Chris2112 Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 Casiopea were always amazing in the studio but even more incredible live. Their live records are as good as it gets. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickeyboro Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 2 hours ago, paul_5 said: Should really be renamed "Overdubbed & Marginally Perilous" as only a small proportion of that admittedly brilliant album is actually live. I believed that until I heard the recordings on the box set. I have revised my opinion… 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linus27 Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 U2 - Under A Blood Red Sky. Totally blew me away the energy and rawness that the studio albums lacked although I still loved the studio albums. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earbrass Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 (edited) The Bruford / Wetton incarnation of King Crimson is one of my all time favourite rock bands - their live output (at the time USA, and more recently the "Great Deceiver" boxed set and "The Night Watch" retrospective releases) are far better than the studio albums imo. Edited September 1, 2023 by Earbrass 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steantval Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 (edited) IMO, just very good live albums, I have them all on original vinyl except Thunder on CD. Supertramp - Paris Simple Minds Live - In The City Of Light Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Pack Up The Plantation Live Mountain - Live Doobie Brothers - Farewell Tour Dire Straits - Alchemy David Bowie - At The Tower Philadelphia Thunder - Live Edited August 31, 2023 by steantval 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dand666 Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 The Band Thin Lizzy AC/DC Aretha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiram.k.hackenbacker Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 21 minutes ago, steantval said: David Bowie - At The Tower Philadelphia That's a lot of classic albums that have been 'trounced' by one live album which has completely different arrangements. I don't dislike David Live as an album, I'm just not sure it trounces the sum of its parts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiram.k.hackenbacker Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 3 hours ago, paul_5 said: LOTS of Zappa albums - personal favourites include "Broadway the Hardway", "Does Humour Belong In Music" & "Roxy & Elsewhere". A tricky one this, given Zappa's tendency to use segments of live material to construct albums in the studio. Personally I don't think any of those three stand head and shoulders above Over-Nite Sensation, Apostrophe(') or One Size Fits All. YMMV. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 7 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said: It doesn't get anywhere near the slating Alive! does on Wikipedia, although I accept Wikipedia may have some inaccuracies 🤣 >>Frampton said "the album is mostly live except for the first verse of 'Something's Happening', the rhythm electric guitar on 'Show Me the Way' (the talk-box came out but the engineer forgot to move the mic) and the intro piano on 'I Wanna Go to the Sun' were fixed in the studio, but the rest was all live (all the guitar solos, acoustic guitars, electric keyboards, drums, bass guitar and rest of vocals) which was unheard of at the time"<< I went to see Peter Frampton when he was touring that, and it was performed perfectly well. Simple Minds - I really like Live in the City of Light (there's a violin overdubbed plus some bass put on by Derek Forbes to either replace or enhance John Giblin's bass). I also like Yessongs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 23 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said: A tricky one this, given Zappa's tendency to use segments of live material to construct albums in the studio. Personally I don't think any of those three stand head and shoulders above Over-Nite Sensation, Apostrophe(') or One Size Fits All. YMMV. Yes, I thought that as I was typing, but these are released as 'Live' albums, not the standard 'record everything and replace lots of it when we get home' Zappa approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiram.k.hackenbacker Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 9 minutes ago, paul_5 said: Yes, I thought that as I was typing, but these are released as 'Live' albums, not the standard 'record everything and replace lots of it when we get home' Zappa approach. Oh yes, no doubt that the three you quoted are live albums, but they also contain some unique material which there-fore can't be compared to their studio predecessors. Personally, I think Broadway was of its time. A very strange tour which I saw and not as good as Humor IMHO. Roxy is an absolute classic. I hope you have heard the expanded editions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steantval Posted August 31, 2023 Share Posted August 31, 2023 56 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said: That's a lot of classic albums that have been 'trounced' by one live album which has completely different arrangements. I don't dislike David Live as an album, I'm just not sure it trounces the sum of its parts. Yes, I have to agree with you there, I guess I like it due to the different arrangements of his classic songs as something different from him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 15 hours ago, Steve Browning said: Nine Below Zero - Live at the Marquee This was going to be my contribution to the thread. Great album, and they never really cracked it in the studio. "Like sitting at Tulse Hill station..." 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 IMO most live albums are essentially "Greatest Hits" with more honed/developed versions of the songs from the original recordings played a bit faster and often with simplified arrangements to compensate for the lack of studio overdubs or the fact that some of the more complex parts could not be played whilst also singing or throwing some "rock n roll moves". All of this can be a good thing. Unfortunately this can be counteracted by extended guitar solos, drum solos and other over-long sections, plus embarrassing between song banter. There is also the problem with live albums released on vinyl where the original set list running order may have been sacrificed to satisfy the pressing/cutting requirements of not having loud and energetic songs on the last third of each side, which can kill the flow of the gig the album is supposed to be capturing. Having said all that my favourite live album is "Steppenwolf Live" or at least it was until I discovered that the crappy Dansette I used to play it, produced one side of the stereo much louder than the other. Playing it properly balanced revealed lots of very loud and very insipid organ parts which ruined it for me. These days I prefer my gig/concert recordings to be accompanied by visuals so my favourite is the DVD release of Shena Ringo's Gekokujyo Xstasy tour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 2 minutes ago, BigRedX said: IMO most live albums are essentially "Greatest Hits" Most, yes, but many are very different offerings. Would be interesting to see ( but I'm not going to do this) if a lot of the albums suggested here fall into the second category. The 9 Below Zero album that @Steve Browning suggested before I could was the band's first release outside of a couple of live 7". Another couple of great 'non-hits' live albums are John Martyn live at Leeds and Bob Marley and the Wailers live at the Lyceum. Very much not hits packages. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franticsmurf Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 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. While I appreciate studio albums more now, I still turn to the live recordings more often. They are generally grittier, more energetic, more atmospheric, they have interesting interpretations of the originals (particularly where the band line-up has changed) and they're usually a good compilation of songs from the back catalogue. When suggesting songs to the band I tend to offer the live versions as the starting point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 One of the 'Greatest Hits' style live albums that I think is amazing (partly down to the musicianship of the backing band) is the original Simon & Garfunkel in Central Park. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toneknob Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 26 minutes 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. As much as I love the original Gates Of Delirium, the live version on Yesshows makes it clear that they've spent many stage hours getting it to groove even harder than it did on Relayer. Also, it shows that the best bits of Topographic Oceans can be distilled into an admittedly still overlong 30 minute version of Ritual. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothingman Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor J Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 Sweet - Live at the Rainbow 1973 is fantastic 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulWarning Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 has nobody mentioned The Ramones, It's Alive yet? can't accuse them of protracted guitar and drum solos 😃 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 One of the best imo is Filthy Lucre by The Sex Pistols, recorded at their 1996 Finsbury Park reunion. Not as good as Never Mind The Bollocks but a great live album, and having attended the gig if there are any touch ups they’re minimal as what’s on CD is what I heard that day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky L Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 24 minutes ago, PaulWarning said: has nobody mentioned The Ramones, It's Alive yet? can't accuse them of protracted guitar and drum solos 😃 I was just about to say Ramones - It's Alive Not necessarily better than the studio output, but TOTALLY captured their live excitement. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 17 hours ago, Rich said: Judie Tzuke's "Road Noise", one of my favourite albums. Many of the songs on there are superior to their studio counterparts. I'll have to check that one out. I like the studio versions of the "I am the Phoenix" material... if this is better still... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo Valdemar Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 2 hours ago, Lozz196 said: One of the best imo is Filthy Lucre by The Sex Pistols, recorded at their 1996 Finsbury Park reunion. Not as good as Never Mind The Bollocks but a great live album, and having attended the gig if there are any touch ups they’re minimal as what’s on CD is what I heard that day. "Not as good as Never Mind The Bollocks" misses the point of the thread somewhat Lozz 😆 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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