Rolling Stone magazine: The 50 Greatest Live Albums Of All-Time

easily the most glaring omission IMO is Dire Straits Alchemy. followed by Live After Death and Elvis "56 Comeback Special. also surprised no J Geils Full House, Supertramp Paris, or Song Remains The Same.
my closet fave-not likely to make many peoples list-is The Knack Live At The Rock And Roll Funhouse.

 

Yep. Not that I expected it to be on there, but Unleashed in the East was the most obvious glaring omission.

 

Sorry, I was referring to Maxi Priest - Live In Concert.

 

Funny guy! LOL

 

Of course lists such as this one are entirely subjective. That said, of the 50 albums on the list I've had at least 40 of them over the years, & still have 26 of them in the collection. The recent advent of archival live releases has only expanded my collection however.

My "list" would read something like this:

The Allman Brothers Band: The 1971 Fillmore East Recording 6 CD set
The Allman Brothers Band: Live From A&R Studios
The Allman Brothers Band: Boston Common, 8/17/71
Little Feat: Electrif Lycanthrope
Little Feat: Waiting For Columbus
The P-Funk All Stars: Live At The Beverly Theater
Parliament: Live-P Funk Earth Tour
The Rolling Stones: Brussels Live, but the bootleg, without the transposed guitar solo on All Down The Line that's on the official version
The J Geils Band: Live-Full House
The J Geils Band: Blow Your Face Out
Otis Redding; Live In Europe
King Curtis: Live At Fillmore West
Thelonious Monk: Misterioso
Thelonious Monk: Thelonious In Action; both albums were recorded at the Five Spot on the same night
Thelonious Monk Quartet With John Coltrane At Carnegie Hall
Van Morrison: It's Too Late To Stop Now
Van Morrison: It's Too Late To Stop Now, Vol II III & IV
The Black Crowes: Australian Salvation; five song bootleg EP from the Australian part of their High As The Moon tour
Buddy Guy: This Is Buddy Guy
Luther Allison: Live In Chicago
Muddy Waters: Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live Deluxe Edition
Muddy Waters: Newport 1960

 

Yeah, Metallic KO is pretty lousy. I didn't even keep the CDR I burned.

 

Crap, how in the world did I neglect to mention The Scorps in my previous post? Tokyo Tapes is up there with the best.

 

Not a terrible list, but not a good list. Jazz should not be on this list nor classical (Jarrett's Koln echoes classical). Both are too far removed from rock, although both influenced rock (classical arguably more so from mid-Sixties onward). Sinatra At the Sands, which I wouldn't include on this list, is better than most of the albums in the top ten. All of these jazz titles crowd out a bunch of other music. Rock, etc. aren't on jazz lists and the reverse should hold true. They include Coltrane Live at the Village Vanguard, but not Evans' Sunday at the Village Vanguard or Waltz for Debby, both generally ranked higher than the Coltrane set (also great) for over five decades. Ridiculous really, but neither should be on such a list. Is it too hard to have a separate list for jazz ? No, but RS continues it's absurd smorgasbord approach sans country.

RS and the RRHoF continue to give short shrift to classic country despite country being a key distillate that formed rock and has remained a part of rock. Why is Waylon Live (1976), better than most of these live sets, not on this list ? Kiss is way too high and arguably shouldn't be on the list at all. RS dogma prevents consideration for live sets such as Tull's Bursting Out and Nugent's Double Live Gonzo! Not including Elvis Presley (tons of great live releases including FTD label and box sets) and Lou Reed is a total joke. No Bowie either.

 

I certainly have issues with this list, but JB @ the Apollo at #1 isn't one of them; best capture of interaction with the audience ever.

 

Like it or not, Alive is an iconic album to millions and got just about that many people playing guitar. It’s ranking is justified.

 

Not a bad list. KISS ALIVE! is a certainly a classic if not everyone's cup of tea. I love The Replacements and that's a fun cassette but it's probably not one of the greatest live albums of all time. Same with Iggy.

 

Oh, yeh........mostly balderdash. Another Rolling Stone empty shirt.

 

Agree that Full House, Rockin' The Fillmore and Too Late To Stop Now belong on the list.

I would add Stand In The Fire (Zevon) and Bless It's Pointed Little Head (Jefferson Airplane at the height of its powers), and Randy Newman's 12 Songs.

If career spanning works like Springsteen 1975-1985 qualifies, Petty's Live Anthology belongs on the list.

From two years ago, Soulfire Live (Little Steven) is an underrated classic. It features Steve's 15 piece band and, thanks to Bob Clearmountain's excellent mix, you can hear each musician beautifully. Bruce Springsteen, take note!

Stones are underrepresented. How about Some Girls Live in Texas 1978?

To make room, I'd give jazz its own 50 record list.

My two cents.

 

Band of Gypsies????

 

Did Neil Young’s Massey Hall make the cut? That’s an excellent live album and if it had come out in 1973 it would probably be regarded as a classic.

 

The title does not have the word "rock" in it. It's not a rock list.

Agree about Kiss though. And Bowie's Santa Monica '72 set should be somewhere in there.

 

So where are the classical albums then or Bill Evans or Sonny Rollins ? Dumb list that tries to be too many things - take out the six jazz offerings (including Sinatra) and they could include Santa Monica, Rock n Roll Animal, Elvis, Otis and Waylon.

 

:::. 15 out 50 have cross my ears...14 from my older brother's collection...he always claimed that live recordings shows a real performer musician out of the studio tricks

- Alchemy
- World Wide Alive
- Stage
- Seconds Out
- Plays Live
...could've fit the list IMO

EDIT: ohh, Paris by Supertramp!

 

Lou Reed is a joke? Don't think Bowie had any classic live albums.

 

IT'S TOO LATE TO STOP NOW would be my favorite not on this list.

The list includes Miles Davis's COMPLETE LIVE AT THE PLUGGED NICKEL, which is also an audiophile special. But my favorite live Miles is NO MORE BLUES, contained whole in the first BOOTLEG SERIES collection. Startlingly beautiful music by the Second Great Quintet.

On the the other hand, I'm pleasantly surprised that Fela Kuti's LIVE WITH GINGER BAKER made it. It's Fela's hardest funk and probably the most accessible album in his large discography. Anyone who loves JB's LOVE POWER PEACE or REVOLUTION OF THE MIND should pick this up immediately.

 

While some of them really are great live albums any magazine that doesn't acknowledge Rush All The World's A Stage and Queen Live Killers gets no respect from me.

 

Hawkwind: Space Ritual

 

I was pretty surprised it didn't make the list.

 

Pleased to see the mighty KISS Alive! in the top ten. Also nice to see Bob Marley's Live on there...these things usually go with Babylon..


But no mention of Van Morrison's It's Too Late To Stop Now? Unacceptable.

 

Interesting list, with a few surprises I need to explore. But what was Bob Marley and the Wailers’ ‘Live!’ doing way the Hell down at #34??