Live Albums

[BradH]

And maybe Brad H will chime in too but most, certainly not all, live releases seem to be missing the soul of the performance.

I wasn't going to chime in but since you brought it up, yeah, it's a common gripe among boot traders that many official live albums are not the best live recordings available of that particular artist in terms of energy level. Somebody asked about sweeting of live DVD's. You bet, they're mastered just like anything else. I think Yes's Songs From Tsongas sounds way too smooth and processed. Someone stepped on that pretty heavily.

Anyway, I've got about 350 titles, not counting about 40 of those Ebbett's discs. Some of them, maybe about 20 or 30, I value as much as any official title.

Granted, you gotta really like live recordings to get into boot trading but once every couple of months I run across a jewel that reminds you why you do it. Not everything is an audience recording, although some of those are stunning, especially nowadays. A good audience recording beats an average soundboard by a mile, I think. It captures the dynamics of the band and the hall. Soundboards are almost universally "dry". Remember, an official live album usually has the soundboard and the hall ambience mixed. But don't forget, some bootlegs are professionally recorded this way too by radio stations. There are also live albums that were scrapped and never released. And even some soundboards sound just damned good in a small club because the mics pic up the ambience of the other band members. I think people are spoiled by the fake studio environment and the producers "vision". It may sound good (not always) but if you want to know what a band really, really sounds like, live recordings are the way to go.

Think of it this way: sometimes an amateur photograph can capture someone better than a mediocre professional can. Think of those Glamour Shots mall photos that narrow the range between who's hot and who's not. That's what happens in the studio too often.

Oh yeah, the other thing is you can make you own covers if need them. A couple of mine have become the "official" unofficial art.

Here's one Troy and I did.

[unleasHell]

My favorite LIVE CD's are:

Throwing Copper
and
Mental Jewelry

not sure what you guys are talking about(?????????????????)