Live albums... Best and worst.

[Ian]

Would like to see what you all come up with on this one.
My picks, in no particular order...

Best:
Allman Brothers - At Fillmore East
No wasted jams here.
The Who - Live At Leeds
Would love to find the bootleg full show version .
Motorhead - No Sleep 'Till Hammersmith
Ferocious.
Stones - Get Yer Ya Ya's Out
Would like to see a full length version of this released.
Roxy Music - Viva!
Just plain good.
Deep Purple - Made In Japan
Very intense fights for solo space makes for a great listening experience.
The Beat Farmers - Loud And Plowed And... LIVE!!
Drunk on New Years Eve!
James Brown - Live At The Apollo 1962
He whips that crowd into a frenzy.
Hawkwind - Space Ritual
The standard that all other Hawkwind live albums are judged by.
The Talking Heads - The Name Of This Band Is
Curiously not available on CD yet.

Now for the Bad:
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - Pack Up The Plantation
A bore of monolithic preportions.
Stones - Still Life
Should've been called "No Life"
The Who - Who's Last/ Join Together
It's hard to tell which is the worse of the two.
Pink Floyd - Pulse
Reproduces 60% of the material that was already released on Delicate Sound Of Thunder (just as bad).
ELP - Welcome Back My Friends....
Sounds like it was recorded at the back of the stadium. The performances were overblown as well.
Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains The Same
I've heard bootlegs that were much better... Of course those were from '69/'70.

That's enough from me for now.

[Dave]

I'm not really a live performance enthusiest but the best 2 I've heard has got to be
Rush: All The World's A Stage. They are one of about 1/2 doz. bands that actually imoroves live.
Peter Frampton: Frampton Comes Alive
The worst has to be
Jimi Hendrix: Live At Winterland. Talk about your lousy recordings. http://ubb.fanasylum.com/smiles/asthanos.gif Happy Halloween Everyone!

[Unknown]

The good:

Kiss - Alive
Iron Maiden - Live After Death
Pink Floyd - Ummagumma (1/2 of it)
(Ian, surprised you didn't mention these!)

Frampton Comes Alive!
Dixie Dregs - Bring 'em Back Alive (Absolutely killer!!!!)
Dixie Dregs - California Screamin'
Dixie Dregs - Night of the Living Dregs (1/2 of it)
Dixie Dregs - King Biscuit Flower Hour
Leo Kottke - Live (the one that came out in '95)
Michael Hedges - Live on the Double Planet
Pat Metheny - Travels
Wes Montgomery - Smokin' at the Half Note
Coltrane Live at Birdland
DiMeola, DeLucia, McLaughlin - Friday Night in San Francisco
(to die for)
All the various live Dream Theater releases.

The good and bad:

Police Live
Good - 1st CD, young, energetic, kinetic
Bad - 2nd CD, bunch of backing singers, lackluster performances

The bad:

Iron Maiden - A Real Live/Dead One
Van Halen - Live, Right Here, Right Now (just awful)
(Also surprised these didn't make your list.)

SRV & Double Trouble - Live Alive (Decent, but he's very strung out and was capable of MUCH better -- e.g., the "Testify" radio show)
Stones - Got Live If You Want It

[Unknown]

Originally posted by Dave:
The worst has to be
Jimi Hendrix: Live At Winterland. Talk about your lousy recordings.

Winterland rocks!

Which reminds me -- add "Hendrix Plays Monterrey" to my list!

[Cousin It]

The Best
MC5 - Kick Out The Jams
The "greatest" live rock album of all time.Sonic pandemonium!!

Humble Pie - Rockin' The Fillmore
The Pie setting the Fillmore on it's ear.

The Who -Live At Leeds
The Who's "best" live album.

Kenny Burrell - Live At The Vanguard
Great live jazz guitar from 1959 w/Roy Haynes and Richard Davis,superb performance and sound quality.

Buck Owens and The Buckaroos -Live in Japan
Great live album from West Coast country king,lead guitarist Don Rich in great form.

Ernest Tubb -The Complete 1965 Show
A fantastic performance by Texan honky-tonk legend,when this show was recorded he'd been performing for more than 30 yrs and his charisma and interaction with his audience is great.He plays classics like Drivin' Nails In My Coffin,Mississippi Gal,Thanks A Lot and solo spots and instrumentals from Tubb's greatest line-up of his band the Texas Troubadours.

Frank Sinatra - Live In Australia 1959
This is supposed to be his best 50's performance extant,FS sounds loose and is in great voice.

The Worst
Most of the ones from previous posts. :D :D

[reidc]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ian:
[QB]Would like to see what you all come up with on this one.

I would like to add a recording that's on VHS of all things! Back in the early 90's- I got to Montreal to see Phil Collins for the Seriously Live tour(with the Earth, Wind, and Fire Horn section). Absolutely great show. Later- it came out on a two and three quarter hour VHS live in Germany, and a 70 minute CD.

I absolutely love the sound stage from the VHS in HI-FI. I also have the CD- but much of my favorites aren't there. I recorded the VHS to computer, edited the wav for tracks, and burned 2 cd's. I still would love to see the COMPLETE recording on CD.

I believe another great live would be
Little Feat Waiting for Columbus
C,S,N, and Y 4 Way Street
Rennaisance Live at Carnegie Hall

[Uncle Al]

Add to the good:

J. Geils Band - Full House. They were essentially a band that covered obscure blues and R&B songs at this point in their career. This documents the reason this band got signed to a recording contract. Slamming blues-rock at an unrelenting pace.

Add to the mixed:
Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band Live 1975-1985. Some of it works, some doesn't. Mostly suffers from bad editing. It seems that many producers try to edit live performances to nifty single tracks, eliminating the essence of a live performance. (Check out what happens after the first 8 bars of Independence Day here. A long "rap" was edited out, and the entire pace of the song changes).

Add to the bad:
Rolling Stones - Love You Live. Much more of a mess than Still Life (IMHO), but not quite as bad as Got Live. The band races through all numbers on autopilot, and Jagger just shouts out the lyrics, devoid of melody or meter. They all sound like they just want to get to the after-show party.

[ November 01, 2001: Message edited by: Uncle Al ]

[Unknown]

Eric Clapton - Just One Night
Rory Gallagher - Irish Tour 74
Grand Funk - Live Album
Rainbow - On Stage
Status Quo - Live (77)
The Who - Live At Leeds
Thin Lizzy - Live And Dangerous

[Unknown]

I can only think of the good:

"Hendrix in the West"

AC/DC's "Live from the Atlantic Studio", now officially released as part of the "Bonfire" box set

Van Morrison's "It's Too Late to Stop Now"

Warren Zevon's "Stand in the Fire"

Beatles "Live at the Hollywood Bowl" (lots of screaming fans try their best to drown out the music, but hey, it's the BEATLES, for crying out loud)

Rolling Stones "Stripped" ain't all bad, either.

[Andrew]

I've got one that's good, bad AND hilarious: "Germs Live at the Whiskey" on Bomp. Not many bands have the cahones to cover both "Sugar Sugar" and "Grand Old Flag" in the same set! http://ubb.fanasylum.com/smiles/icon26.gif

[lukpac]

Is this a trick question?

The Who - Live At Leeds - bootleg, complete and unedited.

Simple as that.

[pigmode]

hmmm...

Woodstock

[PsychFan]

My favorite:

"Live 1966," Bob Dylan & The Hawks (I especially love Disc 1, the acoustic set ... positively spellbinding)

My least favorite:

"Who's Last," The Who (WHY oh why did they bother??)

P.S. -- And I may be the only Who fan in the world who does not yet own a copy of "Live at Leeds" ...

[ED in NY]

Esay Enough.

Great
1. Grand Funk-Live Album
2. Wes Montgomery-The Complete Smokin' At The Half Note
3. Muddy Waters-At Newport
4. John Coltrane-The Live At The Village Vanguard
5. Allman Brothers-Fillmore East
6. Johnny Cash-Folsom & San Quinten
7. Gov't Mule-Live With A Little Help From Our Friends
8. Grant Green-Live At The Lighthouse
9. Santana-Live At the Fillmore West
10.Charles Mingus-Mingus At Monterey

Bad:
1. Stevie Ray Vaughan-Live Alive
2. Deep Purple-Last Concert In Japan
3. Blues Traveler-Live From The Fall
4. Eric Clapton-Rainbow Concert
5. At Least Half Of Woodstock
6. The Band-Live At Watkins Glen
7. Gary Moore-Blues Alive
8. Santana-Sacred Fire
9. Van Halen-Right Here Right Now
10. Allman Brothers-Wipe The Windows Check the Oil Dollar Gas

Happy Listening ! - ED :)

[lukpac]

Originally posted by Ed In NY:
Bad:
4. Eric Clapton-Rainbow Concert


What's wrong with Rainbow? Sure, it's not the most inspired thing Eric ever put out, but it's fun enough. Hearing the complete unedited shows is even more fun...

[Jeffrey]

Hi,

My 1st choice: Live at Leeds

My 2nd choice: Waiting for Columbus (MFSL)

Let It Rock,
Jeffrey

[njwiv]

Best:

The BAND - Rock of Ages

[ November 01, 2001: Message edited by: Jay ]

[Ian]

Originally posted by Luke Pacholski:
Is this a trick question?

The Who - Live At Leeds - bootleg, complete and unedited.

Simple as that.

Where can I find a copy?
:confused:

[Sckott]

There's a lot of great ones mentioned here. I agree with the Rainbow comment, it's a very good performance where Townshend and Clapton did a very good job of the night, and there's even more of that concert that is left unreleased.

The Police "LIVE" Cd, I feel they didn't use the better performance, as I believe Ken Shelton at WBCN had a much better performance tape, when he was working there. It had even more power and verve than the 1st CD.

The Who LALC is phenominal, and is still very underrated as it fully opens the doors to enjoy the album as it *should have* been inteneded. I have the copy Luke did a few year or so ago, and supposedly he's even retouched it again (on what, I'm not sure - maybe speed?) but the one I have is very, very good. The original had speed problems and was a tad too sharp, and the balance was also not right. Luke corrected these things on his Mac. He wasn't heavy handed at all.

Does anyone have a way to get me a CDR of the MFSL "Waiting For Columbus"? Maybe?

-Sckott

[ November 01, 2001: Message edited by: Sckott ]

[Steve Hoffman]

Worst live?

Beatles in Atlanta, 1965.

Remember? One of those Pig bootleg albums from the early 1970's?

My God. The boys were so bad that night, they couldn't even play the opening of "Twist And Shout" correctly. Sounded like they were playing in three different keys. I cringed when I heard it. Never heard something sound so bad from someone so good.

My vote for worst "official" live album would have to be "Got LIVE If You Want It", for the poor recording.

Wait! "Got LIVE" has nothing on that dreadful Kinks live album from the 1960's. What was that sucker called? Had a blue cover? They even mislabled "Till The End Of The Day" as "All Day And All Of The Night" or something.

[ November 01, 2001: Message edited by: Steve Hoffman ]

[DanG]

Best and worst:

Yessongs. An incredibly lousy recording of a great concert. http://ubb.fanasylum.com/smiles/sad.gif

[Dave]

Posted by Patrick M.
Winterland rocks!

Which reminds me -- add "Hendrix Plays Monterrey" to my list!
Patrick you surely must be talking about a vinyl edition which I have yet to hear. All I can say is that the Ryko Gold cd that I own absolutely sucks.
By the way did you recieve The Who: Who's Next cd yet? http://ubb.fanasylum.com/smiles/BURNOUT.gif

[Jeffrey]

Hi Sckott,

I have a mint LP of the MFSL Waiting for Columbus but don't have a table. I plan on getting a Rega in the next 90 days and could burn ya one then if ya want.

Let me know,
Jeffrey

[Ian]

Originally posted by Steve Hoffman:


Wait! "Got LIVE" has nothing on that dreadful Kinks live album from the 1960's. What was that sucker called? Had a blue cover? They even mislabled "Till The End Of The Day" as "All Day And All Of The Night" or something.

[ November 01, 2001: Message edited by: Steve Hoffman ]


I think it was called Kinks Live At Kelvin Hall (?) Or something like that... Was truely dreadful.

[lukpac]

Originally posted by Sckott:
The Who LALC is phenominal, and is still very underrated as it fully opens the doors to enjoy the album as it *should have* been inteneded. I have the copy Luke did a few year or so ago, and supposedly he's even retouched it again (on what, I'm not sure - maybe speed?) but the one I have is very, very good. The original had speed problems and was a tad too sharp, and the balance was also not right. Luke corrected these things on his Mac. He wasn't heavy handed at all.

The original was *flat* for the last 2/3 of the show, actually (starting with Tommy). Balance was off for the middle half. Fixed that stuff, as well as some dropouts and abrupt cuts.

I want to start a new version one of these days, but I'm waiting on a number of things, including a new version of the pitch correction software and an umastered copy of LAL DE (for a couple of bits the boot doesn't have).