Bands whose live albums trounce their studio efforts

[Bolo]

None. Live albums never seem to resonate with me.

Actually, this may be the one exception:

 

 

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

10 hours ago, Norris said:

Queen - Live Killers

The live version of Brighton Rock is so much more evolved/sophisticated/fluid than the original studio track. Fabulous album, and probably my favourite live album

Live Killers is not an album I expected to see in this thread.

To my ears, it just sounds horrible and is full of overdubs.

They couldn’t even get the transitions between the songs right. Listen to Death On Two Legs going into Killer Queen - just awful.

Brighton Rock is a composite of three different performances and also has overdubs.

[Lfalex v1.1]

3 hours ago, Rich said:

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

 

I knew it was Rhino.

Didn't know it was an Alembic. 

Presumably also used on "Phoenix"? 

The Bass sound on that album is amazing (if a bit "of it's time"..)

[KingBollock]

Not sure if these count…

 

I love Skunk Anansie, but my favourite album of their’s is An Acoustic Skunk Ananasie - Live In London. Absolutely no filler and it sounds amazing.

 

For a long time, instead of listening to the Guns & Roses’ Appetite For Destruction album, I would listen to a cassette that I recorded from a gig I saw on the telly, Live At The Ritz ‘88. Even though I had to record it using a very crap microphone pointing at the TV speaker, and going into one of those cheap, mono cassette recorders. AND my parents came home half way through My Michelle and you can hear our dogs barking at the door!

I still listen to that gig now if I fancy some Guns & Roses.

[dmccombe7]

Forgot about this.

 

[Vin Venal]

I can't believe nobody's said it at 4 pages, but

 

MC5: Kick Out The Jams.

[paul_5]

I think (for me) Slayer’s Decade of Aggression just about eclipses the studio recordings too.

[Lfalex v1.1]

36 minutes ago, paul_5 said:

I think (for me) Slayer’s Decade of Aggression just about eclipses the studio recordings too.

 

I'm in the crowd on the London recordings. 

 

/claimtofame

[KingBollock]

2 hours ago, paul_5 said:

I think (for me) Slayer’s Decade of Aggression just about eclipses the studio recordings too.

That’s the only Slayer album I have ever bought. I find the vocals very difficult to hear. It’s the only album where the “Karaoke” function on my stereo actually completely got rid of the vocals.

[Rich]

5 hours ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

 

I knew it was Rhino.

Didn't know it was an Alembic. 

Presumably also used on "Phoenix"? 

The Bass sound on that album is amazing (if a bit "of it's time"..)

Photos from the gatefold:

 

[Oopsdabassist]

11 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Pink Floyd Delicate Sound of Thunder

 

For me the version of Comfortably Numb on this is the very best of the live versions out there!  Of course I'm biased as I saw them at Wembley on that tour and the whole album brings back such memories

[LeftyP]

Live albums can be very good or very poor.  Capturing the atmosphere of the venue/crowd and balancing the stage sound can be hit and miss at times.  I can understand why sometimes studio "tweaks" may be required.

One of my all time favourite albums is Harry Chapin's "Greatest Stories Live".  It sounds edited in places but it's a great listen.  Then there's Joe Cocker's "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" double LP (that dates me!) which is just a riot - in a good way.

[Old Man Riva]

On 01/09/2023 at 11:48, Nothingman said:

This is the first ‘proper’ album I ever owned as a kid. To this say, when I listen to it, the raw energy and pure excitement takes me back to being an awe-struck kid. 

 

That said I personally don’t think it trounces the studio stuff. Slade had a fabulous knack of producing the most exciting studio tracks, that sounded other-worldly on the mono radio (1) at the time. Massive, boot-stomping raucous rock ‘n’ roll. Big guitars. Big drums. Even bigger vocals!

 

For me, both the studio stuff and Alive! are fabulous, but in their own way. I’d say neither is better, just different. Brilliantly different.

 

One final peeve I have re. Alive!, though. When I was a kid the sound of someone burping on a record was one of the funniest and cool things I’d ever heard! Now I think it detracts from the stunning Darling Be Home Soon and really wish they hadn’t done it!

 

Though I still do laugh at burps! 

[dmccombe7]

6 minutes ago, Old Man Riva said:

This is the first ‘proper’ album I ever owned as a kid. To this say, when I listen to it, the raw energy and pure excitement takes me back to being an awe-struck kid. 

 

That said I personally don’t think it trounces the studio stuff. Slade had a fabulous knack of producing the most exciting studio tracks, that sounded other-worldly on the mono radio (1) at the time. Massive, boot-stomping raucous rock ‘n’ roll. Big guitars. Big drums. Even bigger vocals!

 

For me, both the studio stuff and Alive! are fabulous, but in their own way. I’d say neither is better, just different. Brilliantly different.

 

One final peeve I have re. Alive!, though. When I was a kid the sound of someone burping on a record was one of the funniest and cool things I’d ever heard! Now I think it detracts from the stunning Darling Be Home Soon and really wish they hadn’t done it!

 

Though I still do laugh at burps! 

Were they not into their Skinhead bovver boots thing around or just before this album and maybe trying to impress as "hard men yobs" before going full Glam and becoming the darlings of Glam charts.

Have to say the playing is exceptional on this album. I'd never heard it before so went and had a listen when i saw you post it. I love Jimmy Lea's live bass playing, he's just all over that neck in a flowing aggressive style. The guys an absolute legend IMO.

Dave

[Old Man Riva]

3 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Were they not into their Skinhead bovver boots thing around or just before this album and maybe trying to impress as "hard men yobs" before going full Glam and becoming the darlings of Glam charts.

Have to say the playing is exceptional on this album. I'd never heard it before so went and had a listen when i saw you post it. I love Jimmy Lea's live bass playing, he's just all over that neck in a flowing aggressive style. The guys an absolute legend IMO.

Dave

Jim Lea is a fabulous musician - violin on Coz I Luv You. Wow! He also co-wrote most of their songs and (for me) was the creative force within the band - and, along with Don Powell, I thought he was cool as f**k too!  

And as you say, his bass playing was wonderful too, in an effortlessly musical way… 

.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

7 minutes ago, Old Man Riva said:

Jim Lea is a fabulous musician - violin on Coz I Luv You. Wow! He also co-wrote most of their songs and (for me) was the creative force within the band - and, along with Don Powell, I thought he was cool as f**k too!  

And as you say, his bass playing was wonderful too, in an effortlessly musical way… 

.

He should be up there with Entwistle, JPJ, Squire etc. as one of the great British bassists.

[Old Man Riva]

23 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Forgot about this.

 

In terms of overall musicianship, for me that’s probably one of the best rock bands assembled. Every member is a stellar player… 

[Oopsdabassist]

5 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Were they not into their Skinhead bovver boots thing around or just before this album and maybe trying to impress as "hard men yobs" before going full Glam and becoming the darlings of Glam charts.

Have to say the playing is exceptional on this album. I'd never heard it before so went and had a listen when i saw you post it. I love Jimmy Lea's live bass playing, he's just all over that neck in a flowing aggressive style. The guys an absolute legend IMO.

Dave

The skinhead look was 'forced' upon them by the manager Chas Chandler as a way of them getting attention, none of them were happy with the look, and it was at odds with the music they were playing at the time, listen to any song on their 1st album 'Beginnings' its definitely not boot boy ska!

 

 

[Richard R]

22 hours ago, Rich said:

Photos from the gatefold:

 

 

I only knew Judie Tzuke from "The Cat is out", the first CD my wife bought when we bought our first CD player. It's ... tolerable.

I played "Road Noise" this morning and, as befits this thread, is infinitely better! Very '80s, but fun. 

[snorkie635]

Always thought that Barclay James Harvest's 'Live Tapes' double album had tracks that were better than their studio equivalents. I remember Les Holroyd strapping on an Alembic after playing openers on his double-neck Gibson at a concert in the 70s and for me, as a young-ish bass player, it was a 'Wow!' moment, having never experienced that clarity of bass before.

[bassbiscuits]

Criticisms of overdubs etc aside, Kiss Alive and Alive II capture the band far better than any of the studio albums either side of them.

 

Maiden’s Live After Death - way better than the studio albums. 
 

Scorpions Worldwide Live is also a classic bit of 80s stadium rock, and while the studio albums are pretty damn good too, the live album captures them giving it some proper welly.

[dmccombe7]

32 minutes ago, snorkie635 said:

Always thought that Barclay James Harvest's 'Live Tapes' double album had tracks that were better than their studio equivalents. I remember Les Holroyd strapping on an Alembic after playing openers on his double-neck Gibson at a concert in the 70s and for me, as a young-ish bass player, it was a 'Wow!' moment, having never experienced that clarity of bass before.

Good call on that one. One of my fav live albums and my fav BJH album.

Dave

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, Oopsdabassist said:

The skinhead look was 'forced' upon them by the manager Chas Chandler as a way of them getting attention, none of them were happy with the look, and it was at odds with the music they were playing at the time, listen to any song on their 1st album 'Beginnings' its definitely not boot boy ska!

 

 

As a teenager i only knew Slade from their Glam era and have never listened to anything from the era you posted above.

I wasn't a fan of the skinhead image era at all and because of that i never really looked at the history of them before Glam.

Dave

[Oopsdabassist]

The 2nd album 'Play It Loud' offers up some great songs,  signposting the way they were headed. Shape Of things To Come and Sweet Box are excellent IMO

 

 

[Velarian]

Two live albums I come back to time after time are by my favourite band, The Pat Metheny Group: 

 

Travels (1983)

The Road to You (1993)

 

It’s hard to say they trounce their studio albums as all of their output is superb. However the live versions of some of the tracks are what I regard as being the definitive versions. ‘Are you Going With Me” on Travels being an obvious one. I’ve heard several recordings of this and seen them play it live a good few times and none beat this particular live version. A few other tracks are the same, although the studio version of San Lorenzo has the edge on the Travels version I think. 

 

It’s amazing how they were able to articulate their complex studio sound in a live environment, with the performance on the day adding the icing on the cake.