Best Live Album

[WotAGuy]

This one is definitely responsible for some of my hearing loss. I believe it came out in 1977 or 1978. Recorded in Henrietta, NY!

 

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by WotAGuy

[Logic]

I haven't seen anyone yet list

Unplugged in New York by Nirvana

I'm not a huge Nirvana fan or anything, but I can listen to this one any time. Legendary performance. The fact that they basically avoided all their hits and instead played covers by the Vaselines and Meat Puppets and David Bowie and Leadbelly, and that those are the best tracks on the album....awesome.

[Draconator]

No surprise I'm gonna say Rush

 

The surprise, Different Stages is their best live album. 2 discs of them in the early to mid 90's, and the 3rd disc from 1977 in London. Just a great, great live album!

[snafu]

Should get a mention, not an album (a movie): AC/DC, Let There Be Rock

 

Album: The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads

 

 

[DrW]

3 hours ago, Bad Things said:

When I was a kid, my oldest brother had the greatest musical influence on me.

Here's another fantastic live album from back in the day.

 

 

I agree (and I don't even like Lynyrd Skynyrd very much).

[Success]

Neither is a great album through & through - but both "Live at Budokan" an "Alive!" from Kiss were just huge in terms of influence and breaking both bands.

[Augie]

It mildly surprises me how many band names are being thrown out there, and I realize that I heard it all, but didn’t really like them. I liked what I liked, but just ignored so much main stream stuff.

 

I guess it helped me later on when we ran loosely in some R&R circles (strangely, but you’d need to meet my wife to understand). I didn’t know who some of these guys were, or care about their music. The lack of idolization meant we could just talk, person to person. An amateur musician buddy always wanted to join us, but he would have ruined it. To this day he will tell people we had dinner and partied with this guy and that. Others are amazed, and I don’t even recognize the names. I remember our close friends, and the others were just friends of friends, not the lead singer or drummer for this group or that. 

 

I liked most of the bands in the initial posts, then things kind of fell off for me. To each their own.  🤷‍♂️

[frostbitmic]

1 hour ago, WotAGuy said:

This one is definitely responsible for some of my hearing loss. I believe it came out in 1977 or 1978. Recorded in Henrietta, NY!

 

 

I was in the audience, Procol Harum opened the show.

[DrW]

Joni Mitchell - Shadows and Light

My main con: Many songs are not this different from her studio recordings and there is very little interaction with the audience.

My main pros: A) The musicians are first-rate; B) You can also have it on DVD or watch it on youtube (see below); C) It is just awesome -Joni makes very complicated songs accessible to a wider audience.

 

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by DrW

[SinceThe70s]

"If it's too loud, you're too old".  I've always gravitated towards hard/heavy rock and IMO not many live albums capture the concussive sound of a live show. I always thought Michael Schenker Group's Live at Budokan did - but maybe that's cuz back in the day we had massive speakers at the fraternity house. Just listened to this through earbuds and it didn't have the same gravitas.  Still think it captures the essence of so many shows I went to.

 

 

 

[US Egg]

5 hours ago, Irv said:

Aerosmith - MTV Unplugged   (I can't find this anywhere on the web.  Anybody?)

MTV Unplugged was usually an excellent showing by those who appeared. 
 

Clapton, Nirvana and once Buffalo bar band- 10,000 Maniacs, come immediately to mind. 

Edited October 26, 2022 by I am the egg man

[DrW]

24 minutes ago, I am the egg man said:

MTV Unplugged was usually an excellent showing by those who appeared. 
 

Clapton, WNY’s 10,000 Maniacs, Nirvana come immediately to mind. 

 

An arguably even better source is the German TV show "Rockpalast" that started in 1974 and continues to these days. The list of artists they recorded live is lengthy (google it). Initially (I do not remember for how long) they had Rockpalast Nights, a concert with several bands. Where else can you find Pete Townshend jamming with the Grateful Dead? I would also like to mention that the A/V quality of their shows was phenomenal for the time (the linked song was recorded more than 40 years ago) .

 

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by DrW

[Bad Things]

Another great Grateful Dead live album.  Cornell 5/8/77

 

[OGTEleven]

 

[Rico]

 

 

[dhg]

1 hour ago, DrW said:

 

An arguably even better source is the German TV show "Rockpalast" that started in 1974 and continues to these days. The list of artists they recorded live is lengthy (google it). Initially (I do not remember for how long) they had Rockpalast Nights, a concert with several bands. Where else can you find Pete Townshend jamming with the Grateful Dead? I would also like to mention that the A/V quality of their shows was phenomenal for the time (the linked song was recorded more than 40 years ago) .

 

 

That is killer. Thanks for posting!

[The Dean]

48 minutes ago, DrW said:

 

An arguably even better source is the German TV show "Rockpalast" that started in 1974 and continues to these days. The list of artists they recorded live is lengthy (google it). Initially (I do not remember for how long) they had Rockpalast Nights, a concert with several bands. Where else can you find Pete Townshend jamming with the Grateful Dead? I would also like to mention that the A/V quality of their shows was phenomenal for the time (the linked song was recorded more than 40 years ago) .

 

 

 

Rockplaast is AWESOME!

 

And it just reminded me, if another live album yet to be mentioned. 

 

Roy Buchanan, Live Stock!

 

Here's a Rockpalast sample, not one from Live Stock:

 

 

[SinceThe70s]

Hendrix Live at Monterey and Band of Gypsys were pretty good.

[The Dean]

Here's a little something from Live Stock:

 

 

[Just Jack]

8 hours ago, Irv said:

Aerosmith - MTV Unplugged   (I can't find this anywhere on the web.  Anybody?)

 

This one?

 

 

Or do you mean the whole album, not the video, since the album has some extra tracks?

 

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by Just Jack