Week 25: 25 Greatest Live Records of All Time. [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

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Swish
02-02-2009, 11:34 AM
So here is the week you've all been waiting for, yawning with excitement. Sad to say, but Davey guessed this # 1 selection, although he knows his way around Google so I'm not certain is was a guess. :22:

) Live At The Apollo--James Brown: The classic live album that shows why some music (certainly not all) should be recorded live in its intended habitat. Brown could work it out in the studio, but he fed off a live audience. He interacted and the band could stretch out and work the groove until they exhausted the crowd. Listening to this in a room on headphones is so fundamentally wrong that listeners should be forced to dance no matter how stupid they look doing so--and then forced to broadcast the results on the net. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours

I can't argue with this choice as J.B. was best known for his dynamic live shows, and this also appears on many top 100 'best records' lists aside from being live. I would submit that he was in his prime when this was recorded, waaaaaaay back in 1963, so it was certainly ahead of my time.

The author of this 'List of the Day' is Rob O'Connor, and here was his foreword to his list;

I’m told John Mayer has a new live album and Sheryl Crow a new live DVD. If history repeats itself, the Rolling Stones and the Who will each issue three live albums within the next 10 years and Pearl Jam, Tori Amos and all jam bands worldwide will issue several hundred live collections for our amusement. Nothing says entertainment like the sound of a thousand hands clapping--out of time.

Oddly, however, rock 'n’ roll doesn't yield many great live albums. You’d think for a music known for its visceral impact that it would benefit from the live treatment. Yet, most of rock’s finest moments have come from studio albums where each note has been carefully redone. Just compare it to jazz where for years it was all about the performance. If I was doing a list of the best live jazz albums, I’d have a headache on my hands. Most studio albums were cut live. And then there are those legends like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Kenny G (no, no, just kidding, take your blood pressure medicine, old jazzman, I’m not completely senile) who have boxed sets of what was really just a weekend gig. But that’s the best way to experience jazz. As overdose.

But Hendrix aside, rock--and we use the term to include a folkie like Tim Hardin, a doomsayer like Nico and a country guy by the name of Johnny Cash--has been best left to the bootleggers who--since they issue anything and everything--have given us some of the best performances worth saving, as any Rolling Stones fan can tell you. Bob Dylan finally got around to acknowledging this and while Columbia Records / Sony isn’t the quickest to issue old live tapes, they at least have gotten around to opening their vaults and sharing at a faster clip than Neil Young, who is finally showing signs of reissue life.

That said, Merle Haggard’s Okie From Muskogee and Cheap Trick’s At Budokan belong on this list, but 25 is 25. As does Tim Buckley’s Dream Letter, but the hour is getting late.

Overall, his list is a bit lame, but I thought it was worth doing this little exercise. I want to do another list soon, but I'm going to take my time and come up with something a little more interesting perhaps.

Swish

Davey
02-02-2009, 12:27 PM
Sad to say, but Davey guessed this # 1 selection, although he knows his way around Google so I'm not certain is was a guess.

Well, they don't call me Monkey Bones for nothing. But it was actually Tonio K making it clear what record should be number 1, I was only the piano player. That is a pretty good pick. I have the MFSL gold CD, but can't say I've played it for a long time. If I was smarter than a bag of hammers, I'd put it up on ebay and collect a few hundred for it. As it is, I'm kinda partial to the Life Without Buildings Live At the Annandale Hotel CD that showed up a year or so ago. Good stuff. Not sayin top 25 of all time good stuff, just sayin.

Mr MidFi
02-02-2009, 01:55 PM
For what it's worth, I thought it was worth the while, Swish. Hey, it kept me interested for almost a half-year.

jonnyhambone
02-02-2009, 08:48 PM
good to end it on a positive note. I've got this one one vinyl and its the only James Brown I ever put on...great album. I wasn't expecting 'em, but was prompted to pull out Zappa's excellent 'Roxy and Elsewhere' live one from '75 and Tim Buckley's 'Dream Letter' from '68...incidentally a live one that they pretty much improv'ed. Couldn't afford to fly the normal bassist and drummer to England for the shows so they enlisted the amazing Danny Thompson (then playing with Pentangle I think) on bass and David Friedman played the surprisingly perfect accompaniment of vibes, all with Lee Underwood on a great sounding guitar and of course, that voice. This is probably my favorite live recording I can think of.

tentoze
02-03-2009, 04:58 AM
. I would submit that he was in his prime when this was recorded, waaaaaaay back in 1963, so it was certainly ahead of my time.

Not to be a PITA, but my copy (which I only picked up a few weeks ago, coincidentally enough) says 10/24/1962. Just sayin'...

;)

bobsticks
02-03-2009, 06:30 AM
I found some discs I'd previously not heard...seems like a worthwhile venture to me.

dean_martin
02-03-2009, 09:13 AM
can't remember if it was on this list of 25 or in the "greatest rock album" thread (i didn't even try a half-assed search), but somebody mentioned Jerry Lee Lewis - Live at the Star Club, Hamburg 1964. I ordered it 3 or 4 wks ago and it finally arrived. It smokes.

Swish
02-07-2009, 05:56 AM
can't remember if it was on this list of 25 or in the "greatest rock album" thread (i didn't even try a half-assed search), but somebody mentioned Jerry Lee Lewis - Live at the Star Club, Hamburg 1964. I ordered it 3 or 4 wks ago and it finally arrived. It smokes.

7) Live At The Star Club, Hamburg--Jerry Lee Lewis: Jerry Lee’s career wasn’t exactly flying at the point when he recorded this album. He hadn’t yet made his re-emergence at a bona fide country artist, so he was hammering out the old time rock n’ roll and R&B of his youth. And doing it as if he was determined to break the piano in the process. Sure, Metallica are louder, but they got nothing on Jerry Lee when it comes to machismo, arrogance and pure feral attack. He was nicknamed “The Killer” for a reason.

Not that it matters though.

Swish
02-07-2009, 05:59 AM
Well, they don't call me Monkey Bones for nothing. But it was actually Tonio K making it clear what record should be number 1, I was only the piano player. That is a pretty good pick. I have the MFSL gold CD, but can't say I've played it for a long time. If I was smarter than a bag of hammers, I'd put it up on ebay and collect a few hundred for it. As it is, I'm kinda partial to the Life Without Buildings Live At the Annandale Hotel CD that showed up a year or so ago. Good stuff. Not sayin top 25 of all time good stuff, just sayin.

I'll make an offer of $1.99 and a six-pack of Troegs Pale Ale. How can you resist?

I have that Life Without Buildings by the way, and it's pretty darned good. The recording is really fine as well, considering it's live and all. How good is that Mo-Fi recording? Just curious how well it worked out since the original was from 1963. I'm assuming it's way better than the enhanced Raw Power, which isn't saying much since it still sounds like the band was in a cat fight all night long.

Davey
02-07-2009, 09:35 AM
How good is that Mo-Fi recording? Just curious how well it worked out since the original was from 1963. I'm assuming it's way better than the enhanced Raw Power, which isn't saying much since it still sounds like the band was in a cat fight all night long.

The MFSL version was pretty much the same mix as the original LP, so like many other early 60s records it has that wide stereo separation with the big hole in the middle. Nice mastering, but I think many would prefer the later major label CD release which was remixed with the vocals more centered. In any case, it is what it is, not a great recording, has a bunch of edits, predates the funk, and all that .. but still winds up on top of many lists like this just because it does capture an amazing talent during his peak years, and already at the top of his game. Many like the next volume better, I don't know. The next one is definitely a better recording, the rest is all subjective. I'm sure there is probably a good DVD collection of some of these shows, that would be the way to go, he was such a great showman.

dean_martin
02-09-2009, 12:49 PM
7) Live At The Star Club, Hamburg--Jerry Lee Lewis: Jerry Lee’s career wasn’t exactly flying at the point when he recorded this album. He hadn’t yet made his re-emergence at a bona fide country artist, so he was hammering out the old time rock n’ roll and R&B of his youth. And doing it as if he was determined to break the piano in the process. Sure, Metallica are louder, but they got nothing on Jerry Lee when it comes to machismo, arrogance and pure feral attack. He was nicknamed “The Killer” for a reason.

Not that it matters though.

Sure it matters. I'd have never known about it if it wasn't in this series. Looking forward to the next one.