Fave Live Rock LPs?
onetet
1,754 Posts
I generally hate them... In most cases, I feel like I'm being given sloppily performed, poorly recorded tunes that in many cases reveal less chops and charisma than the studio versions of the same songs would imply. What are yuor exceptions that prove (or disprove, if you have a lot) the rule?First ones that came to mind for me:
Comments
My Picks
Lenny & Squiggy Present Lenny & the Squigtones
honorable mention: Kick Out The Jams - MC 5 (the first side is the best side; Side 2 is just lukewarm)
Yes, it's all pre-Love material.
And IMO Dreamtime is only slighly less of an awesome album than is Love.
I always thought that the songs and production on "Dreamtime" lacked a little of the muscle they needed. Back on topic, I went to this Cult concert at the Ritz in 1985, and I have a tape in storage somewhere (it was simulcast on the radio), and I always thought it was one of the most amazing shows I ever saw. Wish I could find the complete video somewhere, an edited version was released once, but it only has about a third of the show.
Yep, I used to have a VHS copy of that concert that I taped off of MTV back in like '87. You were there??? Wow!
Trippin', dude.
also...
i agree for their energy but i wish this was recorded better. the ending of "fortune" is badass though, i love marion's trumpet playing. i love that a lil thing can have such a commanding voice and impressive breath control. one of my favorite bands ever, sad i never got to see them live.
I'm in the same boat, discovered them just before they broke up. Although Andy joining the Ex seems to have redirected the Ex's music in a DFH direction and seeing the Ex I feel like I'm getting a taste of what it would've been like.
this cover has always bugged the shit outta me...thats not a full house!
HAHAHA!
hell fukn yes. southbound mothafukas!
Yeah, there's studio-stuff pasted in here and there (as with all the "live" Zappa stuff), but this album smokes.
Cosine on the Grand Funk album.
- J
I'm not a fan of Costello's, but this live album shows him in the best light possible. Better, in my opinion, than most of his studio output. The raw energy of his early live performance cancels out the preciousness that always creeps into his material. Don't get me wrong; this isn't my shit or anything, and my dislike of Costello goes unabated, but it does impress as an example to disprove the idea that live albums are inferior recordings by nature.
Another live album that I think is the artists' best. I didn't really get Cheap Trick's appeal until someone put the live version "Surrender" on a mix for me and it sounded like something totally new. The rest of the album works on the same level.
There are some great reworkings of already great songs on here. None of them replace the originals, but it is a powerful, intimate set nonetheless.
I have to include this, if only because I think it's success is even more improbable than a great live album by a rock artist; that is, as a great live album by a disco artist. But Sylvester is truly in his element here, performing at the peak of his career in front of, no doubt, his most adoring fans. And the ~12-minute peaks-and-valleys workout of "You Are My Friend" is something to behold.
Best live album ever in my opinion.
Parliament Funkadelic-P Funk Earth Tour 1976
Frankie Beverly & Maze-Live From New Orleans 1981
Earth Wind & Fire-Gratitude 1975
Isley Brothers-Live from Yankee Stadium 1972
Bob Segar & The Silver Bullet Band 1976
It's a shame the Isley Brothers didn't release a live album around 1977-78,damn that shit would've been unreal..Same with Sly Stone,why is there no whole live album from Sly Stone?
major
(although for me the premise of the thread was that there are lotsa great live jazz and R+B LPs, not so many rock)
if curtis is in this then ill thro some props to ;
miles davis -
(Don't front now - if you're of a certain age, then this record was one of the soundtracks of 1976)
I thought it might get some flack, but I'm happy to include it as a rock album.