|   Favorite (official) live releases? | mad rhetorik
Nov 13, 2003 8:43 AM | | Here are my favorites:
Ramones: It's Alive
28 songs, 53 minutes. Makes those more overblown progressive acts back then look ridiculous.
Jimi Hendrix: Band Of Gypsys
His best guitar playing. EVER. Worth it for "Who Knows" and that version of "Machine Gun" alone.
Allman Bros. Band: Live At The Fillmore East
This is the only "jam" band that doesn't bore the shit out of me. A 23-minute version of "Whipping Post?" Duane Allman and Dickey Betts, you say? I'm there.
The Who: Live At Leeds
The Who's live performances always burned hotter than their studio albums, which is no mean feat. Townshend plays guitar hero here, while Moon and Entswistle prove they are one of the best rhythm duos in rock. The between-song banter is hilarious too.
The MC5: Kick Out The Jams
One of the most inciendary live shows EVER. The Black Panthers rhetoric hasn't aged well, but the music sure as hell has. Still incredibly fierce.
Neil Young: Rust Never Sleeps
This was Neil's response to punk. I'm sure Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder were both taking notes while listening to this album.
Nirvana: Unplugged In NY
Of the two Nirvana albums I own (In Utero and this) I come back to Unplugged the most. Kurt's cover of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" tingles my spine.
Some honorable mentions:
Rolling Stones: Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!
Motorhead: No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith
Iron Maiden: Live In Rio
Led Zeppelin: Live At The BBC
Velvet Underground: Vol. 1 & 2 |
| re: Favorite (official) live releases? | J
Nov 13, 2003 1:16 PM | | You've got a few of my picks in there. I'll argue with ya all day long on the Raw Power remix, but not on these:
Ramones It's Alive, Nirvana Unplugged, and the Velvet Underground Live 1969. I will say that I think that Loco Live is just as interesting as It's Alive, and I have a boot from 1979 that trumps both, but it is, without question, one of the best, if not the best, punk rock live albums ever released. To those I'd add:
Etta James Rocks The House
ROCKS in caps doesn't do it justice
The Blasters--Over There
One of the best rockabilly/jump blues live recordings I've ever heard, probably the best. ESSENTIAL.
The Replacements--The Sh*t Hits The Fans
Someone booted one of their shows in 1984 & they stole the tape & put it out as cassette-only. Side 1 is their softer, more mature side; Side 2 is their drunk, rollicking, covers-only side. They start like 30 songs & complete maybe one, with plenty of piss-takes on stuff like Bad Company that you know they didn't take seriously.
The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl
Recorded live to 3-track tapes in 1964 & 1965, sounds great, and it's amazing what they could do with no monitors.
BB King--Live At The Cook County Jail
I prefer this one to Live At The Regal.
Johnny Cash--Live At Folsom Prison/San Quentin
Nothing quite like this one.
Cheap Trick--Live At Budokan
Wore out the vinyl on this one when I was a teenager. Never have been able to get into the 2-disc rerelease as much as the original.
Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers--Live At Max's Kansas City & Stations Of The Cross
The Max's album is one of the best rock and roll records you'll ever hear; Stations of the Cross, one of the funniest. "Turn this f*cking P.A. up, you f*cking b*tch!" If Thunders ever did anything better than the Max's record, it was L.A.M.F., but who else ever did anything that good?
Big Star--Columbia
1993 show recorded live in Missouri. Much better than the 1974 Big Star live album, which is more of a curiosity than anything else, featuring the band as a three-piece (Chris Bell had long grown sick of Alex Chilton's bullsh*t & had left once, twice, permanently). Here Chilton & drummer Jody Stephens team up with two guys from the Posies & bring the two-guitar approach that these songs desperately need--flawlessly. Woefully underrated, it sums up everything that was great about Big Star. The harmonies are amazing.
James Brown--Live At The Apollo
This record might be a trifle overrated--I think the studio stuff was the best--but it's still pretty darn good.
David Johansen--David Johansen Group Live
Recorded live at the Bottom Line in 1978, hits all the highlights from the first David Jo album, which to these ears is every bit as good as L.A.M.F. Thunders & Sylvain make guest appearances too.
I think that the Allman Brothers album is good, if not great; my only problem with it at this point is fossils who think it's the end-all & be-all of rock music, which at times can put a slight crimp in my ability to enjoy it (this is a problem I don't have with a lot of records by dinosaurs that I like, but I was just never a huge AB fan, so anything like that's going to bother me. Oh, well). The Who record is damn good, too, I just have a few philosophical reservations with the Who's live performance after 1967: the songs all get dragged out, and long solos & self-indulgence begins to creep in. However, they did have great songs to work with, Moon, Entwhistle, & Townshend were amazing instrumentalists, & the sound & energy of the band was amazing--one-of-a-kind, actually. So I can't complain too much about that. Kick Out The Jams is incendiary, yes, but it just never sounded that good to me. Sounds like crap, actually. The Big Bang collection has the entire side one of that album, which is all I ever really need to hear. Rust Never Sleeps is real good, but I do have to be in the mood for it; I appreciate the volume, but usually like a sna |
| Hey J, I have that Replacements boot on CD... | Swish
Nov 13, 2003 2:32 PM | | if you're in need, and I think I need to hear that Etta James record! |
| re: Favorite (official) live releases? | nobody
Nov 13, 2003 1:54 PM | | A bunch of good ones mentioned. I'll just toss out a quick mention for a couple that probably wouldn't get mentioned by many others, but are ones I've had fun listening to over the years...
Black Flag: Who's Got The 10 1/2 - Until they put out the Live '84 cassette out on disc, this is probably about the best document of a great live band live.
Social Distortion - I forget the name, but their live disc is very, very good. Great versions of everything you'd wanna hear. You may miss a personal favorite here and there, but they cover all the bases with great versions and a very solid recording.
There's more, but other folks will probably mention them. |
| Some nice ones tossed around, but I have one more to add. | Swish
Nov 13, 2003 2:30 PM | | Little Feat - Waiting for Columbus.
I fully agree on the Allman Bros., The Who, and Band of Gypsys (there's now an "remastered" version available), and his "Machine Gun" solo is perhaps the best ever, at least to these ears.
We did this thread a couple months or so ago, but it's not a bad retread. |
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