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Best Live Album


US Egg

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Can't believe I forgot these in my original submission:

 

Wings: Wings Over America

Queen: Live Killers

Aerosmith: Live! Bootleg

 

The Queen and Aerosmith albums were my introductions to each band.  My brother (six years my senior) had them on vinyl and we shared a bedroom, so I listened to what he listened to.

 

The Wings album was my own purchase (well, my parents bought it for me, anyway).  I became a Beatles/McCartney/Wings fan at around 8-years-old and got this album (three-album set) when I was about 10 in 1981.

 

 

 

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For me, the best live albums should have an element that elevates the songs beyond the versions on studio albums. In some cases, there are longer jams which take you far away from the original song, but manage to return to it some five or ten minutes later. Best examples here are "Dark Star" on Grateful Dead's  Live/Dead or "The Low Spark of High-heeled Boys" on Traffic's "Live On The Road".

In other cases, it is the interaction with the audience that makes a live recording special. Unfortunately, often this interaction is left off the released album. This is why I like Frank Zappa's live albums, where he reacts to the audience. The prime example: The Helsinki Concerts (found on "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 2").  First, Zappa plans to play a Finnish tango (well, we are in Helsinki). His band has never played it before, but all of them are able to read sheet music. Thus, he asks for the lights to be left on so that they can play the piece.

Later in the concert, a somewhat inebriated member of the audience asks them to play "Whipping Post". Zappa, not familiar with the Allman Brothers' song, still modified the lyrics of "Montana" to include "whipping floss". Several years later, Zappa actually played a cover of "Whipping Post" in concerts; in Bobby Martin, his keyboard player at that time, he had found somebody able to sing the blues. 

Edited by DrW
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Many great mentions so far covering different eras and genras.

I  would add "Unleashed in the East" by Judas Priest as my favorite "live" metal album. Particularly love their live cover of "Diamonds and Rust". Always wondered what Joan thought of it. Lol

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12 hours ago, LewPort71 said:

I forgot  this one

Renaissance       Live at Carnegie Hall


 

       After seeing your post, I asked myself why I have never tried to go to a Renaissance concert, so I went to look to see if they might be touring.  Shockingly, they are in Homer,NY tomorrow.  I'm one hour away.  It's a great place to see a concert, as it is an old church.  I saw the Strawbs there and the sound was excellent.  Bad news, my car is being repaired.

 

     For those out Albany way, they will be in Troy  Thursday night.

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Cheap Trick - Live at Budokan

The Doors - Alive She Cried

Alison Krauss and Union Station - Live

Elvis Presley - Elvis 

U2 - Under A Blood Red Sky

Bob Marley And The Wailers - Live

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense

Aerosmith - MTV Unplugged   (I can't find this anywhere on the web.  Anybody?)

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I haven't seen anyone yet list

Unplugged in New York by Nirvana

I'm not a huge Nirvana fan or anything, but I can listen to this one any time. Legendary performance. The fact that they basically avoided all their hits and instead played covers by the Vaselines and Meat Puppets and David Bowie and Leadbelly, and that those are the best tracks on the album....awesome.

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3 hours ago, Bad Things said:

When I was a kid, my oldest brother had the greatest musical influence on me.

Here's another fantastic live album from back in the day.

 

A1T5XdTmbeL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

 

I agree (and I don't even like Lynyrd Skynyrd very much).

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It mildly surprises me how many band names are being thrown out there, and I realize that I heard it all, but didn’t really like them. I liked what I liked, but just ignored so much main stream stuff.

 

I guess it helped me later on when we ran loosely in some R&R circles (strangely, but you’d need to meet my wife to understand). I didn’t know who some of these guys were, or care about their music. The lack of idolization meant we could just talk, person to person. An amateur musician buddy always wanted to join us, but he would have ruined it. To this day he will tell people we had dinner and partied with this guy and that. Others are amazed, and I don’t even recognize the names. I remember our close friends, and the others were just friends of friends, not the lead singer or drummer for this group or that. 

 

I liked most of the bands in the initial posts, then things kind of fell off for me. To each their own.  🤷‍♂️

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Joni Mitchell - Shadows and Light

My main con: Many songs are not this different from her studio recordings and there is very little interaction with the audience.

My main pros: A) The musicians are first-rate; B) You can also have it on DVD or watch it on youtube (see below); C) It is just awesome -Joni makes very complicated songs accessible to a wider audience.

 

 

Edited by DrW
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"If it's too loud, you're too old".  I've always gravitated towards hard/heavy rock and IMO not many live albums capture the concussive sound of a live show. I always thought Michael Schenker Group's Live at Budokan did - but maybe that's cuz back in the day we had massive speakers at the fraternity house. Just listened to this through earbuds and it didn't have the same gravitas.  Still think it captures the essence of so many shows I went to.

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, Irv said:

Aerosmith - MTV Unplugged   (I can't find this anywhere on the web.  Anybody?)

MTV Unplugged was usually an excellent showing by those who appeared. 
 

Clapton, Nirvana and once Buffalo bar band- 10,000 Maniacs, come immediately to mind. 

Edited by I am the egg man
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24 minutes ago, I am the egg man said:

MTV Unplugged was usually an excellent showing by those who appeared. 
 

Clapton, WNY’s 10,000 Maniacs, Nirvana come immediately to mind. 

 

An arguably even better source is the German TV show "Rockpalast" that started in 1974 and continues to these days. The list of artists they recorded live is lengthy (google it). Initially (I do not remember for how long) they had Rockpalast Nights, a concert with several bands. Where else can you find Pete Townshend jamming with the Grateful Dead? I would also like to mention that the A/V quality of their shows was phenomenal for the time (the linked song was recorded more than 40 years ago) .

 

 

Edited by DrW
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1 hour ago, DrW said:

 

An arguably even better source is the German TV show "Rockpalast" that started in 1974 and continues to these days. The list of artists they recorded live is lengthy (google it). Initially (I do not remember for how long) they had Rockpalast Nights, a concert with several bands. Where else can you find Pete Townshend jamming with the Grateful Dead? I would also like to mention that the A/V quality of their shows was phenomenal for the time (the linked song was recorded more than 40 years ago) .

 

 

That is killer. Thanks for posting!

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48 minutes ago, DrW said:

 

An arguably even better source is the German TV show "Rockpalast" that started in 1974 and continues to these days. The list of artists they recorded live is lengthy (google it). Initially (I do not remember for how long) they had Rockpalast Nights, a concert with several bands. Where else can you find Pete Townshend jamming with the Grateful Dead? I would also like to mention that the A/V quality of their shows was phenomenal for the time (the linked song was recorded more than 40 years ago) .

 

 

 

Rockplaast is AWESOME!

 

And it just reminded me, if another live album yet to be mentioned. 

 

Roy Buchanan, Live Stock!

 

Here's a Rockpalast sample, not one from Live Stock:

 

 

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8 hours ago, Irv said:

Aerosmith - MTV Unplugged   (I can't find this anywhere on the web.  Anybody?)

 

This one?

 

 

Or do you mean the whole album, not the video, since the album has some extra tracks?

 

 

Edited by Just Jack
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