# Best live albums **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2013, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102 "2013-09-17T22:18:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/1 "2013-09-17T22:18:31Z")
The recent thread asking [why was Frampton Comes Alive so popular?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=701539) got me thinking - what _were_ the best live albums ever. I’m sure we’ve done this before, I know, but who cares; let’s do it again. What do you think are the best live albums ever? In order to be focused rather than exhaustive, let’s limit it to, say, no more than your top ten best live albums. Here are mine: [Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3e8UOQbH3E) - The Stones - everything (and more) you could ever hope for in a live album. It has no serious contenders for the title. [Live at the Filmore East](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtChV2XE6I8)\* - The Allman Brothers. Just as Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out has no rivals for the top spot, neither does Live at the Filmore have any competitors for number two. (\*the YouTube link is not the original album but, instead, includes a LOT of additional material). Okay, those were easy (IMNSHO, of course ;)). Now it’s time for some controversy! So, for number 3, and keeping the tag “controversy” in mind, I’m gonna go with . . . [Bless Its Pointed Little Head](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhYc91Qtjl0) - Jefferson Airplane. Tremendous energy, terrific ‘feel’, great sound, and lots of improv for those already familiar with their stuff. And, when I say the album has a terrific “feel”, it’s hard to be precise, but basically I’m saying it captures the whole mood, the spirit, the . . . “feel” of a live concert. No matter how you slice it, though, the album is an absolute classic and is (almost) in a class by itself. Speaking of capturing the “feel” of a live concert while also presenting an amazing, musically superb performance, I can’t leave out [Happy Trails](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi0e7brHdMQ) by Quicksilver Messenger Service. Simply stunning - there was a rumour that people were “balling in the aisles” as the band played. I, for one, have little doubt that it’s true. I mean, just listen to this. And feel it. Definitely “balling in the aisles” music. By the way, the album title “Happy Trails” was a nice little allusion to the trails, mostly happy trails, so prevalent among ‘the young people today’ circa 1969. Neil Young’s [Live at Massey Hall](http://www.amazon.com/Live-at-Massey-Hall-1971/dp/B000MTPANG/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1379452001&sr=1-1&keywords=live+at+massey+hall&tag=donations09-20) was released WAY too long after the fact to become the classic it deserved to be. A pheonomenal performance, with many of what would later become classics played and heard here (publicly) for the first time. Outstanding sound and a nice feel throughout as Neil performs for an (appreciative) hometown audience. And, before you start pounding away at your key boards, lambasting me (“how could you not put ‘X’ or ‘Y’ up there?”), of course I’ll add two ‘classic’ live albums: **Made in Japan** - Deep Purple **Live at Leeds** - The Who (I’ve never really liked The Who all that much and, maybe if I did, this one would rank higher - at least, all The Who fans would demand it that way) Finally, I want to mention two other live albums which, for one reason or another as noted below, don’t quite qualify for “Best Live Album Ever” for the purposes of this thread. But, since each is a truly outstanding album, here goes: **Ummagumma** - Pink Floyd. If this album were one hundred percent live, it would be right up there close to Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out. But, since it is not, I’ll have to settle for giving it an Honourable Mention (a _very_ honourable mention). [The Köln Concert](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_K%C3%B6ln_Concert) - Keith Jarrett. No question that this is a live album. But, better filed under the heading “jazz”, it doesn’t really fit in with the tacit assumption underlying this thread that we’re talking about the best live rock albums. Live or dead, jazz or rock, this is one of the best albums of any type, and of any genre, so would be at or near the top of a whole variety of lists. And there you have it. What do you say? ETA: As must be obvious from my selections above, I don’t have a good sense of rock music post 1990, and more like 1975. So, the fact that I didn’t include any more recent stuff should really be taken as an invitation for those who _are_ into more recent music to add their choices. Thx! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/2 "2013-09-17T22:42:24Z")
(I’m actually listening to “Happy Trails” right now). [Hot Tuna](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdQc5rX-mck) (first album) “[One for the Road](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFC4WFytP0o&list=PLEC2199390C8A68A4)” by the Kinks. “[Full House](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvm1_WrF3ns)” by the J. Geils Band. “[11/17/70](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LPSMDYzDGM&list=PL2188375F94D1024E)” by Elton John. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/3 "2013-09-17T22:50:35Z")
It’s no longer my “thing,” but Hot August Night by Neil Diamond is a classic ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/4 "2013-09-17T22:58:05Z")
[Bob Seger’s “Live Bullet”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Bullet#Track_listing) was very successful mid-70’s album, turning a few lackluster studio tracks into songs that get radio play even today. _[Turn the Page](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQW2Lq5pA5k)_, \*[Travelin’ Man/Beautiful Lose](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzGhc9XRv9Q)\*r, among others. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/5 "2013-09-17T23:23:37Z")
It’s not from any album, but there are tracks out there of Jewel yodeling during concerts. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/6 "2013-09-17T23:24:42Z")
Live Dead – The Grateful Dead is their most famous live album, but they’ve got over a hundred I’d guess. Just One Night – Eric Clapton The Last Waltz – The Band all time classics. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/7 "2013-09-17T23:29:44Z")
Rush: Exit Stage Left. I listened to Neil Young: Live Rust over and over and over. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/8 "2013-09-17T23:31:22Z")
Eric Clapton’s “24 Nights” and “Unplugged” David Bromberg’s “How Late’ll Ya Play Til”. Okay, one LP is studio and the other is live. It’s good. Riders In The Sky “Live” and “The Cowboy Way”. “Concert For George” by a LOT of folks. “Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert” by a LOT of folks also. Earl Scruggs Revue “Live at Kansas State” ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/9 "2013-09-17T23:46:03Z")
**Genesis** - Seconds Out ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/10 "2013-09-17T23:48:00Z")
Queen’s _Live at Wembley '86_ is an absolutely fantastic album/DVD. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/11 "2013-09-17T23:48:33Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Eric Clapton’s … “Unplugged” Yeah. Also Neil Young’s. Really any of the Unplugged albums is quite enjoyable. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/12 "2013-09-18T00:21:45Z")
Another vote for _Live Rust_. Since it was one of the first live albums I owned, I’ll also add U2 _Under a Blood Red Sky_. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/13 "2013-09-18T00:22:08Z")
**Humble Pie -Rocking The Fillmore** Four sides of great hard rock at its best. No crap here. _Frampton Comes Alive_ is the poor man’s _Rocking The Fillmore_. ---
**Author:** ![merickson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@merickson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merickson)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/14 "2013-09-18T00:40:40Z")
“Best ever” is an objective quality that I don’t believe applies to music, so I’ll go with “my favorite” Arlo Guthrie & Pete Seeger - Precious Friend Weavers - Together Again But the top spot goes to Pete Seeger’s Complete Bowdoin College Concert ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/15 "2013-09-18T00:54:40Z")
Here are mine: _Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out_ - The Stones - everything (and more) you could ever hope for in a live album. It has no serious contenders for the title.\* _Bursting Out_ - Jethro Tull. _Europe '72_ - Grateful Dead _Under a Blood Red Sky_ - U2 _Un Viaje_ - Café Tacuba _The Last Waltz_ - The Band and friends _Live: P-Funk Earth Tour_ - Parliament _If You Want Blood, You Got It_ - AC/DC \*Yes, the OP said it first. So what? He was right. (Like the Dead’s Europe '72, it did have some post-concert studio overdubbing…but no matter.) ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/16 "2013-09-18T01:07:37Z")
KISS - _Alive!_ Deep Purple - _Made In Japan_ Judas Priest - _Unleashed In The East_ Elvis Presley - _On Stage_ Led Zeppelin - The latest remaster of _The Song Remains The Same_ and also _How The West Was Won_ ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/17 "2013-09-18T01:16:30Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > **Live at Leeds**! Oh, to have been there that night! [This is as close as we’ll ever get](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sanAHVITCDY). Seeing Keith jump up off his stool during _Christmas_ sends shivers down my spine! [Live At Hull](http://www.amazon.com/Live-at-Hull-1970-Who/dp/B0091Q82L8), recorded the next night, is almost identical, probably only of interest to fanatics and completists. If you’re a fan of Pete solo, I check out one of the sets of from his shows from [The La Jolla Playhouse](http://www.eelpie.com/product.php?shop=live&product=5). Just Pete–in his finest storyteller mode–and a bunch of die hard fans in a 500 seat auditorium. > [@campp](#): > > **Humble Pie -Rocking The Fillmore** Four sides of great hard rock at its best. No crap here. Soon to befour full CDs worth! The reissue has both shows from both nights…can’t wait to hear it! A few more for consideration: _Cheap Trick at Budokan_ _Live in the Air Age_ by Be Bop Deluxe _Live and Let Live_ by 10cc _Irish Tour_ by Rory Gallagher ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/18 "2013-09-18T10:21:15Z")
I’d like to add Harry Belafonte – _Live at Carnegie Hall_ I can’t believe I forgot The Who’s _Live at Leeds_. It’s so great and iconic, I guess I just took it for granted. Recorded only three months after the Stones’ _Ya-Ya’s_. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/19 "2013-09-18T10:51:31Z")
**Lou Reed - Rock N’ Roll Animal** Outstanding (if limited) song selection, Lou in fine vocal form, and the gee-tar interplay twixt Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner is…um…_electric._ ETA: Gah! How could I have overlooked **Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense**? mmm ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102/20 "2013-09-18T12:21:45Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > _Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out_ - The Stones - everything (and more) you could ever hope for in a live album. It has no serious contenders for the title. Just an FYI, but there is another contender - the Stones’ “The Brussels Affair” from 1973 - > **[Brussels Affair - Amazon.com Music](https://www.amazon.com/Brussels-Affair-Rolling-Stones/dp/B0055LMEPI)** > > Brussels Affair (Live 1973) is a live 2 cd set album by The Rolling Stones, released in 2011. It is compiled from two shows recorded in Brussels on 17 October 1973 in the Forest National Arena, during their European Tour. No. Title Length 1. "Brown... Mick Taylor’s work on this set of live tracks is even better. It was originally recorded by the Stones for release, but held up for some reason (the point being that it was recorded really well). Gimme Shelter is a bit different from the studio version and wonderful; Tumblin’ Dice is pretty much the best version I have ever heard - the blueprint for perfect rhythm-and-lead work, AFAIC… No real additions to the thread - good suggestions. I really feel that **UFO’s live album Strangers in the Night** is an underappreciated classic, but UFO is really most known these days as a proto-New Wave of British Heavy Metal influence to folks like Iron Maiden and Metallica… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-albums/669102.md?page=2)