good live albums/recordings

sing_minimal

Well-known member
can you guys recommend some nice live music..genre isn't important, what im looking for is stuff that is different, preferably one time performaces - meaning bands/artists that like to improvise as opposed to bands who play same song throughout whole tour..thank you!
 

STN

sou'wester
Some favourites of mine:

Miles Davis - Agharta, Black Beauty, Live at the Fillmore East 1970, Dark Magus, Live Evil, Live at Carnegie Hall
Evan Parker live sets, there are plenty, with various musicians
Rainer Ptacek - Live at the Performance Centre
Van Morrison - It's too Late to Stop Now
Saxon Studio International - Coughing Up Fire
Nina at Newport
 

mos dan

fact music
the clash - 'westway to the world'

bob dylan - 'hard rain' is fucking harrowing. he just split up with his wife and then she showed up at the show, or something.. plus he was on drugs and depressed too i think.. i don't know, check it on wikipedia, i've almost certainly remembered it wrong.
 

Leo

Well-known member
television -- live at the old waldorf (rhino handmade) it's rock'n roll but with so much jamming that it's like listening to a grateful dead bootleg.

frontier -- live at the empty bottle (tugowar records) chicago post-rock from mid 90s, pretty much one continuous 60-minute piece.

heartbreakers -- live at max's kansas city (max's) yeah, they played the same dozen songs at every gig for 10 years but the sound on this is great, johnny thunders wasn't too stoned that night and totally burns.
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
The Stooges - 'Metallic KO' (hilarious crowd insults, band all over the place but rocking)

The Beatles - 'Live at the star club' (shitty sound quality by today's standards, but feel the energy)
 

secretagentgel

Well-known member
some favorites:

jethro tull - bursting out

David Bromberg - How Late'll Ya Play 'Til

the who - live at leeds

va - mod mayday '79
 

Octopus?

Well-known member
Not quite as epochal as some of the recordings listed above, but I just picked up a Johnnie Taylor live set from 1972 ("Live at the Summit Club") that is absolutely scorching. The band falls apart a bit at the beginning, but really pull together once Taylor (who's in top form throughout) publicly harangues them to get it together. Great disc, and the live version of "Jody's Got Your Girl & Gone" from the Stax doc is here in its entirety.
 

sing_minimal

Well-known member
excellent, some really nice suggestions inthere!

you can also go more obscure ofcourse..here's some examples of recordings i liked; arnold dreyblatt and the orchestra of exciting strings - live at federal hall 1981, rhys chatham - a crimson grail; for 400 electric guitars, fennesz - live at japan & melbourne, charlemagne palestine & tony conrad - an aural symbiotic mystery, janek schaffer - in the last hour, john fahey - live in tasmania, jandek - glasgow sunday, keith fullerton whitman - lisbon, lots of sun ra, anthony and the johnsons, human league,.. im only naming these to give some better idea of what im looking for, though i'll basically check anything interesting! thanks again!
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
Try this for some pure guitar virtuosity, you can literally hear the crowd gasp in awe...

Al DiMeola - John McLaughlin - Paco de Lucia: Friday night in 1980
San Francisco. Columbia FC 37152;CBS 84962;Philips
6302137 (D);CBS-Sony 25AP2035,CBS-Sony 30AP2136;
* Philips 800 047-2
 

zhao

there are no accidents
lots of great live jazz and improv records obviously - the form lends itself to the spirit.

also great live jammy rock records.

don't think there are ANY good live hiphop or dance records?

and classical music is just too much of a pain in the ass to make a decent live recording it seems.

the promoter never hooked me up with that live Pan Sonic recording... if there was a hook THAT shit would not have been on it.
 
Cold Crush Brothers at Harlem World, 1981.

Any of those old old hip hop sets, actually. Reminds me of grime, the aesthetic.
 

hamarplazt

100% No Soul Guaranteed
don't think there are ANY good live hiphop or dance records?
Mike Ink: Live Evil 1 + 2 - brilliant live acid.

Air Liquide, Orbital, Speedy J and The Speed Freak have all made good live records.

And Mouse on Mars' Live04 is also pretty hard hitting, even though I would have preferred a live recording of one of their more improvised two man-sets.

And while we're in the electronic area (though not "dance" by any means), Klaus Schulzes Dziekuje Poland is up there among the very best live recordings of any genre.

Some non-electronic recommendations:
King Crimson: USA
Henry Cow: Concerts (especially the first half)
The Residents: 13th Aniversary Show (not very improvised at all, but it's Snakefingers masterpiece)
 

martin

----
Second 'Coughing Up Fire'

Also

Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers - "At Carnegie Hall" and "Freedom's Sons" - kinda Irish folk equivalents of "Live At San Quentin" or "Exile on Main Street"

Killamanjaro vs Silverhawk, '88 - utterly classic soundclash

Velvet Underground - "Live 69" - Lou sounds way better singing 'Femme Fatale' than Nico did

Throbbing Gristle - "Rafters" (1980) and the Rat Club, Valentino Rooms gig from '77 - the birthplace of power electronics

"Band of Gypsies"

Can't believe nobody's mentioned Killing Joke's "Ha" yet - one of the best live (mini) albums ever

Does Diamanda Galas' "Plague Mass" count? Not really a personal fave, but it is a pretty intense ride and an interesting concept

Dennis Brown live at Sting 90

Also, special mention has to go to that Specials live EP, for the definitive version of "Too Much Too Young" and the "Skinhead Symphony" ska-on-45 medley on the B-side
 

nochexxx

harco pronting
suicide - 23 minutes over brussels

that record is an absolute must.

if my memory serves me correct legend has it that after the show an axe was found embeded in the back of the stage.
 

ifp

Well-known member
radiohead's live album, I Might Be Wrong - songs off Kid A and Amnesiac. Reckon its much better than the studio albums
 
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