Great live recordings

[mrufino1]

Hi, I was just wondering what recordings people here consider the "great standards" in live recordings, any genre. I recorded a funk/ jazz/ r&b band the other night and have been listening to a few recordings to reference as I mix, such as Bernie Worrel and the Woo Warriors Live (some of these guys were on that recording so I wanted to refrence it again), James Brown Say it Live and Loud, Dallas 1968, James Brown Peace Power Love (think that's the title), L'Olympia Paris 1971, and Donny Hathaway live. As I was listening this morning this popped in my head. Some of the other recordings I love are:
King Curtis Live at the Fillmore
Band of Gypsys
Zeppelin- How the West was Won
Otis Redding- Live at the Whiskey (not a technically great recording but the energy is awesome!)
Miles Davis-We want Miles
and not a kiss up to our friendly moderator here, but the Montgomery Gentry recording for Stripped music is amazing- I have recorded that stream and listen to it a lot- there's something about it that really works for me, wish it was available as more than an mp3 (is it?). I'm not a huge country fan but I like some and this recording just does it for me.

I am not necessarily limiting my scope here to rock as I enjoy all genres, but these are some that came to mind.
Anyway, maybe it's an interesting discussion, maybe not, but it was on my mind. Also, any info on production for these albums or any others would be very cool, I love reading about this stuff. In my day job as a behaviorist I believe we call this "Obsessive Behavior!"

[Sam Amato]

You should definitely check out, if you haven't already, Curtis Mayfield's "Curtis/Live" at the Bitter End, NYC. One of my favorites and much different than most live recordings. Sounds completely dry and very intimate to me.

[Gilliland]

It really depends on what you're looking for in a live recording.

Ricky Skaggs "Live in London" CD sounds pretty much like a studio recording - every instrument and vocal sounds perfectly pristine and carefully mixed. Until you hear the audience, you'd never know it was live.

Tish Hinojosa's live album has a nice balance, capturing the performance very cleanly, yet easily letting you know that it's a concert setting.

The late Freyda Epstein's album "Midnight at Cabell Hall" was recorded in true binaural in a concert hall at midnight with no audience present. It's one of the most natural recordings I've ever heard in my life. The first time I heard it in headphones, I had to keep looking around to see if there was really a guitarist over my shoulder.

Emmylou Harris's "Live at the Ryman" is a gem.

So is the Alison Krauss live CD/DVD.

[wshaw]

I always thought Tom Dowd did a great job with the Allman Brothers in"Live at the Fillmore" and parts of "Eat a Peach." Sweet, spacious, airy tracks, delightful to listen to.

[Chris Williams]

I love any from Frank Zappa "you can't do that on stage any more" series.

My favorite Live is the Fleetwood Mac live.

[mrufino1]

Which Fleetwood Mac? I forgot about them, I love "The Dance." Really well done. I don't know how much fixing was done, but it sounds great.

[tunetown]

The Eagles, "When Hell Freezes Over" DVD. Recorded by Elliot Schiener.

[Chris Williams]

Originally Posted by mrufino1

Which Fleetwood Mac? I forgot about them, I love "The Dance." Really well done. I don't know how much fixing was done, but it sounds great.

Yeah it's the Dance.

Another great live dvd/audio is Trey Gunn's "Untune the Sky" comes with a free live dvd with some great tracks.

My favorite live dvd of the moment is Lamb of god's Killadelphia, tightness personified

[jdunn]

A tasty one is "Afrocubanismo Live!" by Chucho Valdes and Irakere, on the Bembe Records label. I'll think of more later.

[zaczac]

Rufus Wainwright has a great live track called "The Art Teacher", on his album "Want Two" and it sits really well with the rest of the album.

[allphourus]

I really love the Dixie Dregs live Reunion "Bring 'Em Back Alive" Recorded by Kooster on the Record Plant Remote truck I think.

[Stevengale]

Allman Brothers - Live at Filmore East - Double album

Derik and the Dominoes - "In Concert" - Double Album

Peter Framton - Comes Alive - Double Album

Lou Reed - Rock & Roll Animal

Pete Seeger - Live at Carnagie Hall

Woodstock - Double Album

Loggins & Messina - The album with the half hour verision of Angry Eyes on it.

Neil Young - a 70's bootleg album from an acoustic hall

Marshal Tucker - Live

The Concert for Bangladesh recorded Live (A Harrison, Clapton effort).

And finally a couple of ones that were never released live but should have been: The Beatles, Alantis Morisette

[roonsbane]

I had just tried contacting mix, trying to get them to do an article on Genesis Seconds Out. Though this album is post Gabriel and recorded just after he left, for being recorded in 1976 I have always thought that it presented many unique challenges to record for the time, and just sounds incredible! The dynamics in this album are more like a great classical recording. (Check out Carpet Crawlers or Suppers Ready) You have two drummers with very large drum kits, Steve Hacket in his prime with really interesting guitar tones, about a dozen killing vintage keyboards, with great recorded audience interaction. The keyboardist doubles on acoustic guitar. The bass player and guitarist each play doubled necked guitars often. The frequency response is big full and warm with a smooth top end. Much of the full low end is due to the Moog Tourus pedals that I believe three players switch off playing and that sound huge! It is a big sound for five musicians. All of these instruments add up to a lot of submixing or a lot of tracks for 1976! These guys play the hell out of this difficult music. It's impressive and I would love to know more about it.

The other great sounding live recording I love the sound of are Little Feat Waiting for Columbus, The Concert for George DVD at the Royal Albert Hall, Paul McCartney Tripping the live fantastic sounds incredible, (Bob Clearmountain is a god), David Bowie A reality tour is really nice. The gabriel live DVD's and Pink Floyed DVD's are exceptional. Sarah McLachlan Mirrorball DVD also sounds very nice.

One CD that should have sounded great but I believe was destroyed in the mastering is the Steely Dan Alive in America CD. Man is this a harsh sounding recording. For a Steely Dan album, man did they ever f%$# up! It is possible to make it much more listenable by doing a little remastering yourself EQ'ing out that ice pick like upper midrange and reburning it.

Great thread!
Cameron

[jdunn]

Funny, I thought of "Seconds Out" and "Waiting For Columbus" also. They recently did a killer 2-disc remaster of "Waiting For Columbus" that has a ton of tracks that weren't on the original album. That recording has always sounded pretty crunchy to me though, as if there's some high mid shelving boost on there that can't be removed.

"Seconds Out" is one of my favorites. I have the original CD release and the newer remaster. If you like that, you'll love the box set that has the complete Lamb show on discs 1/2, with the live '73 stuff on disc 3. They did a great mastering job on that I think, and they included a lot of Peter Gabriel's spoken word song intros. "Old Henry, walked past the pet shop....."

Another nice live recording is Hugh Masakela "Hope".

[mrsteaks]

"On the Wings of a Film" - Hans Zimmer
"The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life" - Frank Zappathumbsup
The Allman Brothers Live album (agree, agree, agree)
"Live Dead" - The Grateful Dead
Bits of the "Woodstock" LP were good.

Lots of others, but my brain isn't working today. It's hell getting old...

~~~~Mark S.
Pretty Good Recordings

[okcrounders]

The Allman Bros' "Live at the Fillmore" is amazing indeed. Another live record that I think is fantastic is Wilco's "Kicking the Television."

[jdunn]

For Dead fans, the live acoustic album "Reckoning" is a great recording.

If you like to hear Jerry playing banjo, the "Old & In The Way" discs sound pretty good. Those were recorded with minimal signal path onto a Nagra or Scully multitrack I believe.

"The Pizza Tapes" sound fantastic, but that's live in the studio... doesn't really count.

I have a live jazz trio cd that sounds pretty hi fi, it's Michel Petrucciani, Steve Gadd and Anthony Jackson "Trio In Tokyo".

I think Traffic "On The Road" was a pretty good recording for 1973.

For reggae you can't beat Bob Marley & The Wailers "Babylon By Bus". There's a lot of ambience on the recording... it has a certain vibe to it.

[heathen]

The Delicate sound of Thunder, Floyd.

Iron Maiden, Life after Death

[mrufino1]

Wow, lots of suggestions. Also it is reminding me of some discs I have that I haven't heard in a long time, like that Michel Petrucciani disc. I'll have to dig that one out. I should also mention, thinking of Anthony Jackson, the recordings on Calle 54 are incredible.

[James Guitar]

Originally Posted by jdunn

Funny, I thought of "Seconds Out" and "Waiting For Columbus" also. They recently did a killer 2-disc remaster of "Waiting For Columbus" that has a ton of tracks that weren't on the original album. That recording has always sounded pretty crunchy to me though, as if there's some high mid shelving boost on there that can't be removed.

i have nothing "in print" to back me up on this except wikipedia (and we all know how far that goes) but i've heard a number of times from other sources that waiting for columbus had a bucketload of studio fixes, including most of lowell's vocals and guitar work. one of my favourite records, for sure, but just thought i would mention it.

[themaidsroom]

Originally Posted by zaczac

Rufus Wainwright has a great live track called "The Art Teacher", on his album "Want Two" and it sits really well with the rest of the album.

i slammed those tracks into a new reel of 2" tape with the 8 track headstack while -
"transfering" it from da-78 to logic........

there's a better version still for later live with the band - that track rocked out
recorded live to 2" 16 with a truck at the birmingham symphony hall....

rufus was the best ever last week.....at the blender theater in nyc
the band is the best thing working.....every player is smoking
"the art teacher" still in the set, but back to being a solo piece


my 2 favorite live records - "waiting for columbus" - little feat
and most amazing of all - "nuff said" - nina simone - an impromptu live to 1/4"
stereo recording of the night after we lost mlk in 68 - you can hear the hair standing
on people's necks, you can hear that we live in times where the vibe just doesn't
heat up like that.......

1/4" two track from 1968 - amazing inspiration - amazing band - amazing depth - sonically and spiritually

we need nina simones and lowell georges

be really well

- jack

[Clueless]

Two standouts:

1. Friday Night in San Francisco (with Paco De Lucia and Al Di Meola)

2. Live at the Royal Festival Hall

Live at the Royal Festival Hall is one of my all-time favorites, in part because I studied Bass with Kai Eckhardt shortly after he played on that album.

If you are a John McGlaughlin fan, you'll find a lot to love in the 17 CD Montreux Concerts box set.

[zaczac]

Originally Posted by themaidsroom

i slammed those tracks into a new reel of 2" tape with the 8 track headstack while -
"transfering" it from da-78 to logic........

there's a better version still for later live with the band - that track rocked out
recorded live to 2" 16 with a truck at the birmingham symphony hall....
(snip)
be really well

- jack

Wow, you've got a great gig (and well deserved from the sound of art teacher). Full band version sounds interesting.

I thought of some more today.
-Can't go past old Ray Brown live recordings. Killer tone.
-Radiohead "I might be wrong" the crowd noise in Idioteque makes me tingly. Love the piano on spinning plates (and the not so tight bass )

-I love finding any old recordings of Elliot Smith gigs. It makes me sad that I won't ever see him live.

[Stizz]

Originally Posted by James Guitar

i have nothing "in print" to back me up on this except wikipedia (and we all know how far that goes) but i've heard a number of times from other sources that waiting for columbus had a bucketload of studio fixes, including most of lowell's vocals and guitar work. one of my favourite records, for sure, but just thought i would mention it.

LITTLE FEAT

"Were you surprised when Waiting for Columbus, your live album, actually became a hit?

Payne: Yeah, definitely. That album is certainly an icon of live recording, but it's also a live recording that had a lot of overdubs on it. We never hid that.

Barrere: There were a lot of guitar fixes and there were quite a few vocal fixes.

Payne: And that was largely Lowell's idea. He said, “Here's the energy we've got; let's work with it.” I think the drums and keyboards didn't change much. We edited the keyboard solo in “Dixie Chicken.” One track, “Mercenary Territory,” came from a soundcheck, rather than a show."

I still love this album, and consider it one of the best Live recordings ever.

[jdunn]

Originally Posted by Clueless

2. Live at the Royal Festival Hall

Live at the Royal Festival Hall is one of my all-time favorites, in part because I studied Bass with Kai Eckhardt shortly after he played on that album.

Great material on that one for sure. I think the recording is a little on the cold digital side though. I saw that trio play live once, but Kai was not playing bass. It was still an awesome show.

Other good ones (in the jazz genre)

Pat Metheny Group "Travels" - Has that dark ECM sound, some great performances.

Pat Metheny Group - "The Road To You" - more latin influenced material, nice sounding recording.

[Confusionator]

I can't believe I'm the first to mention James Taylor "Live" -- Massenburg working his magic.

I guess I'm a dork, but I like Rush's "Exit Stage Left" as well!

[santibanks]

Originally Posted by jdunn

"Seconds Out" is one of my favorites. I have the original CD release and the newer remaster. If you like that, you'll love the box set that has the complete Lamb show on discs 1/2, with the live '73 stuff on disc 3. They did a great mastering job on that I think, and they included a lot of Peter Gabriel's spoken word song intros. "Old Henry, walked past the pet shop....."

Another nice live recording is Hugh Masakela "Hope".

The live Lamb is almost a studio recording. Peter Gabriel recorded around 90% of the vocals again. Compare it to a bootleg from that time and you'll notice the difference in vocal tone and style.
Also, Steve Hackett did some overdubbings for the live lamb. But I think it doesnt sound dated at all. In fact it sounds very modern, full but with air. Everything clearly audible.

Seconds Out sounds crappy to me. Basspedals usually get muffled, hackett is at some points pretty weak in the mix aswell as mikes 12 string.

Three Sides Live on the other hand sounds very good I think. Especially the remaster. Listen with headphones and you get an idea you are there. The drums sound fresh and natural and everything is very good balanced I think.

My favourites soundwise:

John Scofield - Pick Hits Live (wonderfull auditorium sound I think)
Pat Metheny Group - Imaginairy day live and The Way Up live
Peter Gabriel - Secret World Live
Genesis - Three Sides Live
Porcupine Tree - Coma Devine

[btdigital]

Gov't Mule. The Deepest End. Wasserman, Claypool and lots of other cool guests. Sounds amazing.

[doorknocker]

Originally Posted by Confusionator

I can't believe I'm the first to mention James Taylor "Live" -- Massenburg working his magic.

I was just about to do it! Great recording and performances though I must say that I don't totally like George Massenburg's treatment of electric guitars, somehow it sounds too clean for my taste, I have the same problem with 'Waiting for Columbus'.........

(Flame suit on....) I know that I'm probably alone with this opinion but I never really liked 'Waiting for Columbus'. 'Sailing Shoes' and 'Dixie Chicken' to me are two of the best ever rock records but the live one sounds musically too unfocused to me, the synth noodling is really annoying......

My faves:

- Allman Brothers 'Live at Fillmore East'

- Muddy 'Mississsippi' Waters 'Live'

- Bill Evans Trio 'The Complete Sunday at the Village Vanguard'

-Brad MehldauTrio 'Art of the Trio, Vol. 5: Progression'

-James Brown 'Live at the Apollo Vol 2.' (Deluxe Edition)



And for the sheer vibe of it, selected tracks from the Woodstock film:

- Joe Cocker 'With a little help from my friends'

- Santana 'Soul Sacrifice'

- Ten Years After 'Goin' home'

- Jimi Hendrix 'The Star Spangled banner' + 'Villanouva Junction'

[hrn]

Roxy Music "Viva". Probably the best album they made.