Is there anybody alive out there?!
Beginning in the 2000’s the predominant music industry emphasis has evolved to touring – live shows – more so than to records. Yet counterintuitively (or, I don’t know, maybe it is intuitive), it’s become exceedingly rare to hear of a great live record. What’s the last notable live album you can think of? Yeah, me either.
Back in the day, as it is said, bands only hit your town once a year or more likely once in a blue moon. And more importantly, there was no YouTube to instantly pull up a seemingly endless repertoire of concert clips at a click. Live albums were where you got the sound and the sensation – your favorite band or artist (or perhaps one you wouldn’t have expected to shine in concert) as a living organism, out of the studio, rough, real…alive!
What a time to be alive
So, how about we relive the live by conducting a lively review of this now mostly bygone pillar of music history, the Live Record, with a So Much Great Music Top 10 list of The Greatest Live Albums of All Time. No waiting overnight in Ticketron lines, no day-after ringing ears, just fuel up your Bic lighters and let’s hit the show.
But first a little pre-gaming. As is always the case with our SMGM compilations (some past examples here, here, and here), in order to assemble a worthy list we’re going to need a few rules and some overarching guidelines. That is, you get the same band and corresponding songs on studio records, so what makes a great Live Album truly stand out?
- Alright, first: a live album has an audience. Of course. But one of the keys to the dramatic experience of listening to a memorable live album is that the audience, as recorded, becomes part of the album. While you’re letting that thought sink in, I bet there’s already some classics springing to mind (to me, two stand alone in this regard, one recorded in the far west and one from the Far East…Any ideas? Stay tuned).
- Along the same lines, an outstanding live recording must certainly include the incorporation of crowd noise, with the failure to do so being a quick disqualifier (sorry, Deadheads, the revered triple-album Europe ’72, a showcase for the mirthful improvisations of live performance dignitaries, The Grateful Dead, was subject to vast studio overdubs while whitewashing out all but the faintest hint of spectators). The presence of any overdubbing, it should be noted, is not itself an issue – a significant amount of live albums also saw work done in the studio before becoming the final versions we know – as long as its complementary to, not central, to the finished product.
- Next, this may seem obvious, but the live album must be from, or mostly from, an actual concert – unlike, say, Live 1975-1985 from Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band or Tom Petty’s The Live Anthology, both indisputably incredible collections but surely something other than a captured moment in time. Which leads to a related note: when one digs into the real or figurative liner notes of some of the great live albums of history, a surprising number of them turn out to have been assembled from multiple shows in a city or even multiple cities in a run – to be clear, something with which I have no problem. Our live snapshots needn’t be literal start-to-finish singular shows as long as the material aggregated seems like it is. Comprised in days or weeks, in other words, not years or eras.
- Let’s get these few things out of the way, too. No “Unplugged” records; Nirvana, the Eagles, and Eric Clapton (to name a few of note) made some essential ones. But seated/acoustic? That’s just a different category. Plug in or you’re counted out, got it? Also, though they encompass some of the most historic live events ever, we’re not including “conglomerate” concerts (think Woodstock, The Last Waltz or even The Concert for Bangladesh). Multiple stars must rate no stars for this list. And, obviously, real releases and no bootlegs (otherwise we could be here forever).
- Oh, and God no Alive! by Kiss. All frowns for those face-painted clowns.
- A key point: it isn’t mandatory, but to really stimulate that live event experience an actual MC introduction is a substantial boost.
- And finally, and perhaps most intriguing to perceive, the songs on the greatest live albums of all time must take on a revised, even new, energy – catapulting them into…something else. Not simply in tempo or arrangement, but a recast spirit, a fresh vitality, whereby the live performance diverges from the established basis of songs we’ve already known, and is discrete, reborn, alive in a previously unknown form. Isn’t that the beauty of live music (even when captured on a record)?
We’ve got a live one here!
Alright, it’s time at last, let’s get into our Top 10 (plus another 15 or so – you knew I was never going to limit this to only 10) list: The Greatest Live Albums of All Time. Look alive.
25. It’s Alive (The Ramones) — Live show longevity is one thing, but here’s the other end of the spectrum: 28 songs in 53 minutes (broken up by little more than Dee Dee’s identically frantic count-offs to 4 before each number). Relentless.
24. Rock of Ages (The Band) — Recorded 4 years before The Last Waltz, it captures The Band at their fully-realized, roots-rock peak. Per Rolling Stone, “The Last Waltz tells you that The Band were great; Rock of Ages shows you.”
23. If You Want Blood You’ve Got It (AC/DC) — Their first live album, and only one with Bon Scott on vocals, was described once as “a blunt ten tracks, allowing nothing extraneous, that got straight to the point – that being raging AC/DC rock and roll.”
22. It’s Too Late To Stop Now (Van Morrison) — A high point for the often temperamental live performer, and featuring a robust 11-piece orchestra of horns and strings, it’s still Morrison’s fitful scat-like phrasing that, as only he could, demolishes all barriers between soul, blues, jazz and rock.
21. How The West Was Won (Led Zeppelin) — “It’s the magic point where it takes on a fifth element,” Jimmy Page said of these long-archived tapes from a ’72 tour. Whatever that means, it might well have taken place amid a 25-minute odyssey of ‘Dazed and Confused.’
Quick bathroom break (just imagine an indulgent 15-minute drum solo). Okay then, on with the show.
20. Full House (J. Geils Band) — Magic Dick is a bluesy harmonica locomotive on the show-stealing ‘Whammer Jammer.’
19. One For The Road (The Kinks) — Ever the antagonizer, Ray Davies follows a strummed tease of ‘Lola’ by telling the crowd “So, ah, we’re not gonna play that one tonight” (they played it, and eventually to a rapturous audience sing-along), but it’s brother Dave who commands the high-octane action welding a set list of early British Invasion to comeback-Kinks with his almighty guitar riffage.
18. Live at The Regal / Live at Cook County Jail (B.B. King) — Don’t make me choose between these two music milestones, please just don’t. The King of The Blues gets both.
17. Rock ‘N’ Roll Animal (Lou Reed) — The labyrynthine web of guitar passages that make up the intro to ‘Sweet Jane’ is just…chef’s kiss.
16. Aretha Live at The Fillmore West (Aretha Franklin) — The Queen of Soul delivers breathtaking, gospel-saturated takes on CSN, Simon & Garfunkel and The Beatles, but still reaches an ecstatic crescendo on ‘Dr. Feelgood,’ which follows her introduction of “Does anybody feel like hearing the blues?” Much r-e-s-p-e-c-t.
Everybody still alive and well? We’ve listed some serious classics and haven’t even cracked the top 10. Onward we go.
15. 11-17-70 (Elton John) — Never intended as a release, the WABC radio broadcast of a stripped-down trio (Elton with bassist Dee Murray, and drummer Nigel Olsson) playing for about 125 people on the titular date, became what John long-after referred to as his best live performance. Try to find a more affecting interpretation than the haunting ‘Sixty Years On.’
14. Live (Bob Marley & The Wailers) — Recorded over two impassioned nights in London’s Lyceum Theatre in July of 1975 with the help of the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, the languid pace, crisp production, and positive vibrations of ‘No Woman, No Cry’ has become an anthemic psalm.
13. Yessongs (Yes) — Bending our rules limits as it is compiled from distinct tours supporting two releases over 11 months. But cultivated excess was always the name of the game with these prog goliaths, and stretching 13 convoluted jams into a masterly triple album is the epic result.
12. Live at The Harlem Square (Sam Cooke) — No artist ever exhibited a more extreme duality, from elegant silky crooning in studio to uproarious soulful shouting on stage. RCA Records sat on this release for 20 years, fearing that its raw fervor might alienate Cooke’s established pop (read: white) audience.
11. Live Rust (Neil Young & Crazy Horse) — “Better to burn out than to fade away,” an uncoded message delivered in a withering sonic assault; shocking, even, to those brought up only on Harvest and After The Gold Rush Young.
The true Top 10 awaits. Keep hope alive. But before we continue, a quick sideshow. Here’s a 6-pack of picks that realistically can’t be considered among history’s greatest but are some of my personal bests (and in a just world maybe could be some of yours as well). Check out these live wires.
- Live: In Heilbronn, Germany (The Bottle Rockets) — Hellfire heartland rock and roll, and a killer finale of ‘Cortez The Killer.’ Danke Schoen to the most underappreciated band of all time.
- Bringing It Back Alive (The Outlaws) — The announcement of “Won’t you welcome the Florida guitar army, The Outlaws” is barely out when the furious triple lead guitar frenzy commences – unceasing, intricate, but always entirely melodic – for the next hour. All that’s left after that is a 21-minute ‘Green Grass and High Tides’ magnum opus.
- Certified Live (Dave Mason) — A forgotten masterwork, and for my money a better take of ‘All Along The Watchtower’ than either Dylan or Hendrix (on whose version Mason played 12-string guitar).
- Intensities In Ten Cities (Ted Nugent) — Not the music, but just for that title. Brilliant.
- Live Alive (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble) — A closing sermon over ‘Life Without You,’ and before it an onslaught of amazing guitar work by the greatest to have ever done it (that’s what I said, fight me).
- Doublewide and Live (Southern Culture on The Skids) — Chapel Hill heroes in front of a home crowd playing psycho surf rock, smothered in reverb and possibly sausage gravy. Hot damn, that’s entertainment.
- Gratitude (Earth, Wind & Fire) — The single greatest single-note crowd reaction occurs at the outset of ‘Devotion,’ which also features, near the end (at 4:16) , what may be the highest note ever sung, by the singular marvel Philip Bailey.
Back to the countdown. And, as long as everybody is still alive and kicking, we’re ready to reveal the back-half of the Top 10.
10. Live Bullet (Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band) — Still mostly just a regional act after 8 albums and nearly a decade on the road, the raw tenacity of Seger and his stalwart like-a-rock band captured in hometown Detroit’s Cobo Arena unleashed them to a national audience. “We were doing 250-300 shows a year before Live Bullet,” said Seger, “We just had that show down.” The record was released in April of ’76. Six months later came Night Moves, when all that workin’ and practicin’ finally paid off.
9. At Folsom Prison (Johnny Cash) — Hearing Johnny Cash sing the iconic line “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die” from ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ in front of an audience at Folsom Prison is just a little bit of perfection. The 1968 live recording came 13 years after the song’s original release; it was worth the wait.
8. Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out (Rolling Stones) — Legendary Rolling Stone critic Lester Bangs wrote, “I have no doubt that it’s the best rock concert ever put on record.” Added Keith Richards, “It’s about as un-tampered with as possible.” All that, plus leaping Charlie Watts and a donkey on the cover.
7. Live at The Apollo (James Brown) — On the night of October 24, 1962 inside Harlem’s historic Apollo Theater, James Brown created some new history. His first-ever live record, recorded at Brown’s own expense, covers barely a half-hour, but includes the timeless pairing of a howling Hardest Working Man in Show Business and his squealing female fans.
6. One More From The Road (Lynyrd Skynyrd) — The definitive live version of ‘Freebird’ is obviously Smithsonian-worthy, but there’s absolutely no let-up anywhere else throughout this monster southern rock stampede from three steamy nights in Atlanta’s Fox Theatre. Ol’ Ronnie Van Zant asked the immortal question, “What song is it you want to hear?”
And now, we’re looking live at the final five.
So ladies and gentlemen, clap your hands and stomp your feet, here they are: The SMGM Greatest Live Albums of All Time.
5. Live at Leeds (The Who) — No rock opera was this one, just fearsome, anvil-heavy rock delivered on the only live album to contain The Who’s core four. Its brutal force and volcanic energy somehow stole ‘Summertime Blues,’ ‘Shakin’ All Over,’ and ‘Young Man Blues’ from their respective originators, and presaged the arrival the following year of Who’s Next, arena rock’s resounding archetype.
4. At Budokan (Cheap Trick) — It risks disrespect of an accomplished band to point out that this one presents the greatest disparity between an act’s career status with placement on our list. Nevertheless, as a totem of the live album genre its standing cannot be diminished. In late 1978 Cheap Trick had yet to attract a big U.S. audience, but had a huge following in Japan where their arrival was treated like Beatlemania. The subsequent manic participation of their screeching Japanese fans at times nearly drowned out the band, but gave hits like ‘Surrender,’ ‘I Want You to Want Me,’ and Fats Domino’s ‘Ain’t That A Shame’ pristine new life.
3. Waiting For Columbus (Little Feat) — There’s accapella ‘Join The Band,’ then D.C. radio personality Don Colwell proclaiming “Let’s hear it: F-E-A-T – please welcome Little Feat” which sets forth an edifice of entangled tunes unlike anything else that’s ever been constructed. Great as they were, nothing the Feat ever did in studio came close to the miraculous conglomeration of sounds recorded from parts of 7 shows across the first week of August, 1977: a swampy, funky, jamming, syncopated steamroller. Pick your highlights, there are nothing else, but perhaps start with the ‘Dixie Chicken’ > ‘Tripe Face Boogie’ combo. Indescribable.
2. Frampton Comes Alive (Peter Frampton) — “Woke up this morning with a wine glass in my hand.” Standing apart as the exemplar of a rock classic eternally enhanced in concert is ‘Do You Feel Like We Do.’ Musical wizardry, roller coaster rises and falls, and the audience at San Fran’s Winterland Ballroom is truly part of its wondrous execution. “Must have been a dream, I don’t believe where I’ve been / Come on, let’s do it again.” And again.
1. At Fillmore East (The Allman Brothers Band) — Where do you start with 76 minutes of pulsating bluesy/jazzy southern rockin’ euphoria? The last Allmans album created under the peerless stewardship of brother Duane, it was the artistic and commercial breakthrough for one of music history’s greatest bands. Recorded March 12-13, 1971 (the band was paid $1,250 per show), it has usurped landmark status from Bill Graham’s East Village NYC venue in which it took place. “It’s like one big long song, a giant medley,” said Gregg Allman of its unrivaled flow. So, where does one begin? How about with stage manager Michael Ahern’s simple introduction, “Okay, the Allman Brothers Band.” It’s been said that was the only low-key moment of the entire record.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Yes, thank you all for that lovely ovation. We really appreciate you coming out.
But, what’s a great concert without an encore. So we’ve got one more for you, and we’re going back to The Godfather of Soul. Thanks for coming, get home safe. Take it away, James.
g barr
July 9, 2023 3:25 pmGreat list, agree with number one of course, the rest changes with one man’s opinion.
2. waiting for columbus
3. does the last waltz count as a live album (because they have guests?)
4. doors live
5. Frampton comes alive
6. bob seger
7 lynyrd skynryd
8. ya ya
9. bring it back alive
folsom prison (great call on your part)
Hate to say, but REO Speedwagon had great live album (and wasn’t that heffernan’s cousin)
r laz
July 9, 2023 3:29 pm11. Radiators Work done on premises .
#2 pencil alone puts it on top 20. One eyed jack clinched the 11 spot.
So Much Great Music
July 9, 2023 4:44 pmLove “Work Done on Premises,” of course, and could’ve included it in my side list of personal bests. I appreciate the fact that you restrained yourself in slotting it JUST outside of your Top 10..
Thomas
July 9, 2023 7:01 pmLive at Leeds at 5, BB King Live at the Regal at 18, Rock and Roll Animal at 17, and then this:
“Certified Live (Dave Mason) — A forgotten masterwork, and for my money a better take of ‘All Along The Watchtower’ than either Dylan or Hendrix”
In addition, Band of Gypsies not even on the list.
So Much Great Music
July 9, 2023 10:19 pmOther than identifying the absence of “Band of Gypsys” your commentary lacks the coherence to indicate whether you feel the albums being cited are rated too high or too low (or something else), so alas we must dismiss this as pretty useless. But thanks for quoting back the note on “Certified Live.”
Rob MacMahon
July 10, 2023 3:56 amBG: Agree on many, some not so much, but love your enthusiasm. That being said, I was rather shocked to not see Under a Blood Red Sky. Here’s where U2 proclaimed to America that they were gonna be a contender! Yes, I know it’s 3 diff shows but I hv to call exception here.
PS: An honorable mention goes out to Thin Lizzy’s Live and Dangerous!
David Wachs
July 10, 2023 5:51 amYour Live album list…hmmm. It’s so personal, isn’t it.
I would agree on some, but not on others, as well as where they land on the list.
Agree on –
Yessongs
Gratitude (possibly one of the best albums, period)
Bring It Back Alive
There’s where we part.
Let me address a few on your list and then let me tell you mine.
Of course, Frampton has to be on there, BUT there are only 2 maybe 3 songs that are classic. The 2 that are classic, gripped the nation for a year or so. Yet, that was it. And you can say the same exact thing about Cheap Trick. Shite music, but 3 songs went through the roof. I’d call them one hit wonders, really. Shouldn’t be on the list, other than for impact purpose, not music.
A great live album, to me, has impact and popularity, yes, but mainly musicianship, songwriting, and performance – like when the Outlaws rip the F out of Hurry Sundown or Holiday, or when Neil and Joni sings with The Band on The Last Waltz, when Keith Jarrett moans and inspires on each note of a double live Koln Concert, when Phil Collins and co. take us to prog heights on Carpet Crawlers on Seconds Out, and, finally, the ultimate moments that made every young man in the late 70s play air drums (no, it wasn’t In The Air Tonight) on Alan White’s (bless his soul) drum fill taking you from the gorgeous Your Move into I’ve Seen All Good People. To me, that’s the single most memorable live album moment from our youth. That was played at parties, gatherings, smoke-ins. You were making out to Your Move, and then when the Steve Howe’s feedback kicks in and you know Jon Anderson is done with his quintessential song about life and chess, you leave your gal and jump up and hit the air drums to communally soar through music shared, “I’ve seen all good people turn their heads each day, I’m on my way.” In fact, it was little Zuck and Dweck who would skip air drumming, and prefer playing the YES drum fills on their bare bellies! Of course.
My list, and then I’ll leave you (I’m sure Dweck will chip in, as he does):
PS – My favourite live gig was probably Yes in 1978 at MSG, in the round. Whammy Stammy’s family friend got us 5th row seats. Unforgettable.
Here we go >
Keith Jarret – The Koln Concert (sublime – if you can put out the lights, put on a black light, and listen…oh my)
Grateful Dead – Reckoning (double live acoustic sets from their famous Radio City and San Fran 1980 shows, 2 of which I attended – 4+ hours, incl. an acoustic set, 3 sets total – on this album, an 8 min. acoustic Birdsong to take you away!)
Dead – Europe 72 (Come on. Bertha!, the last Pig Pen album – this album put live albums on people’s radar, went through the roof)
New York Rock n’ Soul Revue (1991, live at The Beacon) I don’t know if you know this one, but it’s Steely Dan before they performed as Steely Dan again. Saw this gig, too, at Jones Beach. Band includes members of the Animals, Mike McDonald, Phoebe Snow, Boz Scaggs. To see Pretzel Logic live, what?! They hadn’t performed live since the early 1970s because live equipment was so shit. But we saw them in 1992 when things got better – listen to it, it’s the best )
Honourable mention to Elton’s Here and There – one side in London and 2nd side at MSG (Bennie and Rocket Man live are strong, re-release in 95 had the John Lennon last live performances ever)
Seconds Out (one of my true favs – showing why Genesis, ultimately, were one of the few bands who could do both studio and live brilliantly, and they also were the band who made ‘lighting’ important. Everyone copied them, in the end.)
The Last Waltz (a wake that we were all allowed to go to – emotional and raw – unplugged and real – a gift)
Joni – Shadows and Light – (In Shadows and Light – Joni assembled the best jazz musicians in the world, of course, and took her music to a new level – Metheny, Mays, Jaco, Michael Brecker, Don Alias on drums – WTF – must be top) (special mention to her live Miles of Aisles w Tom Scott and the LA Express, brilliant)
Friday Night in San Fran [this unexpected, yet huge album featured 3 of the worlds top guitarists – Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucia – selling, now wait for this, over 2 million records – come on. I saw this live at The Beacon, and Steve Morse on acoustic guitar solo was the warm up, guitarist of the year many times via the amazing Dixie Dregs (saw live at the Bottom Line)]
Babylon by Bus – odd that people chose Marley Live when this album exists. THIS is the best Marley live album by a country mile. One unreal number after the other. Stir It Up on here is one for the charts. Ray Race, Is This Love…oh my!!! Recorded 1978 in Paris and London. Damn I wish I saw him)
Woodstock – how could this be left out? Cocker? Jimi? Richie? I mean, really.
4-Way Street – this is such a special and important album for us in the 70s.
Running On Empty – Talk about impact! Forget Frampton and Cheap Shit. This, yes this is live album that encapsulates the late 70s. He was great before, but not really famous. This took JB to a high level songwriter status, and lifted sales on all his other albums.
The Pat Metheny Group – The Road to You – Wow. In it’s prime, Metheny, Mays, Rodby, Paul Wertico on drums. Just listen to First Circle and you’ll get up and cheer, like the audience does)
Songs In The Attic – not everyone loves Billy. I do. I’m a New Yorker. I saw him for the first time one year ago, and, boy boy boy. What a guy. He makes MSG like a local bar on the Island. This album is so so precious and well performed. If you haven’t heard his Summer, Highland Falls on here, do. And, read the lyrics. Profound.)
Stop Making Sense – pure brilliance and captures a decade, better than most. Have a dance. The movie lifted this album, and also lifted the whole music/video biz, alongside MTV (never saw them, darn it)
Simon and Garfunkel in Central Park – another album that captured the nation. Being a New Yorker, I love this album so much. They turned this reunion into an event and boy did it move us. Who didn’t shed a tear when they sang Old Friends. To see Sounds of Silence, etc. performed in Central Park. Come on. Saw Paul Simon do Graceland at MSG. Surely, one of the best gigs ever.
Yessongs – Maybe the live album of the decade. Not giving a damn about song length, this album captured the band at the beginning of their peak period. Each epic is memorable. Those who loved them, were grateful for these Brits who could take us away to lands far from our daily troubles. We bonged and we went there with them. PPS – I helped myself to this album in a pre-chip-security-era record shop. Ended up in the clink that day for nicking a cassette from one of the first electronic-security record stores, as it happens! Idiot teenager.
Gratitude – really, this should be a desert island disc, along with it’s live best friend “Waiting for Columbus”. Who didn’t slow dance to Reasons?! I have gratitude for this album. Talk about musicianship.
The Outlaws – Bring It Back Alive – we love them, but not sure everyone else does like us. Let it be our secret. Spurned a whole generation of air guitar armies.
—-
Your ‘SMGM live album top list’ article has left me in an existential quandry.
First of all, with the advent of Internet, streaming, Spotify et al, what is an album? Does it exist anymore? Encouragingly, 43.46 million vinyl albums were sold in 2022 (up 4.2% from 41.72 million in 2021). 2022 was the 17th consecutive year vinyl album sales grew in the U.S.
However, I’ve been Spotified and have yet to return to playing vinyl. I have a box of records from our youth, including about 50 or so relics. Sensory memories flood – touch, sight, and even smell. Speaking of YesSongs (not many triple albums!), that was my go-to for separating seeds, if you know what I mean, Mary Jane. Other live albums in there were Feats Columbus and Billy Joel’s Song In The Attic. As well, there was Bob Marley & The Wailers Babylon By Bus (very worn out).
Live albums sold well, because going to concerts were in everyone’s mind. You wore a concert t-shirt to school the day after the gig, to boast and make others jealous. Tickets were affordable, so you could go to many. I think between 1977 and 2000, I must have gone to 50-100 gigs (can’t remember), from The Bottom Line and CBGBs to MSG. I even snuck us in to see the Beach Boys live at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City on the SHS ski trip (with Whammy Stammy, Evan Clams Lambert, George Chief Stone, Matt Gusmo Galfund, and the rest). They asked us to leave when we were smoking Marlboros, whilst sitting on the steps of an aisle. We thought they were throwing us out for sneaking in, but, no, no smoking inside! Cheeky. The opposite was MSG when we were growing up. You’ll remember at intermission after the warm-up band, when the lights came on, there would literally be a cloud of smoke hovering over the floor! And then the frisbees began again (i.e. remember the Kinks paper plate story!). Anyway, the point is that live concerts were a part of our culture. Think about it – I saw the Dead play 4+ hours at Radio City Music Hall, Bruce 3+ hours at U of Michigan for the 1st River show, The Who playing close to 4 hours at MSG (w little Zuck and Dweck) where Townsend cut his hand on Who Are You – lights came on and Entwistle, Daltrey and Jones played anyway without Townsend for ½ hour…I could go on.
You’re lucky to get an hour and a half now. Now, you re-mortgage your house to see a gig, because artists make zilch on records and cuts from Spotify, tuppence. It’s an event to see Bruce, Billy, Elton, Steely, Eagles, whomever. I paid 500 to have a 10th row seat for Genesis in Leeds. I went on my own. I even had a cig for old times’ sake. I couldn’t NOT see them for one last time.
So, who’s making live albums? Probably no one, as it doesn’t exist as a format. I’m surprised if my 21 year old son can actually get through a whole song, let alone get through an entire album.
An album was a journey. To sit through the entire Waiting for Columbus album, where not one note is bad, where not one song is not incredible, you had goosebumps each and every time, each time felt like the first time, and it felt you were part of something. And you were jealous of those who got to be there. But thank Dog it was recorded. And boy did they record Waiting for Columbus well. The sad thing is…and I just read this today in Rolling Stones Top 50 Live Albums…that Lowell overdubbed the vocals on Waiting for Columbus, clearly because he wasn’t happy with his vocals. They didn’t mention anything about guitar/slide guitar overdubs, thank Dog. No wonder, it’s perfect. He always sought perfection. Yet, knowing this makes WFC an *asterix album, doesn’t it?! I’ll have to see a therapist about that one. Will talk to Whammy Stammy and see what he says.
Anyway, Wachs….! Jesus. You do go on! That’s what happens when you have so much time on your hands in the quiet mountains of Snowdonia, Wales!
So Much Great Music
July 11, 2023 1:50 pmWachs, you do go on..even when noticing that you do go on! I must note that within your ramble you apparently failed to factor my rule technicalities that would exclude “Dead ’72” (for editing out the crowd), and “New York Rock ‘n Soul Revue”, “The Last Waltz” and “Woodstock” (for being conglomerate concerts). Oh, and Billy Joel for the rule of mostly sucking. “Running on Empty” is a deserving miss, but somehow I don’t think of it as exclusively a live album (a rule I willingly forced myself to look past for “Gratitude”). More generally, this is so “personal” as you said at the top, but hold on a sec: are you really only finding 3 of ~30 to agree on before “we part”? (Yes, EWF, Outlaws plus LF, I assume)? I fear you spent too long tracking Yes’s rotating stage in ’78!
Rob MacMahon
July 11, 2023 10:06 amYo Wachs: I agree with most of your comments except your caustic attacks on Cheap Trick.
They were power pop stalwarts whose first 3 studio albums are all excellent.
I’m guessing you’re about 5 years older than me which I think would explain your early 70s Cali/hippie and pro-prog leanings.
It’s funny, but my feelings on Steely Dan mirror yours on Cheap Trick. While the muso in me must begrudgingly concede their studio wizardry, they inevitably leave me cold and yearning for the likes of Never Mind the Bollocks and This is the Modern World.
Cheers, Mate.
PS: I still love the Kinks story as told by BG!
Keith Wessel
October 1, 2023 7:45 amGuns & Roses live from the Tokyo Dome was Awesome!! The CD & the THE VHS Tape. Hearing it live is great!!! SEEING it live is amazing