Just about everything Genesis has done was better live, but Carpet Crawlers and Cinema Show off the Seconds Out album make the studio versions disappointing.
Same with Todd Rundgren. The Last Ride off Back to the Bars is magnificent. The studio version…not so much.
Paul McCartney and Wings Maybe I’m Amazed live version also.
Any more?
Barenaked Ladies - Life in a Nutshell
Does an Unplugged version count as live? If so, “Layla”. Sooo much better than the original.
Talking Heads, “Girlfriend is Better”.
Benny & the Jets!
(just kidding)
“Surrender” and “I Want You to Want Me,” by Cheap Trick
I’m a huge Robin Trower fan and I gotta say every song on the 1976 Live album is sooo much better than the studio version.
Sheryl Crow’s “Safe and Sound” from the America, Tribute to whatever 9/11 thing. So much better than the version from her album.
I prefer Pink Floyd’s Live at Pompeii versions much more than their studio versions, especially Echoes.
Dire Straits “Telegraph Road” live version is much better than the studio album. Knopfler agrees.
Anything and everything by** James Brown**! His studio cuts are outstanding but his live performances were fucking magnificent! Make them little white girls scream!
The link is probably one of the best performances in music history! Wait for Please Please Please.
(Uh-oh. I’m afraid I’m starting to sound like that James Otto Sweetheart girl, but man oh man, nobody could work an audience like JB.)
The J. Geils Band took years to be as exciting in the studio as they were live. Their album Full House was better in all respects to the albums that came before it, even though it had most of the same songs.
Elton John’s “Funeral of a Friend” is terrific live, and deadly in the studio version. John’s live version of his early work, 11/17/70, is also far better than the recorded ones.
Talking Heads - “Burning Down the House”
Jimmy Buffett - “One Particular Harbor”
Bruce Springsteen - Just about anything. Watch “Live In New York City” and see what happens to songs like “Prove It All Night” and “Murder Incorporated.”
free bird
Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?-- The Ceamps
Bela Lugosi’s Dead-- Bauhaus
What I came here to say.
So I’ll add…Rolling Stones, Midnight Rambler.
just about any band that was a jam band did better live. many of these got lots of feedback from the audience which helped the band get on fire.
There’s a reason that “Legend” contains a live version of No Woman No Cry, rather than using the version from “Natty Dread”.
I haven’t heard the live version, but Last Ride was my favorite song on “Todd”, so it might not be magnificent but it wasn’t a toss-off.
“Jane Says” Jane’s Addiction
I always thought Yes’ “Perpetual Change” was way better live than the studio version off “The Yes Album”.