like them live, hate their albums

the first things that come to mind are loud rock bands. johnny thunders was often too stoned to perform but when he was on, he was 100x better than his mostly terribly produced studio albums. the heartbreakers "live at max's kansas city" is a really good live rock albums.

another one is motorhead's "no sleep till hammersmith". if you think "ace of spades" is the perfect mental rock song (and it probably is), the show-opening live version will rip the top of your head off, awesome sound and power.

yo la tengo albums are filled with harmless indie pop, but live they often add in 10-minute feedback-laden jams, ira kaplan is actually a guitar hero under that mild facade. and of course, deadheads will say the only way to listen to the dead is on live recordings.

i guess the best live performers are the ones who take it someplace else (a departure from their studio recordings), or in the case of motorhead, take it to the extreme. ramones "it's alive" is a really good live record but it's essentially just the ramones doing what they do.

Leo said:

the first things that come to mind are loud rock bands. johnny thunders was often too stoned to perform but when he was on, he was 100x better than his mostly terribly produced studio albums. the heartbreakers "live at max's kansas city" is a really good live rock albums.

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There's a live bootleg of the NY Dolls jamming on "Pirate Love" by Thunders, and the keys are mixed way too high, the vocals sound like a cross between a bird and a harmonica waffling, and you can smell the dopesick on the lot of them, but jfc its a raw jam.

you can look up studio versions of the songs from frampton comes alive and wonder why the guy ever got signed or even booked for concerts without the live album.

Not much of a fan, but the Thin Lizzy Live Lp is generally regarded to be their best - ironic considering the vocals and most of the guitars were rerecorded or overdubbed in the studio.

droid said:

Not much of a fan, but the Thin Lizzy Live Lp is generally regarded to be their best - ironic considering the vocals and most of the guitars were rerecorded or overdubbed in the studio.

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same with "kiss alive"...a classic live record that's many times better than their cheaply produced first three studio albums, but it's sort of cheating because apparently they dubbed in so much crowd cheering to make it sound more exciting, and at various points in following years both peter criss and producer eddie kramer have said the only original live instrument was the drum tracks.

i'm just realizing i know far too much about 70s/80s commercial rock bands.

rubberdingyrapids said:

talking heads - never really been that into the albums beyond the singles, but a youtube video of one of their 1980 shows has made me think maybe i should (though still, life is too short)

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link?