CPF's 5 LIVE Albums I Can't Live Without

[kcmets]

'Talk amongst yourselves.'

[kcmets]

Blue Oyster Cult Some Enchanted Evening
Deep Purple Made in Japan
The Kinks One for the Road
Ramones It's Alive
Rolling Stones Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!

Hon Men:
Peter Frampton Frampton Comes Alive, 'cause ya know

[kcmets]

avi wuz here

[batmagadanleadoff]

I'm pretty sure we ran this thread several years ago. But here goes. I'm submitting my list real quick, off the top of my head. I'm sure in a few days, I'll remember other live albums that I would've preferred to list here, if I only remembered today:

1. Get Yer Ya Ya's Out. Peak Rolling Stones at their performing best. Best Stones lineup, including, naturally, wunderkind Mick Taylor, the smooth blues guitar prodigy who broke through with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers as an 18 year old after Peter Green left to form the original Fleetwood Mac. There are many recent Stones concerts available for viewing and listening on the web these days. A few months ago, I decided to watch the one directed by Martin Scorsese. It was, I thought, unwatchable. I didn't make it through the second or third song. Just awful. Awful arrangements. Awful guitar playing. They're really old and it shows. If I didn't know the Stones legacy and was watching that band for the first time when I saw that video, I'd have no idea that I was watcihing Rock and Roll royalty and that the songs they were playing sound great in original studio format.

2. Cheap Thrills, Big Brother & the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin. Janis at her best. Big Brother was not nearly as polished as the seasoned studio musicians Janis would later dump Big Brother for. But they had the chemistry and the natural energy that wasn't forced or contrived. This is kind of a cheat as some of this album is comprised of studio cuts, including their huge hit, Piece of My Heart. But it's mostly a live album.

3. Hot Tuna. Acoustic blues played live by Jorma Kaukonen in some coffehouse. Intimate setting where, I think, you can hear the waitstaff delivering drinks to the customers. Check this one out.

4. Live at Leeds, The Who. Straight up Rock and Roll. Played loud. A live set in between Tommy and Who's Next. Which means that up to that point, The Who hadn't yet put out a bad album. They would. Many times over.


5. The Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore East. The album that gave ABB national recognition.

5. That Talking Heads live album where David Byrne wears the big white suit.

[kcmets]

Blue Oyster Cult Some Enchanted Evening
Deep Purple Made in Japan
The Kinks One for the Road
Ramones It's Alive
Rolling Stones Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!
The Who Live at Leeds

Hon Men:
Peter Frampton Frampton Comes Alive, 'cause ya know

[batmagadanleadoff]

Blue Oyster Cult Some Enchanted Evening
Deep Purple Made in Japan
The Kinks One for the Road
Ramones It's Alive
Rolling Stones Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!
The Who Live at Leeds

Hon Men:
Peter Frampton Frampton Comes Alive, 'cause ya know

What did you do? Leapfrog your post down a few slots to make it the most recent? And we have two albums in common. How did that happen?

[kcmets]

No, I simply fucked up.

[kcmets]

And we have two albums in common. How did that happen?

Well we are about the same age and GYYO and LAL are epic!!

[batmagadanleadoff]

No, I simply fucked up.

Nevermind. What's far more interesting is that we share two entries. That's 40% of the list.

Here's an honorable mention or asterisk entry because it's not really a live album. But in 2003, Led Zeppelin released a multi disc DVD set which includes a 1970 concert from the Royal Albert Hall. It's awesome and must see if you're into LZ. It's on Youtube in its entirety. I think it's better than any LZ bootleg and easily better than their official live releases.

[kcmets]

I have that. Love the sit down acoustic songs with JPJ on mandolin and
a few songs from Presence that I never saw or heard live.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I have that. Love the sit down acoustic songs with JPJ on mandolin and
a few songs from Presence that I never saw or heard live.

Yeah. I think that that's the best R&R/pop music DVD I own. Or ever owned. I bought it when it first came out and for the first few months that I owned it, I played the living hell out of it.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

I love live albums. I would almost rather listen to the live versions than the studio versions most of the time. I know.

Ramones, "Loco Live"

Paul McCartney, "Tripping the Live Fantastic"

Rush, "R40 Live"

Mat Kearney, ""Live at the Fillmore"

Switchfoot "Live in Chicago - The Looking for America Tour."

[Methead]

a few other good ones

Cheap Trick - At Budokan
The Who - Live at the Isle Of Wight Festival 1970
Frank Zappa - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol.2 (The Helsinki Concert)
Bob Dylan and The Band - Before The Flood
Miles Davis - Black Beauty : At Fillmore West

[batmagadanleadoff]

And we have two albums in common. How did that happen?

Well we are about the same age and GYYO and LAL are epic!!

We're closer in age than even you can imagine.

[Edgy MD]

Uh ....

Wings: Wings Over 'Merica
Joe Jackson: Live 1980/86
Pete Townsend: Deep End Live!
Lou Reed: Rock 'n' Roll Animal
Dire Straits: Alchemy

Ask me tomorrow and I'll give you five other answers, so I guess I can probably live without them.

[RealityChuck]

1. Allman Brothers Band Live at Fillmore East
2. Live at Leeds -- the Who
3. Mad Dogs and Englishmen -- Joe Cocker
4. One for the Road -- the Kinks
5. Full House -- J. Geils Band

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Warren Zevon-- Stand in the Fire
David Johnasen-- Live it Up!

(I also listened to Dire Straits Alchemy a lot, and I liked it for bringing to life some of the too-boring-as-recorded songs they'd do ("Once Up A Time in the West" to me, represents one of the widest gaps between goodness as recorded/goodness on the live album scientists have ever discovered, I think.)

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Uh ....

Joe Jackson: Live 1980/86

The Joe Jackson album is fantastic both in concept and execution! I love the guitar-driven version of "You Can't Get What You Want..."

His "Live in New York City" album also is really, really good. I think it's just him, Graham Maby and a drummer.

[Edgy MD]

(I also listened to Dire Straits Alchemy a lot, and I liked it for bringing to life some of the too-boring-as-recorded songs they'd do ("Once Up A Time in the West" to me, represents one of the widest gaps between goodness as recorded/goodness on the live album scientists have ever discovered, I think.)

I agree, but the Lou Reed album has some impressive gappage too.

I think Lou and perhaps his band may be at that perfect peak between "Cocaine is helping me" and "Cocaine is destroying me."

The same may be true of that Zevon album. Hmmm... .

[Frayed Knot]

Not necessarily a top five, but I'll mention it here since I doubt anyone else will: CHICAGO AT CARNEGIE HALL.

Essentially Chicago I, II, & III recorded live and released on a, then unheard of for pop/rock, four LP set. It came at a time when folks were just starting to figure out how to produce clean live recordings (the venue likely helped there) and featured probably the band at their peak prior to their gradual slide into the land of Lite-FM.

[Edgy MD]

Uh ....

Joe Jackson: Live 1980/86

The Joe Jackson album is fantastic both in concept and execution! I love the guitar-driven version of "You Can't Get What You Want..."

His "Live in New York City" album also is really, really good. I think it's just him, Graham Maby and a drummer.

Vinnie Zummo, JJ's guitarist from that version of "YCGWYW," is my Facebook BFF. He friended me!

[kcmets]

I'm sure that Chicago at Carnegie Hall prolly kicks some ass.
Will have to check that out.

[Frayed Knot]

Uh ....

Joe Jackson: Live 1980/86

The Joe Jackson album is fantastic both in concept and execution! I love the guitar-driven version of "You Can't Get What You Want..."

His "Live in New York City" album also is really, really good. I think it's just him, Graham Maby and a drummer.

I saw Joe Jackson ('82?) at one of those 'Concerts on the Pier' that they used to do back in the day over on the west side.
He was touring behind the NIGHT AND DAY album and, at least on that leg of the tour, was using no guitars at all.
Was still quite good, I just remember thinking that the whole concept of a rock group without a guitar was so unusual.
Marshall Crenshaw opened. I actually went mostly to see Crenshaw but came away more impressed by Jackson's set.

[Fman99]

Like Edgy I could easily pick 5 different ones each day for a month and not run out of great live albums, but I'd start with these:

Neil Young, Live at Massey Hall (1970)
The Band, Rock of Ages (1972)
Jethro Tull, Nothing is Easy (Live at the Isle of Wight Festival, 1970)
Jimi Hendrix, Band of Gypsys (1970)
Little Feat, Waiting for Columbus (1978)

[metirish]

Thin Lizzy - Live &, Dangerous , a classic

The Blades – Live From The Olympia, hugely underated Dublin band

Aslan -Made in Dublin , Live at Vicar Street, hugely popular band in Ireland , Christy Dignam a beloved front man

U2 - Under a Blood Red Sky , we played this to death when it came out, I was 11

The Pogues - Streams of Whiskey -Live in Leysin, Switzerland , Shane is from near me in Tipperary, I'll health right now but pulling through