Thanks!
I went for a third option: Google Play, for five bucks. Can only play on my laptop, but it’s great.
A word of warning about the Bowdoin concert. The recording was done by a student run radio station with mics in the audience. The volumn is not the best, e.g. the applause is way too loud. (But it does include him doing Tzena, Tzena, Tzena “solo”)
If you’re not familiar with Pete, a different album might be a better introduction.
“We Shall Overcome” perhaps.
Thanks, but not to worry. I grew up in lower Hudson Valley, to folkie lefty parents who liked to volunteer on the Clearwater, and I wore out the “Greatest Hits” LP by the time I was six…but I hadn’t heard the Bowdoin concert until now. Love it! Again, thanks!
Rush: A Show of Hands.
I don’t know if they can stand with the “best” live albums, and I haven’t heard either one in decades, but I used to love One Live Badger and Hawkwind’s Space Ritual.
U2’s “Under a Blood Red Sky”.
I know it’s not fashionable to like U2, but I remember making a mix tape for a friend back in the late '80s.
I put the live version of “Electric Co” on the tape. My friend came to school the next day and said that he wasn’t really into heavy metal, but he’d liked that song which he suspected was from Iron Maiden or Judas Priest.
I’d also nominate these:
Exit, Stage Left - Rush
Live Rust - Neil Young and Crazy Horse
One for the Road - The Kinks
Others missing from the list so far:
Iron Maiden - Live After Death - from the massive 1984 World Slavery Tour
Tesla - Five Man Acoustical Jam - the first wave of the “unplugged” genre
James Taylor - Live (1993) - about 15 years late but I saw this tour and it was excellent.
Van Halen - Live: Right Here, Right Now - when they actually were On Top of the World!
Townes van Zandt’s Live at the Old Quarter (1973)
Warren Zevon’s Learning to Flinch is a compilation of acoustic recordings from a 1993 tour, so I’m not sure if it completely qualifies, but it’s a great album.
I like “Learning to Flinch” but I LOVE 1980’s “Stand in the Fire”!
A good one, though the 1964 Carnegie Hall Concert (Volume 5 or 6) is also excellent and a lot more fun.
Cheap Thrills was not Big Brother and the Holding Company (with Janis Joplin)'s first album, but it is the one that made her a star and is fantastic.
“One More From the Road” - Lynyrd Skynyrd
I bought tickets to see them, about a month before the plane crash. Because of this, I sometimes forget I never saw them live.
**Wilco’s **“Kicking Television” is a fantastic double-cd live album.
Really? No mention of Yessongs? My mind is blown.
I hate most live recordings by rock artists because (IMO) they usually sound like crap. The only *good *live album I’ve heard is Cheap Trick at Budokan. It rocks. The screams from the Tokyo high school girls in the audience are like an additional instrument to the songs.
Man, that’s one that almost justifies live albums existing, thank you for mentioning it.
Yeah, that one’s been floating around as a bootleg for a long time. Nice to see it get an official release. I wish more bands would release official versions of some of the good boots. There are Cheap Trick bootlegs that blow away Budokan if you can believe that (Rockford IL '77 and Royal Oak Michigan '78 for example).
Adding my vote (and showing my age) for these. I’m sticking to rock, just due to ignorance. As much as I love other genres now, I can’t say I could pick the good live albums.
Mine (not better than the above, just additions, and definitely showing my age:
Yessongs
Chicago IV (great performances, but poor recordings)
Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads
Waiting for Columbus - Little Feat
Steppenwolf Live
Of course, Woodstock deserves special mention. It may not be the best, but it’s definitely one of the best loved.
There are a lot mentioned above that I’ve never heard and I bet I’d enjoy.
This list looks pretty good: 100 Greatest Live Rock Albums. I see at least one I have to buy right now:
Uptown Rulers: The Meters Live on the Queen Mary
Amazon has a nice list too, not limited to rock.
Peter Gabriel Plays Live, the #1 choice by far for me.