My all time fav is still The Concert for Bangla Desh. Not a bad note. Not even when Leon comes in too soon in the trilogy. Second, The Last Waltz. Third, Stop Making Sense.
Top 10 Live Albums
What are your top 10 live albums?
Mine in no particular order are:
1. Live at the Fillmore East - The Allman Brothers
2. Band of Gypsies - Jimi Hendrix
3. Live at Leeds - The Who
4. Welcome Back my Friends to the Show that Never Ends - Emerson, Lake and Palmer
5. Skull and Roses - the Grateful Dead
6. Live Rust - Neil Young
7. Listener Supported - Dave Matthews Band
8. Live in Japan - Deep Purple
9. Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live - Jeff Beck
10. The Song Remains the Same - Led Zeppelin
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Wow, so much less work when so many great recordings have already been covered. A few to add: Lew Tabakin, Trackin’ The Pentagon Humble Pie, Rockin’ the Fillmore Pink Floyd, Delicate Sound Of Thunder Mary Chapin Carpenter, One Night Lonely Harry James, The King James Version Shawn Colvin, Live (There are two records with this title. Both good, the later, recorded at Yoshi’s, the better one, IMHO) Allison Krauss and Union Station, Live (She is going back on the road again this year after a very long hiatus.) Jethro Tull, Bursting Out Joni Mitchell, Shadows and Light Allman Brothers Band, Play All Night Rickie Lee Jones, Naked Songs
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Some of my favorites still in rotation after all these years -
Rich |
Bob Dylan - Live 1966 “The Royal Albert Hall” Concert Joe Cocker - Mad Dogs and Englishmen Van Morrison - It’s Too Late to Stop Now John Coltrane - The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings Les McCann and Eddie Harris - Swiss Movement The Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East The Velvet Underground - 1969 Velvet Underground Live With Lou Reed The Band - Rock of Ages Nirvana - Unplugged In New York The Who - Live At Leeds
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Not that much into live albums (except my large collection of Grateful Dead box sets, but that's a whole nother thing), but I'll throw in a vote for UFO 'Strangers In The Night' as well, with an honorable mention to Blue Oyster Cult's 'Extraterrestrial Live' double album, which I like even better than 'Some Enchanted Evening'.... |
Jazz albums would take too much space, so will post a few albums that are perhaps less widely known, but excellent. I have listened them when I was a little young boy...
Beck, Bogert, Appice 'Live' (1973) https://youtu.be/Is_UwhTJm7o?feature=shared Rare Earth 'In Concert' (1971) https://youtu.be/mxQKiuDnI04?feature=shared Birth Control 'Live' (1974) https://youtu.be/zCRbnx8xO44?feature=shared
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@bassbuyer - they can really add up! I got all the Dicks Picks, but I had to pass on ol' Dave. What I do love are those annual deluxe boxes they put out; I've got every one of those since the first one from the 'Live Dead' Fillmore shows... This year's 1978 one was spectacular; just as good a year as '77 I think, but a bit less spacey and somewhat more rockin' out. |
1) TIE: "Europe ’72" and "Rock of Ages" 2) TIE: Allman Bros. "Live at Fillmore East" and L. Feat’s "Waiting for Columbus" others in no particular order... on a different day, I might come up with a different list for the remaining 8 spots... 3) "Skull and Roses" 4) Laura Nyro "Season of Lights" 5) Steel Wheels "Live at Goose Creek" 6) "Band of Gypsys" box set 7) Miles Davis "My Funny Valentine" 8) NHOP: "Unforgettable NHOP Trio Live" 9) Sarah Vaughan "Live in Tokyo" 10) Oregon "1974"
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Lots of great choices so far. I'm amazed at how different my list is today, compared to what it would've been 10 - 20 or 30 years ago. JEFF BECK - "Performing This Week....Live at Ronnie Scott's" JACKSON BROWNE - "Live Acoustic, Volumes 1 & 2" CHINA CRISIS - "Acoustically Yours" CRACK THE SKY - "For Catherine" DADA - "Live Official Bootleg (vol 1)" HUNTERS & COLLECTORS - "Under One Roof" JOE JACKSON - "Live in New York" (Summer in the City) LOU REED - "Perfect Night, Live in London" RENAISSANCE - "Live at Carnegie Hall" ROXY MUSIC - "Live at the Apollo" STEELY DAN - "Alive in America" THE THE - "The Comeback Special" TRAFFIC - "On the Road"
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Ween - Live in Chicago Rebelution - Live at Red Rocks Blaze Foley - Live at the Austin Outhouse Waylon Jennings - Waylon Live Van Morrison - Astral Weeks live Lou Reed - Rock n Roll Animal Tom Petty - Live at the Fillmore Paul Simon - The Concert in Hyde Park Ben Harper - Live from Mars (compilation) |
I have noticed a bevy of new "live" titles recently released that were recorded by radio stations or are otherwise far from audiophile quality. A slew of Van Halen concerts releases come to mind. One needs to be careful when perusing at your local record store as some seem to hide the fact that they are of lesser recording quality. |
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i like live albums that feature new material and/or do something different than merely rehash studio recordings. from this perspective, good live albums would be jackson browne’s "running on empty", joe jackson’s "big world" and the oft-mentioned fillmore east and band of gypsies. also lou reed’s "rock and roll animal", which completely redoes (and outguns) his studio takes. for whatever reason, i’ve never liked alot of the mtv unplugged stuff (i thought nirvana’s was overrated and clapton’s and dylan’s were pretty awful), but that’s just me. |
This is not a ranking based on which is the best. It is just the order in which they entered my almost 70yo brain. 1. "Live at the Fillmore East" by The Allman Brothers Band (1970). Simply the best. 2. "Live Johnny Winter And" by Johnny Winter And (1970) Johnny at his best with Rick Derringer on guitar and future Stevie Ray Vaughn "double Trouble" Randy Jo Hobbs and Bobby Caldwell. 3. "It's Too Late to Stop Now" by Van Morrison (1974). Underrated double live album when Van was like an Irish James Brown. 4. The Last Waltz" The Band and guests (1976) Fabulous tribute concert for arguably the greatest Canadian band ever. Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Mavis Staples, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Eric C;apton, etc. 5. "Live Stock" Roy Buchanan (1975) One of my personal top ten guitarists of all time playing some of his best stuff. Had the pleasure to see Roy at his peak in a small club back in the day. Such a sad end to his story. 6. "Greatest Hits Live" Boz Scaggs (2004) Good musicians and Boz's fabulous voice and songs. So smooth. 7. "Live From Austin, TX" David Byrne (2007) Saw this tour and band live in the same small club as I saw Rory Gallagher, Roy Buchanan, Woody Herman, Tom Petty, Tim Buckley, Buddy Rich, Moby, Los Lobos, etc. Byrne, his band and the accompanying string section had the place dancing all night. 8. "17/11/70" Elton John (1971) Was lucky enough to see this first major tour and paid a pre-Ticketmaster ticket price of $3.50. Elton blasts off to become a rocket man. One of the greatest live shows ever. Over the top glitz and showmanship.The early 1970's version of Taylor Swift. 9. ”Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!” The Rolling Stones (1970) The Stones when the really were the greatest rock n' roll band in the world. 10. "Irish Tour '74" Rory Gallagher (1974) Last, but no where near to least. Saw him four times and each one was a blistering tour de force by the greatest guitarist ever. This double album captures him perfectly. Do yourself and watch Tony Palmers film by the same name released in 2011. One of the top five live concert movies ever made. |
@wharfy - You got it! Lots of good stuff on there not to mention the horn section. |
@tony1954 +1 "Irish Tour 74" definitely is in my Top 10 of Pop/Rock live recordings of the 1970's. FWIW did you forget about "Lotus"? |
Damn, you folks got just about all of them....but not quite. Don't think these have been listed yet: Lot of live Dead stuff, but I didn't see Live Dead mentioned. Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders - The Complete Keystone Collection Garcia, Grisman & Rice - The Pizza Tapes (does playing in a living room count?) Al DiMeola - Live at El Mocambo Allman Brothers - An Evening With the ABB Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert @ MSG The Band - Rock of Ages Butterfield Blues Band - East West Live Danny Gatton & Robert Gordon - The Humbler Derek and the Dominos - The Layla Sessions (live in studio) Gram Parsons All-Star Tribute - Sessions At West 54th King Crimson - Live in Central Park 1974 Old & In The Way (Garcia, Grisman, Rowan, Clements & Kahn) Quicksilver Messenger Service - Live at the Fillmore Tom Waits - Nighthawks at the Diner And last but not least - Woodstock
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