Live albums that aren't awful

Notabot · Post by **Notabot** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:28 pm

For the most part, I don't like live albums. They're usually favorite songs recorded with bad sound and with slight variations that make them seem not quite right. But there are a few that are actually good albums. Such as:

Dead Can Dance "Toward the Within"- Beautiful sound quality, and new material on it to boot. Not much variation on the songs from the studio albums, and none of the changes are really jarring or even that noticeable.

NoMeansNo "Live + Cuddly"- The crowd and band banter is actually funny, and it captures the feel of a live show quite nicely. A good number of changes to the songs, but not in a "Ooo, I like the other version better" kind of way.

Swans "Omniscience"- I actually owned this album for about 10 years before I found out that most of it was recorded live. The sound quality is fantastic now that I know that important fact. I've listened to other stuff by Swans, and wasn't that impressed, but this album is fantastic.

Anyone else have any?

ganon578 · Post by **ganon578** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:48 pm

Just a couple, as I feel the same way about live albums:

Nirvana "From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah" is pretty decent. What I like about this one compared to their other live tracks is that this one has some Oomph to it. A lot of live albums lose the meat to the music, but this one was mastered well and sounds pretty great.

Bad Religion "Tested" is also good. I got this one from a friend of mine and was actually surprised to learn it was live. The sound recording is just great.

Post by **Denyer** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:50 pm

The Wildhearts - Tokyo Suits Me
Green Day - Bullet In A Bible
Asobi Seksu - Live At The Echo

Mostly it's bootlegs, though. Sometimes even where there's an official release the boot is better, as with Nirvana at Reading -- which I felt obliged to buy since they'd bothered to release it, but the edit destroys any atmosphere.

Favourites include;

Kenickie (Reading '97)
Placebo - More T Vicar / T In The Park
various Hot Puppies and Murry The Hump recordings
Beautiful South (Plymouth '04)

edit: And for Rocky Horror, the Whole Gory Story cast recording is a much better listen than the movie soundtrack.

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 8:12 am

The Wonderstuff - live in Manchester

Pop Will Eat Itself - at weirds bar and grill

the latter is my all time favourite live album...of all time. its ace. instantly puts you in the thick of a moshpit at one of the most lively and energetic shows ever committed to record. awesome.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 9:48 am

Bowie's always good value for live albums, official or (if it's a soundboard recording) unofficial because of his habit of rearranging older songs to fit whatever style he was doing with studio material. I've always liked that approach, you don't want to just hear the album you have with a few cheers and whoops on it.

Post by **Sades** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:00 am

Metallica's "S&M" album is fantastic.

Notabot · Post by **Notabot** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:10 pm

Ooo, I forgot Matisyahu's "Live at Stubb's". Kind of strange that his first release would be a live album, but I can see where that's a cheaper route than a studio release for a new artist.

Rack 'n Ruin · Post by **Rack 'n Ruin** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 1:37 pm

Otis Redding "In Person at the Whisky A Go Go"
The Who "Live at Leeds"
Nirvana "MTV Unplugged"
The White Stripes "Under Great White Northern Lights"
Neil Young "Live at Massey Hall 1971"

All excellent, imo.

I would recommend anyone who has ever had any sort of interest in Neil Young to check out the live album above. Truly exceptional vocals from a great solo performance.

Notabot · Post by **Notabot** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 4:45 am

Was the Nirvana "Unplugged" the one that had a whole lot of electric sustain on the guitar, or was that the "Pearl Jam" one?

Paul053 · Post by **Paul053** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 5:56 am

Ozzy Osbourne Tribute.

Post by **Clay** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 7:00 am

Led Zeppelin - How the West Was Won.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:16 pm

Notabot wrote:Was the Nirvana "Unplugged" the one that had a whole lot of electric sustain on the guitar, or was that the "Pearl Jam" one?

It was the one where that smackhead groaned and gurgled through "The Man Who Sold the World" and now a bunch of morons think he wrote the thing.

Sunstreaker2 · Post by **Sunstreaker2** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 7:07 pm

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense.

Unless you hate the Talking Heads (and thus are eeeeevil), this album is absolutely perfect.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 7:25 pm

Sades wrote:Metallica's "S&M" album is fantastic.

Missed this post. All I can say is

Makes a great accompaniment to driving around on GTA. Probably not so much actual driving unless you've got some sort of legal immunity that covers running people over during "Master of Puppets".

Slayer-Fan123 · Post by **Slayer-Fan123** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:33 am

Tom Petty's Live 4-disc set is absolutely fantastic. Oh, and the Dio one that came our recently is pretty cool.
Another brilliant live album is Unleashed In The East by Judas Priest. AND No Sleep 'til Hammersmith by Motorhead and Decade Of Aggression by Slayer.
The last one I'll mention for now is the Pearl Jam Live one at Perth, Australia.

Knightdramon · Post by **Knightdramon** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:01 pm

Rock in Rio from Iron Maiden. Even like 11-12 years later those are the definitive versions of their songs for me.