..(*Although I couldn’t be doing with their version of Bob Marley’s “Johnny Was” – already one of Bob’s feebler tunes, now stretched beyond the point of tolerance).

  17. Vital by Van der Graaf springs to mind….stands alone, completely unrepresentative of previous or future versions of the band…loud, brutal, life-affirming…hated by at least 50% of the ‘fans’….

    Maximum Darkness by Man (and Live at the Padget Rooms, come to think of it) – easily betters the studio cuts….

    Time Fades Away by Neil Young – live performance as exorcism of personal demons? Unforgettable….

  18. There’s that Dexys live album, Projected Passion Revue, which is partly Too-Rye-Ay songs played in a Searching For The Young Soul Rebels style.

    By the time they got into the studio, they’d added the Emerald Express strings and gone hick.

  19. I will always default to Dr. Feelgood’s mighty Stupidity – a brilliant capture of a band at its absolute peak. I also have a special place for the 1994 album Down At The Doctors, recorded at the Dr. Feelgood Music Bar on Canvey Island, so definitely a home gig. It is also hugely significant to us dedicated Feelgood fans as the two nights it was recorded over were Lee Brilleaux’s last shows before he passed.

    • While we’re in that general area, a small shout out for Out of Our Skulls by The Pirates. Only Side 1 was actually live, but it does a fab job of conveying the band’s sweaty magnificence. Here’s Lonesome Train, with Mick Green giving it some awesome Telecaster-spanking.

      https://youtu.be/IS8uC7ea9oE

      • There were a few live tracks sprinkled on the next album, Skull Wars. Saw them many times, but the best had to be at the sweaty basement that was Middlesbrough Rock Garden, my Friday night haunt in my late teens. I was ideally positioned at the front, about 3 feet from Mick Green’s flying fingers. Never worked out how he managed to produce that amazing noise. Thorougly lovely, modest, gentle chap too. Thoroughly wasted resource in later years, strumming rhythm behind Byron Ferrari.

        Saw a few other great bands there too. I remember being deaf in my left ear for a fortnight after a particularly loud set by the Rezillos.

  20. I’m on a phone, so may have scrolled past it, but I’ve seen no mention of either the Misty In Roots’ Counter Eurovision album or the Feats’ Waiting For Columbus. Get a grip folks, both indispensable!!!

    • A bit of cheating went on with “Waiting For Columbus”. As with a lot of “live” albums around that time. Stage monitors and live mixing wasn’t that good and excessive drug use by both musicians and sound engineers was rife.
      Lowell George insisted on re-recording his vocals and guitar solos after the event on almost all tracks that were being considered for inclusion. They were then compared to the originals and the takes that sounded best were used. A few guitar tuning problems were fixed and one drum error. Nothing was added that wasn’t a straight replacement for something on the original tapes.

      It is still a great album.

      • Apolitical Blues is also a comp of two nights, I discovered when someone gave me a boot of the other night – half way through AB it suddenly was the Columbus version.

  21. Rust Never Sleeps is often cited in these type of lists as the Neil Young live outing.
    Pah – I much prefer Live Rust
    (a) there’s more tracks
    (b) I think it just “sounds” better

  22. Ramones – It’s Alive is an object lesson in brevity, atmosphere an sheer excitement.
    It averages just under 2 minutes per track (28 tracks, around 50 minutes), and the pace never lets up

    ONETWOTHREEFOUR!

  23. Iron Maiden – Live After Death still gets a fairly regular spin.

    Its basically Iron Maiden Greatest Hits (that weren’t actually hits) 1980 – 85

    It’s like a sort of closing of Chapter 1 – before Bass and Guitar synths, Conceptual Proggy affectations and Blaze Bayley happened

  24. Ah yes, the perennial favourite, a live album thread. Here’s the last thread on the subject to which I contributed 2 years ago.

    A Celebration of the Live Album

    And as I said then:

    Most of my favourites have been named already (UFO, AC/DC, The Who Live at Leeds, Dylan Bootleg 66, Rainbow on Stage etc). To which I’d add:

    Ziggy Stardust 1973 Hammersmith
    Quo Live
    Humble Pie at the Fillmore
    Thin Lizzy – Live and Dangerous
    Deep Purple – BBC In Concert 1972
    Rolling Stones – the Brussels Affair (I wish this had been released commercially in the UK properly)

    Rory Gallagher – Stagestruck
    Ted Nugent – Double Live Gonzo
    Whitesnake – Live in the heart of the City
    Led Zeppelin – How the West was won
    Pink Floyd – Pulse
    Cream – Albert Hall 2005
    Jeff Beck – Live at Ronnie Scotts
    Bob Marley at the Lyceum
    Joe Bonamassa – Live at Nowhere in Particular
    Thunder Live

  25. At my age I have listened to the studio albums of my preference to the point I can hum them backwards. They are still great but I am now committed to live albums. ‘Live’ brings a sparkle, urgency, subtlety, touch and nuance that bring songs, well, alive.

    I’ve mentioned Bonnie Raitts ‘Road Tested’ many times on here – it’s spectacular. Has anyone else on here heard it? The Dans ‘Plush Jazz Rock Party’ brings an edge to their otherwise perfect studio output.

  27. A dozen live albums that have a good case for being the artist’s best, not already mentioned:

    Genesis Live
    Hawkwind – Space Ritual
    801
    Quicksilver Messenger Service – Happy Trails
    King Curtis – Live At Filmore West
    Aretha Franklin – Amazing Grace
    Etta James – Rocks The House
    15.60.75 – Jimmy Bell’s Still In Town
    Van Morrison – Too Late To Stop Now
    Otis Redding – in Person At The Whiskey-A-Go-Go
    Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense (the reissue, not the original release)
    Taj Mahal – The Real Thing

    For Jazz, I have a list as long as your arm.

    Just seen Steerpike’s comment. Instead, Kraftwerk’s Minimum-Maximum is a superb introduction to the band’s oeuvre.

      • As a taster, top ten albums recorded at The Village Vanguard:

        John Coltrane – Live At The Village Vanguard (Master Takes)
        Bill Evans Trio – Waltz For Debby
        Thad Jones & Mel Lewis – All Our Yesterdays
        Art Pepper – Friday Night At The Village Vanguard
        Sonny Rollins – A Night At The Village Vanguard
        Brad Mehldau – Art Of The Trio 4
        Bill Evans Trio – Sunday At The Village Vanguard
        Keith Jarrett – Nude Ants
        Chucho Valdés – Live At The Village Vanguard
        Bill Frisell & Thomas Morgan – Small Town

        • Great list. However, I would add :

          Duke Ellington – Live at Newport (1956) (indispensable IMHO)
          Charles Lloyd – Forest Flower (Live at Monterey, 1966)
          Don Ellis – Live at Monterey (also 1966)

          • Don Ellis? Top man!
            There should be more Don Ellis on this board.
            A Don Ellis live album?
            I’d have to go for “Tears of Joy”, recorded live at Basin Street West in San Francosco over 4 nights in May 1971.
            The seventeen-minute version of “Strawberry Soup” is simply a MONSTER.
            Indeed, the whole album (originally a double LP) simply dips and swoops along in a pleasantly discombobulating fashion. Give it a go!

    • The Name Of This Band Is Called Talking Heads (reissue, withextra tracks) is better than Stop Making Sense and is also better than the studio albums. Actually Fear Of Music is better than SMS, as is More Songs About Buildings… I think TNOTB captures them more as a new wave guitar band with their funk fusion evolving into a monster. By SMS they’re a bit over their peak I reckon.

      • The Name Of This Band is a cracking collection of live tracks recorded over a number of years. It’s not really an album. CD2 could have been a great Remain In Light tour album.

        As for peak Talking Heads, there were several peaks, from the spiky punk of ’77 to the pure pop of Little Creatures. I’m very fond of True Stories and regard Love For Sale as their finest single. Stop Making Sense at least has a shout, even if it’s ultimately beaten by More Songs About Buildings And Food, my personal favourite and the one loved by The Undertones too.

          • Tigger is a bit of a contrarian. Cant believe he thinks Love For Sale is really their best single. As for the live albums, neither are crucial, but SMS is much better than the studio album the tour was based on. Best Heads album? Either Fear of Music or Remain in Light (but I hate The Overload)

            • Last time I saw them was 1982 at Wembley Arena. I have been to hundreds of gigs since, many great, but none better than that gig. I love TH, but none of their albums come close to matching the live experience.

              • I didn’t go because it was London, seemingly another country at the time. Odd really, because I last saw them in Edinburgh at the festival when Van Morrison headlined and that is officially another country.

                I only ever witnessed them as a little group, CD1 of The Name Of This Band. They were always fantastic.

                • Of course the live albums are great, but I don’t think either of them represent the best of the Talking Heads on vinyl (or plastic). I never saw them live but have seen a number of David Byrne shows, they were also superlative.

  28. I recommended a while ago Van Morrison’s 1987 Glastonbury set. It was recorded by the BBC, so the quality is very good. I’m not sure if it’s sneaked out on the grey market, but it is fab.

  29. There is another theme which is the merits of unofficial albums / boots etc over live albums.

    For the good ones you have the benefit of
    1. A band less mindful of this is being recorded.
    2. No overdubs so it is the real thing
    3. The dynamic of a show unfolding as band gets their chops going as the set goes on, the crowd gets more involved as do you as the listener.

    Stones live in Brussels is a great example. Ditto live at Leeds v Ya Yas

      • Yes I’ve got a few of those including Dublin.

        As far as Steve Earle bootlegs I did a pretty good one in the Ashes to Ashes tour and got about 5 boots from the collectors in the States.

        Heavy metal Blue Grass the commercial bootleg from Bern in 1997 is rather good too.

      • I think it’s called ‘Heavy Metal Bluegrass’ or something.

        Some of my favourites –
        Running On Empty – Jackson Browne
        Career Moves and So Damm Happy – Loudon Wainwright
        Nighthawks At The Diner – Tom Waits
        Live At Budokan? – John Hiatt. It’s not actually at Budokan, it’s a joke because everyone seemed to be recording live in Japan. It is live though.

  34. Top 5 Latin Jazz albums in no particular order:

    Fania All Stars – Live at The Cheetah Vol. 2
    Tico All Stars – Descargas At The Village Gate
    Papo Vazquez – Live At The Point
    Jazz On The Latin Side All Stars – Vol. 1
    The Big 3 Palladium Orchestra – Live At The Blue Note

    • Holy moly – that looks a fantastic gig to have been at.

      Gospel music is great, but I’m always put off by the nonstop Jesus-bothering. If you can ignore the words, it’s awesome, but that’s pretty difficult in most cases. I once went to see Donny McClurkin and Kirk Franklin on a double bill at some weird barn-like venue in Acton and they were amazing, but McClurkin spoiled things with his constant disparaging of other religions. It’s bad enough going on and on about your own religion, but slagging off others seems a bit over the top, although as an atheist I wasn’t actually personally offended.

  38. It occured to me recently that there weren’t that many live rock albums issued in the 60s. When Ya Yas and Live At Leeds came out they were pretty much the first as we know them today. Presumably this was largely down to technology and audiences maturing which make any recordings listenable.

    The Live Adventures Of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper must be one of the earliest rock live albums (1968) and is one of my faves. As an aside, I clearly remember I picked this up in a sale around 1970 when CBS deleted their mono catalogue there was loads of stuff available in, I think, Smiths at bargain prices. Funny what sticks in your mind….

    • I’d say that in the sixties, live albums were probably more common in jazz than they were in rock.
      Some well-known ones include…

      Bill Evans – Sunday at the Village Vanguard
      John Coltrane – at the Village Vanguard
      Duke Ellington at Newport (released in 1956!)
      Wes Montgomery – Smokin’ at the Half-Note
      The Quintet: Jazz At Massey Hall
      Miles David – In Person at the Blackhawk

    • There were a whole bunch of Johnny Rivers live albums in the 60s. I used to have one of them but I can’t remember which one now. I think it was the one that had You’ve lost that loving feeling on it.

  39. I like live albums that feature a bit of banter – no great Tull fan, but I’m very fond of Burstin’ Out. Jackson Browne’s Acoustic Live albums have some nice spoken intros and stories in between songs and I really like the live acoustic albums by Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds.
    Joe Jackson Live ’80-’86 is a great document of an act evolving over time and his other live recordings always have something new or re-arranged to keep it interesting.

  41. Interesting comment by Sir George Morrison in this months Boho/Unshod (Ant/Dec?) about how record companies are afeard of live albums. Quite a fascinating interview altogether: his chips are all on view, shoulders abared.

  42. My issue with a lot of live albums is lack of instrumentation: 3-piece or even 4-piece bands just don’t fill the sound space (unless they have a really enterprising keyboardist). Hence twin drummers really make a difference on a live album (see the unmatched Allman’s Filmore East).

    • “Hence twin drummers really make a difference on a live album”

      Yes, this, of course was a ploy used by the Grateful Dead for most of their 30-year lifespan. Having said that, I really love the shows where there’s only Bill Kreutzmann drumming too – such as on the Europe ’72 tour..

  43. I forgot to give a mention to possibly my favourite live album – Stand In The Fire by Warren Zevon. After a shaky start, it just gets better and better. If I remember correctly, on this tour he used a Warren Zevon tribute act as his band – or am I mis-remembering?

  44. Ryo Fukui – A Letter From Slowboat

    I’ve been meaning to add this album to this thread for ages.
    I’ve never mentioned Ryo Fukui (1948-2016) on this board before, and I’m not sure anybody else has either.

    He was a Japanese jazz pianist. Not the most productive of musicians, he only released five albums in his 40-year career. The most well-known are his debut, “Scenery” (1976), and his farewell live release from a Hokkaido club, “A Letter from Slowboat,” which came out a year before his death in 2015.

    Don’t go searching the internet for a physical copy of “A Letter from Slowboat,” because you won’t find one. Sadly, we have to make do with the whole album on an OK quality YouTube video. It’s well work playing from start to finish, because it’s a wonderful record. If you like, say, the classic Bill Evans Trio Riverside recordings from around 1960, then I guarantee you’ll dig “A Letter from Slowboat.”

    Afterword jazzers – make time for this!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVV_z1lBNLo

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