Which is your favourite live artist/band...when it comes to recordings?

Pink Floyd, particularly late '60s and early 70's live stuff. They really should have gone ahead and put out some live BBC stuff in the late 90's.

Agreed. I hope they keep doing DVD releases with Eagle Rock, I've been loving the documentary and live stuff they've released so far. Audio wise, some great stuff from '69 - '70 and '73 has circulated the last few years between reissues and Wolfgang's Vault. I hope over the next few years more stuff from '68 and '71 is unearthed.

It's also been a blast being a Stones fan lately. I loved the official bootleg series.

If St. Vincent ever does a live video release, I'd definitely get that.

 

Elvis have some relatively excellent live recordings. There have been released quite a lot of the 70's stuff the last couple of years, but there's not much that can beat The '68 Comeback Special

 

And the unofficial ones are even better! Seriously, from 1961 up to at least the 80s, nearly every live recording of Bob is mesmerizing. I could still listen to "Abandoned Love" from the Other End every day.

 

The Who
The greatest live band of all time. Powerful, explosive, relentless, brutal. Hard/heavy rock at it's absolute best. If in doubt, listen to Live At Leeds.

The Rolling Stones (with Mick Taylor)
Between the years 1969-1974, the Stones were (arguably) the number one rock act in the world. They were producing their best material, had their best line-up and were delivering shows of a quality that would never be matched. By anyone. A listen to Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out, The Brussels Affair, or any decent sounding bootleg of that era is evidence enough. Even now, compare how great they sound when Mick T joins them on stage to when he's not.

Deep Purple
The classic mk II lineup had just about more sheer natural talent than any other band. Three of their four albums in the early '70's were awesome and their live shows were even better. Too bad they imploded. They could've been anything. Now I see they've released all 3 shows that made up Made In Japan across 4 CD's. Or if you prefer, it's also available on nine vinyl records.

Jerry Lee Lewis
When The Killer's rocking, he takes no prisoners. Talented, arrogant, charismatic, frenetic, vulgar, funny, authentic kickass rock 'n' roll. Live At The Star Club should be in everyone's collection.

Jimi Hendrix
The single most important musician in rock history. And still the best and most influential guitarist. 44 years since his death and people still haven't caught up with him. His playing on "Machine Gun" from Band Of Gypsys still floors me every time. If you prefer the Experience, then check out the Winterland set. It's just as good.

I could probably add 4 or 5 others but I've run out of time for now.

 

UFO

 

Am I seriously the first person to mention King Crimson here?! An extraordinary live band with a dauntingly extensive archive. There uncanny ability to improvise and reinvent the material keeps me coming back for more.

A lot of progressive acts excelled in this field. A few of my favorites: Gentle Giant, PFM, Gong, Magma, Soft Machine, Frank Zappa (not traditionally "Prog", I know, but close enough in terms of music

 

television's "the blow up" is quite a departure from there studio albums.....

 

Stones
Faces

 

The Ramones.

"1-2-3-4..." 'Nuff said.

 

Genesis. The official live albums are all good (The Way We Walk duo) to insanely excellent (Seconds Out). The intricate and complicated melodies are expertly re-created but still have that "live" feel to them. Say what you will about Phil Collins but he was an excellent drummer on stage (and Tony is no slouch at playing keys live either).

I also admire the arrangements the band gives to their material. Taking certain passages from songs to create medleys and links. There's always a mix of new Genesis fans and old Genesis fans at every show and the band understands that and has always given something to please everyone.

As far as the dozens of other live recordings go that are floating around, I've never heard one where the performances are not top notch and, especially with European audiences, the group always connects deeply with the crowd.

 

Bob Seger - Live Bullet.
Frank Zappa- Sheik Yerbouti
Warren Zevon - Stand in the Fire
Ufo - live BBC Radio 1 in Concert
John Hiatt - Comes Alive at Budokan
Aerosmith - live Bootleg
Doors - live in concert
Joe Jackson live 1980/1986

Would also have to add....
Cheap Trick at Budokan ( overplayed, however ) and Foghat - Live ( sound quality lacking on this one) . I really like material/songs on both.

 

Live Cream
Derek & The Dominoes In Concert
EC Was Here
Just One Night
Nothing But The Blues
Eric Clapton always brought the goods when it comes to live playing.

 

Zappa
Stones
Hendrix

 

a partial list of groups not done justice by their live releases:

Deep Purple (you may be wondering why, well they were EVEN better than on the official live albums, as tapes from 1970-1973 prove. especially 1970 gigs tended to be out of control, you thought Aachen 1970 was out of control, then listen to some even crazier gigs)
Queen (the Live Killers album was recorded on their worst tour ever, on most tours there wouldn't have been that much of a need for overdubbing. Brian May seems to agree, as stage banter from the following tour shows, which was one of their best, the Crazy Tour, which was a very short UK tour, ending with the Concert for Kampuchea. the 1981 and 1982 releases are a step in the right direction, but there's barely any early Queen live albums, hopefully Rainbow 1974 will right that wrong)
Led Zeppelin (take a good listen to a 1969 or 1970 gig)
Pink Floyd (no early Floyd live albums except for Ummagumma and Live at Pompeii, no Man and the Journey, when they have so many great recordings and performances recorded for broadcast)
Manfred Mann's Earth Band (no live album from the early days 1973-1975)
Wings (only one live album out, the 1979 tour was much better, Denny wasn't too stoned to sing, Linda kept her mouth shut for longer stretches of time, just skip Cook of the House, the new songs sounded great live, Paul was in great voice, the setlists were great)
The Beatles (Hollywood Bowl was not their finest hour, neither 1964 nor 1965, Stockholm 1963 was a great performance and a great, clear recording. there's a good reason most of it is on Anthology 1)
Neil Young (not enough complete gigs, no 1976 live album, no 80's CH live album even though they were on fire at the time)

The Rolling Stones were every bit as amazing as the fanboys say in 1971. Tight and inspired. Not a hint of the sloppiness of most other years.

Frank Zappa had a lot of great live albums, but there are a lot of shows out there that top most of them. I've yet to hear a better Torture Never Stops than the one on YCDTOSA Vol.1 though. Or a better Stevie's Spanking than the 10 minute monster on YCDTOSA Vol.4. I also love Ahead of their Time despite its bad sound quality (not the recording's fault!). Zappa in New York has its moments, the only two cd-exclusive tracks i think are essential are that mellow, beautiful Torture Never Stops and that amazing, funky, feelgood version of "I'm The Slime" featuring Don Pardo bellowing out the bridge. Otherwise i am fine with my record and Läther for Zappa in New York. Carnegie Hall 1971 is one of the finest posthumous releases i've ever heard, simply because the whole group is on fireand having a ball. Add to that the amazing sound quality.

 

I understand that some live albums feature songs from different concerts, but I can't tolerate song segments from different concerts. Live Killers is a Frankenstein's monster.

http://www.queenlive.ca/lkanalysis.htm

 

I was about to say exactly that. For me Crimson and the Dead are easy winners based on an unbeatable combination of variety, musical inspiration and overwhelming volume. On this scale, Phish probably comes in third.

 

Excellent, I never heard a fast version of this song. (May had a little trouble on the chords from 1:54 to about 2:00, but recovered nicely). Good bass sound from Deacon at the beginning. There was a little "Barroom Blitz" style chugging there too nearer to the end. May had a gift for blending styles, in this respect he reminds me of Rick Neilsen where you can't really ascribe a style to him, but he also reflects his era too… Great performers, one of the best ever. The Montreal concert DVD (by the way I was there, about 10 rows in) is superb too.

 

John Martyn
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
Thin Lizzy
Wishbone Ash

 

Joy Division, despite being occasionally marred by technical difficulties and poor recordings, remain one of my favorite bands to hear live tracks from. Ian Curtis was just phenomenal. Not to mention, with the extremely small catalog, its always a treat to hear something outside the finished studio recordings.

 

Check out the King Biscuit Montreal 1981 show on Wolfgang's Vault. Rough night for Ozzy, but Randy at his best.

 

Richard Thompson
John Hiatt
Peter Gabriel
Roxy Music
Gentle Giant
Frank Zappa

 

Mark Knopfler - mesmerizing guitar.

 

Meat Puppets, but I'm too tired to explain why

 

King Crimson

The 73/74 era has been documented extensively (with more to come) with soundboard and multitrack stuff as has every tour since then...and the live stuff almost always shoed the band at its best.

 

Theres so few live recordings I like.I think the only live stuff I have is Jimi and Jefferson Airplane and thats only cause I wanted everything they released in my collection. Between those I listen to live Jimi more than JA