I tend to like "live" recordings if done right...but these are often hit and miss...any suggestions?...open to all genres...for those fans of Portishead...live in NYC is a great show and an excellent recording to boot...also...Live at Leeds is considered by many to be the ultimate live rock recording...however...I was not that impressed with the latest remaster...somebody mentioned BB king live at the Regal on another post...is this really that good?
Bill Evans: Sunday at the Village Vangard. Yes, I know that this is probably a cliche, but, to me, this is a benchmark for excellence in performance. The reocrding ain't bad either. I just can't get over the fact that Scott LaFaro would be dead two weeks after this gig! Sad.
Some oldies but goodies: James gang -live in concert Edgar Winter's White Trash- Roadwork Santana- Soul sacrifice & Ten Years After- I'm goin' home (both on the Woodstock album and DVD
Live at Leeds is a great performance, but I don't think it was ever a great recording.
I have the MFSL CD of Live at the Regal and it sounds pretty good, especially for the time (1964?)
Check out Van Morrison "It's Too Late to Stop Now" - great performance and it sounds fantastic, much better than a recording of the time has a right to (1973 I think).
Other favorite live albums of mine (if you're into rock), though these are not necessarily the best sounding: Deep Purple - Made in Japan Jethro Tull - Bursting Out Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous Steve Hillage - Live Herald UFO - Strangers in the Night
4yanx is correct- Brand X's Livestock LP was recorded in two parts- London 8/76 at Ronnie Scotts and 8/77 at the Hammersmith Oden and the Marguee Club. Phil Collins plays drums on three of the five tracks.
Twl is correct about the awesome part.
Mahalo for reminding me to dust it off and give it a spin.
Oh, there have been some truly great ones mentioned. Just a few more: Commander Cody - "Live from Armadillo Headquarters" J. Giels Band - "Live - Full House" Neil Diamond - "Hot August Night" (only ND worth owning) Marlena Shaw - "Tokyo Live" Stan Getz - "Gold" Art Pepper - anything live is dynamite Bob Seeger - "Live Bullet" Weather Report - "8:30" Yes - Yessongs Guess Who - "Live at the Paramount" (A must for GW lovers - the CD version has bonus tracks but the LP sounds better, though rare)
I had the chance to listen and compare carefully the 1977 and the 1997 LP's versions of Jazz at the Pawnshop. There are significant differencies between them. I think I prefer the original Swedish pressing than the 1997 german one. I would like to have other advises about it. I also try to find more informations about what did exactly the sound engineer Wilfried Zahn when remastering this new issue.
In the good old days an artist's live recordings almost never sounded as good as his or her studio records. Brand X Livestock was a big exception. Some live instrumental rock recordings have succeeded in ratcheting up the ante a few notches. Massacre/Meltdown, Jonas Hellborg/Personae, Zony Mash/Live in Seattle and Harriet Tubman/Prototype come to mind. In recent years, there's been an explosion of stunningly realistic live jazz recordings in the racks... a few highly deluxe examples: Bluiett Baritone Nation/Libation... Yannick Rieu/Sweet Geom Lounge Lizards/Live in Berlin (Vol.1&2) Charlie Haden/Montreal Tapes (all are excellent) Mark Helias/Fictionary Tony Oxley/Floating Phantoms Rich Halley/Live at Beanbenders Ellery Eskelin/One Great Day Archie Shepp-Roswell Rudd/Live at the Village Vanguard
Brand X "Livestock". Totally awesome performance and recording. It's almost impossible to believe that these guys are pulling off a performance like this live on stage. It is so quiet in the audience, that you don't even realize it's live, until after the song the audience goes crazy.
Hot Tuna - "And Furthurmore" The Other Ones - "Only the Strange Remain"
These are both done in HDCD and sound incredible - staging, bass extension, vocal clarity are all *excellent*. As a bonus, you can find them pretty cheap (< $10) on the internet if you don't mind used media. If you haven't heard an HDCD-encoded disk, you oughta...
Grand Funk Railroad - Bosnia. The sound is great on this CD. Also, you can tell the musicianship of the players has matured over the past 30 years. Compare it to the Live album released in 71 and you can see a day and night difference.
I love good live performances. Here are some of my favorites:
Patricia Barber-Companion I have not liked any other PB records that I've heard, but Companion is one of my ABSOLUTE favorite records. This is an inspired performance and a very good recording.
Eva Cassidy-Live at Blues Alley Already mentioned above
BoDeans-Joe Dirt Car A very good live rock show by a hard working touring band
Indigo Girls-1200 Curfews Nice Doulbe Album. A compilation from many different live sources. Most of it is well recorded and Amy and Emily are really great performers. This was recorded several years ago before "the Girls" became political. I haven't heard a good Indigo Girls record since 1200 Curfews.
Grateful Dead - Dozin' At The Knick Grateful Dead - Nightfall of Diamonds Dave Matthews Band - Live At Red Rocks Dave Matthews/Tim Reynolds - Live At Luther College Allison Krauss + Union Station - Live Allman Brothers Band - Fillmore recordings
Jeffmazen, good call on One From The Vault. Best of the 3 Vault releases so far, both in sonics and visuals. IMHO
Little Feet- "Waiting for Columbus", Allman Bros- "Live at the Filmore East", Johnny Winter And-"Live", Frank Zappa- "Live at the Filmore", "Just Another Band From L.A."
It might be a nostalgia thing, but I really like the latest release of the Bob Dylan bootleg series from the Rolling Thunder Review. I had the bootleg LP but it was stolen from me. This new set sounds much better than I remember the LPs sounding.
Eva Cassidy "Live at Blues Alley" is a good recording, and Cowboy Junkies "Waltz Across America" is also good-- it's a compilation of live recordings on their last tour across the U.S. Both are favorites of mine. Cheers. Craig
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