Top 10 Live Albums

David Bowie - David Live from 1974. 

So many excellent choices, that I will try to add something new.  

For rock, LITTLE FEAT - Waiting For Columbus.  This is a truly excellent recording and very nicely recorded.  Its one of my go-to test albums 

Here's  one not mentioned:  JOHN MCLAUGHLIN AND SHAKTI - their first album.  It is a tour de force of musicianship, coupled with outrageously good recording technique.  This is a masterpiece. eerie and enlighlening interactions with Zakir Hussain (RIP), L Shankar on violin and McLaughlin with his customized acoustic 

PATRICIA BARBER - COMPANION:  This is one of the regular test albums.  A wonderfully recorded live gig, with great frequency range, soundstage, and on good equipment, the ability to put you right there in the club.

Last one - HOT TUNA - Live At The New Orleans House, Berkeley - fine recording in a club atmosphere, 

Heart - Long Road Home

 

A bunch of my fave live albums have already been mentioned (some multiple times), so I had to dive a little deeper to come up with new ones. They are:

 

- The Band: Live At The Academy Of Music 1971. The Band's Rock Of Ages 2-LP set has been mentioned numerous times, but my nominee is this related boxset. The Band performed four live shows at The Academy in the last week of ’71, the Rock Of Ages set presenting only a portion of those shows. The boxset contains the complete shows on four CD’s and one DVD. You can’t have too much Band music.

- The Blasters: Over There---Live At The Venue, London. The Complete Concert. In 1982 Slash Records released Live At The Venue as a 12"/6-song EP. Last month’s RSD saw the release of the entire concert as a 2-LP set. Prior to the appearance of Los Lobos, The Blasters were the best band In Los Angeles. When Dave Alvin left the band to join X, he took his songwriting talent with him. leaving his brother Phil high-and-dry. Then saxophonist Steve Berlin left to join Los Lobos. Bummer.

- The Byrds: Untitled. By the time this album was released, only one original member of the Byrds---Roger/Jim McGuinn---remained. Though the group had lost David Crosby, Gene Clark, and Chris Hillman---a trio of talent far in excess to that of just about any band you care to mention---they had gained the guitar playing brilliance of Clarence White, one of the all-time greats (he was idolized by Tony Rice, for cryin’ out loud!). One disc of this album is live, the other studio.

- Derek & The Dominos: In Concert. D & TD were a quartet with about as much talent as four musicians can have. The presence of drummer Jim Gordon alone is enough reason to own this 2-LP set.

- Bob Dylan And The Band: Before The Flood. Others have already mention this in it’s original 1974 2-LP version, but my nominee is the expanded version recently released. Columbia issued a 27-CD boxset (!), and Third Man Records a 3-LP set containing recordings not included in the 1974 LP release.

- The Dave Edmunds Band: Live---I Hear You Rockin’. Dave is my favorite solo Rock’n’ Roll guitarist, producer, and live performer of the 1970’s and 80’s. Quite a statement, ay? I stand by it! On this live album Dave is provided accompaniment by a very good band. I saw them twice, once in NYC, the other in L.A. My ex-wife’s all-time favorite live show.

- The Everly Brothers: Reunion Concert. The Everly Brothers made music as good as it gets, and have been roll models for many who followed them (including John and Paul). They had the best songs, the best voices, and the best musicians. On this live recording they have Albert Lee playing guitar, reason enough to own this album.

- Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks: Where’s The Money? Recorded at The Troubadour in February of 1971, this album is the most fun you can have with your pants on.

- George Jones: First Time Live! George is and was the favorite singer of a lot of other singers, some of them perhaps favorites of yours. Gram Parsons, Elvis Costello, many others. Try as they might, no one comes close to equaling his singing. Thanks to that talent, George was given first right of refusal by the cream of Nashville songwriters. George’s drinking lead to his nickname, No Show Jones. Producer Billy Sherrill managed to get George to this show on time, and sober.

- Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman, and Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives: Sweetheart Of The Rodeo 50th Anniversary, Live. Two of the Byrds members who recorded the Sweetheart album in 1968 joined forces with Marty Stuart and his great band (imo the best in the biz) for a few live shows in 2019. This 2-LP set was a RSD release this past April.

- Martin Mull And His Fabulous Furniture: In Your Living Room. Recorded before a small audience at Western Sound Studios on March 14th, 1973. Amusing yes, but also musically excellent. Accompaniment provided by the likes of Ray Brown, Harvey Mason, Red Calendar, David Grissman, and Sneaky Pete Kleinow. More fun than a barrel of monkeys.

- Randy Newman: Live. "Just" Randy and his piano, performing for an audience at The Bitter End in NYC on September 17-19, 1970. One of the very best songwriters of our lifetimes.

- NRBQ: Diggin’ Uncle Q. As good as their studio albums are (and they’re GOOD), you have to see NRBQ live to get their full measure. I’ve seen them thrice (pretentious? ), and they’re one of my three or so favorite live bands. This album was recorded with their classic line-up of Terry Adams, Joey Spampinato, Al Anderson, and Tom Ardolino.

- Townes Van Zandt: Live At The Old Quarter, Houston, Texas. Another Country music singer bedeviled by the bottle. In spite of that he managed to write a lot of great songs, and get them recorded. This 2-LP live package (just Townes and his guitar) is essential.

- The Ventures: On Stage. Recorded in Japan, England, and The U.S.A., released in 1965. My first favorite band, prior to the British Invasion.

 

Harry Belafonte - Belafonte at Carnegie Hall

Excellent live performances from April 19th and 20th, 1959. 

Lynard Skynard - One More From the Road

Rush - Exit Stage Left

Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive

Judas Priest - Priest LIVE!! 1986

Pink Floyd - PULSE

Phil Collins - Serious Hits Live 

Seether - One Cold Night

Nirvana - Unplugged

The Cure - Show 

The Rippentons - LIVE Across America

Read thru most of the responses and agree w/ many.  Several I like that were not mentioned are:

Just One Night - Eric Clapton

Greatest Hits Live - Steve Winwood

Woodstock - Various Artists (this may be an age thing, but I honestly can't believe no one mentioned this)

Thanks...you've all given me recordings to discover or revisit.

"New York Stories" is a wonderful studio recording.

My two favorite are:

Harry Chapin - The Bottom Line Encore Collection

Warren Zevon - License to Flinch

Both amazing album really showcasing their performance skills as well as well recorded.

I love Deep Purple.  Made in Japan is an all time great.  Thanks for the info on their other live albums.  I will check them out. 

Yes- Yessongs. Amazing performances that showed that they could rock hard on their complex studio arrangements.

Deep Purple - Live at the Olympia '96. 2Cd set from 1996 with Gillan, Glover, Lord, Paice, and new guitarist Steve Morse playing the hell out of the expected (Highway Star, Smoke on the water), the less expected (opener Fireball, Pictures of Home, Dark Night, When a Blind Man Cries) and material from the then recently released Purpendicular album. Sound is fat and you-are-there quality via headphones. Playing is stellar, with much of the vaunted interplay between Jon Lord's keyboards and Morse's guitar, while Ian Gillan (who sang the role of Christ on the original Jesus Christ Superstar back in the day) is in excellent voice, though he hasn't sung 'Child in Time' for quite a while. I think DP are underrated overall, and like the Allman Brothers, they go up several notches in a live setting. There is a company that has tracked down soundboard recordings of many choice shows from the early 70's and issued well-mixed and mastered CD versions of what were so-so sounding bootlegs. I have 3 incoming ordered from Amazon.

New York Stories (Blue Note), exhibiting Danny Gatton’s ability to play, well, anything. Beautiful jazz guitar, nicely recorded. Bobby Watson and Roy Hargrove, amongst others too.

Ramones - It’s Alive 

Johnny Winter - Captured Live

Black Flag - Who’s got the 10 1/2

AC/DC - If you want blood..

More great albums.

I will add one I just started listening to.

Pete Townshend - Live in Concert 1985-2001.  14 CD set streaming online. 

Great stuff here for sure. I would like to add:

Loggins and Messina - On Stage

Niks Lofgren - Acoustic Live

Neville Brothers - Live On Planet Earth

Tower of Power - Soul Vaccination

Stevie Ray Vaughn - Live Alive

Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, Paco DeLucia - Friday and Saturday Night in San Francisco (2 albums)

 

 

 

 

Hidden gem & great recording quality—Nils Lofgren: Acoustic Live

(Really enjoyed the responses on this thread.)

Rolling Stones - Love You Live

The Do - Live at l'Olympia

Hugh Masekela - Live at the Record Plant

BB King - Live at the Regal

Rodrigo y Gabriella - Live in Japan

Fania All Stars - Live at Yankee Stadium

Cream - Wheels of Fire (disc 2)

 

Cannonball Adderly: Mercy Mercy Mercy (Live). Had this in reel to reel back in the stay. Still listen to it on Qobuz.

Clifford Jordan: Live at Ethell’s. Maybe there is something to the Mapleshade approach. This proved to me that CDs can sound perfectly real if recorded properly. Love the clinking of glasses in the opener, Summer Serenade.

A lot of great titles so far!  I'll add these:

John McLaughlin Trio: Live At the Royal Festival Hall

McLaughlin, Di Meola, De Lucia: Friday Night In San Francisco

Abercrombie/Erskine/Mintzer/Patitucci: The Hudson Project

Alice in Chains - 

Pop/Rock

Unplugged (Live at the Majestic Theatre, Brooklyn, NY - April 1996)

Can't leave out The Living End by Husker Du.

Peter Green has several live albums that are amazing.  Live at Ronny Scotts I believe also some albums under Peter Green's Splinter Group. A totally underappreciated artist. He put out some incredible music after he left Fleetwood Mac.

These seem to have been missed:

The Dream Syndicate: Live at Raji's - An absolutely stunning album featuring a fantastic band at the peak of its power.  Truly a magical, enthralling thing to behold.

Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert - The electric half is legendary for very good reasons.

Grateful Dead 12/31/1978

Track listing

[edit]

Disc one

[edit]

First set:

1. "Sugar Magnolia" > (Bob Weir, Robert Hunter) – 7:21
2. "Scarlet Begonias" > (Jerry Garcia, Hunter) – 11:55
3. "Fire on the Mountain" (Mickey Hart, Hunter) – 15:05
4. "Me and My Uncle" (John Phillips) – 3:11
5. "Big River" (Johnny Cash) – 7:05
6. "Friend of the Devil" (Garcia, John Dawson, Hunter) – 10:48
7. "It's All Over Now" (Bobby Womack, Shirley Womack) – 8:23
8. "Stagger Lee" (Garcia, Hunter) – 8:03
9. "From the Heart of Me" > (Donna Godchaux) – 3:49
10. "Sunshine Daydream" (Weir, Hunter) – 3:15

Disc two

[edit]

Second set:

1. "Samson and Delilah" (traditional, arranged by Weir) – 9:17
2. "Ramble On Rose" (Garcia, Hunter) – 9:35
3. "I Need a Miracle" > (Weir, John Barlow) – 11:19
4. "Terrapin Station" > (Garcia, Hunter) – 12:23
5. "Playing in the Band" > (Weir, Hart, Hunter) – 13:06

Disc three

[edit]

Second set, continued:

1. "Rhythm Devils" > (Hart, Bill Kreutzmann) – 19:23
2. "Not Fade Away" > (Norman Petty, Buddy Holly) – 19:34
3. "Around and Around" (Chuck Berry) – 9:19

Disc four

[edit]

Third set:

1. "Dark Star" > (Garcia, Hart, Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, Weir, Hunter) – 11:53
2. "The Other One" > (Weir, Kreutzmann) – 4:55
3. "Dark Star" > (Garcia, Hart, Kreutzmann, Lesh, McKernan, Weir, Hunter) – 1:09
4. "Wharf Rat" > (Garcia, Hunter) – 11:08
5. "St. Stephen" > (Garcia, Lesh, Hunter) – 7:52
6. "Good Lovin''" (Rudy Clark, Arthur Resnick) – 13:57

First encore:

7. "Casey Jones" > (Garcia, Hunter) – 5:17
8. "Johnny B. Goode" (Berry) – 7:14

Second encore:

9. "And We Bid You Goodnight" (traditional, arranged by Grateful Dead) – 4:13

I will also second Gentle Giant Playing the Fool!

An incredible band that a lot of people haven't connected with.

They are incredible.

1. Grateful Dead Closing of Winterland, 12/31/78. My first SF dead show on my 24th birthday (I was living in Anchorage AK at the time)!  The Dead didn't start till midnight and played 3 sets! Breakfast was served at dawn after the show ended.  The night started with the showing of the movie Animal House, followed by the Blues Brothers backed up by Joni Mitchell's Band Tom Scott and the LA Express followed by New Riders of the Purple Sage. Then the Flying Karamazov Brothers entertained the crowd and at midnight Bill Graham rode a giant joint from the balcony down to the stage and then they dropped a zillion ballons at midnight and the Dead started with Sugar Magnolia!  Quite the evening!  The show was issued on DVD a few years back.

2. Little Feat Waiting for Columbus

3. Leonard Cohen Live in London

4. GD Europe 72

5. The Band The Last Waltz & Rock of Ages

6. Joni Mitchell Miles of Aisles

7. Bob Marley and the Wailers Live

8. Talking Heads Stop Making Sense

9. Renaissance Live at Carnegie Hall

10. Grateful Dead Live Dead (1969)

 

You guys that may want to test out your bass- Play "Essence" track From The Lucinda Williams Live At The Fillmore 2003

Subterranean bass...

ozzy

Some mislabel Chicago "At Carnegie Hall" as Chicago IV.

So many great suggestions!

I didn't see Chicago Live at Carnegie Hall

Bonamassa has some great live albums

Judas Priest Unleashed in the East

Chris Cornell Songbook

Steve Goodman Live Wire, and The Easter Tapes

Marshall Tucker Band Carolina Dreams Tour ‘77

Chuck Mangione Live at the Hollywood Bowl

Claire Lynch Crowd Favorites

Mark O’Connor Band Live

Chicago IV

Tommy Emmanuel Live One

Great Ceaser’s Ghost What’s Done is Done

Al Kooper:  Soul of a Man

Umphey’s McGee December 31st, 2004

New Grass Revival Live

Jerry Jeff Walker Live at Gruene Hall

 

Agree I have to check a lot of these albums out.  Something to do on these long winter nights. Thanks for all the posts.  

Billy Joel - Songs in the Attic

Bruce Hornsby - Intersections/ 1985-2005

and another thumbs up for:

ELP - Brain Salad Surgery

What, no Rolling Stones Get Yer Ya Ya's Out! Also Quicksilver Messenger's Happy Trails.

There are so many albums on this list I need to download. A lot of the list I've heard and enjoy but quite a few I haven't heard before. Absolutely love live albums. A couple of my favorites are as follows:

Alice In Chains - MTV Unplugged. 

Opeth - Live At Albert Hall. 

Bill Withers - Live At Carnegie Hall. 

Earth, Wind & Fire - Gratitude.

 

Thanks for this thread. Good stuff! 

Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense

Little Feat - Waiting for Columbus

Lynyrd Skynyrd - One More From/For The Road

MTV Unplugged - 10,000 Maniacs, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Florence & The Machine

Bob Seger - Live Bullett

Rolling Stones - Bridges to Babylon (Get the DVD version)

Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush - Live

Supertramp - Live Paris

Atlanta Rhythm Section - Are You Ready?

@simonmoon

You might enjoy Oregon’s live "1974".

@relayer101 

I'd forgotten about "Rock n' Roll Animal" -- some great guitar playing on that one! 

My problem is, since I listen to 3 main genres (prog, jazz and classical, and subgenres within each), I have more than 10 favorite live albums in my top 10.

Here my favorite prog live recordings:

Yes - Yessongs

Genesis - Seconds Out

Univers Zero - Relaps 2009

Jethro Tull - Bursting Out

Gentle Giant - Playing the Fool

Renaissance - Live at Carnegie Hall

King Crimson - The Great Deceiver: Live 1973-1974

Magma - Live/Hhaï (Köhntark)

Änglagård - Prog På Svenska - Live In Japan 2014

 

Jazz:

John Coltrane - Live in Seattle

Return to Forever - The Mothership Returns 2012

Mahavishnu Orchestra - Between Nothingness and Eternity

Oregon - In Performance

Pharaoh Sanders - Live!

Arti e Mestieri - Live 1974/2000

Steve Coleman and the 5 Elements - Live at the Village Vanguard, Vol. I (The Embedded Sets) 2018

Brand X - Timeline

Allan Holdsworth I.O.U. - Live in Japan

 

 

J. Geils: "Five Card Stud"

@relayer101 , Thanks for mentioning the Graham Nash live CD. I didn't know about that one and I've already ordered myself a copy of it.;

Clapton live is excellent.  Live in the 70s, a 4 CD set, is great too.  

Can't add much to this list, but I can add votes for several:

Eva Cassidy "Live at Blues Alley"

Jackson Browne "Running on Empty"

Rory Gallagher "Irish Tour '74"

The Band et al "The Last Waltz"

Neil Diamond "Hot August Nights"

Joni Mitchell "Miles Of Aisles"

Diana Krall " Live in Paris"

Oregon "1974"

Eric Clapton "Unplugged" 

Eric Clapton (And many others) Crossroads 2010 BlueRay DVD If there was ever a case for a kick-ass home theater The Crossroads Festival 2010 (or any other year, for that matter) are it.

I listened to my two faves last night back to back..."Live at Leeds" and "Rock and Roll Animal". And I hadn't seen this thread, either.

Katie Melua, Live in Concert. Beautiful recording 

Leonard Cohen live in London
Ella Fitzgerald live in Berlin

Johnny Cash at Folsom prison

 

Stones - Ya Ya’s 1970

Stones - The Brussels Affair 1973 (Great extended version of You Can’t Always Get What You Want)

Humble Pie - Performance Rockin’ The Fillmore 1971

Allman Brothers - Fillmore East 1971

Allman Brothers - An Evening With The Allman Brothers Band - 2nd Set 1995 (Later version of the band with Warren Haynes)

Genesis - Genesis Live 1973

Lou Reed - Rock N Roll Animal 1974

Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris - Real Live Roadrunning 2006

Graham Nash - Live: Songs For Beginners/Wild Tales 2022

Sia - Lady Croissant Live 2007. Great early Sia.

Traffic - On The Road 1973

Steve Winwood - Winwood Greatest Hits Live 2017

Santana  'Lotus'

 

Uriah Heep 'Live'

 

Cheap Trick - at Budokan 

Pentangle---"Finale"

I would add the live portion from Cream's Wheels of Fire.  Crossroads and Spoonful make one amazing side of an album, remembering there was nothing in it's class when released