Favorite Live Albums

[tne]

I am typically not a big fan of live albums, since they are frequently sloppy versions of the band's standard hits. However it would be interesting to hear about others' favourite live albums, ones where the live versions elevate the music above what the studio versions achieve. I will start with some of mine, likely overlooking many good ones:

 

 

Diana Krall - Live in Paris

Sarah Vaughan - Live in Japan

Alison Krauss and Union Station - Live

Miles Davis - My Funny Valentine (and its more uptempo twin, Four and More)

Delaney and Bonnie and Friends - On Tour with Eric Clapton

Big Brother and the Holding Company - Cheap Thrills

Arne Domnerus, et al. - Jazz at the Pawnshop

Frank Sinatra - Live at the Sands

Allman Brothers - Live at Fillmore East

Quicksilver Messenger Service - Happy Trails

Hot Tuna - Bearsville Theater

Van Morrison - It's Too Late to Stop Now

[Musicophile]

Keith Jarrett has done many great live albums. The list is endless, just giving some examples, all of them are worth checking out.

 

With his trio:

Standards live

Standards in Norway

Somewhere

Live at the Blue Note

Up For It

Tokyo 96

 

And then obviously his many piano solo concerts:

Köln

Paris/London Testament

Vienna

Lausanne

Carnegie Hall

Sun Bear Concerts

 

Plus his gigs with more musicians, e.g.:

Sleeper

[tne]

Keith Jarrett has done many great live albums. The list is endless, just giving some examples, all of them are worth checking out.

 

Of course. I only have Somewhere and Koln, but fully agree with you about their excellence.

[Melvin]

Two of my favorites not already listed are:

 

Charlie Haden & Kenny Barron - Night and The City

Bill Evans - The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings

[wwaldmanfan]

Aretha Franklin "Amazing Grace"

The Band "Rock of Ages"

Bonnie Raitt "Road Tested"

Bryndle "Live at Russ & Julie's"

Charles Brown "A Life In The Blues"

Cindy Bullens "Live"

Dr. John "All By Hisself"

Hot Tuna "Hot Tuna" (1st album)

James Taylor (& Carole King) "Live at the Troubadour"

Little Feat "Waiting For Columbus"

Neville Brothers "Live at Tipitina's 1982"

Old & In The Way

Robert Cray "Live at the BBC"

Ry Cooder "The Record Plant 1973"

Stringbean & The Stalkers "Live @ Ragin' Cajun"

Ten Years After "Undead"

Tim Hardin "3 Live In Concert"

Toby Walker "Just Rolled In"

[jhwalker]

Any of the Manhattan Transfer live concerts:

 

Couldn't Be Hotter

Live

Man-Tora!

Manhattan Transfer Live! (note - problem with the sound quality on this one - mike hum or something - but performances are great)

The Spirit of St. Louis

etc.

 

I prefer their live albums to their studio ones, in general.

[firedog]

Won't try to repeat all the above, just list a few of my faves:

 

Waiting for Columbus - Little Feat

The Brussels Affair - The Rolling Stones

Live at Leeds - the Who

Under the Sky - Herbie Hancock and VSOP

The Fillmore Sessions - The Allman Brothers Band (it's a different version of the famed Fillmore East Album, compiled from all the shows, and not just from one show, like the original. I prefer it.)

Live Cream, Volume II

Summit Meeting at Birdland - Charlie Parker

Live at Massey Hall - Neil Young

Viva Terlingua - Jerry Jeff Walker

The Village Vanguard Sessions - John Coltrane

Stages of a Long Journey - Eberhard Weber

Rock of Ages - The Band

Montreaux '77 - Count Basie Band

 

of course I concur with the Bill Evans and Jarrett mentions

[alexwgoody]

Jeff Buckley - Live at Sin e

Counting Crows - August & Everything After Live at Town Hall (Across a Wire is also a great live album)

Shakti - (the first one)

Mahavishnu Orchestra at Berkeley, 1972

Sonny Rollins - G Man

Al Di Meola, Paco De Lucia, John Mclaughlin - Friday Night in San Francisco

All the Satriani/ Vai/ G3 Albums (particularly the ones with Eric Johnson)

Chick Corea & Hiromi Uehara

Jan Garbarek - Dresden

Lauryn Hill - Unplugged

Portishead - Roseland NYC Live

 

One of the better shows I've seen was the Jazz Mafia from San Francisco. They performed "Brass Bows and Beats" a unique, sometimes odd, but always catchy "hip hop symphony". Additionally, all of their members have side projects and performed many of their own tunes.

 

http://www.jazzmafia.com/

[wkhanna]

 

 

 

Both are top-notch recordings on vinyl that I use for reference &, as the topic of another recent thread here was asking about, introducing others to my system.

[Musicophile]

Just remembered some more:

 

Brad Mehldau: The Art of the Trio vol. 2 & 4

 

Ray Brown: Live at the Loa

 

Bill Evans: Consecration & The Last Waltz

 

Giovanni Mirabassi: Live at the Blue Note Toyko

 

Enrico Pieranunzi: Live in Japan

 

Ella Fitzgerald: Montreux 1975 & With the Tommy Flanagan Trio Montreux 1977

 

Tingvall Trio: In Concert

[Dan1970]

 

Highly recommended.

[Dan1970]

Some others:

 

Van Morrison-Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl

 

Eva Cassidy-Live at Blues Alley

 

Sam Cooke - Live at the Harlem Square Club

 

Leonard Cohen - Live in London

 

Donny Hathaway - These Songs for you, live!

[Captain]

I am typically not a big fan of live albums, since they are frequently sloppy versions of the band's standard hits. However it would be interesting to hear about others' favourite live albums, ones where the live versions elevate the music above what the studio versions achieve.

I tend to agree. There are exceptions off course. Many are named here, but I miss the Grateful Dead. Many of their live performances are considered superior to their studio albums.

My favorites are

One from the vault

and all concerts from their tour in Europe 1972

just to name a few

⚡️

[oscarnr]

Mark Eitzel - Songs of Love Live (Demon, 1991)

 

Acoustic solo album, live from London. Just superb.

[mwheelerk]

• Albert King - Live Wire/Blues Power
  
• B.B. King - Live At The Regal
  
• Joni Mitchell -Miles Of Aisles
  
• John Mayall - The Turning Point
  
• Bill Evans - Sunday At The Village Vanguard
  
• Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Four Way Street
  
• Santana - Lotus
  
• Eric Clapton - E.C. Was Here
  
• Eric Clapton - Unplugged
  
• Quicksilver Messenger Service - Happy Trails
  
• The Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East
  
• Jackson Browne - Solo Acoustic Vol. 1
  
• Neil Young - Live At Massey Hall 1971
  
• Nils Lofgren - Live Acoustic
  
• Patricia Barber - Companion
  
• Procol Harum - Live In Concert With The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
  
• Ronnie Earl And The Broadcaster - Hope Radio
  
• Tom Waits - Nighthawks At The Diner
  
• U2 - Rattle And Hum
  

[alainbil]

Larry Coryell, Live at the Village Gate

Hot Tuna, Hot Tuna

Jefferson Airplane, Bless Its Pointed Little Head

Bob Marley and The Wailers, Babylon by bus

Bob Marley and The Wailers , Live

Sun Ra, Nuits de la fondation Maeght, volume 2

Hound dog Taylor, Beware of the Dog

The Troggs, Live at Max's Kansas city

[christopher3393]

 

Tabla Beat Science, Live from San Francisco..., 2002. Zakir Hussein, Bill Laswell, Karsh Kale, Ustad Sultan Khan, and others. Wonderful energy.

[Jud]

+1 on a good part of wwaldmanfan's list. Slight disagreement on the Nevilles, 'cause I don't think either the live Meters (brother Art's group) or Nevilles I've heard do justice to their amazing live act in their prime. Was at a club in Philly where people boogied so hard the AC gave up, so folks just took off clothes and danced in their undies.

 

Also, any Springsteen concert bootleg, especially anything with the longer version of Because the Night. No sound quality at all, but by gosh I played a cassette tape of one of those bootlegs until my home deck gave up and they no longer put tape decks in cars.

[goldsdad]

[sauerball]

Also, any Springsteen concert bootleg, especially anything with the longer version of Because the Night. No sound quality at all, but by gosh I played a cassette tape of one of those bootlegs until my home deck gave up and they no longer put tape decks in cars.

 

The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story box set has a couple of 24 bit recordings of the Bruce and the band from 1976-1978 that are pretty great.

[thrand1]

One of my "favorite" live albums isn't even a favorite due to the performance, but due to the connection and overall experience I had with it.

 

When I first started getting into home theater/higher fidelity audio, I threw in the "Live at Radio City Music Hall" Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds Blu-ray, the first Blu-ray disc I purchased and viewed on my newly-completed system. Like so many of you have reported in your audio experience reports, flipping the soundtrack selection from Dolby Digital to Dolby TrueHD along with the HD video on my new display...I had shivers, goosebumps, the whole nine yards. Not my favorite live performance by the duo, but just the overall immersion in the sight and sound is what sparked my interest in the pursuit of higher audio.

[jhwalker]

+1 on a good part of wwaldmanfan's list. Slight disagreement on the Nevilles, 'cause I don't think either the live Meters (brother Art's group) or Nevilles I've heard do justice to their amazing live act in their prime. Was at a club in Philly where people boogied so hard the AC gave up, so folks just took off clothes and danced in their undies.

 

Also, any Springsteen concert bootleg, especially anything with the longer version of Because the Night. No sound quality at all, but by gosh I played a cassette tape of one of those bootlegs until my home deck gave up and they no longer put tape decks in cars.

 

Another group that's just magic live is the B-52s. I've been to several of their concerts, and the audience jumps to their feet as they come on stage, then dance continuously throughout. So much fun! I must say none of the live recordings can actually capture the thrill of that energy, but "B-52s: With the Wild Crowd! - Live in Athens" (2012) is a fun reminder of the band in its prime (they're all getting a bit long in the tooth now, but still loads of fun).

[89reksal]

Many have already been mentioned. Here's a few more I can think of for now:

 

Ten Years After - Live At The Filmore East (1970)

Talking Heads - The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads (1982)

Humble Pie - Performance: Rockin' The Filmore (1971)

Jimi Hendrix - In The West (1972)

Portishead - Roseland NYC Live (1998)

 

Bill

[wwaldmanfan]

Many have already been mentioned. Here's a few more I can think of for now:

 

Ten Years After - Live At The Filmore East (1970)

Talking Heads - The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads (1982)

Humble Pie - Performance: Rockin' The Filmore (1971)

Jimi Hendrix - In The West (1972)

Portishead - Roseland NYC Live (1998)

 

Bill

 

Regarding Jud's recent comment in this thread referencing my list, which included the Neville Brothers: We all love music so much that, as interesting as this thread might be to contribute to, no one is claiming that listening to a live recording is as satisfying as seeing a given artist perform in person on a good night.

I can't begin to list all the live shows I've attended (including many Neville Bros. shows), but I couldn't resist commenting here, because, while I'm not certain that it was at these specific shows, although it might have been, I saw both Ten Years After and Humble Pie at the Fillmore East, and both shows were awesome.

I'm also proud to say that I saw Jimi Hendrix perform, which was absolutely magical, athough I think that, for the most part, with the exception of "Band of Gypsys", his live recordings suck.

[tne]

Regarding Jud's recent comment in this thread referencing my list, which included the Neville Brothers: We all love music so much that, as interesting as this thread might be to contribute to, no one is claiming that listening to a live recording is as satisfying as seeing a given artist perform in person on a good night.

I can't begin to list all the live shows I've attended (including many Neville Bros. shows), but I couldn't resist commenting here, because, while I'm not certain that it was at these specific shows, although it might have been, I saw both Ten Years After and Humble Pie at the Fillmore East, and both shows were awesome.

I'm also proud to say that I saw Jimi Hendrix perform, which was absolutely magical, athough I think that, for the most part, with the exception of "Band of Gypsys", his live recordings suck.

 

So true. My first live concert was the Jimi Hendrix Experience (with the Soft Machine, Amboy Dukes, Vanilla Fudge).

Needless to say, nothing has ever topped that one.