Live records you like but others despise

My two are Steely Dan "Alive In America" and Commander Cody "We Got A Live One Here."

 

Rolling Stones - Still Life (Love You Live as well)

 

I'm not partial to live recordings, with some notable exceptions for instance the Grateful Dead. There is however one I always liked a lot .. the original 1976 Led Zeppelin double-LP "The Song Remains The Same". The latest remaster, having undergone far too many new edits in the form of "fly-ins" (patched together bits and sections of songs from different shows), further Frankenstein-izing the material to the point that it is arguably not the same album, only indicates that the band ( at least Page) was not happy with the result in '76. I've always preferred the original album to all of the other live material that has appeared over the years, both official and otherwise.

 

Slayer - Decade of Aggression
Folks moan about the sound....clearly they are not playing it loud enough!!!.

Motorhead - No Sleep At All
OK it's no No Sleep 'Till Hammersmith but the damn things still ferocious....and I still play it more than its predecessor.

KISS - ALIVE II
Yup even as a KISS fan I never quite understood the fuss about ALIVE. It's an okay 70's live album with the obligatory **** drum solo.....but ALIVE II was on fire. Although maybe that's how it felt playing it as a 7 year old on Christmas morning.....however that feelings never gone away.

 

Love You Live is my pick -- most of it is very good

 

Bob Dylan - Hard Rain
'Shelter from the Storm' on this album is Dylan's greatest performance ever.

 

Or Idiot Wind, just listen to Rob Stoner's bass behind the :

"Down the highway, down the tracks
Down the road to ecstasy"

lines. Truly awesome.

 

How could anyone not like Commander Cody?

 

I enjoy most of it too. Still Life and Flashpoint are still kind of lame though...I'm glad both are rendered largely redundant by recent From The Vault releases.

 

Lou Reed -Take No Prisoners

 

I think the Allmusic review calls it one of the worst live records ever. I’ll concede that sonically it sounds a bit sterile compare to their previous live record (Live From Deep In The Heart Of Texas). But that first live record has lots of audible distortion. I think the performances on WGALOH are pretty darned good.

 

Grateful Dead - Steal Your Face

It was the first live Dead I ever heard, 25 years ago this month.

 

Stones - Got Live If You Want It!

 

I guess you have to be a fan, but it's great. Stand up rock n roll, nothing else comes remotely close in genre...

 

that's right I said it. Come and get me coppers!

(just punched myself in the face)

 

Alive II is far and away superior to Alive...in total agreement.

 

Take No Prisoners has my go-to versions of "Coney Island Baby", "Berlin", and " Satellite of Love". Those versions also made up one side of the Arista album City Lights

 

Two come to mind:
Simple Minds/Live in the City of Light
Peter Gabriel/Secret World Live

The criticism for both of these is that they aren't really live, but had a lot of post-production added. So what? I think it makes for a better listening experience.

 

Who despises this album??

Dylan's greatest live album and surely its a contender for greatest live album ever!!

 

Watching Peter Gabriel live DVDs/Blu-rays, I must admit the level of apparent "post-production correction" becomes a distraction - especially on vocals. The shows don't "sound live" - they may objectively "sound good" but the lack of "concert feel" makes them less satisfying to me...

 

Dylan & The Dead

 

I agree, watching these concerts on video would be distracting. Whenever I watch a live concert video I'm always looking for cheats or other ways the audio doesn't match up with the visuals. But just listening to these on headphones, they sound great.

 

I listened to Bowie's David Live a year or so ago and enjoyed it. This album's reputation seems to have improved since the 70's (judging from other posts here at least).

 

I've not listened to the "Secret World" CD in years - I'd need to play it again and decide if the "not live" sound bothers me. Didn't in the 90s, but I was much dumber then!

The vocal sound did/does bother me with the "Live at Athens" Blu-ray...

 

+1 for Live in the city of light. Played that to death in my younger years.

And I'll add Queen - Live Killers. Always liked it.