Week 9: 25 Best Live Records of All Time

[Swish]

Here's one that most of you, I think, will have no issue with, but we shall see.

The Name Of This Band Is…--Talking Heads: Talking Heads will never be considered a ferocious live act. And for those of you who dislike bands with manners, I agree that you should throw this double-live album off the list and substitute in Motorhead’s No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith. But for those of you who take your art school education seriously and like the sound of a band evolving from a skeletal new wave band into a Deluxe-Expanded Edition, this is a good place to start

Here's a band that influenced so many that followed, and I wish I had seen them live. It's one of the great disappointments in my life. Well, in my music life anyway. The Stop Making Sense DVD is among my favorite live shows, without question.

Swish

[3-LockBox]

I've never heard this one, but I have seen it on-line. I thought it was just a compilation, be cause it has dates on it (disc 1 - '77/'79 & disc 2 - '80/'81). I have seen Stop Making Sense (who hasn't) and that concert film itself became iconic, even more so than any single or album the band ever put out.

[Auricauricle]

Have not seen "The Name of the Band..." vid, but have seen "Stop Making Sense", which is a terriffic document to a band did so much to solidify the 80's music, which--in MMHO--was beset by mediocre bands who are seldom heard of nowadays. Byrne is a constantly innovative, smart musician, and coupled with Jonathan Demme, showed what commitment to the form without letting the market dumb your product down could achieve.

Good call, Swisheroo!

[BradH]

This is a fantastic live album, it's always been one of my favorites. I'd put it in the all time top ten. Stop Making Sense works as a live video but there was no point in releasing it as a soundtrack record two years after The Name Of This Band Is. (I remember one writer called it Start Making Cents.) There was a tour for this album too in '82, that was the first time I saw them. The second time was the final tour that Demme filmed. It took forever for this to be released on CD but it was worth the wait because it's vastly expanded and made even better. I would probably even recommend this over any Heads studio album but a lot of people are kind of funny about live recordings.

This is only the second band this reviewer has picked, the rest have been solo artists. Typical journo mindset. It's clear from his comments that he never saw the Heads. That "ferocious" comment was effin stupid because they mopped the dance floor with most of the American punk & new wave bands of the era who were trying to out-Pistols each other. But at least he put it on the list.