# Best live recordings - what do you think? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 2, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992 "2003-11-02T14:49:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992/21 "2003-11-05T16:16:02Z")
Pleeze… It answer is obvious: Album _Live at Carnegie Hall_ from **Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble** And song is _Lenny_ from that album. Honorable Mention for album must go to **Jimmy Buffett** ’s _You Had to Be There_. This album captures the spirit of the show like few other Live albums do. Runner-up song (and no, I’m not joking) is **Molly Hatchet** ’s _Flirtin’ With Disaster_ from 1980’s Jacksonville, Fla. show. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992/22 "2003-11-05T16:34:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Snake \* > \*\*I’d hafta say Kiss Alive 1 and 2 are my fav live albums. \*\* Hate to break it to you, but KISS recently admitted that most of those albums were done in the studio. ---
**Author:** ![Lux\_Interior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@Lux\_Interior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Interior)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992/23 "2003-11-05T16:38:21Z")
My faves; **Stop Making Sense** Talking Heads. I prefer the DVD versions to the CD. **New York Rock N’ Soul Review** Donald Fagan, Michael McDonald, Charles Brown, et al. **Feeding Frenzy** Jimmy Buffett. I can listen to that all day long on my boat. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992/24 "2003-11-05T16:45:22Z")
Todd Rundgren and Utopia - Another Live ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2003, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992/25 "2003-11-06T05:50:50Z")
I can’t leave out Lee Michaels’s _Lee Michaels_ album. Just Lee on the organ and Bartholomew Smith-Frost on drums. Almost live… a day and all-nighter in the studio (the liner notes called it “As close to live as you’d want to get without being forewarned”). By the way, I love it when artists play with their lyrics in concert: jimmy buffet, bob dylan (did tangled up in blue as a third person evenmorehaunting ballad) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Bee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Larry\_Bee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Bee)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2003, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992/26 "2003-11-06T11:27:58Z")
**It’s Too Late To Stop Now** by Van Morrison. The version of ‘Cypress Avenue’ is just _stunning_. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992/27 "2003-11-06T13:49:53Z")
ERRRRRRRRR. Sorry, folks, all wrong, but thanks for playing. The correct answer is: James Brown - Live at the Apollo Johnny, tell them all what our parting gifts are… ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2003, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992/28 "2003-11-06T15:59:11Z")
_ **From The Within** _ by Dead Can Dance ---
**Author:** ![yawndave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/43a26b/32.png) [@yawndave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawndave)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2003, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992/29 "2003-11-06T17:29:10Z")
**Humble Pie’s** Performance:Rockin’ The Filmore **Sting’s** Bring On The Night **Wishbone Ash** Live Dates ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992/30 "2003-11-06T18:19:24Z")
So many good ones already mentioned…I’ll just add one live song off a otherwise studio album: **“The Clap”** from _The Yes Album_. ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992/31 "2003-11-06T18:53:52Z")
_Band of Gypsies_. Although _JB Live at the Apollo_ and pretty much anything anyone here has mentioned at Fillmore deserve honorable mention. And if live in the studio counts, add Bob Marley’s Sausalito '73 “Talkin Blues” to that list. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992/32 "2003-11-06T21:31:08Z")
Wheels of Fire, Disk 2, by Cream, with the immortal Crossroads. Sound better than most studio albums. And yes, I do like 15 minute drum solos. 🙂 (It says Live at the Fillmore, but it was actually recorded elsewhere.) ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992/33 "2003-11-07T02:35:38Z")
Favorite live song: “Genius of Love” by the Tom Tom Club, from _Stop Making Sense_. I hate, I mean _hate_ the studio version of that song, I mean I really _ **hate** _ it, but the version from the movie is pretty cool. And it’s handled well, what with the band “turning back into the Talking Heads” and all. But the best live album ever recorded is **Alison Krauss + Union Station Live** , which as already been mentioned but not in bold. I got it just as a “greatest hits” record for the band, because I’d never heard much by them, and wanted an indicator of what to buy next. But the record just blew me away – the songlist is excellent, the band is just on fire, and you hear enough of the crowd to get a sense that they’re into it (and hear some of the repartee between the band and the audience), but once the music starts they fade into the background. I’ve since gone and bought every one of their studio albums I can find, and I think every song from the live album is the better version. I challenge anyone to listen to _Chocataw Hayride_, or _Baby, Now That I’ve Found You_, or _Oh Atlanta_ from that record and not become an instant fan. Even if you don’t think you like country or bluegrass. Plus, of course, there’s a killer version of _Man of Constant Sorrow_ from the _O Brother Where Art Thou?_ soundtrack. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992/34 "2003-11-07T06:46:57Z")
**hawthorne** mentioned it already but I have to elaborate. Jimi Plays Monterey - Jimi Hendrix at the Monterey Pop Festival, summer of '67. It includes the legendary _Wild Thing_ guitar humping/burning and all. But that version of _Killing Floor_ is the most amazing piece of guitar work I have ever heard! He’s basically playing two seperate rhythm parts at the same time, also throwing in lead fills at every line. And at the same time signing! I once spent several hours trying to play it all (I did a LOT of Jimi studying!!!) I could BARELY play all the notes, with stops and starts, at about 1/8 tempo! I have the video of that concert too. To watch Jimi play it so effortlessly, fingers flying across the frets, never missing a note, while signing and smiling and just messing with the audience, it just boggles my mind. “My fingers will move as you see, but you don’t hear no sounds as you hear…” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992/35 "2003-11-07T07:00:20Z")
Frank Zappa’s _You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. II: The Helsinki Concert_. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992/36 "2003-11-07T07:19:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SolGrundy \* > \*\* > But the best live album ever recorded is **Alison Krauss + Union Station Live** , which as already been mentioned but not in bold. I got it just as a “greatest hits” record for the band, because I’d never heard much by them, and wanted an indicator of what to buy next. But the record just blew me away – the songlist is excellent, the band is just on fire, and you hear enough of the crowd to get a sense that they’re into it (and hear some of the repartee between the band and the audience), but once the music starts they fade into the background. I’ve since gone and bought every one of their studio albums I can find, and I think every song from the live album is the better version. \*\* Thanks for the second on this. As I said, I was _ **AT** _ the second night of recording. They recorded it over two nights at the [Louisville Palace](http://www.louisvillepalace.com/). It was pretty much as you described it, though I haven’t seen the DVD yet. I wonder if I’m in it. On, and by the way, the picture on the back of the inside jacket was taken the night I saw it. I recognize the clothes. A friend of mine works for Broadway In Louisville, and her colleagues sometimes pass tickets to events along to her. We saw this for free. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-live-recordings-what-do-you-think/210992.md?page=1)