Greatest Live albums

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  • boo 16 Dec 2016 11:25:58 13,901 posts
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    I was listening to a live album the other day and started idly compiling a top 10. Most of the time I'll take the studio album over a live version any day, but sometimes you'll get a different version of a song, or some audience participation that really lifts it.

    Anyone got any particular faves?

    I'll kick off with:

    Runrig - Once In A Lifetime
    Thin Lizzy - Live & Dangerous
    Iron Maiden - Live After Death
    Nirvana - Unplugged
    Rush - I like 'em all, but I'll go for Clockwork Angels Live because of the setlist
    Crowded House - Farewell To The World
    Japan - Oil On Canvas
    Johhny Cash - At Folsom Prison
    Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
    Simon & Garfunkel - The Concert In Central Park
  • Rhaegyr 16 Dec 2016 11:29:25 5,499 posts
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    Some good choices there, love Stop Making Sense.

    I'd add;

    Ramones - It's Alive
    Daft Punk - Alive 2007
    The Who - Live at Leeds
    Pavement - Slow Century

    Edited by Rhaegyr at 11:33:38 16-12-2016
  • Saul_Iscariot 16 Dec 2016 11:30:46 4,399 posts
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    AC/DC's If you want blood is a favourite of mine. Not official releases but I have Nirvana's last concert and the Manic Street Preachers live at Reading Festival, 1992 I think, and they are both cracking albums.
  • Alastair 16 Dec 2016 11:30:59 24,828 posts
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    I was always a massive fan of Alchemy by Dire Straits.
  • LittleSparra 16 Dec 2016 11:36:03 7,926 posts
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    Earphoria by the Pumpkins, if only for Silverfuck.

    Edited by LittleSparra at 11:36:17 16-12-2016
  • StrayBezza 16 Dec 2016 11:39:47 1,218 posts
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    Saul_Iscariot wrote:
    AC/DC's If you want blood is a favourite of mine. Not official releases but I have Nirvana's last concert and the Manic Street Preachers live at Reading Festival, 1992 I think, and they are both cracking albums.
    If you want blood - hands down the best live album - drips with power and energy and has some of Angus' best guitar work ever.
  • Fake_Blood 16 Dec 2016 11:42:11 11,093 posts
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    Queen live in Wembly '86
  • DaftFunker 16 Dec 2016 11:43:15 59 posts
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    My favourite is the following:

    Alive 1997 - Daft Punk

    The potential trend of Daft Punk touring and recording a live album every 10 years seems to be slowly fading away with no confirmation of a tour in 2017. I hold out hope they will.

    I also just listened to the new De Staat (great band if you haven't listened yet) live album which is very nice, I may be under the influence of nostalgia after experiencing them live in Manchester recently.
  • craigy Staff 16 Dec 2016 11:50:03 9,500 posts
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    Both Nirvana & Eric Clapton's MTV Unplugged albums are ace. Love 'em.
  • TheReevster 16 Dec 2016 11:59:38 53 posts
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    Metallica - S&M
  • Zomoniac 16 Dec 2016 12:00:11 10,628 posts
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    Queen - Live Killers (even if only for the fast version of We Will Rock You, which is so much better than the normal version)

    Aqualung - Live at St James' Church (proof, even though Matt Hales won't listen to his own evidence, that more production does not equal better)

    Jeff Buckley - Live at Sin-é/Live a L'Olympia (not 'better' than the studio album, but both magnificent in their own way)

    Elvis Costello - Live on Broadway, 1986

    Peter Gabriel - Secret World

    Green Day - Bullet In A Bible (so much energy)

    Slipknot - Disasterpieces/9.0 (after Rick Rubin decided to record the first two albums underwater to create some unbearably badly engineered messes of some great songs, these are for me the definitive versions of everything from SK/Iowa)

    Radiohead - The Basement Sessions (Glastonbury 2003 is my favourite live recording of all time, but it was never released officially, so these two incomparable live recordings will have to take honourary top spot)

    Simon & Garfunkel - Concert in Central Park (I know it's been mentioned already, but it needs mentioning again)

    Taylor Swift - Speak Now World Tour (bizarrely the only tour she's ever released an official live version of, but it's so good)

    Tom Waits - Nighthawks at the Diner
  • You-can-call-me-kal 16 Dec 2016 12:20:05 23,013 posts
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    Fake_Blood wrote:
    Queen live in Wembly '86
    Best in terms of crowd pleasers for sure. Montreal is the best from their earlier days when they were really super energetic live. Just slightly better than Live Killers.
  • simpleexplodingmaybe 16 Dec 2016 12:24:07 19,992 posts
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    Rock in Rio with that crowd has got to be the best Maiden live album
  • Duffking 16 Dec 2016 12:28:26 16,964 posts
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    Judas Priest - Unleashed in the East
    Between the Buried and Me - Colors Live
    Metallica - Binge and Purge
  • boo 16 Dec 2016 12:29:32 13,901 posts
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    I've got Daft Punk - Alive and Metallica's S&M. And I think I've got Queen - Live Killers, I need to check.

    As for Peter Gabriel's Secret World, I used to really like that, but I worked on shift with a guy who went through a bad breakup and coped by playing that album constantly. Must have played it 5 times a night for about 3 months. We used to hide it, but he'd find it and stick it back on.

    I'm less enamoured with it now. Still - that was a long time ago - maybe I'll give it another whirl.

    /surreptitiously takes note of the Taylor Swift album
  • RichDC 16 Dec 2016 12:31:46 9,177 posts
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    Maiden's Rock in Rio is definitely up there. Kreator - Live Kreation is another fave of mine. The set list and production are both perfect.
  • AwesomeWells 16 Dec 2016 12:35:52 1,119 posts
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    Alastair wrote:
    I was always a massive fan of Alchemy by Dire Straits.
    Yep, this one. Also,

    Metallica, Live Shit (especially the Justice disc)
    Pink Floyd, Pulse
    Queensryche, Operation Live Crime
    And another vote for Maiden's Rock In Rio.
  • Deleted user 16 December 2016 12:45:14
    Lots of good one's in here that I totally agree with.

    Marillion - Real to Reel (why? This - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THDiD-erX1Y )
    U2 - Under a blood red sky (and I don't even much like U2 anymore)
    Pink Floyd - Pulse (though actually prefer Live at Pompeii though it's a film so doesn't count)

    Edited by Pinky_Floyd at 12:50:26 16-12-2016
  • boo 16 Dec 2016 12:53:24 13,901 posts
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    Oh yeah! Forgot about Pulse. Worth it just for Shine On You Crazy Diamond!
  • the_milkybar_kid 16 Dec 2016 13:04:03 8,474 posts
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    It's not particularly special but I'm really quite fond of Rage Against The Machine's Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium
  • UncleLou Moderator 16 Dec 2016 13:08:10 40,723 posts
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    Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Arc/Weld

    Pure energy. Neil Young later said they were full of anger fuelled by the news of the Iraq war during the tour. Their best album, imo.
  • You-can-call-me-kal 16 Dec 2016 13:10:48 23,013 posts
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    Also controversially I think Alice in Chains unplugged is better than Nirvana.
  • Reacher 16 Dec 2016 13:12:59 3,104 posts
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    You-can-call-me-kal wrote:
    Also controversially I think Alice in Chains unplugged is better than Nirvana.
    Quality. I like them both equally though.
  • mrpon 16 Dec 2016 13:15:40 37,366 posts
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    "I wish I could just hug you all.........but I'm not gonna"

    :(
  • jimnastics 16 Dec 2016 13:19:10 1,893 posts
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    Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains the Same

    Hendrix - Live at The Fillmore East (I love Woodstock, but the Band of Gypsys groove has grown on me a lot over the years)

    Pearl Jam - Pinkpop '92 (it's a bootleg... but my god what a show)

    Nirvana - Unlpugged is perfection, but a shout out to Live at the Paramount. Nirvana live in late 1991 were just amazing.
  • Dougs 16 Dec 2016 13:25:29 100,414 posts
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    Hendrix - BBC Sessions is phenomenal imo. In fact, all BBC sessions I've listened to have been.

    Queen - Live Killers is cracking.

    Will have to hunt down the PJ one now...
  • Saul_Iscariot 16 Dec 2016 13:41:53 4,399 posts
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    I miss the days when you could pop to s hop to pick up boot leg CDs. I know that they are usually easily found on you tube, but I like to own things.
  • simpleexplodingmaybe 16 Dec 2016 13:47:10 19,992 posts
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    As if we've all forgotten No Sleep til Hammersmith

    One of the greatest albums live or otherwise
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