Live Albums
I used to try to avoid live albums, because they usually gave me the "had to be there" feeling. Generally a live show is best experienced live, and studio recordings are best for albums. Many live albums feel like a lazy stopgap to sell product to fans in between real albums. It didn't help that a couple of my early choices were Styx and Duran Duran live albums. Even Rush's Exit…Stage Left sounded pretty superfluous and uninspired.
Kiss and Peter Frampton seemed to trigger the large proportion of live albums released in the late 70s. Nobody knew who Peter Frampton was until the quirky single, "Show Me The Way," taken from his double live album, made him a superstar. There were a lot of bad and unnecessary live albums released since then.
But inevitably, some artists are more in their element live, and playing songs repeatedly on tour can improve them from their original studio versions. Listening to Thin Lizzy's Live And Dangerous and UFO's Strangers In The Night for the first time ever reminded me of that. Along with MC5 and Kiss, they are definitive examples of good 70s bands that couldn't assemble albums as consistent as Led Zeppelin, but had enough for an amazing live show. Others are old soul and rock 'n' roll stars who are known for their live performances, and are captured on a particularly magical night.
Even though my favorite artists lean towards punk and post-punk, there's very few live recordings in those genres that sound decent. These bands generally played in small crappy clubs and didn't have good recording equipment at their disposal. Bootlegs aren't included. Here's 40 of my favorites:
1. The MC5 – Kick Out The Jams 69
2. The Who – Live At Leeds 70
3. Jerry Lee Lewis – Live At the Star Club, Hamburg 64
4. Curtis Mayfield – Curtis/Live 71
5. Thin Lizzy – Live And Dangerous 78
6. UFO – Strangers In The Night 79
7. Bill Withers – At Carnegie Hall 73
8. Bob Marley & the Wailers – Babylon By Bus 78
9. The Ramones – It's Alive 78
10. Fela Kuti & Ginger Baker – Live! 71
11. Jimi Hendrix – Band Of Gypsies 70
12. Santana – Lotus 74
13. Kiss – Alive! 75
14. Elvis Presley - From Elvis In Memphis 69
15. Johnny Cash - At San Quentin 69
16. James Brown – Love Power Peace 71
17. Jeff Buckley – Complete Live At Sin-E 03
18. The Velvet Underground – 1969 Live Vol. I & II
19. Laurie Anderson – United States Live 84
20. Sam Cooke – Live At the Harlem Square Club 63
21. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Live Seeds 93
22. Led Zeppelin – How The West Was Won (1972) 03
23. James Brown – Live At the Apollo 63
24. Bauhaus – Press Eject And Give Me The Tape 83
25. Nirvana – MTV Unplugged 94
26. Etta James – Rocks The House 64
27. Jimi Hendrix – Jimi Plays Monterey 67
28. AC/DC - If You Want Blood 78
29. Bob Marley & the Wailers – Live 75
30. Bad Brains – The Youth Are Getting Restless: Live In Amsterdam 86
31. Hawkwind – Space Ritual 73
32. Cheap Trick – Live At Budokan 78
33. Built To Spill – Live 00
34. U2 – Under A Blood Red Sky 83
35. Talking Heads – The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads 81
36. Rolling Stones – Get Yer Ya Ya's Out 70
37. Flipper – Blow'n Chunks 84
38. Judas Priest – Unleashed In the East 79
39. Free – Live 71
40. The Guess Who &nash; Live At The Paramount 72
Interestingly, this article popped up a couple weeks later: Stylus Magazine's Top 50 Live Albums of All Time
Here's more of varying quality that didn't make the list. What are your favorites?
Bob Dylan – Live 1966
The Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East 71
Rush – All The World's A Stage 76
Motörhead – No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith 81
Neil Young – Live Rust 79
Neil Young – Time Fades Away 73
Yes – Yessongs 73
Husker Du – The Living End 87
Walt Mink – Goodnite 98
Nirvana – From the Bloody Banks of the Wishkah 93
Tabla Beat Science – Live At Stern Grove 02
The Clash – From Here To Eternity (1979-82) 99
King Crimson – Absent Lovers: Live In Montreal 84
Deep Purple – Made In Japan 72
Joy Division – Live at Preston Warehouse 80
Wishbone Ash – Live Dates 73
John Martyn – Live At Leeds 76
Ozzy Osbourne – Speak of the Devil 83
Scorpions – Tokyo Tapes 78
Van Morrison – It's Too Late To Stop Now 74
Ted Nugent – Double Live Gonzo! 78
Lynyrd Skynyrd – One More From The Road 76
Kevin Coyne – In Living Black And White 77
Peter Gabriel – Plays Live 83
Z.Z. Top – Fangango! 75 (half live)
Tim Buckley – Dream Letter, Live In London 1968
Radiohead - I Might Be Wrong 02
Black Flag – Who's Got the 10-1/2
Fred Eaglesmith – From The Paradise Motel
Tom Waits – Nighthawks At the Diner 75
Grand Funk Railroad – Live Album
King Crimson – USA 75
J. Geils Band – Blow Your Face Out
John Cale – Fragments of a Rainy Season
Genesis – Live 73
Stiff Little Fingers – Hanx 80
Neko Case – The Tigers Have Spoken
Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense 84
Humble Pie – Rockin' The Fillmore
Quicksilver Messenger Service – Happy Trails
Trouble Funk – Live
Lou Reed – Take No Prisoners 78
Primal Scream – Live In Japan
The Kinks – Live In Kelvin Hall 66
Aerosmith – Live Bootleg
Leonard Cohen – Live Songs
Replacements – The Shit Hits The Fans 83
Daft Punk – Alive
Tindersticks – Bloomsbury Theatre 95
Echo & The Bunnymen – Live In Liverpool 02
Wilco - Kicking Television 05
Free – Free Live! 71
The Orb – Live 93
Portishead – PNYC 98
The Birthday Party – It's Still Living 83
Big Boys – Live At Raul's Club 80
Mission Of Burma – The Horrible Truth About Burma 83
Television – The Blow Up 78
Plastic Ono Band – Live Peace In Toronto 69
Jimi Hendrix – Live at Woodstock 69
Otis Redding – In Person At The Whisky-A-Go-Go 67
Iron Maiden – Live After Death 85
Boogie Down Productions – Live Hardcore Worldwide 91
Big Star – Columbia: Live At Missouri University 4/25/93
Sunny Day Real Estate – Live 99
Ani DiFranco - Living In Clip 98
Ride – Live Light 95
Spiritualized – Live At Albert Hall 98
Peter Frampton – Frampton Comes Alive! 76
Rush – Exit…Stage Left 81
Queen – Live Killers 78
Black Sabbath – Live At Last 80
