What makes a great live album?

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fuzzjunkie
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Re: What makes a great live album?

Post by fuzzjunkie » Mon May 23, 2022 6:27 pm

With so many videos available now of live performances I think the power of a live album has waned.

I only ever had 2, Kiss Alive when I was 8-9, and something else, the Clash maybe? Both long gone. Now I have video discs of The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen , and Radiohead. Oh, and U2 - Live at Red Rocks, but I was actually in attendance for that one.

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Re: What makes a great live album?

Post by s_mcsleazy » Tue May 24, 2022 1:27 am

i feel a good live album should have more energy than the album version but sound a little worse than the album version. i also like hearing a bit of interaction with the crowd but just don't do a nofx and have half the album just be crowd interactions.
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Re: What makes a great live album?

Post by sal paradise » Tue May 24, 2022 2:40 am

s_mcsleazy wrote:
Tue May 24, 2022 1:27 am
don't do a nofx and have half the album just be crowd interactions.
Or do most of the Live in a Dive series with dubbed guitars.
I have nothing to offer anybody, except my own confusion?

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Re: What makes a great live album?

Post by s_mcsleazy » Tue May 24, 2022 3:47 am

sal paradise wrote:
Tue May 24, 2022 2:40 am
s_mcsleazy wrote:
Tue May 24, 2022 1:27 am
don't do a nofx and have half the album just be crowd interactions.
Or do most of the Live in a Dive series with dubbed guitars.
so i seen rancid years ago and it kinda put me off them. tim armstrong basically kept complaining he couldn't have a cigarette without having to leave the venue. matt freeman extended the bass solo in maxwell murder to like 5 mins so tim could have a smoke. the rest of the band were great, it was just tim.
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Re: What makes a great live album?

Post by fever606 » Tue May 24, 2022 5:25 am

"Motohead" and crickets...

https://youtu.be/DGjWt6eRbFg?t=2134
s_mcsleazy wrote:
Tue May 24, 2022 3:47 am
rancid
We booked them in to play the student center when I was in college - on the backs of a couple other folks in the student union being massive Operation Ivy fans. I didn't care for them and I'll just say that nothing about that experience changed my mind. It was the only time we hired an outside cleaning crew to deal with the green room - it wasn't fair to the janitorial staff to have to go in there.

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Re: What makes a great live album?

Post by andy_tchp » Fri Jun 17, 2022 1:01 am

soggy mittens wrote:
Thu May 19, 2022 3:48 am
The Frames - Set List (2004)
Bought this as I didn't realise it existed (thanks for the tip!). It's incredible and undoubtedly my favourite album of theirs now. Just all of the 'more' a (very well recorded/mixed) live performance brings on top of the album versions, 'God Bless Mom' and 'Pavement Tune' in particular I just cannot get enough of.

The Frames - God Bless Mom (Live)
"I don't know why we asked him to join the band 'cause the rest of us don't like country music all that much; we just like Graham Lee."
David McComb, 1987.

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Re: What makes a great live album?

Post by budda12ax7 » Fri Jun 17, 2022 8:24 pm

Energy and emotion.....band just going for it...Hendrix live at Woodstock....not his best technical performance, but emotionally off the charts as he leads the band always on the edge of falling apart.

The Cure in Orange: highlight “Sinking” and “A Forest”......pure emotion from Bobsy and Porl is on point there...


So many others.....

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Re: What makes a great live album?

Post by wingnutkj » Mon Jul 04, 2022 3:16 am

What makes a great live album?
Overdubs.
Kenny

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Re: What makes a great live album?

Post by bluemonday » Mon Jul 04, 2022 5:38 pm

I'd say energy level. My favorite live albums usually make the studio tracks sound a bit tepid by comparison. The crown increases the intensity and the band usually responds with faster tempo.

And yes, it's disappointing to learn that some of those "amazing" sounding live recordings were the result of overdubs and other studio tricks.

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Re: What makes a great live album?

Post by budda12ax7 » Tue Jul 05, 2022 2:36 pm

wingnutkj wrote:
Mon Jul 04, 2022 3:16 am
What makes a great live album?
Overdubs.
Kiss alive 2....but then again who cares.

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Re: What makes a great live album?

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Tue Jul 05, 2022 11:03 pm

Unheard material. When I was into The Doors in a big way, their live LP was the only way to hear the fabled Celebration of the Lizard.

There are many other similar examples, but that was the first one that came to mind. Wire's Document & Eye-Witness is also chock-full of obscurities, strictly for completists.

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Re: What makes a great live album?

Post by jorri » Mon Jul 11, 2022 7:47 am

a "live from the [studio]" is also sometimes a welcome addition. As in high fidelity.
or something like Roseland NYC - Portishead.

Only works if you have a very multi-tracked, produced album. Then end up with different feel to all the songs.
Maybe some unrecorded songs too (Radiohead's basement sessions, although tis a video series).

Why not? because for a lot of bands that's just the studio album anyway...but for some its not and comes out better in a way.

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