The Best Live Albums ever!

Beach Boys In Concert

These guys could rock when they wanted too (listen to Marcella for example). The additions of Blondie Chaplin, Ricky Fataar, Ed Carter add a lot that's for sure.

 

In my case, it's because I have the laserdisc - the visuals to go with the audio. And, that's the same tour I saw in concert in New Orleans. Not the same performance, of course, but the tour with almost the exact same song list.

Joel

 

If you're going to talk about Bill Evans, then let's talk about "LIVE AT THE FIVE SPOT" Monk! Great album, you get to hear the glasses clink and the rotary phone ring, and.....the music!!!!!!!

 

Bruce Cockburn - Circles in the Stream. (Are you detecting a pattern here?)

Avoid the Canadian LPs that were cut with the DOlby on, incorrectly. (Not all of them are like that.) The U.S. LPs, and the CD, are fine.

 

Are you talking about Live At The Five Spot Discovery! w/Coltrane or At The Five Spot w/Johnny Griffin? Actually I prefer the later.

Speaking of live Monk...I've always been partial to Misterioso (Riverside). I believe this is part of the set that you are refering to (1958).

The title track is amazing!

 

Charles Mingus Quintet With Max Roach - At The Cafe Bohemia, New York City (1955)
Thelonius Monk Quartet With Johnny Griffin - Thelonius In Action - Recorded At The Five Spot Cafe, New York City (1958)
Miles Davis - At Carnegie Hall (1961)

 

Wow. Magic, I didn't see your post. Too cool. Cool minds think alike.

 

Boppin' at the Blue Note

 

Who Live At Leeds
Isle Of Wight - Who
Made In Japan - Deep Purple
Jimi Plays Monterrey
Five Live Yardbirds

 

Three pages of this thread, and no one has mentioned John Stewart's PHOENIX CONCERTS. I think it's one of the best live albums ever. Great band backing him up, including Jim Gordon and Dan Dugmore.

Am I the last John Stewart fan on the planet?!?!?

I'll also add WAYLON LIVE and Oasis FAMILIAR TO MILLIONS.

 

Am I the only one who doesn't like live albums

First of all most of them are not truly live and have overdubs done in the studio and secondly I just never feel like the songs sound as good as the produced record except for a few small cases. I mean who would rather listen to "The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl" over the studio produced songs?

 

Here's one of my favorites that I forgot yesterday:

My Truck Is My Home- Marshall Crenshaw

Nice live retrospective, made up of archival tapes from throughout his career, some a bit rough sounding, but great performances, and not the obvious song choices. Lots of overlooked gems like "Fantastic Planet Of Love," "You Should've Been There" and "Calling Out For Love At Crying Time", and some neat covers like Dave Alvin's "Wanda And Duane, " Bobby Fuller's "Julie" ("Bobby Fuller...my favorite rock star ever to have been murdered by gangsters..."), MC5's "Tonight" and a hot take of "Twine Time."

His later acoustic live set I've Suffered For My Art, Now It's Your Turn is nice as well, but didn't connect with me quite as much as the earlier disc.

 

Really, now? I think that is one of the worst. What do you like about it?

 

I'm surprised no one here has mentioned:

Yes- Yessongs
Genesis- Seconds Out
Be Bop Deluxe- Live! In The Air Age

 

Re: Am I the only one who doesn't like live albums

Whoa! Major League Thread Crap!

 

Re: Am I the only one who doesn't like live albums

Deep Purple Made In Japan is way better than the studio versions and that album was done with one or two minor overdubs. Some live albums capture an excitement that may not be captured in a studio. The better tha band the better the live album usually is.

 

I agree with this Live Johansen show too. You really feel part of the show and it is a hot show.

Also:
Gov't Mule: Live at Roseland Ballroom.

Joe Lee

 

Some of my favorite live albums are:

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Live 1975-1985 -- it not only works for its mostly smokin' live versions, but as a career retrospective to that time.

Dance Craze soundtrack -- its subtitle is "The Best of British Ska -- Live!" and it indeed is. Madness' version of "One Step Beyond" on this album is frenetic and definitive and beats the 2-toned pants off the studio version. And that's just the most obvious example.

Bob Dylan The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert -- The tension just builds throughout the "electric set" until it's finally released just before "Like a Rolling Stone." Dylan tells his band "Play F***ing Loud!" and they obey.

Fleetwood Mac Live -- as much for the extended workouts, the revival of "Oh Well" by the Buckingham-Nicks version of the band, and the ethereal remake of "The Farmer's Daughter" as anything else.

Bob Marley and the Wailers Live! -- the original one from 1976 or so, with that incredible version of "No Woman, No Cry."

Jackson Browne Running on Empty -- what a concept: an album entirely of songs you've never recorded before, all done on various places on the road (including the tour bus), and all even thematically related. This album worked in 1978, and it still works 25 years later.

 

Five spot with Johnny Griffin. Misterioso is also good.

 

yeah, the original Johansen Band were fantastic live. Before his first solo album came out, they played a ton of small gigs in the new haven area, but, for some reason, hardly at all in NYC until a new year's eve concert They always did a killer version of the 4 Tops's "Reach Out", and were just as good for an audience of 5 or 500.

 

Live at Monterey is another good one. I like how the crowd really hadn't heard of him at the beginning and he got polite applause before "332221222". At the end, the applause was practically a riot...hard to believe something with 19 beats to the bar would get such a response.

 

Muddy Waters at Newport, Sammy Davis: The Sounds of '66, The Summit, Sinatra '57.

 

Jerry Lee Lewis "Live At The Star Club" and "The Greatest Show On Earth"

Buck Owens And The Buckaroos "Live At Carnegie Hall"

 

Gratitude-Earth Wind & Fire
Live At The Apollo(1962)-James Brown
Live At The Apollo II(1968)-James Brown
Frampton Comes Alive-Peter Framption
Live!-Marvin Gaye
Live At The Newport Jazz Festival-Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
Live At The Hollywood Bowl-The Beatles
Amazing Grace-Aretha Franklin
Live In New Orleans-Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly
Live-The Jacksons