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Bands whose live albums trounce their studio efforts


Barking Spiders

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4 hours ago, Franticsmurf said:

I generally prefer the live album versions of most music by my favourite bands. My first 'proper' album was 'Yesshows' - and I only found their studio albums a little later, by which time I'd been spoilt by the energy and excitement of the live performances. 

The performances on Yessongs are amazing too but blimey, it sounds like it was recorded from the venue toilet.

Edited by Cosmo Valdemar
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2 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

and weak as p1$$. Whoever produced their albums needs sacking in hindsight.

I agree that that single is a feeble version. 'I Want You To Want Me' was royally messed with.

Years later, Cheap Trick re-recorded the whole of their second album In Color later on, because they hated the utterly gelded Tom Werman studio production.

Jack Douglas did their first album and it's superb. Unbelievably, Werman produced Heaven Tonight (their 3rd album) and this time he was not allowed to mess up the sound on it.

 

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I adore UFO's Strangers In The Night (even the super extended version is great). I don't possess a single UFO studio album.  This is all I need from them.

 

Haven't listened to Cheap Trick At Budokan for a while.

 

Other notables:

Aerosmith - Live! Bootleg

Sinatra at The Sands

The Heartbreakers - Live at Max's Kansas City

Wings Over America

Rachel Stamp - Stampax

 

The only other live thing I dip into regularly is the 4CD Transistor Blast by XTC.  There's live at the BBC content on there (from Rock Goes To College and other stuff) and everything has so much speed and energy.  The actual albums this material is sourced from are great, but the live stuff is just great.

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17 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

The performances on Yessongs are amazing too but blimey, it sounds like it was recorded from the venue toilet.

It does. I would love to hear what could be done with the tech used for The Beatles to extract the instruments from the mud and remix it. Or better still find the original show tapes and start again.

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Another one I forgot:

Twelfth Night - Live and Let Live.

 

Never made it into Marillion's league as the vocalist left after three albums to train as a minister (this was his farewell gig at The Marquee). They were a prog band with a hard edge and biting satirical lyrics, as well as musicianship aplenty. Played it in the car for the first time in ages and I was shouting along with the crowd. 😄

Skip the other albums, this is definitive.

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On 31/08/2023 at 20:28, Rich said:

Judie Tzuke's "Road Noise", one of my favourite albums. Many of the songs on there are superior to their studio counterparts. 

 

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I'm familiar with this album.  My jaw dropped to the floor when I realised John Edwards was the bass player on it.

 

 

Edited by NancyJohnson
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1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

I'm familiar with this album.  My jaw dropped to the floor when I realised John Edwards was the bass player on it.blockquote widget

His Alembic had a gorgeous sound on that album. I was absolutely gutted when he and Jeff Rich jumped ship to join Quo.

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"Years later, Cheap Trick re-recorded the whole of their second album In Color later on, because they hated the utterly gelded Tom Werman studio production.

Jack Douglas did their first album and it's superb."

 

I too am a great fan of early Cheap Trick. I never knew this about "In Color" re-recorded with Steve Albini - great to know. It must have been when he produced "Cheap Trick" (1997) with them and around the time or just before he did "Walking Into Clarksdale" with Page & Plant. Incidentally my favourite track from "In Color" is "Southern Girls" and from "Heaven Tonight" (which was going to be called "American Standard" after the US manufacturer of toilet bowls - hence the cover pic) "Taking Me Back" which is superb.

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