# Do you buy "Live" albums? (or Live music of any kind?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 27, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-live-albums-or-live-music-of-any-kind/738726 "2015-11-27T17:24:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-live-albums-or-live-music-of-any-kind/738726/41 "2015-11-28T15:44:18Z")
Bob Seger is much better live. Live Bullet is the best album he ever recorded. [Rare Earth’s live album](http://eil.com/images/main/Rare-Earth-In-Concert---EX-606921.jpg) is their best work too. Live albums are meant to be listened to from beginning to end. Just like you were attending the concert. Don’t think of the songs as tracks. I love live music. Its pure artistic performance without all the bullshit studio production gimmicks. Studio albums are just mixed tracks using studio musicians. Live means a real road band is performing. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-live-albums-or-live-music-of-any-kind/738726/42 "2015-11-28T16:00:56Z")
Another of my favorite live albums. Unusual because Emmylou isn’t singing her top ten hits from her albums. She’s covering a lot of classic country songs. You won’t find these songs on her studio albums. > [@](#): > > Last Date was a live Emmylou Harris album, released in October 1982. Recorded at a series of honky tonks and other small venues on the west coast, Harris conceived the album as a showcase for her Hot Band. It was composed mostly of country standards. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-live-albums-or-live-music-of-any-kind/738726/43 "2015-11-28T16:32:24Z")
I also buy any live album I’m **on**. Springsteen’s _Live: 1975-1985_ for example. Listen to the tracks recorded at the Los Angeles Coliseum - I’m the guy yelling “Bruuuuuuuce!” in the background. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-live-albums-or-live-music-of-any-kind/738726/44 "2015-11-28T18:35:25Z")
Yes, but not specifically because they are live. Heather Nova’s two live albums are gems. As are Jackie Evancho’s - barely distinguishable from the studio albums, she is that good. Truly amazing for someone of her age, even now. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-live-albums-or-live-music-of-any-kind/738726/45 "2015-11-28T21:54:09Z")
Best live album I own: [P-Funk All-Stars _Live at the Beverly Theater_](http://www.allmusic.com/album/live-at-the-beverly-theatre-in-hollywood-mw0000314643). Extended versions of their most well known songs with plenty of jamming and a killer horn section that’s given a lot of attention (can never go wrong with that). Ends with a hyper-speed version of “Flashlight.” When I have a party I just put this album on and let it play all the way through. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-live-albums-or-live-music-of-any-kind/738726/46 "2015-11-28T22:33:04Z")
There are several Rush songs where I prefer the Live version to the studio version. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2015, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-live-albums-or-live-music-of-any-kind/738726/47 "2015-11-28T22:47:44Z")
AC/DC Live is probably my favorite AC/DC album. Those guys just really turned it up a notch there. I liked it so much that when I found out there was a 2 disc version, I bought that despite already having the 1 disc. Never regretted it for an instant. ---
**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:** [November 28, 2015, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-live-albums-or-live-music-of-any-kind/738726/48 "2015-11-28T23:17:05Z")
I’ve been watching the DVD for the _ **Beatles 1** _ re-issue which includes a couple of songs from the rooftop gig. Man, what a live album they might have made if they could’ve somehow stuck together for one final tour. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-live-albums-or-live-music-of-any-kind/738726/49 "2015-11-29T06:34:11Z")
The only live album I’ve ever bought (twice, 'cuz I wore out my first copy) was Ani DiFranco’s _Living In Clip_. Fantastic album. But nothing compares to actually seeing Ani on stage. ---
**Author:** ![nicky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f0a364/32.png) [@nicky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicky)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-live-albums-or-live-music-of-any-kind/738726/50 "2015-11-29T09:42:26Z")
Johnny Cash - Live at San Quentin his songs are better faster and less produced, and the banter with the audience is brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-live-albums-or-live-music-of-any-kind/738726/51 "2015-11-29T12:05:09Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I also buy any live album I’m **on**. Springsteen’s _Live: 1975-1985_ for example. Listen to the tracks recorded at the Los Angeles Coliseum - I’m the guy yelling “Bruuuuuuuce!” in the background. Man, you really ruined that song when you yelled at that moment. :smack: :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-live-albums-or-live-music-of-any-kind/738726/52 "2015-11-29T12:20:46Z")
What makes live albums worthwhile is that there are many where tracks are performed in a significantly different way. Some live albums are the artist’s career defining moment: the aforementioned Allman Brothers _Live At The Fillmore_ and Quicksilver Messenger Service’s _Happy Trails_ for example. Some are essential, like CSN&Y’s _4 Way Street_: where else can you hear a fifteen minute version of Southern Man with Stills and Young locked in to a guitar duel?, Santana’s _Lotus_: amazing multi fold out cover for the vinyl version and a brilliantly unorchestrated version of Every Step Of The Way, and Renaissance’s _Live At Carnegie Hall_ for the twenty minute version of Ashes Are Burning. Tangerine Dream have several live albums that have unique tracks on them. And then of course there are the ‘unofficial’ live albums. The best (and possibly longest) version of Comfortably Numb is on the bootleg _Out Of This World_, where David Gilmour plays some of the best guitar in his life. ---
**Author:** ![Greekfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@Greekfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greekfreak)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-live-albums-or-live-music-of-any-kind/738726/53 "2015-11-29T19:44:41Z")
Bootlegs, certainly, or I used to at least. But not in the recent past. Last live album I bought that was legit was Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes “Live At The Greek.” And that was 15 years ago. “Small Club” by Prince might be the holy grail of bootleg live albums. Following that, maybe “Winterland '78” by Bruce Springsteen. The Who “Live At Leeds” Jerry Lee Lewis “Live At the Star Club” James Brown “Love Power Peace” Slade “Alive” Humble Pie “Smokin’ Live At the Fillmore” Kiss “Alive!” Thin Lizzy “Live & Dangerous” Black Flag “Live '84” All brilliant, although a few of them have a little studio magic on 'em. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-buy-live-albums-or-live-music-of-any-kind/738726.md?page=2)