Rolling Stone's "25 Best Live Albums"...Yes, NO, maybe...

Rock List: The Twenty-Five Best Live Albums

An unranked collection of incredible shows captured on record, with audio



The Who, Live at Leeds (1970)
Kiss, Alive! (1975)
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Live 1975-1985 (1986)
The Ramones, It's Alive (1979)
Bob Dylan & The Band, Before the Flood (1974)
Daft Punk, Alive 2007 (2007)
The Grateful Dead, Europe '72 (1972)
Wilco, Kicking Television: Live in Chicago (2005)
Phish, A Live One (1995)
U2, Rattle and Hum (1988)
Radiohead, I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings (2001)
Led Zeppelin, How the West Was Won (2003)
The Allman Brothers Band, Live at Fillmore East (1971)
Cheap Trick, Live at Budokan (1979)
Neil Young, Live Rust (1979)
Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense (1979)
Jimi Hendrix, Jimi Plays Monterey (1986)
Bob Dylan, The Bootleg Series, Volume 4: The Royal Albert Hall Concert (1988)
The Rolling Stones, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert (1970)
James Brown, Live at the Apollo (1968)
Johnny Cash, At Folsom Prison (1968)
The Band, The Last Waltz (1978)
Nirvana, Unplugged in New York (1994)
Band of Gypsys, Band of Gypsys (1970)
Jay-Z, Unplugged (2001)

http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/17411224/rock_list_the_twentyfive_best_li/

...haven't they put out like 40 of them over the years? Of course, seems like most of them stink.

Of course you can't find that one at Best Buy, but check your better music torrent sites once in a while. It shows up every few months.

In all probability, it was intended to be an official live album, but back then there was a publishing dispute over who had the rights to issue the band's 60's material, because Allen Klein was a greedy bastard.

I know there are people who thought that "Love Stinks" and "Centerfold" were high points for this band, but Dear God...the live version of John Lee Hooker's "Serves You Right To Suffer" on this album is terrifying. And that's just ONE of the album's high points.

:toast:

"On the lickin' stick, Mr. Magic Dick..gonna take you to the southside of CHICAGO, baby..."

...is a J. Geils live album I remember from my teen years in the '70s and which I recently got on CD, remastered from Rhino Records. I won't argue about this vs. "Full House" as the better set, but I STRONGLY agree that this band needs to be in the "RS" list.

Then again, fuck "Rolling Stone." Who cares about their lists anymore?

"You heard of the Boogaloo? You heard of the Boston Funky? You heard of the Philly Freeze? We got the DEE-troit Demolition here for ya tonight, baby!"



Best. party. album. EVarrrr. :headbang:



Edit to add YouTube link for those who haven't had their FACE BLOWN OUT.

I was in Banana Records, a long-gone and probably forgotten chain store. They were playing "Full House." I heard that line you quoted and the carpet-bombing that followed and walked up to the counter and said "What is that album?"

Years later I was the Webmaster for a now-out-of-business CD store in Sunnyvale CA. We had a "Manager's Picks" section on the Web Site and a corresponding display rack at the front register. We put "Full House" in the rack and put it into rotation for in-store play and for the next two months...TWO MONTHS...they couldn't keep it stocked. They kept selling out.

:toast:

I'll get down TO it! I said, you wanna get a-craZEE? I'll get down TO it!"

I won't even attempt to spell the rest of that. :D

Friend of mine who was into R&B turned me on to it around 1973. I went straight to Odyssey Records and got it. I've still got it. And, yeah, I remember Banana Records.

"Play your gee-TAR, Clarence!"

:toast:

Oh, and Kiss: Alive II was better than Alive!

The band admitted to doing a lot of overdubs in the studio on that one. Alive II was actually recorded on a sound stage with the audience dubbed in later.

For Zeppelin the Song Remains The Same is a better one IMO and a more significant release. Pink Floyd's Is There Anybody Out There captures the best live stage show ever. Jay-Z is clearly their token rap entry and can be taken out.

I usually prefer traditional biographies to anecdotal journals, but "KISS: Behind The Mask (The Official Authorized Biography)" is a pretty fascinating read. Past and current members of the band, managers, celebrity guests all take turns at album-by-album, track-by-track reminiscences. There's a lot of insight into who did (and didn't) play on certain tracks.

I especially like it because the original hardcover edition had a list price of $27.97 and I got it for $2.99 on Barnes & Noble's bargain shelf.



You can tell that Paul and Gene played "good cop, bad cop" on this one. Paul will say "Looking back, this wasn't one of our best albums" and Gene will say "Overall, it was a strong effort, and it had a few of our best performances," etc. etc. etc. They didn't want to bad-mouth the back catalog too much.

when RS was still a rock magazine and still had an ounce of credibility, but now it's largely just shit.

I'm a big fan of Cheap Trick, but the Budokan album was crap. The engineering was terrible.

Neither of the best live rock albums I've ever heard get a mention: Deep Purple's incredible "Made In Japan" and the ubiquitous "Frampton Comes Alive."

Yeah, go ahead and flame me for the latter, but that album had an excellent mix, and the engineering was superb for a live recording, especially in 1976.

fantastic and the recording is excellent!!

It would definitely be on my list.

At the time of "Frampton Comes Alive," my family and I used to go to the San Jose Flea Market on Berryessa Road. It's legendary, and it's still there:

http://www.sjfm.com/

They had these KILLER pepper steak sandwiches...cube steak with red & green peppers on a French roll...but I digress.

During the peak "Frampton Comes Alive" moment, I was walking through the flea market and saw a HUGE poster...almost life-sized...of Frampton, with his hair flowing, bare chested, arms crossed...

I thought "this ain't gonna last."

His next album was "I'm In You"...a flop, later parodied by Frank Zappa's "I Have Been In You" from "Sheik Yerbouti."

He also did that P.O.S. "Sgt. Pepper" movie with the Bee Gees...I don't think he really understood how reviled those guys were at that time in U.S. history.

The sad part is that he never lost his gift. It took quite a few years before he was "forgiven" for the teen idol crap. He fully vindicated himself with his plans to reunite with Steve Marriott as Humble Pie. Marriott died in a fire at his home, leaving two KILLER tracks that appeared on a Frampton anthology...a reminder of what was, and what could have been.

:toast:

He's still doing quite well in England. IIRC, he did a blues album not too long ago.

don't have Dylan on there twice. My vote for the one they forgot - one of Stevie Ray Vaughan's live recordings.

live albums, ever!!

I love that one high note in "Mercenary Territory"...and the double CD "deluxe edition" that came out in 2002 is pretty damned essential.

:toast:

and Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous. Without these three, I can't begin to take this list seriously.

THE best live album....ever! :thumbsup:

It is impossible NOT to sing while listening to that album!!

Personally, I'd replace Radiohead's "I Might Be Wrong" with Frank Zappa's "The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life", and Jay-Z's "Unplugged" with Dream Theater's "Live Scenes From New York".

"Rattle and Hum" isn't exactly a live album. It's a mix of live tracks and studio material, some of which sounds like the leftovers from "The Joshua Tree". The live EP from 1983 is a better representation of U2's live shows during their early days.

If anyone can find a bootleg of the 1983 "King Biscuit Flower Hour" broadcast from the Orpheum Theatre in Boston, grab it. It is, simply put, the best live recording ever.

They have DVD's out from every other tour that they have done, but not the video which broke them open to a wide audience in the first place.

The Boston show from that tour is great also. Or at least the audio is. Don't know if a video exists for that show or not.

they need to release it and their best of 1980-90 video collection. my vhs tapes are getting worn out.
the two would make a nice set.

that was one awesome album

These came out last year on Eagle Records, which has built a reputation for quality in its archive sets.



Amazon link to the CD: http://www.amazon.com/Live-Munich-1977-Rainbow/dp/B000FIHJLK/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1196121564&sr=8-2

...and the DVD: http://www.amazon.com/Live-Munich-1977-Rainbow/dp/B000GW8RX4/ref=pd_bxgy_m_text_b

They are selling both as a set for $31.97.

:toast:

I WILL GET THEM!!! :hi:

I was jonesing for Rory Gallagher, Live at Montreux at the time. I agree that Rainbow is slighted much too often. I would laso like to see Johnny Winter And Live in the list as well. He is also frequently neglected on these types of lists

http://www.amazon.com/Live-Johnny-Winter/dp/B0000024X2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1196123971&sr=1-5

I checked for Rainbow CD last time I was at Borders but was not aware of the DVD - will check it out

'68. And 'Jimi Plays Monterey' is only side a, gotta include side b, 'Otis Plays Monterey.' Nobody was better live than O.

Of course I'd have a lot more punk/metal on my list. But 'Folsom' 'Ya-Ya's' 'Leeds' 'Waltz' and 'It's Alive' would make my list for sure.

Especially the second half of that album. Danzig's best ever lineup was John, Eerie, and Chuck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpf-Azj4SXk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCVHAjTBb1U

Misfits Evilive should probably be on there too.

Was the best live album I have ever heard...

I don't know many people who gave their all EVERYTIME they played. Rory Gallagher did that, and then some!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKoqB1mXd6k

THAT was the song I remember from San Jose's KOME and San Francisco's KSAN....in "heavy rotation," to say the least.

Here's a clip of that song, also from the Irish Tour 1974:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxiEMpcI83E

:toast:

I first saw him on the Midnight Special and I was an instant fan. I heard a rumor that he was asked to play with the Stones but he turned them down because he wasn't interested in going commercial. From what I've seen,it seems believable to me. I got his Live at Montreux DVD and I really enjoy it. You might want to check it out.

I remember those stories too. He would have been wrong for the group for the same reasons that Mick Taylor was wrong for the group...a superb musician, but not a "Stone."

I read a Web article about Mick Taylor a few months ago that was quite sad. Apparently he's somewhat of a hermit in England, venturing out on occasion for an inconsequential gig here, an inconsequential gig there. Not quite as bad as Syd Barrett, but also not a fitting end for the guy who played on Sticky Fingers & Exile On Main St...

:toast:

playing in a club in Boston, he played for 3 or 4 hours. It was an incredible show.

I'm sorry, but as great as "Live At Budokan" is, it pales in comparison to "The Complete Budokan". Also, "Stop Making Sense" needs to be at least the rerelease that coincided with the release of the film on DVD. Almost twice as many songs, and not a bad one in the bunch.

"On the drums...Mr. Bun E. Carlos"...

I read an interview with Carlos in which he said that Ringo Starr's drum solo on Abbey Road was the inspiration...make it short, sweet, and memorable. I love the Budokan album (I was one of those people who called around to find a store that would special-order the Japanese vinyl import when it was first released).

But yes, in 2007, the "Complete" CD is the one to own.

:toast:

And Zappa's Roxy and Elsewhere.

I guess I always think of it more as a movie, but it is indeed a fantastc live album :thumbsup:

I never get tired of watching it. I need to get the DVD because I have pretty much worn out the VHS tape I have it on :(

I'd have to add Frampton Comes Alive; just a good album overall and one in which several of the hits are improvements upon the studio recordings. Maybe I'm just not a huge "live" fan, but I rarely prefer the live version of a song to the original studio recording.

Simon and Garfunkel's Live in New York City, 1967 is a great album. It's the only live album I know of by S and G outside of the one from their reunion concert and they are one of my favorite performing acts, so maybe I'm just biased, but it just has a really cool atmosphere to it, features a good number of their selections, and the spoken sections between songs are even entertaining.

The Guess Who's Live at the Paramount is another great one, IMHO. Besides a number of cool versions of several of their hits you get a really long (and, in some parts, nasty) version of "American Woman" and the equally disturbing "Truckin' off Across the Sky." I know the "cool kids" don't like the Guess Who, but they're one of my all-time favorite groups.

Oh yeah, and FWIW, I actually prefer Johnny Cash at San Quentin to Folsom Prison but I think I'm in the minority there.

John Lennon, live in New York City

Rush, R30. although Im biased here, but they do truly amazing live shows, and this one is their best, a great mix of old and new stuff.

I don't care what you guys say///

Daft Punk???
Stop Making Sense???
Jay-Z???


One of my personal favorites: Billy Bragg "Help Save the Youth of America" Live EP (1988 I believe)

There's no way you can leave these two off the list....





Edit to add one more:

And as we all know, a young man in the world today has "sweet f**k-all."

:toast:

I'm a sucker for crisp, clear studio sound. Muffled vocals and annoying background screams do nothing for me.

Nomeansno - Live and Cuddly
Skinny Puppy - Greater Wrong of the Right Live DVD

Other than that it's not a bad list.Most live recordings don't do a lot for me anyways.

Backed by the Billy Vera Band. First Live Dead is great too...(Lovelight, St. Stephen etc.) Also totally agree with above listing of Rock N Roll Animal. And Reverend Gary Davis at Newport (version of Death Don't Have No Mercy that will haunt you forever)