For what it’s worth, which ain’t a lot… and assuming TIME FADES AWAY counts!
1 The Band – Rock of Ages
2 Van Morrison – It’s Too Late to Stop Now
3 James Brown Live at the Apollo Vol 1
4 Quicksilver Messenger Service – Happy Trails
5 Iggy & the Stooges – Metallic KO
6 The Who Live at Leeds
7 Bob Marley & Wailers: Live at Lyceum
8 Neil Young – Time Fades Away
9 Allmans live at Fillmore East
10 Aretha live at Fillmore West
11 Zeppelin – How the West Was Won
12 Sam Cooke – Live at Harlem Square Club
13 Laura Nyro – Spread Your Wings
14 MC5 – Kick Out the Jams
15 Randy Newman Live
16 Rickie Lee Jones – Girl at Her Volcano
17 Rolling Stones – Get Yer Ya Yas Out
18 Suicide – Half Alive
19 Ramones – It’s Alive!
20 White Stripes – Under Great White Northern Lights
9 Responses to 20 BEST LIVE ALBUMS EVER
Barney:
Can’t really fault any of your choices, and I’m certainly ok with Time Fades Away, but I’m curious how you feel about any of the following…
* Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band – Live 1975-1985
* Any live Zappa/Mothers material (Roxy and Elsewhere, etc.)
* Band of Gypsys
* Nirvana – MTV Unplugged in New York
* Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense
* Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – The Live Anthology
* Bob Dylan & the Band – Before the Flood
Mike
Oddly, I can’t say as I adore any of those, though the Nirvana was interesting of course and I always thought BEFORE THE FLOOD was unfairly dismissed (by Dylan as much as by anyone). The version of “All Along the Watchtower” is in its way more powerful than Hendrix’s.
Hendrix/Otis at Monterey.
Ellington at Newport ’56.
Midnight Oil, SCREAM IN BLUE
Ani DiFranco, LIVING IN CLIP
Jeff Buckley, MYSTERY WHITE BOY
I’d add:
Delaney and Bonnie – On Tour with Eric Clapton
Jimi Hendrix – Jimi Hendrix Concerts
Grateful Dead – Live/Dead
Alison Krauss & Union Station – Live
Of course there’s scores of great jazz live albums. Need a separate list.
Agree with Before the Flood.
I’d add:
Delaney and Bonnie – On Tour with Eric Clapton
Jimi Hendrix – Jimi Hendrix Concerts
Grateful Dead – Live/Dead
Alison Krauss & Union Station – Live
Of course there\’s scores of great jazz live albums. Need a separate list.
Agree with Before the Flood.
Warren Zevon’s Stand In The Fire.
A horrible man, a great singer songwriter.
Just bumped into this gem of a list Sir Barnstaple! No quibbles about the top two, other than my desire to swap them around. I’d go for the full version of Season of Lights ahead of Spread Your Wings as the Laura representative, chuck in Todd’s Back to the Bars and Live At The Forum, and mazeltov you from the bottom of my heart for recognising the wonder of Girl At Her Volcano. By the same token, the absence of Man’s Back Into The Future is noted and mourned.
I’m sorry Todd didn’t make the squad. I also wonder whether I should have made room for Bill Withers at Carnegie Hall…