[Bytor123]

The Smiths - Thank Your Lucky Stars

 

[xsk3l3t0rx]

i didnt even know this was a thing, i thought their only live stuff was "rank" or "louder than bombs"... is this their last stuff circa strangeways era?

 

[Bytor123]

Live bootleg - lovely

 

[wuwhere]

Supertramp in Paris
 

 

[bigshot]

Half that Supertramp record was on tape before anyone ever entered the auditorium. I saw them live that tour. They had nice films on a screen behind them. For the rest of it, I could have been at home listening to the record.

 

[Munkyfunk]

Ufo - strangers in the night, in my opinion the best live album ever. Michael schenker at he's best.
Rory Gallagher in Dublin
Dire straits alchemy
Hawkwind live79
Alice in chains unplugged
Who live at Leeds

 

[Beagle]

bassist Wolfgang Van Halen. Mixed by award-winning engineer and mixer Bob Clearmountain 

 

[SolomonPierce]

Fleetwood Mac - The Dance
 
I've always loved that album... Stevie just sounds so damn good live.

 

[xkonfuzed]

Metallica - S&M CD2

 

[wuwhere]

Fleetwood Mac - Live, I really like I'm So Afraid here.
 

 

[crazychile]

Im not usually a huge fan of live albums because the sound quality normally isn't all that great. Once the initial novelty wears out from knowing how a performer pulls off a favorite tune live, the recording usually gets shelved.

Having said that I practically wore out my vinyl copy of U2 Under A Blood Red Sky back when I was in High School.

I also used to own a copy of Pink Floyds "Pulse" on vinyl and that was pretty good.

The most surprising live album I own? Portisheads "Roseland NYC". that one sounds pretty amazing for a band I never thought could exist outside of the studio.

 

[johnestan]

I'm usually a fan of live albums, but James Taylor's album "One Man Band" is incredible. 

 

[AKGman]

Im not quite sure it is the best, but How the West Was Won is a really great live album. The 25 minute long Dazed and Confused is fantastic.
Led Zeppelin is one of the few bands where i think some of there live prefomances are equal to or better than their studio work.

 
I like a lot of the Led Zeppelin songs, but the studio versions often seem overproduced (when you listen to the albums on CD). Some of the songs, especially on the second and fourth albums, you would think the songs would sound more exciting if they loosened up a little when playing live. But a lot of artists are like that, they had to record the most perfect versions of their song for their studio albums, but it means there are some live versions that eclipse them, especially in terms of emotional impact. A few examples are Bob Dylan, The Doors, Bob Marley and Nirvana.
 
Quote:

I did a search and could not find this specific topic so......

Certainly to me the best live rock album

The Allman Brothers Live at Fillmore East. Just the versions of Whipping Post and In Memory of Elizabeth Reed are THE superior versions of those songs.

Honorable Mention- Cheap Trick Live at Budokan

 
 
The best live albums I've heard:
 
James Brown- Live at the Apollo (1963)
Bob Dylan- The Bootleg Series Vol. 4- The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert
Bob Marley & the Wailers- Live!
Johnny Cash- At Folsom Prison
Nirvana- Unplugged in New York

 

[ebe2000]

E.S.T. Live in Hamburg

 

[fjrabon]

My top 5 live albums:
 
1) Allman Brothers Band - Fillmore East 
2) Van Morrison - Too Late To Stop Now
3) Otis Redding - Live In Europe
4) Metallica S&M (coincidentally one of my go to headphone audition albums, as a headphone's ability to simultaneously keep up with the orchestra's depth and power of Metallica is quite the test)
5) Mavis Staples: Hope at the Hideout