Jump to content
Hamer Fan Club Message Center

Bands that you liked better live than in the studio


Recommended Posts

Posted

Many of us have a disproportionate amount of live albums in our respective collections, simply because we're players. And it seems like some bands always come off better on record doing live stuff rather than studio, or at the very least, the live stuff was what we preferred to listen to (and may still be the case). Submitted for your approval as more enjoyable on live albums are the following:

Mountain

Blue Oyster Cult

MC5

Cream ('60s, that is)

Jefferson Airplane

Tangerine Dream

Fleetwood Mac (Boston Tea Party material)

Maybe even Rush, Dire Straits, and Yes (YESSONGS is the definitive British progressive rock album of all time)

Posted

Cheap Trick, at least in the Budokan era. Their albums were great, but tame. Live at Budokan still, at least in my mind, is the pentultimate live document.

Posted

(At the risk of howls of derisive laughter from you young pups) Early Seger. And besides, Drew Abbot was a helluva nice guy to me once when he didn't have to be.

Posted

KISS ALIVE! definetly kicked their 1st 3 albums' renditions of the same songs

in the ass. I love those albums, but the ALIVE! version of them smokes. Yeah, I

know they got doctored up in the studio, but most ALL live albums do.

Posted

Post-80's Rush

Post 70's Judas Priest (The guitars sounded like ass on the old LPs)

Sadly, I think the trend seems backwards. Most of the newer bands who sound great on studio recordings tend to suck it hard whenever I finally hear them live.

Posted

Frampton, Cheap Trick, Skynyrd...One More from the Road might just be the best live album of all time IMHO.

The first two that came to mind were Frampton and Skynyrd.

Posted

The Who

Listen to Live at Leeds

if nothing else Entwistle's bass lines are way better live than studio...

Posted

+1 for Live at Leeds. I haven't heard the entire double disc with their complete performance of Tommy live from that show, but the two songs I have heard blow the lame recorded versions away.

Of course, the worst live album I've ever heard is also courtesy of The Who and it's Who's Last. Atrocious.

My favorite live album of all time is Dylan's Live 1975: The Rolling Thunder Revue. He was touring for the Desire album at the time and the songs from that record sound 100x better live than they do on the studio album. I wouldn't go so far as to say the earlier material sounds better live, but much of it is reinvented and reinvigorated.

Posted

J. Geils Band rocked live !!

Their studio albums never appealed to me.

Most of the current Jambands suck on studioalbums (exept of Gov't Mules latest)

Posted

+1 for Live at Leeds. I haven't heard the entire double disc with their complete performance of Tommy live from that show, but the two songs I have heard blow the lame recorded versions away.

Of course, the worst live album I've ever heard is also courtesy of The Who and it's Who's Last. Atrocious.

My favorite live album of all time is Dylan's Live 1975: The Rolling Thunder Revue. He was touring for the Desire album at the time and the songs from that record sound 100x better live than they do on the studio album. I wouldn't go so far as to say the earlier material sounds better live, but much of it is reinvented and reinvigorated.

Live at Leeds in the deluxe edition is fantastic, the rendition of Tommy is nothing less than spectacular.

However, the last album of The Who (or Pete Townsend with Roger Daltrey) "Endless Wire" is very nice.

Especially "A man in a purple dress" because of the text.

Gabe <_<

Posted

anything crowded house is great live...

I could go on and on about OZ/NZ bands live, but probably not the place.

Posted

+1 on

kiss alive,

judas priest unleashed in the east,

the who live at leeds,

& frampton comes alive.

i'll throw in thin lizzy - live and dangerous

(also studio doctored, but better than the studio albums).

Posted

KISS Alive! sounded like an entirely different band.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's One More From The Road is still an incredible album.

I have a live album by The Sweet that is really heavy and has lyrics that would normally not be associated with a pop band.

Posted

Definetely +1 on the Who's Live at Leeds!

Also Who's Last from their 1982 US Tour.

Then - from way back there: Taste-Live at Isle of Wight. Gallagher at his best! Poor quality though. Not as intense, but better quality: Live Taste recorded at the Montreaux casino.

And then of course: The Police live! It's a double CD, the first containing material from their 1979 US tour which really shows that wonderful raw rock' n roll that is typical early Police. Disc 2 contains stuff from their Syncronicity-tour which is not bad but doesn't have that primitive power - synths and all that <_< . Bookllet shows Sting playing a red 8-string Hamer standard bass that looks like it's fretless.

I have an old 'new wave' sampler on vinyl that has a monster live take of early early Police on it. End of set with 'Landlord' and 'Next to you'. A blast....

One fellow that always has a lot more punch live is Phil Keaggy - for those who know him and care about. There is a CD containing Glass Harp's famous Carnegie Hall show from 1972, and a double CD with others: How the west was one (1976). For those in the know: great stuff!

Gino

Posted

I have a live album by The Sweet that is really heavy and has lyrics that would normally not be associated with a pop band.

i like the sweet, whats that live album called?

Posted

Blue Oyster Cult - Pick any.

Motorhead; No Sleep till Hammersmith -and- Golden Years EP. The later is one of the most kickass live recordings I've ever heard. Have it on original vinyl, but now is an add on to other compilations.

The Ramones It's Alive. Frenetic, frantic, and just great fun.

Who Live at Leeds. No more to add but yepp, the definitive Who.

This is a hard topic to dive into; I had a longstanding argument with one of my bandmates years ago. Some material just is better live and some you can only pull off in the studio.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...