Lets discuss the best LIVE ALBUMS?

Live at Leeds I say also.

Greatest Live Album of All time?

Actually there was surprisingly little of the thread.

It's Alive by the Ramones (if I could only own one Ramones album, this would be it)
Live Seeds by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (songs from Henry's Dream are actually bettered on this disc)
Live X-Cerpt by the Stranglers, if only for Hugh's crowd baiting ("Did someone say 'wanker'?")
Queen Live Killers by Queen - In retrospect, it's kinda bloated, but I played it constantly at the time.

Why are these all (except the last) albums that I loved in high school?

best. live. ever.

"scream for me long beach!!!"

http://www.rockdetector.com/assets/img/covers/24035.jpg

although oddly it flips back and forth between vastly more energised slick improvements on the originals (something to do, behind the wheel, everything counts, black celebration) and tired sounding can't-quite-be-arsed immitations of same (strangelove, never let me down again, nothing). aces overall though.

Is it any wonder the best live albums came out before 1980?

Not released until the 80's because it was just too sweaty and soulful for the record company's targeted honky audience. My favorite part is when Sam is talking about trying to reach his woman, and something like "I finally get somebody on the phone, and I say 'who is this,' and she says 'this is the operator' and I say 'I don't want you operator, I want my BAAAAAAAAAAAYEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAABYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!! Operator, I want my baaaaaaayeeeeeaaaaabyyyyyy" and then he kicks into bring it on home to me and it is truly beautiful. One of my favorite recorded moments of all time.

(i have a feeling that i will get laughed at for saying this)

Van Morrison: It's Too Late To Stop Now

There aren't a whole lot of recent live albums that impress me much. Maybe Built to Spill's, if just for that epic "Cortez."

Grateful Dead, Live/Dead
Jimi Hendrix, Band of Gypsies
Quicksilver Messenger Service, Happy Trails

Not far behind:

Grateful Dead, Europe '72
Allman Brothers Band, Live at the Fillmore East
Mothers of Invention, Live at the Fillmore East 1971 (OK, not a great album, necessarily, but great if you are 15).
Raimon, Raimon al Palau
The Band, Rock of Ages (preferred to The Last Waltz)

Then, later:

James Brown, Live at the Apollo
Jackson Browne, Running on Empty
Joni Mitchell, Miles of Aisles (although my wife has been playing this a lot recently and it is not as good as I thought)
Trouble Funk, Live
Talking Heads, The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads

Basically, I tend to dislike live records, unless they offer something not captured better in the studio (other than crowd noise and banter). More recent ones I have liked a lot:

Holly Cole, It Happened One Night
Nirvana, MTV Unplugged
Khaled/Faudel/Taha, 1,2,3 Soleils
Counting Crows, Across a Wire
Ryan Adams, [German Boot of 2003 Acoustic Tour]

And, finally, there is a category of live-in-the-studio releases that sometimes do a good job of capturing immediacy, imperfection, and a sense of place, but without crappy recording, crowd noise, and unsubtle performances. Some ones I like:

John Lee Hooker, Hooker 'n' Heat
Muddy Waters, Hard Again
Cowboy Junkies, The Trinity Sessions
Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense

(i have a feeling that i will get laughed at for saying this)

Not at all....

Underworld's "Juanita" on Everything, Everything

OTM

-- t0dd swiss (yourvictim...), July 13th, 2005.

no. there's a bit (is it on the lp, cause it's on the dvd)
where during an intro, kh goes 'god bless yer' and it's so worth it.

the dvd is 4 99 in every MUSIC ZONE and also worth it, if only for the bit in the extraas which is just a mini compilation of kh looking f-cked off his face.

and a few boots:
Sandy Denny - One More Sad Refrain (original recording of her final concert in 1977 - the official "Gold Dust" cd has overdubs)
Richard Thompson - A Rare Thing (1994)
Talking Heads - Berklee, Boston, 1979
Fall - way too many to mention!!

i think its my favorite Spiritualized album. i've seen them live three times after Let It Come Down and none of them have ever been as cool as that album. Of course, I have yet to see them with a gospel choir.

Really, if I had to keep just one rock album, in fact just one CD, this would be it.

Improv/off-the-cuff versions of songs?
Banter?
the idea that these are what the songs would sound like without any studio jiggery-pockery? heh

and i'll second nirvana's mtv unplugged, which captures an adventurous, oft-surprising and just plain stunning performance by a great band at its peak. i used to be surprised at how many nirvana fans i knew considered this their favorite nirvana album. but then it started making total sense.

Ooh, good call. I'd forgotten about this one. I actually have the TwinTone cassette. Was it ever finally released on CD? It also features, as I remember, a more ballsier version of "Can't Hardly Wait" (later to surface on Pleased to Meet Me).

Also endorse 'No Sleep Til Hammersmith', the Sam Cooke one, and the Nirvana unplugged. Oh, and I've always really liked the Muddy Waters at newport album.

Speaking of Gong, I'd really like to see a release of this '74 or so gig of theirs in Oslo. I heard a bootleg recently that totally killed me. Sound quality seemed stronger than on the studio albums too, hah!

well, hell, by the studio version they had kicked bob out of the band. but in any case, it's not all THAT different. the shit hits the fans version is certainly faster and noisier, in the same way that a lot of bands speed up and noise up their midtempo songs when they play 'em live. the structure's almost exactly the same, though -- even though had clearly hardly written it yet; paul sounds like he's making up the words as he goes. they recorded it a year later for tim but didn't use it -- that version's on the all for nothing comp. and that one's definitely tougher than the pleased to meet me version, faster and with no horns, and with a lot of different words. the pleased version is slower yet, but the main riff isn't on the horns, it's still on guitar, though a shockingly clean and wussy guitar at that. the horns come in later. the really crappy version was the 7-inch, which was a remixed (by jimmy iovine) version of the pleased track, and which i haven't heard in a long time and have no particular interest in hearing right now since i just listened to all the others and i'm tired.

Bill Evans - Sunday at the Village Vanguard

Tom Waits - Nighthawks at the DIner -- "live in the studio", but still....

Perhaps the only time Cecil Taylor, Bob Dylan and Geddy Lee will be on the same list together.

Changed my life/listening patterns, and destroyed the lives of many of my freshman year college floormates. Which must mean it's inherently good, I think.

I made a playlist of a couple dozen live albums, and it's interesting listening to it on random.

Cuts from these are standing out:

AC/DC - If You Want Blood 78
UFO – Strangers In The Night 79
Judas Priest - Unleashed In The East 79
Scorpions - Tokyo Tapes 78
Thin Lizzy – Live And Dangerous 78
MC5 - Kick Out The Jams 69
Kiss – Alive! 75
Def Leppard - Bonus Live Disc on Pyromania 83

That disc really revitalizes many of the Pyromania songs, which I always felt were a bit too goopy in the studio.

I wanna get Nugent's Double Live Gonzo. The Rock Candy remaster is kinda expensive!

So my taste in live albums reflects my tastes in live shows recently of hard rock and basic metal. I say basic because you don't see as many live albums of more extreme metal bands these days. Is it because the density of the sound lacks dynamic range, making the difference between live and studio too subtle to matter anymore? Might there be other reasons why there are fewer live albums in general currently? Or it's possible I'm wrong and just haven't noticed when current bands have live albums.

The most obvious missing 70s live album IMO is Van Halen. It's pretty surprising there isn't one. Are there any good sounding bootlegs? They would have done better to put out a live album in 1982 instead of Diver Down full of half-assed covers. Who else? I think Billy Squier may have missed an opportunity to hit it big that same year with a good live album. There is the King Biscuit Flower Hour disc of his 1983 show in Centrum, Massachusetts. Anyone heard it?

Where is No Sleep Til Hammersmith?

I'd love to hear that Def Leppard. Will seek out...

Rory Gallagher-Irish Tour '74. Absolutely searing.

There are a few great Van Halen boots - Atomic Punk and The Nightmare Before Halloween from '77, Hammersmith Odeon from '78, and the wonderful but not always musical California Calling - Listen to This Jimmy from the US Festival in '83.

No Sleep is in the mix, and is great. Also Rush, Queen, Skynyrd, Who, Zep, Santana, Sabbath, Free, Hawkwind, Cheap Trick, Maiden. I heard The Guess Who - Live At The Paramount 72 is supposed to be good.

Ooh. Do the boots sound up to par with the ones I mentioned?

The Nightmare Before Halloween and California Calling are excellent sound quality - might even be soundboards. Atomic Punk is very good, and Hammersmith slightly less so. Hammersmith is great because of Dave's audience pandering if nothing else.

They aren't mixed like any of those professional releases, so the dynamism of those great 70s records is missing. Still, they fill a serious hole in the story.

Thanks for the tips! I'll go seeking tonight.

you don't see as many live albums of more extreme metal bands these days

There are two very good ones from the last few years: Neuraxis's Live Progression and Suffocation's The Close of a Chapter: Live in Quebec City. Both are excellent, but the Neuraxis disc in particular actually improves on the studio versions of some of the older songs. Highly recommended.

Are there any good sounding (Van Halen) bootlegs?

Yeah, one recorded in Pasadena right after they finished their first album. It's very decent. Sounds like a balanced board tape.

The Who's Live at Leeds was searing in vinyl form. When it was reissued as a deluxe CD a few years back it was the entire show. And that wrecked the vinyl programming because Townshend had taken all the best punch-yer-face stuff and put it into the 12-inch. So the two really aren't the same anymore although you can roll yer original again by just editing down the deluxe issue.

Leeds reissue still has some essential stuff on it tho ... or at least the single disc reish i have -- i haven't heard the double disc with the full Tommy.

^indeed, reissue is essential for at least "fortune teller" and "heaven and hell"

deep purp's made in japan would fit nicely on fastnbulbous' list

"Heaven and Hell" always struck me as a bunch of wind sprints to burn off excess energy before the actual track meet. Disrespectful to the Ox, I know, but

I downloaded a flac of Nightmare Before Halloween, which is from October 1977 in Pasadena. It's a farewell show I guess because they were getting too big to play that small of venue? For $3.75! Whoever wants it PM me. Also working on getting Wishbone Ash - Live Dates, Grand Funk - Live Album, Deep Purple - Made In Japan, and ordered used CDs of Nugent - Double Live Gonzo, The Guess Who - Live At The Paramount, and Billy Squier - King Biscuit Flower Hour. Rawk!

Wow, if you havent heard Made in Japan yet, I envy the fact you get to hear that for the first time.

I think it's been mentioned on another live albums thread, but it bears repeating: "801 Live," Phil Manazanera and Brian Eno blazing through selected highlights of their solo albums. Drumming on this (Simon Phillips) is astounding.

And I may be the only one who'll ever rep for this one, but it's given me years of enjoyment, a great overview of a guy who had no American hits:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51lg8SAvhvL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Seconds Out by Genesis was the first live album I ever heard and I still love it to death.

Grand Funk Railroad - Grand Funk Live
Lou Reed - Rock & Roll Animal
Thin Lizzy - Live & Dangerous
John Cale - Sabotage
Art Blakey - A Night At Birdland Vol 1 & 2
Big Brother & The Holding Co - Cheap Thrills
Thelonious Monk Quartet w/John Coltrane - Live At Carnegie Hall

Rush-All the World's a Stage

Rory Gallagher-Irish Tour '74. Absolutely searing.
Seconded^ I hadn't heard this til I found it at the station on St. Patrick's Day. Total knockout.

yeah, that's been recommended to me by a few people -- i'll have to check it out.
question -- are there any great live albums from the past decade or so? by new-ish bands? doesn't seem like there are many mentioned here.

Acid Mothers Temple "Live in Japan" is great.
Starts with a fade-in improv, then they do a massive "La Novia" and then there motorik overdrive "In E."
And that's it! about an hour long.

cool, i'll have to check it out. on the japanese tip, that Ghost live CD/DVD from a few year's back is sweet, too. Though I wouldn't mind a more straightforward live album from those guys, too ...

"their motorik overdrive" duh, grammar.
There aren't many other live albums from recent years that have really grabbed me, though.
The Oneida/25 Suaves split 12" "Live at the Bulb Clubhouse" is pretty badass.
Captures the original Oneida lineup (with Crazee who is now in Oakley Hall) doing what they did best, imo.

Recent good to great live albums, though none of the artists are new:

Robyn Hitchcock - I Often Dream of Trains in New York
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Live Anthology
Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Live at Hollywood High
Nirvana - Live at Reading
Halford - Live in Anaheim
Otis Redding - Live on the Sunset Strip
Bauhaus - This Is For When... [from Mask - Omnibus Edition]

CLassic live albums I can't do without and haven't been mentioned:

Julian Cope - Live Japan '91
Butthole Surfers - Live PCPPEP
Butthole Surfers - Double Live Bootleg
J. Geils Band - "Live" Full House
J. Geils Band - Blow Your Face Out
Midnight Oil - Scream In Blue
Midnight Oil - Oils on the Water
Slade - Alive!
Little Feat - Waiting For Columbus
Hawkwind - The '1999' Party

are there any great live albums from the past decade or so? by new-ish bands? doesn't seem like there are many mentioned here

If Spiritualized count as newish then their Royal Albert Hall album is killer.

yeah, that's a good one ... by new-ish, i just mean non-classic rock bands really.

http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/images/Mag-Live.jpg

This is ace, despite the cover.
http://991.com/newGallery/Rain-Parade-Beyond-The-Sunset-342708.jpg

My head is more in the hard rock stuff right now, but Chicago station WXRT broadcasts live shows from their archives, and one night on the car radio I heard them play an Elvis Costello show from 1978 or 79 that sounded killer. I think there are a few good ones from that era available -- like Live at the El Mocambo (March 1978), Live At Winterland (June 1978) and Live At Hollywood High (also recorded June 1978) on Hip-O that just came out this year, has a longer tracklist and is supposed to be a better show, and might even be out on vinyl. I don't have it myself.

Double CD reissues have been featuring some good live recordings lately, like The Cure - Disintegration, Squeeze - Argybargy and Bauhaus - Mask come to mind (as mentioned above).

I've added Manowar - Gods Of War Live and Molly Hatchet - Double Trouble Live to my list.

http://i.imgur.com/rWOV2.png http://imgur.com/I0G8Y.png http://imgur.com/HhIet.png

http://www.watchtower-hendrix.de/images/Hendrix%20Cover/Jimi-Hendrix-Band-Of-Gypsys-421764.jpg

Rory Gallagher-Irish Tour '74. Absolutely searing.
Seconded^ I hadn't heard this til I found it at the station on St. Patrick's Day. Total knockout.

― Trip Maker, Wednesday, August 11, 2010 4:18 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Live in Europe, too

That guy was so good, it is ridiculous.

live skull - don't get any on you
swans - public castration is a good idea

Kinda weird that there is so little official live REM stuff, they waited until 2007 to put out an official live album which was unsurprisingly a bit of a stinker. There are essential '83 and '84 shows on the reissues of Murmur and Reckoning but that still leaves a big hole which I guess can only filled by bootlegs.

Yeah the new Fables of the Reconstruction reissue doesn't have a live show like the others. I'm okay with that, as the songs are more introverted and wouldn't necessarily be improved live. Hopefully, however, they'll dig one up for Lifes Rich Pageant reissue and soon -- it would be nice to hear some of those songs rocked harder and rawer.

I was just re-listening to a remaster of Band Of Gypsys. It's kind of mellow, which is great in the right mood. I reckon he was relaxing with the bluesy jams but in hindsight I'd rather have seen him continue the creative overdrive.

Regarding the Sam Cooke, make sure you get this one. Better sound/mix, IMO.
http://images.uulyrics.com/cover/s/sam-cooke/album-one-night-stand-sam-cooke-live-at-the-harlem-square-club-1963.jpg

I like the original mix of the Cooke better. Apples/Oranges.

Whoops, RCA put "Feel It" on that cover twice!

fastn, you need some BOC

http://i637.photobucket.com/albums/uu92/damien_stone/bocfeet.jpg http://i637.photobucket.com/albums/uu92/damien_stone/boc.jpg

this is great

http://www.livexs.nl/Joomla/images/stories/CDhoezen/the_hold_steady_a_positive_rage.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5174iTuILVL._SS400_.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61RR4S5A7GL._SS500_.jpg

http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/lp/boot08c.jpg

http://www.gifbin.com/bin/1235732758_dog_spinning_pn_turntable.gif

wtf - that was supposed to be rocket from the tombs!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51kR%2Bt4WSwL._SS500_.jpg

Spacemen 3 Performance and Live in Europe 1989 are both pretty badass imo.

LIE1989 also available as Spacemen Are Go!

yeah performance is pretty flattening

Leonard Cohen Live in London is the best one i can think of that i haven't seen mentioned. and it's a doozy, if ya like LC

I feel duty bound to add King Crimson's Great Deceiver box to this list. I think if I could have only one live set by anyone at all it would be that.

a live recording of a guy playing records? si si. how do you spell disco? LARRY LEVAN LIVE AT THE PARADISE GARAGE 1979

http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/17/frontpk.jpg