AN UNFINISHED LIST, WITH CATEGORIES
Reputedly Great But When Would I Ever Ever Feel the Slightest Urge?
The Who - Live at Leeds
U2 - Under A Blood Red Sky: Live at Red Rocks
Not Actually a Great Live Band and Here's the Proof
The Smiths - Rank
Befuddlingly Extraneous to Requirements
Heaven 17 – How Live Is
Heaven 17 – Live At Scala, London 29 November 2005
Heaven 17 – Live From Metropolis Studios
Heaven 17 – Live At The Jazz Café 2015
I remembered being struck by the sheer superfluousness and rockist wrongness of the very concept of a Heaven 17 live album when I read about one of these at the time. But I had no idea they had been repeat offenders!
One of these is described by a fan as a "A well-chosen, and scorching hot set that puts their studio work very much in the shade! Against all odds, my favorite H17 album is now a live recording!! Who could have imagined this 30+ years ago?".
Who indeed? Back when they did their legendary work - Penthouse and Pavement - Heaven 17 used to pointedly do PAs in nightclubs around the U.K., either singing over backing tracks or maybe just miming altogether, I can't remember. But I do remember they would talk about having zero interest in touring or live performance, and wanting to deconstruct the whole idea of presence, community, etc as outmoded rockist claptrap. Indeed, when in The Human League, Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware developed a fully automated concert that was all set to stand in for them when they were the support group on a Talking Heads tour. The idea was that they wouldn't appear onstage but would be in the venue, mingling with the fans and chatting with them. But for reasons unknown - fear of being conceptually upstaged? - Talking Heads put the kybosh on the idea at the last minute and Human League were replaced by various other support groups like A Certain Ratio.