The Best Live Album?

[happytheman]

Some good ones listed, I wanted to mention a few favs that have not been brought up yet:

Lotus: Santana
Live w/Jimmy Page: Yardbirds (this one always gets ripped on, but I've owned it since I was 15...)
Where We All Belong: Marshall Tucker (the live disc ...duh...)
Hendrix Live: whatever album, he's just great live...

Good call.. one of my favorites for sure.. Carlos and the band entered a "zone" that's truly amazing on this release.. some of his best playing IMHO..

[GuitarGeek]

I draw the line at giving money to Klingons.

Better than giving money to Ferengi. At least with the Klingon, you're likely to get your money's worth.

[MJBrady]

Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group - Live 1977
Santana - 1977 - Moonflower
Vai - 2009 - Where the wild things are
Dregs, The - 2000 - California Screamin'
Loose Change - Live At the Grainstore
Brecker Brothers - 1978 - Heavy Metal Bebop
Gino Vannelli - 1991 - Live in Montreal
Ponty, Jean Luc - 1979 - Live

As for more modern music, Snarky Puppy sure has a unique take on live, it audibly hard to discern between their live and studio stuff.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

The only problem with the blanket condemnation of Jazz Door and other similar labels is that their releases are sometimes the only available recordings of those performances, so fans might want 'em anyway--but they'd buy legit copies if they were released. I've done this myself, though since the www came along it's been easier to just get live shows on your own without giving sketchy companies any money. I've also done a lot of this, and then bought the legit items when they've come out.

This logic is what I used for years to excuse my buying bootlegs -- not pirates! -- from, well, places that shall go unnamed because certain federal agencies would probably still come down on them like a ton of bricks all these years later. It was always my policy that, if the bootlegged material was released legitimately, I would immediately purchase it.

(Incidentally, that's how I learned about fixing live albums in the studio.)

Over the years I've found this logic harder and harder to support. The bootleggers, and labels like Jazz Door, and Cthulhu only knows how many labels in the former Soviet nations, make money on their product and don't share it with the artists. The artist is owed a percentage of gross, and that's flat.

I'll still download from places like BigO, because they don't make money on it, and they take shows down when artists ask. It's a subtle call, and I respect those who differ from it on either side, but that's where I stand.

[llanwydd]

In descending order:

1. Fillmore East - Allman Bros.
2. Live at Carnegie Hall - Renaissance
3. Welcome Back My Friends - ELP
4. Yessongs - Yes
5. Seconds Out - Genesis
6. Live/Dead - Grateful Dead
7. Bursting Out - Jethro Tull
8. Wings Over America - Wings
9. Back to Brooklyn - Barbra Streisand
10.Europe 72 - Grateful Dead

[LEG-art]

For me, Seconds Out was the ultimate live album in 1977, and still is.

[Guitarplyrjvb]

Chicago IV (Carnegie Hall) - no overdubs, great sound, plenty of ambience and audience sounds.
The Who Live at Leeds - arguably the defining live album, and no overdubs.
Grateful Dead - Europe '72.

These are all great. I have always thought Europe ‘72 to be a little too “clean”. Another one I’d add is Rock of Ages by the Band.

[BirstallBlue]

Recorded at the height of the Irish troubles. Rory Gallagher Irish Tour 74. Is a blistering live album.

[Trane]

Recorded at the height of the Irish troubles. Rory Gallagher Irish Tour 74. Is a blistering live album.

the movie is disappointing compared to the album.

[interbellum]

In another thread I said "nobody records rock from 30 feet away" but maybe I shouldn't be so quick.

Are there any really good live albums, recorded with hall acoustics and audience noises (as opposed to a simple feed from the live mixing board) that actually sound like you're at a live performance?

I have my own favorites. Jerry Goodman's "It's Alive" and The Nice's "Five Bridges" and Andreas Vollenweider's "And Friends" come to mind.

What are YOUR recommendations?

Listened yesterday to Joan Armatrading's Steppin' Out (1979), which has a real good live-vibe in my ears.
Great band and audience-reactions.

[Rarebird]

I still love
Hoelderlin - Live Traumstadt

And for non-prog and alas only on DVD, in a box-set with 4 DVDs and a CD.
Heinz Rudolf Kunze - In alter Frische (DVD 2: Ein Abend mit Brille)
On this one, which has a length of almost 3 hours, he plays with an extended group, featuring the Rumour Brass.

[TheH]

Rainbow - Live On Stage (as they turn short Songs into epics)
Kansas - Two for the Show (much faster as on Studio Albums)
Gentle Giant - Playing the Fool (one of my alltime favs Studio or not)
Grobschnitt - Solar Music
Santana - Lotus
Caravan - Fairfield Hall '76 (much more guitars)
Hölderlin - Live Traumstadt (great Space prog)
Jane - Live at Home
Genesis - Seconds Out
Cervello - Live in Tokyo
Fates Warning - Live over Europe
Hawkwind - Live Chronicles
Jethro Tull - Bursting Out
Renaissance - Live at Carnegie Hall
etc. etc. etc.

[Rarebird]

Rainbow - Live On Stage (as they turn short Songs into epics)
Kansas - Two for the Show (much faster as on Studio Albums)
Gentle Giant - Playing the Fool (one of my alltime favs Studio or not)
Santana - Lotus
Caravan - Fairfield Hall '76 (much more guitars)
Hölderlin - Live Traumstadt (great Space prog)
Jane - Live at Home
Genesis - Seconds Out
Cervello - Live in Tokyo
Fates Warning - Live over Europe
Hawkwind - Live Chronicles
etc. etc. etc.

Hölderlin space prog? I never considered them as such.

[TheH]

Hölderlin space prog? I never considered them as such.

Sorry I didn't wanted to put them into that box. The live Album just has a more spacey touch than the Studio Albums.
Great flowing violin Prog.

Name it as you want it's a great Album (which I like very much more than their Studio Albums)

[Rarebird]

Sorry I didn't wanted to put them into that box. The live Album just has a more spacey touch than the Studio Albums.
Great flowing violin Prog.

Name it as you want it's a great Album (which I like very much more than their Studio Albums)

I tend to agree with that. But well, it was my first Hoelderlin. Still remember finding it in a recordstore in a box marked Krautrock, where I always looked fot Nektar. Seeing Hoelderlin and a line-up with viola and keyboards made me decide I should listen to it and bought it. Great album. Love the viola-piece Die Stadt. To me is has a kind of a jazz-rock vibe. Not really much wrong with the studio-albums. Clowns and Clouds, with Budi Siebert on sax is perhaps a favorite and Rare Birds, with the title track I took my screenname from. A song I really love.

[Dana5140]

I have to add BB King's Live at the Regal.

[SunRunner2]

I tend to agree with that. But well, it was my first Hoelderlin. Still remember finding it in a recordstore in a box marked Krautrock, where I always looked fot Nektar. Seeing Hoelderlin and a line-up with viola and keyboards made me decide I should listen to it and bought it. Great album. Love the viola-piece Die Stadt. To me is has a kind of a jazz-rock vibe. Not really much wrong with the studio-albums. Clowns and Clouds, with Budi Siebert on sax is perhaps a favorite and Rare Birds, with the title track I took my screenname from. A song I really love.

I was a fan of theirs in the 70's and had "Clowns & Clouds" and "Rare Birds" on vinyl. However, I never replaced anything from them on CD and I have been thinking about doing so in the near future. My question in reference to the "Live Traumstadt" album, which you give high marks for. Is the recording quality good on the live remastered version? Only one review mentions the sound quality in passing and I wanted to ensure that it was worth pursuing. Is the crowd noise substantial or is it downplayed? Does the remaster capture the instrumentation crisply and clearly, since that was made me like their studio albums?

Thanks for your posts on this and congrats on choosing "Rare Birds" as your screenname as opposed to "Fata Morgana".

[Zeuhlmate]

"Goodbye Tour - Live 1968" (4 CD)

[Steve983]

Seconds Out
Frampton Comes Alive
Yessongs
Yesshows
Live and Dangerous
A Live Record (Camel)
Wings Over America
Miles of Aisles
Two For The Show

[Rarebird]

I was a fan of theirs in the 70's and had "Clowns & Clouds" and "Rare Birds" on vinyl. However, I never replaced anything from them on CD and I have been thinking about doing so in the near future. My question in reference to the "Live Traumstadt" album, which you give high marks for. Is the recording quality good on the live remastered version? Only one review mentions the sound quality in passing and I wanted to ensure that it was worth pursuing. Is the crowd noise substantial or is it downplayed? Does the remaster capture the instrumentation crisply and clearly, since that was made me like their studio albums?

Thanks for your posts on this and congrats on choosing "Rare Birds" as your screenname as opposed to "Fata Morgana".

I have no problems with Fata Morgana, which was once send to me by Christian von Grumbkow. Besides it has a penguin on the cover and I more or less collect penguins. Of course I have some Go Go Penguin albums and some by The Penguin Cafe Orchestra.

[happytheman]

In another thread I said "nobody records rock from 30 feet away" but maybe I shouldn't be so quick.

Are there any really good live albums, recorded with hall acoustics and audience noises (as opposed to a simple feed from the live mixing board) that actually sound like you're at a live performance?

I have my own favorites. Jerry Goodman's "It's Alive" and The Nice's "Five Bridges" and Andreas Vollenweider's "And Friends" come to mind.

What are YOUR recommendations?

I always thought Friday Night in San Francisco DiMeola, DeLucia, McLaughlin was one of the better live albums that truly made you feel like you were there..

[SunRunner2]

I have no problems with Fata Morgana, which was once send to me by Christian von Grumbkow. Besides it has a penguin on the cover and I more or less collect penguins. Of course I have some Go Go Penguin albums and some by The Penguin Cafe Orchestra.

Thanks. Again, as to my questions above, what's your take on the sound quality of the "Live Traumstadt" album?

[progmatist]

I always thought Friday Night in San Francisco DiMeola, DeLucia, McLaughlin was one of the better live albums that truly made you feel like you were there..

I would've loved to see them when Steve Morse joined them on a tour.

[Rarebird]

Thanks. Again, as to my questions above, what's your take on the sound quality of the "Live Traumstadt" album?

I'm not that good in judging the sound-quality. I like it, but what do I know?
I own the original vinyl, the first CD-version on WMMS and the re-release by EMI, with bonus-tracks. Don't ask me which I prefer, sound-quality wise, though some seem to say the EMI edition is brickwalled.

[SunRunner2]

I'm not that good in judging the sound-quality. I like it, but what do I know?
I own the original vinyl, the first CD-version on WMMS and the re-release by EMI, with bonus-tracks. Don't ask me which I prefer, sound-quality wise, though some seem to say the EMI edition is brickwalled.

Appreciate the input; sounds like an album to go for as I revisit Hölderlin.