What are some of your favorite live recordings and/or Broadcasts?

[Remoteness]

And what makes them your favorites? Was it the sound, the feel, or how they captured it? Maybe all of the above? Tell us your thoughts.

Back when I was a kid, one of my favorite live albums was the J. Giles Band - Full House. I loved that record, because it captured them perfectly. Even down to the set list order. It sounded and tracked exactly like their live show!

How about you? What are your picks?

Stones' Get Your Ya Ya's Out.

My mentor tape-oped on the mix sessions, he said all the adlibs were 'flown in' from countless 1/4 inch machines they had around the control room (like 7 or more)

"Tuning up" moments
crowd screams - "paint it black you devils!"
In between song 'banter' - "Charlie's good tonight!"

Were all cherry picked from the 2 or 3 nights at Madison Square Gardens that were recorded, then stiched between numbers as the mix crew wanted.

I know all those crowd screams, tune ups & in between talking off by heart!

It was well put together IMHO.

I wonder what console in what mobile truck was used?

[Knox]

Who / Live at Leeds
To me it's the ultimate punk record. Vibe, everything about it. There was a newly mastered edition that came out a couple of years back that's really good.

I bought that remastered album! It's good.

I have 4 Helios modules from the Ronnie Lane Mobile truck that recorded that concert.

[Steve Smith]

Clapton - " Just one night"

The grove on Tulsa Time is beyond killer, I have done session with that rhythm section, they are not only amazing players, but great guys.

[Jay Kahrs]

Peter Gabriels live disc from a few years ago, I think it's Secret World. Also, the Spin Doctors Homebelly Groove and Walt Mink's Goodnite get played a lot. Peters album is just about perfect. FOr the other two it's more about feel then perfect sonics or performances. They grabbed what the bands were about.

[Renie]

"Viva! Roxy Music"

Recorded at the Apollo Glasgow 1973
City Hall Newcastle 1974
Empire Pool and Wembley 1975
mixed at Air Studios
engineer Steve Nye
producer Chris Thomas

The live excitement is there and is well captured and the space is there for these brilliant musicians to perform freed up live arrangements. Bryan Ferry the singers and players sound alive with the beauty and buzz of it! Great stuff!

:)

[Diginerd]

Agree with the Gabriel Album, but my personal is "The Delcate Sound of Thunder" by Pink Floyd... Love every second..

[dean the dream]

Three favorites for me are AC/DC Live 1990-1991; Metallica S&M 1999 and Kenny Loggins Live from the Redwood. Each done with a unique and satisfying sound quality.

[chachi]

ozzy and randy's tribute brought me to music in the first place. i listened to that one so much, i knew all the tape dropouts my personal cassette had and miss them on the cd reissue. i also miss the "carmina burana" intro. what happened to this on the cd reissue?

but listening to it now, the sound of it is pretty good, nice and clear, and randy's fills are incredible.

i also have a 1980 boot of a tokyo kraftwerk show that i like a lot. it's unique in that it's totally sans-reverb and ends up sounding really cold and distant compared to most live documents. no crowd noise either. but this cold quality, while usually something i don't like, is so perfect for kraftwerk, it makes the music even more robotic sounding. "computer love" off that disk is a killer.

ch.

[Knox]

OBVIOUSLY . . . Band of Gypsys. How I left that out . . I don't know.
IMO 'Machine Gun' is one of the most amazing things EVER recorded. His heart and soul were one with the guitar. Anyone that grew up staring at Viet Nam in their future could 'feel' the intensity of the war in that track. None of the other versions of Machine Gun come close to the one on the Band of Gypsys first cd.

[Jay Kahrs]

Damn! I can't believe I forgot that too! That first note of the solo in Machine Gun is amazing. There's soooo much soul and passion in it. Plus, the amp sounds like it's about to explode. Plus, the sounds are great. It was probably done on a 1" 8 track or something right? Still sounds like it could've been recorded yesterday. Who says recordings have gotten better in the last 30 years?

[Sugarite]

Myself I'm a fan of using a coincident figure-8 pair in the venue's sweet spot as the bulk of the recording. IMO it renders the most lifelike rendition of the experience of being at the performance. While that process depends greatly on the acoustic qualities of the room, the quality of any sound reinforcement gear and how it's used, I find recordings that simply use the stage as a studio to be shallow by comparison. I use direct micing only to add definition, separation, and maybe some tone adjustment to what is provided by the audience mics, and try my best to preserve the imaging as-is.

Pink Floyd's Delicate Sound Of Thunder and Rush's Exit... Stage Left are the only popular examples I can think of that seem to rely on audience mics as much as I like.

The recordings I actually listen to the most are the ones I record with a basic one-point stereo condenser and portable DAT. There's some decent venues in the area and I've pinned down their sweet spots, and after Waves gets done with the material it comes out very realistic and downright inspiring. I can pull that off on $400 worth of gear any time I want, so I'm not easily impressed with big budget recordings that are more like soundboard taps with some audience noise blended in.

I'm new to this forum, only came because of the talk about live recording, and I'm actually not familiar with the work of Steve Remote, but I can't turn down a chat that's actually in my field. I could upload some example mp3 clips if people are interested.

Cheers

[Dave Martin]

Besides those already mentioned, don't forget Humble Pie's "Rockin' The Fillmore", Ella Fitzgerald's "Live In Berlin", and a couple of obscure personal favorites - Bugs Henderson "Live at The Armadillo" and the Meters "Live On The Queen Mary"

[chessparov]

James Brown's "Live at the Apollo", and The Allman's "Live at Fillmore East".
Two more examples of what magic a first-rate singer and band can create.

Presently listening to the Beatles' "Live at the BBC" recordings. Will soon
be on the prowl for Sam Cooke's "Live at the Harlem Square Club" album,
and Jerry Lee Lewis' "Live at the Star Club".

Chris

[Dave Martin]

Keep in mind that the opening cut on Live at The Apollo (on the CD, at least) was a studio cut complete with strings and a female vocalist. But it's a great record...

[chessparov]

Interesting, it crossed my mind briefly the last couple of times listening
to the "Apollo" set whether that was the case.

BTW, also like Van Morrison's "It's Too Late To Stop Now".
It's a good overview of his material up to then (around 1973).

Chris

[Remoteness]

Everyone mentioned really GREAT live records...

What about live "Cream"? IMO, they were the biggest sounding rock trio out there at the time. Those live tracks sounded so huge to me when I was growing up...

They still hold their ground today.

[adz]

I think for the sound of it Eagles - Hell Freezes over has gotta be worth a mention. Don't know how much of it was actually recorded live not overdubbed later on but it sounds amazing. The first studio tracks on the album sound great too...

[aprestin]

I've always been a big fan of Little Feat's "Waiting for Columbus". I've been listening to it in some form or another (first vinyl, then CD, then double reissued CD with extra tracks etc) for about 20 years now -- dad used to play it all the time when I was little, too.

The reissue they did earlier this year (with bonus material) is definitely worth picking up.

- A.P.

[JayCrouch]

Originally posted by aprestin
I've always been a big fan of Little Feat's "Waiting for Columbus".
- A.P.

Yeah Alex.

Alex and I were listening to this fine record last week, and noted how well it stacked up recordings of any era or technolgy.

The Re-Issue double disc also has alot of great pictures from the shows, revealing everything from the 57s on vocals, to the FET 47s on horns.

Another fine production brough to you by George Massenburg...

Alex, dig up the 12" of that - would love to hear it!

[aprestin]

I actually picked up a lightly-used copy about a week before they announced the reissued CD's release. My dad's beat-up copy was retired, and (once I got the CD) my copy was retired shortly thereafter. You can borrow it whenever you want.

[RuByReDcAiN]

My favorite live album is The Cure Entreat. I think it is really well put together, and it is from my favorite band.

[recordista]

Two of my favorites are
Nancy Griffith's One Fair Summer Evening
and John Prine's Live

And for an oldie but goodie, Three Dog Night's Captured Live at the Forum. A friend of mine is visible in one of the audience shots.

[6X2]

My absolute all-time favorite is "The Last Waltz" from The Band.

Also others: "Before the flood" from Dylan and "Live across the wire" by Counting Crows...

6X 2

[Dave Martin]

There was also Mountain's live album (at least there was one live side) with an absolutely wretched edit along the lines of the one on Band of Gypsies (where out of the blue, the audience is clapping along). But both Leslie West and Felix played great...

Oh - I just thought of another Fillmore record that had a huge impact on me - the Don Ellis Orchestra at the Fillmore - a most interesting record.

[cymatics]

Two of my favorites are:

UNSANE - AmRep Christmas
Misfits - EvilLive

Both of these are super raw recordings but succeed in capturing the vibe and energy of the respective bands live show. I really can't stand listening to a live record that sounds like a studio recording with crowd swells at the end of each track.

Oh Yeah... except for Iron Maiden - Live after Death

- jon

[Fletcher]

It's a toss up..."Waiting For Columbus" or "Rock and Roll Animal"

[CrazyBeast]

Cheap Trick at Budokan - when I was a kid that 8 track (yeah!) rocked my world. Cool tones, exciting vibe.

Townes Van Zandt - Live at the Old Quarter. I think that's the title? Anyway, polar opposite of Budokan, but two albums worth of the best songwriting - stuff you've heard many times but didn't know who wrote it. Raw and beautiful.

[Tim L]

Originally posted by Diginerd
<snip>... my personal is "The Delcate Sound of Thunder" by Pink Floyd... Love every second..

This is a great album. "Delicate" is a fav' for many reasons. I was there for the last show of that tour in the Nassau Coliseum (LI, NY). Not sure about the cuts on the album but some of the footage shot that night made it to the film release... you can't see me but I'm under the pig.

Someone mentioned the Randy Rhoads tribute thing... also a cool record. There is a much better "version" of that tour out there though. I have a tape somewhere of a 'King Biscuit Flour Hour' (anyone remember those?) of one of the shows from that tour. It's damn near the exact set list that's on the album only way more energy and vibe. Rhoads performance is nothing short of amazing espescially on 'Suicide' into his solo... the whole show blows the record away big time! I was lucky enough to see him in concert before he died.

Tesla did an 'unplugged' tour (and subsequent disc) where WPLJ (Or maybe it was WNEW) simulcast the performance at The Ritz in NYC. This was an awesome show and also blows what's on the record away.. I was real glad I ran tape on it.

My absolute favorite live album is Ted Nugent's 'Double Live Gonzo' (and I make no apologies ). When I was in High School this record was one of my fav's. Lots of drunken, stoned debauchery occured while this cassette blasted in the background... ahhh, the good ole day's.

There's alot more but they're way too many to mention...