Picking favorite live albums is tricky business. There are a lot of good ones. If I'm pressed to choose, my five all-time favorites would be Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous, Bob Seger's Live Bullet, Kiss Alive, Cheap Trick at Budokan (the complete-set edition), and Ted Nugent's Double Live Gonzo. Not necessarily in that order but pretty damn close.
There are quite a few other live records that deserve mention. REO Speedwagon's You Get What You Play For comes to mind. It's raw and damn good. It captures the band in their hungry days and in all their live glory. My only beef with the record is the lack of Kevin Cronin raps. Kevin has an awesome vocal interaction with the audience and that element was edited out of most of the performances on You Get What You Play For, which took away some of the beauty of it.
Are You Ready by southern rockers the Atlanta Rhythm Section is another live record I'm particularly fond of. I remember when I was sixteen years old, I took a bus through the worst parts of town in St. Louis to get to the arch on 4th of July because the Atlanta Rhythm Section was playing. I made it and got to sit right in front of the stage. A great experience. The guys kicked ass. Are You Ready captures the guys at their best and, although it isn't a recording of the show I saw, it brings back fond memories of a great concert experience for me.
Head East Live! is a cool concert album. Does anybody remember Head East? They had two big hits, Never Been Any Reason and Love Me Tonight. Despite the lack of constant hits, the band has always been a classic rock radio staple and their records (particularly the first four leading up to the live album and the one immediately following the live album) are consistently good and well worth listening to over and over. Head East Live! captures the band in all it's energetic glory.
Two live Sammy Hagar albums blew me away. Unfortunately, they were not double live records and only captured a small portion of Sammy's set at the time. Because the records were so fucking intense, though, they rank as some of my favorite live records. All Night Long and Live 1980 capture Sammy's onstage insanity. While both albums are short, they are so intense they feel like full concerts. I can listen to them repeatedly without getting bored. Together they make the perfect Red Rocker concert experience.
Still Life: American Concert 1981 by the Rolling Stones is another short concert album that feels like a full show. The song selections here and the energetic performance by the band make this an enjoyable listening experience. Are there better live Stones records out there? I'm sure there are, but for me, this is a quick listen that will get the heart pounding and the feet moving.
There are other live records I could talk about. I'll highlight some more later. For now, if you take the time to listen to any of these, I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience.
Let me know what your favorite live albums are.
I can't join in on the positive side of this blog. Well, not exactly. I personally hate 99% of live albums. I'm one of those stuck up music listeners that wants to hear the song the way I heard and fell in love with it on the radio. Typically when a band sings live, they either add or take away from the original song. I always thought I appreciated music until I met my husband, yours truly, Carl Hose. He has taught me how to really listen; beyond just the lyrics. However, my appreciation level is still not where his is where I can appreciate the talking in the middle of songs and such on a live album. There are a few exceptions for me where a singer/band will hold true to their original song and sound. With that being said, I would like to add my personal favorite live album: Bee Gees One Night Only
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