View Full Version : Best "engagement" live albums?
Facelift
12-19-2012, 01:16 PM
For bands that were good live bands, I tend to like listening to their concerts better than the studio recordings. But rather than the "live album" treatment that many bands got in the '70s and '80s ("live" compilations with performances culled from numerous tour dates and meticulously scrubbed and tinkered with in the studio), I'd rather hear complete (or near-complete) shows from single dates.
What are your favorites - prog or any rock-related genre? There's so many of them out there now that some guidance is helpful for those without unlimited funds! My only qualifiers are that they be official releases (not bootlegs) and that the sound be at least "adequate."
Some of my favorites: Sly and the Family Stone - Woodstock; Soft Machine - Grides (most of the Soft Machine archival live stuff, actually) The Who - Live at Leeds (Expanded); Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks Vol. 8; Frank Zappa - Wazoo; King Crimson - The Nightwatch
Apologies in advance if there is already a thread about this.
Scott Bails
12-19-2012, 01:30 PM
No favorites off the top of my head, but I'm completely with you in preferring whole shows rather than compilations.
NogbadTheBad
12-19-2012, 01:52 PM
The recent Yugen release, Mirrors, recorded at RIO '11, is outstanding. I think I'm going to end up preferring it to the studio albums as they sound more lively and dynamic in this recording. It also includes an excellent cover of Henry Cow's Industry. The only down sound to my ears is the slightly over polite applause from the audience seems a bit subdued, probably due to them being one of the early bands up. I'm partly to blame as I was in the audience for that gig.
davis
12-19-2012, 02:01 PM
Bob Dylan @ Brandeis University on May 10, '63. This would be a Lot easier w/bootlegs allowed, but that's okay :)
Jymbot
12-19-2012, 02:15 PM
I ride for Grand Funk Railroad "live Album"
John Mayall-The Turning Point...a unique band, with unique instrumentation(no drummer,no heavy lead guitar),caught live at the height of their powers.
Trane
12-20-2012, 06:32 AM
No favorites off the top of my head, but I'm completely with you in preferring whole shows rather than compilations.
I obviously prefer the concept of a single concert album, but unless that night's set is really flawless, I don't mind if the band to choose of two or three nights of the same tour to take their better version of a given song...
Bake 1
12-20-2012, 08:16 AM
...Kraan Live 74'
NogbadTheBad
12-20-2012, 07:54 PM
801 Live recorded at Queen Elizabeth Hall is a wonderful live album, probably one of my favorites.
Caravan Live at Fairfield is probably the definitive recording of the band.
meimjustalawnmower
12-20-2012, 09:25 PM
Humble Pie- Rockin' The Fillmore
The Who - Live At Leeds
James Gang Live (Carnegie Hall)
Glass Harp Live! At Carnegie Hall
Fleetwood Mac Boston Tea Party 1970
Allman Brothers Band At Fillmore East
Facelift
12-21-2012, 10:36 AM
So far, it looks like I need to check out:
The recent Yugen release, Mirrors,
James Gang Live (Carnegie Hall)
Glass Harp Live! At Carnegie Hall
Fleetwood Mac Boston Tea Party 1970
...Kraan Live 74'
Bob Dylan @ Brandeis University on May 10, '63.
The rest I have (and love) except for the Grand Funk and Humble Pie, which I'm not really into.
JAMOOL
12-21-2012, 11:51 AM
Compilations that SOUND like single shows are the best in my opinion. Not every band can nail every song every time. Except for 1984 King Crimson I guess.
Facelift
12-21-2012, 12:02 PM
Compilations that SOUND like single shows are the best in my opinion. Not every band can nail every song every time.
I guess if a band was to take a typical set from a particular tour but put together the best performances and edit them in such a way that the listener was under the impression that it was a single show, I'd go for it. But really, I'm more a fan of the "warts and all" aspect of good single live shows. It captures a moment in time in a way that the compliation approach misses.
Again, I'm talking more about particularly good live bands, where each show is its own thing; for bands where most live performances on a given tour sound pretty much the same (Rush, for example), just going for the best performances scattered throughout the tour isn't as big a deal for me (although the "moment in time" thing is still absent).
Brian Griffin
12-21-2012, 12:38 PM
The PFM Cook Esoteric has the whole show and is the best example I can think of
The Crimso multi-tracks used for Penn State, Glasgow, Stanley Theater 73/74 are all great
BG
davis
12-21-2012, 03:13 PM
I ride for Grand Funk Railroad "live Album"
I was gonna mention that, but it was recorded on 2 dates. I thought this was for live albums that are documents of 1 show.
jeffo621
12-22-2012, 12:51 PM
I personally prefer complete live shows, in some cases it's actually good to hear the band screw up, equipment fail, improvs that fizzle out or go in the wrong direction, etc. That's a big reason why I keep going back to dgmlive - how many live versions of Sailor's Tale does one need? There's no real answer, but the fact that there are so many to choose from is great, especially when there are versions where Fripp's guitar pedalboard dies and the band keeps playing. Ditto for the 73-74 lineup - one of the only reasons why I downloaded the April 18, 1974 show was to hear what the band did when Cross' violin craps out on him in the middle of The Night Watch
mogrooves
12-22-2012, 01:15 PM
I'd rather hear complete (or near-complete) shows from single dates.
Yes.
Faves at which I was in attendance:
Allman Bros. @ The Fillmore
Humble Pie ~ Rockin' The Fillmore
Johnny Winter And ~ "Live"
FZ & Petit Wazoo ~ Imaginary Diseases
Caravan ~ New Symphonia
Genesis @ Rainbow Theatre, '73 [Archive box]
Hendrix @ Woodstock
The Who ~ Georgetown University, '69 (boot)
Others:
Hendrix ~ RAH, '69
Magma ~ Live/Hhai
Henry Cow ~ Concerts
HP Lovecraft @ Fillmore West, '68
Grobschnitt ~ Solar Music
spellbound
12-22-2012, 03:45 PM
I always liked Rare Earth In Concert. Although it was recorded at several different concerts, it still sounds like the band at its peak. I've never seen the CD version and I suspect it may be hard to find. The vinyl still sounds great.
notallwhowander
12-22-2012, 08:24 PM
I guess if a band was to take a typical set from a particular tour but put together the best performances and edit them in such a way that the listener was under the impression that it was a single show, I'd go for it.
The multi-disc The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack did this very well, IMO. The whole thing was mixed down from an extended residency at one venue in San Francisco, if I understood it correctly.
Chain
12-22-2012, 09:06 PM
Aztecs - Live At Sunbury
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y24PF9Ehjsg
progholio
12-22-2012, 09:08 PM
Frampton Comes Alive
trurl
12-22-2012, 10:03 PM
Frampton Comes Alive
That was mostly Winterland if memory serves but I know there's at least one other show used, maybe as many as three.
Jerjo
12-22-2012, 11:54 PM
I would submit the latest entry would be Led Zeppelin's Celebration Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpigDGf6vXM
meimjustalawnmower
12-23-2012, 03:13 PM
Lynyrd Skynyrd - One More From The Road (Fox Theater, Atlanta)
Zeuhlmate
12-23-2012, 05:52 PM
Only one album pr band
Kraan live 74
Hendrix - band of gypsys
Magma Hhai
Lou Reed - rock'n roll animal
Colosseum Live
The Who - Live at Leeds
Johnny Winter And - Live
King Crimson - The Great Deceiver
Zappa - Roxy & Elsewhere
Jan Hammer - Live in New York
Area - Area(z)ione live
PFM - Cook
- And a lot of jazz/ fusion bands
Dana5140
12-23-2012, 08:06 PM
MC5- Live
This is the greatest live record ever recorded, better than even BB King Live at the Regal, James Brown Live at the Apollo or Magma Live. But, really, I guess you had to be there, and I was.
GuitarGeek
12-25-2012, 12:53 PM
The multi-disc The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack did this very well, IMO. The whole thing was mixed down from an extended residency at one venue in San Francisco, if I understood it correctly.
Five nights at the Winterland, October 16-20, 1974. It's pretty good, one of the better representations of the Grateful Dead from what I consider to be their peak era. But they left out all the stuff where Ned Lagin played (or else he was mixed out, like on Dark Star and Morning Dew), and they left out the second set jam from the first night. And they cut several minutes out of Eyes Of The World (on the official release it's something like 12 minutes long, but on the bootlegs it's more like 17 minutes).
The problem with the Grateful Dead is all those tedious cover tunes they insisted on doing during the first sets of their shows. So a "complete" show release ends up containing a lot of massively redundant songs that don't really serve any purpose except to demonstrate just how many times the band played The Race Is On and El Paso. And how many endless renditions of Casey Jones do you really need?!
Thus, most of the best things that have been released from the Dead's archive are the ones where they compiled stuff from multiple shows, with The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack being a prime example. Other good examples are things like Road Trips Vol. 2 No, 3 (highlights two shows from Des Moines and Louisville, in June 74), Dick's Picks Vol. 12 (basically the second sets from two shows in Boston and Providence, again from June 74).
But even then, you've got things like Dick's Vol. 7, which is compiled from the three shows the band did in London in September 74. Good selection of music, but Dick managed to completely ignore the great second set from the last night of the run, which started off with a long Phil And Ned duo piece, which segued into a long full band improvisation that eventually segued into Eyes Of The World, which in turn segued into Wharf Rat. It's something like 85 minutes long, and they play only two actual songs! So no plan is perfect, apparently.
meimjustalawnmower
12-25-2012, 04:36 PM
Lou Reed - rock'n roll animal
That thing might as well have been a studio album. Everything about it was a fraud.
How about these ...
Renaissance at Carnegie Hall
Ten Years After - Live
Joni Mitchell - Shadows and Light
25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (probably one of the best DVD's I've seen of a live show)
notallwhowander
12-26-2012, 04:37 PM
Dick's Picks Vol. 12 (basically the second sets from two shows in Boston and Providence, again from June 74)
This is a great release, and goes a long way to proving your point.
Zeuhlmate
12-26-2012, 04:54 PM
That thing might as well have been a studio album. Everything about it was a fraud.
How ? Recorded live December 21, 1973 New York...
polmico
12-26-2012, 04:59 PM
Only one album pr band
King Crimson - The Great Deceiver
Features multiple shows (obviously) many of which are incomplete. Toronto '73, excerpted on the box, is now available as a complete show from DGM Live.
Zappa - Roxy & Elsewhere
Not complete. And also contains a few songs from another concert.
PFM - Cook
Not complete, though perhaps Esoteric's re-release fixed that (?).
Buffalo from Zappa might be my favorite. Four or five encores, smokin' hot band, insane arrangements. Perhaps they kept playing because of a massive snowstorm assaulting Buffalo that night.
meimjustalawnmower
12-26-2012, 05:09 PM
How ? Recorded live December 21, 1973 New York...
Heavily doctored in the studio. Even the audience noise was not original.
Zeuhlmate
12-26-2012, 05:29 PM
"Engagement" live albums (not whole concerts) - as in "musical commitment" ?
In-complete or doctored doesnt necessarily retract this in my ears, as long as the music hasnt been overdubbed (and even that...if its done well. Today they can pinch out single notes without you ever discovering it).
Anyway, very few LP's represent full concerts unless they were very short (or consisted of more than one LP).
I dont think there was one single album on my list that is a complete concert, and its naive to believe there wasn't any tampering involved on any levels.
polmico
12-26-2012, 05:33 PM
complete (or near-complete) shows from single dates.
. .
Zeuhlmate
12-26-2012, 06:19 PM
o.k. :)
GuitarGeek
12-26-2012, 10:30 PM
That thing might as well have been a studio album. Everything about it was a fraud.
And yet it's better than almost anything Lou has ever done (except maybe the stuff he did when Robert Quine was in his band).
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