Venerdì 11 Mag 2007, 17:50
Now, I'm assuming a great deal of us enjoy live shows. I do a great deal. There's nothing quite like seeing one of your favorite musicians or groups playing their asses off and connecting with an audience.
Live albums, on the other hand, can be a mixed bag. There's nowhere near the energy on a disc as there is in a good live show. Still, some live albums are fun/interesting just to see how bands can adapt their music to the stage, or to hear a good mix of a band's music. Here in this entry, I have thought up a few live albums that I think are worthy additions to a band's catalog.
Kicking Television: Live in Chicago - Now I was fairly unimpressed with A Ghost is Born, though there were a few solid songs here and there. (10 minutes of white noise never helps an album, people. Never.) However, some of those songs really come alive on Wilco's live album; "Handshake Drugs" in particular. Some songs from one of my all-time favorite albums, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, sound even better in this version. Other, older tracks like "Misunderstood" and "Shot in the Arm" helped get me into Wilco's pre-YHF days, as well. A fantastic live album.
Unplugged in New York - I was never REALLY into Nirvana like other kids of my generation; I came late to the music scene. Still, there's definitely something about this album that shows me what the fuss was all about. Cobain has never sounded more raw and emotional, and some of the songs when stripped down showed how solid they really are.
I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings - While I liked Kid A, Radiohead's followup Amnesiac left something to be desired. Like Kicking Television, this album revealed to me why I should like Amnesiac - the complete kickass breakdown in "I Might Be Wrong", for example. Especially impressive is the piano-based version of "Like Spinning Plates", which had previously been an eerie electronica song.
Live at Leeds - One of the classic live albums. Though this came before my favorite part of The Who's catalogue (the early 70s - Quadrophenia and Who's Next are just so great!) this is a really fun enjoyable album, coming from a rock group you can tell is just full of regular dudes. The mini-opera "A Quick One, While He's Away" is easily the highlight, but songs like "Tattoo" and the ridiculously long verrsion of "Magic Bus" are also fantastic. Their between-song banter and energy keeps this record vivid even today.
Stop Making Sense - My introduction to the Talking Heads, this is a fun and bizarre live album. I really didn't know what to make of them at first glance, but they can create a groove like no other white boys/girls can do. I'll have to check out The Name of This Band is Talking Heads sometime - it looks heavy on their first album, Talking Heads 77 which is a pretty great album by itself.
Live at Luther College - Yes, I'm sure I'm losing a lot of cred because of this, but LALC is a great live album. I don't particularly care for Dave's band other than a few songs here and there - though Before these Crowded Streets is fairly solid - but the fantastic guitar work in this album is very impressive and the songs are pretty solid by themselves. Dave's onstage persona kind of annoys, as does his voice to an extent, but I'm someone who listens to Joanna Newsom so I can't really complain about voices, at all.
Well, that's all that I can think of. Feel free to recommend some of your own suggestions for great live albums!
(By the way, I'll be working on a pretty large project for the summer for this semi-music blog. It's not exactly the most original of concepts for a music blog but I'm excited about it, and I think I'll do it some measure of justice.)