[Closed] Best live albums

^ Live at Leeds was the first LP that came to mind for a 'must have' gift when junior bought his first record player. Safe choice by all accounts. It really is a blistering classic. Hairs stand up on your neck stuff.

For me:

Fela Kuti [i]Live![/i]

...(edit cont'd)

For me:

Magma - Theusz Hamtaahk Trilogie - Live At The Trianon

^ It's unbelievable. A journey into a diverse and sometimes scary musical cosmos. I discovered it 15 years back and it broke a lot of musical boundaries for me. Possibly broke my head a little. The highest art - universal, spiritual, intense, comical ... the whole gamut.

Honorable mentions

Fela Kuti [i]Live![/i] <------- !!!!
Duke Ellington - Live At Newport <------- slow build to takeoff
MC5 - Kick Out The Jams. <------- Almost violent. Forward travelling mo-pukuhz well before their time. I prefer this than The Who. From whom they also stole and improved. Honest to badness big rock in your face.

Ramones It's Alive

I normally don't get on with live albums but this one is just a non-stop blast of energy and a total classic.

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Edit: Ha, beaten! ^^^

Macc Lads, live at Leeds. I've still got it on blue vinyl somewhere

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Desert Island disc for me, number 1. A guaranteed good time

Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense. Didn't realise that the film of the concert was directed by Jonathan Demme who also directed The Silece of the Lambs

Slightly OT, but great excite!

Townes Van Zandt Live at the old quarter

In no order, just the first three that came to mind.

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^^^ Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison for me too

Okonokos by My Morning Jacket

he has the most amazing voice, and live they really do lift you

only live DVD I've ever bought. Shame it's now available free....

The start with the camel is a bit odd though 🙂

The Orb. Some of their live stuff is lush.

Live After Death, Iron Maiden
Rock in Rio, Iron Maiden
Live in Stockholm, Gary Moore
Alchemy Live, Dire Straits
It's Great to be Alive, Drive by Truckers
Decade of Aggression, Slayer

Live and dangerous- Thin lizzy
Live at river plate- AC/DC
Live era 87 to 93- guns n roses

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The Orb. Some of their live stuff is lush.

shitmedaddy, you're right! I vote Orb Live 93/39 eviL brO

Walkman-based companion to my best MTB years/Summers of 93-94. 'Valley' was especially sublime. I read somewhere the ambient field-recordings were made outdoors in a valley in Dorset. Certainly is lush, bees and everything. Seemed to make time stand still in a perfect summer daze.

Closing out the Nineties, I have to vote for Underworld 'Everything Everything'. Best live techno LP of all time evaarrr?

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Magma - Theusz Hamtaahk Trilogie - Live At The Trianon

I'd never heard of it but have quite diverse musical tastes, so checked it out on youtube.

WTF is that about?!?

Now I'm not about to praise or criticise, other than to say I don't think it's my particular cup of tea, but I'm just happy that stuff like that even exists. Hours and hours of rock opera sung in a made up language from another (made up) planet. Were any drugs involved?

Alchemy Live - Dire Straits
Five Man Acoustical Jam - Tesla
Without the Aid of a Safety Net - Big Country
Live at Birdland - Charlie Parker
All the World's a Stage - Rush
Live at Brixton - Faith No More

Alive 2007 is good.

I keep playing this, not an album as such but would make a good one. Nothing to do with the pink cat suit honest.

@bikebuoy - even as a Led Zep fan I wouldn't say that The Song Remains The Same is a great live album. How the West was Won is better.

wtf is that about?

[url= http://www.furious.com/perfect/magma2.html ]Lazy link[/url]

Were any drugs involved

Me? Only voltarol and sleep-deprivation! Explored a lot of music when I was long-term sick. Until then I was sticking in my teen/early twenties mode regarding music. So much out there it seemed a waste. Magma?/is the Theusz Hamtaahk trilogy drug-inspired? Don't know but I doubt it, Vander seems literally obsessed with music (esp that of Otis Redding, John Coltraine and Carl Orff), so much so that he invented a whole language (Kobaian) that would add to the musicality/integrity of the compositions. It's definitely not cup of tea music, but enormously rewarding if you give it the time to let customary ear-muffs dissolve. Mrs MR first heard it and wanted to kill it. Still does if I let it escape from any speakers hereabouts. Headphones are a Godsend. I feel the same about her Indigo Girls LPs 8)

but I'm just happy that stuff like that even exists.

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Dammit! Reminded above:

Ozzy - Tribute to Randy Rhoads
Alice in Chains - Unplugged
Bruce Springsteen - Hammy O.

no question as above Ramones It's Alive

1234

It's Too Late To Stop Now - Van Morrison. Original release wins, but honourable mentions to vols 2,3&4.
Live at Leeds obviously.
Feelgoods Stupidity is also a favourite of mine.
Springsteens Hammersmith Odeon set is excellent, especially on vinyl, but there are better shows of his available thru Nugs imho. I'd have to go with Agora 78 but it's a tough call. More recently The River show in Rome is also very special, along with the MetLife sets. If you want to talk about boots it gets a lot more difficult to narrow down...........

ramones for me too.

The Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East

Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense. Didn't realise that the film of the concert was directed by Jonathan Demme who also directed The Silece of the Lambs

Very much this, many of the live versions are better than the studio originals and definitely one of the best gig films available.

Also King Curtis & Aretha Franklin 'live at Fillmore West' has got to be up there

I wore out my copy of Woodstock in 1969.

Nina Simone in Concert

It feels alive in the room even now. Especially now. Breaks your heart and lifts your chin, should be played LOUD

Classic rock, AC/DC If You Want Blood.

Some crackers above - haven't heard the UFO album for nearly 30 years!
Only live LPs i'm listening to these days are BeBop Deluxe, Live in the Air Age - brilliant - and Coaxed out of Oxford by Here and Now.

Hawkwind - Space Ritual

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Hawkwind - Space Ritual

Or Live Chronicles.....

some great stuff in there. No Bowie though? David: Live is amazeballs.

Non-anglophones can rock out too though:

Negresses Vertes: Green Bus
Mano Negra -In the Hell of Patchinko

The latter is one of my favourite records by anyone ever actually.

manitou - Member
The Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East

Agreed

^. julianwilson awesome, never had heard them them before. 'Mano Negra' is now my song for the week 🙂 Like Santana vs The Beastie Boys. On amphetamines.

Negresses Vertes: Green Bus

oh yes - forgotten how much i used to enjoy their stuff

link

[b]101[/b]

+1 for Nirvana 'Unplugged in New York'.

Honourable mention for The Smiths, 'Rank'.

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Some of my favourites
Queen - Live at the rainbow 74
Ac/dc - if you want blood
John Mayer - where the light is
Stevie Ray Vaughan - live at Carnegie Hall
Rory Gallagher - Irish tour
Hendrix - band of gypsies

I'm going to stop there - could go on all day...

Loads of good ones already, I'll throw in ...

Zappa - Live at the Roxy, Make a Jazz Noise Here + dozens more.
Rainbow - On Stage.
Rory Gallagher - Stagestruck.
Scorpions - Tokyo Tapes.
Miles Davis - Live Evil.

Kick out the jams - mc5

Not much can follow that, but these are good:

Janes addiction - James addiction
Space ritual - hawkwind
No sleep til hamersmith - Motörhead

And even

Live at Wembley - queen

Easy winner for me, Neil Young - Weld

a bit of history pre nobel prize

[url] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bootleg_Series_Vol._4:_Bob_Dylan_Live_1966,_The_%22Royal_Albert_Hall%22_Concert [/url]

Like a Rolling Stone - electric live - just love the bit 25 seconds in when Dylan turns to the Band and says "play it f'ing loud"

(sadly not the album but this is the track)

Queen - Live at Wembly 1986
S+M - Metallica and San Francisco symphony orchestra

Black and white night Roy Orbison, Stripped by Rolling Stones or even One more from the Road by Lynrd Skynrd

Humble Pie, Rockin the Fillmore
The Band, Last Waltz
Little Feat, Waiting for Columbus

I've recently rediscovered this...

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When they were a fantastic blues rock band, before the diabolical 80's hair-rock abomination

The Who live at Leeds, as has been mentioned. The Style Council Home and Abroad.

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Oh yeah White Stripes at Empress Ballrooms is also fantastic

another vote for hawkwinds space ritual
Lemmy and brock absolutely at their best just going for it

Helloween live in the UK
Iron maiden live after death
Pwei weirds bar and grill
Muse haarp

Pearl Jam - live at Benaroya Hall
Geoff Achison and the Souldiggers - Souldiggin' in the U.K.

Zappa - Live at the Roxy, Make a Jazz Noise Here + dozens more.

Oh and Free Live.

Jean-Jacques Goldman, En Public.
Slade Alive.

Both originals on worn vinyl of course.

There are more and more TV sets and concert recordings appearing on YouTube that are every bit as good if not better than the official live albums. This one for example:

Edit, you have to click the link to view as it's blocked when integrated. Or right click the link and open it in another window so you can run it while posting.

UFO, ACDC and Thin Lizzy as above, as I've always liked rock, and recently, Alison Moyets Minutes and Seconds,

Wheres The Dead maaaaaannn.

How could I have forgotten this?
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More live compilations as opposed to straight albums, but I love Chris Cornell's Songbook and John Butler's Tin Shed Tales. Two amazing artists stripped to voice and guitar.

Hanx - SLF
Live at theGrand Opera House - Van Morrisson
Kick starting a back firing nation - The neurotics

Also...

IAM - Retour aux pyramides

Black Sabbath Live evil, probably my favorite album
Deep Purple, Made in Japan

Wheres The Dead maaaaaannn.

(Not sure if serious)

The thing is, where do you start? A gazillion live albumns, each one with moments of genius. Unfortunately nearly all with moments of tedious free form indulgence.

Live dead is undeniably good and I like some of the ones around 71

Wish I'd seen them back when I was into that kind of thing

Dylan at Budokan
The Last Waltz
The Song Remains The Same

Rory Gallagher - Prefer "Irish Tour" to "Live in Europe" but it's a close run thing!

MC5 - The intro to Kick Out The Jams (i.e. before the music even starts) is pure adrenaline, love it.

Edit: there's a sacrilegious version floating around out there where they've bowldlerised track two to make him say 'Kick out the jams - brothers and sisters!' Heresy.

Band of Gypsies - Hendrix goes funk, might have been an indication of the direction he was going in, shame we never got to hear more.

Ten Years After - Undead.

I think 'I'm Going Home' from their Woodstock set was one of my favourite moments from the movie, at least on a par with Santana's Soul Sacrifice and Sly and the Family's 'Wanna Take You Higher'.

'Undead' is a sort of studio cum live set, in as much as it's all played live to a small audience, in the studio. Still awesome, my biggest musical regret is missing Alvin Lee in Edinburgh, because I only knew the band's name and not their lead guitarist 🙁

Thin Lizzie Live and dangerous- I saw them live during the tour it was recorded on
The Tubes -What do you want from Live? Actually not necessarily the best but the memories of the Summer of 1978 it invokes.....

On a completely different scale to most of what's been posted, for those who appreciate music that's been recorded by three people sat in a Wisconsin living room with a DAT recorder and a single stereo mic and the ability to sing well together and harmonise live, then RedBird is as good an album as you'll find. It's Kris Delmhorst, Jeffrey Foucault and Peter Mulvey with David Goodrich producing and adding slide and mandolin, with Kris on fiddle.
It was recorded over three days, with seventeen songs, and you can hear crickets in the background, along with a municipal refuse truck, dogs barking, and at one point the local minister arriving at the door, and asking 'hey, what's going on here?', and Kris trying to stifle giggles while singing.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redbird_(Redbird_album)
Got it playing right now, and it's a joy to listen to.

MC5 - The intro to Kick Out The Jams (i.e. before the music even starts) is pure adrenaline, love it.

Edit: there's a sacrilegious version floating around out there where they've bowldlerised track two to make him say 'Kick out the jams - brothers and sisters!' Heresy.

After listening to the live version of Hell ain't a bad place to be over 30 years ago, it's another vote for If you want blood......
Gutted I missed seeing them when Bon was still alive.

Fleetwood Mac, live in Boston. Superb.

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Good choice numb.

"... you're dead!"