When did the live album take off?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by KevinP, Jan 11, 2007.

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  1. KevinP

    KevinP Forum introvert Thread Starter

    Location:
    Daejeon
    Similarly, The Spirituals to Swing concerts from '38 and '39 weren't released until the '50s either (and not complete until the late '90s). Having pre-dated the LP, I just count my blessings that they were maintained until a long-playing format was developed.
     
  2. weaselriot

    weaselriot Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    The Benny Goodman (et al.) 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert was the "Woodstock" of the WWII "Greatest Generation. That is an apropos analogy, as the parents of most who lined up around the block for the show absolutely hated that music (jazz), and also because it was that generation's last big fling before the nightmare years of WWII and the postwar red scares. The rise of swing was also the final step in the popularization of jazz with mainstream young white audiences.

    Many all-time great jazz albums were recorded live (the Village Vanguard by itself produced a bumper crop, led by Bill Evans). There were other big selling live albums before the classic rock era. Tony Bennett and Harry Belafonte, both at Carnegie Hall, leap famously to mind. There was also James Brown "Live at the Apollo 1962". But with few exceptions they were largely acoustic, and miked as such, a reliably established technology which would not work for electrically amplified rock music. But I think the original poster had live rock more n mind.

    Though live recording of classic rock was hampered early on as a new animal required new techniques, certainly the live album took off way before Peter Frampton. "Get Yer Ya Yas Out" (Stones), "Live at the Fillmore East" (Allman Brothers), "Live at Leeds" (The Who), and "Band of Gypsys" (Hendrix), from about 1970, are all considered absolutely essential to even a modest collection from that era. By that time, engineers were just starting to get good results with rock music (compare some recordings just a few years earlier by the Beach Boys and the Beatles). Since then, however, the live album quickly (and frequently) became a profit taking or contract fulfillment device that usually was issued as pure product, when the label was "owed" an album. Obvious exceptions are "Waiting for Columbus" (Little Feat), "Live at Budokan" (Cheap Trick), and other notables since then.
     
  3. Grampire

    Grampire Forum Resident

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    29 Palms
  4. Khaki F

    Khaki F Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kenosha, WI. USA
    Woodstock.
     
  5. Helmut

    Helmut Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Germany
    "Woodstock" is also an important live album.
    But I think it took until the late 80s/early 90s, when live albums really took off. Cause for a moment the bootleg market exploded and showed a huge demand for concert recordings. Since then artists started to release more live albums, in some cases after each tour. And some went even further and offered recordings from each concert via internet or special mail services.
     
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  6. Helmut

    Helmut Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Germany
    Two people on earth with an ocean in between thinking in sync....
     
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  7. Boustrophedon

    Boustrophedon Well-Known Member

    Location:
    UK
    The Yardbirds' debut LP, "Five Live Yardbirds", recorded March 13th 1964 and released on December 4th, 1964.
    The MC5's debut was also a live album, recorded 30th - 31st October 1968 and released in February 1969.
     
  8. Vaughan

    Vaughan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Essex, UK
    Could one or both of you comment further on why you think this? :righton:
     
  9. efraley

    efraley Forum Resident

    Location:
    Richmond Va USA
    I got the Beach Boys in Concert in the 60s for Xmas one year, the first rock live album I can remember.
     
  10. BigManRestless

    BigManRestless Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Bless Its Pointed Little Head by Jeffeson Airplane which made the US top 20 in early 1969?
     
  11. bobc

    bobc Bluesman

    Location:
    France
    Yeah, in my world the first was Five Live Yardbirds (1964), an attempt to capture the rawness of their stage show in a club. I'm no expert, but the recording quality always seemed pretty poor even if the "rave-up" atmosphere comes through. It was also the only chance we had to try to listen to Eric Clapton before he left for John Mayall.

    John Mayall's Diary Of A Band (1967) was an attempt to portray a busy blues band (with Mick Taylor) and just before (1966) Geno Washington's Handclappin' Footstompin' Funkybutt Live! album was very popular among the moddy boy crowd.

    Cream's Wheels Of Fire (1968) was a big live album (well, the live album part) that got a lot of attention.

    A little later came The Who Live At Leeds (1970). Now that was a popular record and could mark the moment the live album took off.

    Around the same time came Live Dead and of course I can't remember much after that.
     
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  12. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    It's my earliest, followed shortly by Bo Diddley's Beach Party, from that same year. That said, neither really jump started the "Live Album" thing. Having read this thread, I think Live At Leeds deserves to be the touchstone for the big rock live album thing, though the standard double album phenomenon didn't come until later.
     
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