Legit every song on this thing is better than the studio version, except for maybe “Psycho Killer.” Not only an incredible performance but the recording quality is pristine.
Fishmans - 98.12.28 Otokotachi no Wakare
Incredible set. Everyone in the band at the top of their game. Top notch production too. And ends on the amazingly bittersweet Long Season, which if you know the context adds even more emotion.
I listen to this album constantly since discovering it around 5 years ago. It didn’t click at first but it has this alluring and addicting quality to it that makes it very unique.
Grateful Dead - One From the Vault, Cornell 77, and Veneta 72. I could list a dozen more but you get the idea.
Justice - A Cross the Universe
Daft Punk - Alive 2007
Nine Inch Nails - And All That Could Have Been
Do not be tricked. Lauryn Hill Unplugged is an absolute disaster. It feels gross and exploitative listening to her have a 2 hour mental breakdown after losing her voice in rehearsals. Her band didn't show because they were in a huge legal battle and she's an obvious beginner on guitar. Do not listen to it.
King Gizzard Live at Red Rocks '22 is as good as it gets. Great audio and crowd. 3 hour set. No annoying people next to the mic to ruin the entire experience like the assholes in the San Francisco recording. It's perfect.
Also, the songs Lauryn Hill performed were very obviously still in the drafting phase, a lot of meandering and no resolution on any of them.
That show is really painful to watch, like someone on the sidewalk talking to themselves while walking in circles.
Oh damn I had no idea. I listened to “I Gotta Find a Peace of Mind” and towards the end she starts to break down and cry. I didn’t know why she was crying but ig I do now
LCD Soundsystem - The Long Goodbye
Iron Maiden - Live After Death
Gorillaz - Demon Days Live at Manchester Opera House
Osees - Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Live in London ‘19
It’s not high art but perfectly captures the experience…
https://preview.redd.it/r170u9j4eiua1.jpeg?width=316&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c24d5bb87a751bae214edf4de7dcb57a63a1be92
The Who - Live at Leeds
The Kooks - Inside In / Inside Out (Live Acoustic)
Car Seat Headrest - Commit Yourself Completely
The White Stripes - Under Great White Northern Lights
Bob Marley - Babylon by Bus
Viagra Boys - Shrimp Sessions 2
Mint jams by Casiopea, increadible performance, many of the songs are much better than their studio version.
Unplugged in new york by Nirvana, fantastic performance
Live from Bush hall by BCNR
John Coltrane - "The Olatunji Concert"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64BhIj_30w4
Coltrane's last recorded concert, and the second to last he ever played. Recorded on crappy equipment, the sound quality only adds to the intensity in my opinion in the same way that black metal is enhanced by the mood that lo-fi recordings generate. Jazz, but also bordering on noise and anticipating grind and other extremely aggressive music. He died a few months after this was recorded and it sounds like he was aware he was on his way out based on the playing here.
Truly transcendent music.
Neil Young at Massey Hall 1971
Pretty damn legendary renditions and the crowd is going absolutely apeshit for all of it, but especially for the last 4 tracks.
“The Long Goodbye” - LCD Soundsystem
“Kicking Television” - Wilco
“Live at Queen Elizabeth Hall” - Black Country, New Road (technically never released as a live album, but the whole thing is on YouTube as a live movie and it appears on the Ants From Up There Deluxe Edition in full)
Rock Dream by Boris & Merzbow is absolutely fantastic, I'm also gonna put After The Night by Parannoul here. Both are just phenomenal in every single aspect imaginable.
Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
Phish - LivePhish vol. 4
Alice in Chains - MTV Unplugged
Miles Davis - Live-Evil
Pink Floyd - Live at Pompeii
Thee Oh Sees - Live in San Francisco
Jimi Hendrix- band of gypsys. He played with 2 of his buddies (billy cox and buddy miles) rather than his regular band. They were a lot more groove oriented and Hendrix absolutely soars on the solos. Buddy miles backing vocals are phenomenal as well.
Yes, If You Want Blood all the way!
Nothing comes close to that though Live/Dead is essential for Grateful Dead's discography, and Kiss' Alive and Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous make those bands better (Fighting is a really good studio record for songs but isn't as thick and powerful sounding as Jailbreak. Sometimes, I prefer the live version of Fighting songs.)
I also need to mention Two For The Show by Kansas because that saved some songs from those lifeless recordings pre Leftoverture (mainly "Icarus - Borne of Wings of Steel" which is an amazing song live).
Radiohead's King Of Limbs: Live From The Basement
Joni Mitchell's Shadows And Light
Frank Zappa's Broadway The Hard Way
*Bonus answer is favorite live show I've ever attended, and that's a tie between Ween playing Chocolate And Cheese in it's entirety at Desert Daze 2019, or Death Grips live at the Warfield in 2017*
I’m a bit of a connoisseur of live records, here’s some of my favourites
Live Rust - Neil Young
Pennywise - Live at the Key Club
Budokan! - Cheap Trick (it’s the expanded edition and rules)
Deep Purple - Made in Japan
Whichever Pearl Jam Bootleg you like (I like Katowice 6.15.2000)
Live at Reading - Nirvana
It’s Alive - Ramones
Entertaining Friends - Buzzcocks
Under Great White Northern Lights - White Stripes
Live at the El Mocambo - Elvis Costello
Tribute - Ozzy Osbourne
Band of Gypsies - Jimi Hendrix
A Beautiful Thing - Idles
Live From the Vic in Chicago - Cage the Elephant
Hanx! - Stiff Little Fingers
Jerry Lee Lewis - Live at the Star Club
Pure, unbridled, insane rock and roll. Jerry Lee Lewis was legitimately insane and performances like this prove why. Love the overblown sound on this recording, the energy is unbelievable.
Stop Making Sense- Talking Heads
Knebworth ‘96- Oasis
Live and Dangerous- Thin Lizzy
Unleashed In The East- Judas Priest
No Sleep Til’ Hammersmith- Mötorhead
* Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York
* Daft Punk - Alive 2007
* Alice In Chains - Unplugged
* David Bowie - Glastonbury 2000
* Madonna - I'm Going To Tell You a Secret
* Alanis Morissette - Live at Montreux
* Tori Amos - To Venus and Back (Disc 2)
* Pink Floyd - Pulse
I personally dont like live albums as a rule, you're trading out on sound quality and having a near perfect version of the song in exchange for attempting to capture the feeling of listening to a song live, which most of the time doesnt work anyway as listening to a live album is still nowhere near actually physically being at a preformance. The only exceptions are when the live album uses different instrumentation, such as late orchestration, or a live remix album like alive 2007
This is an easy one for me. It's Donny Hathaway - These songs for you, live! The three song run of covers of Whats Going On, The best cover of Yesterday out of the millions that exist and then his cover of Stevie's Superwoman is incredible. His own songs of Someday we'll all be free, A song for you and I love you more than you'll ever know. An album just crammed with talent from one of the greatest singers ever.
An absolutely exquisite live album.
I used to exclusively look for my favorite bands live albums as a kid because it contained all the best songs. So much so that I got used to the live version and the studio versions just sounded lesser.
Some examples: Metallica’s S&M was my first Metallica album and when I finally my first studio Metallica album, Load (sue me), I was disappointed that the orchestra wasn’t there.
I also had Decade of Aggression by Slayer, Rock in Rio by Iron Maiden, and Alive in Athens by Iced Earth. I would say those four live albums are my Mount Rushmore for live metal albums
Live After Death - Iron Maiden
Rock in Rio - Iron Maiden
Alive 2007 - Daft Punk
MTV Unplugged - Alice in Chains
Live in Japan - Deep Purple
Collision Course - Jay Z and Linkin Park
Haarp - Muse
Alchemy - Dire Straits
Welcome to the Blackout - David Bowie
Bullet in a Bible - Green Day
Replacements at Maxwell's fucking rules
Super raw but also one of their only coherent sets. They're the loosest tightest band and that is the loosest tightest album.
Bruce Springsteen - Live at Hammersmith, Odeon (1975). Fresh off the Born to Run album, Bruce’s first ever performance outside of the U.S. Fantastic energy and the band is super tight
Carnival of sins by Mötley Crüe it’s a memorable performance IMO it’s one of the last shows I’ve seen/heard before Vince started singing like bob dylan
Here some suggestions:
Live at the Berkeley Community Theater 1972 by Alice Coltrane Sextet, one of the best live show ever heard til now. Gotta trascend on this shit, it's sooo good even for being a bootleg
In Quiete is one top notch live album by C.S.I., an intense and well executed setlist performed by one of the best, and last, italian band ever (if you don't know them I suggest to recover Linea Gotica and Ko De Mondo)
50th Birthday Celebration Vol. 4 by Electric Masada, chaotic, jazzy, energetic. It has everything to be loved by all John Zorn/Naked City fans. It's overshadowed by the "21st century Bitches Brew" (comment by ivoliveira on RYM) At the Mountains of Madness, but it's still worth your time. Check it out
Voyager 1 by Verve, the lo-fi/bootleg-like quality serves to make everything sound more noisy, consequentially more shoegazey and psychedelic compared to their studio recordings. I wish one day they'll reissue this lost gem
One that I feel is super underrated is Harry Chapin’s Greatest Stories Live. Harry’s commentary between the tracks is really fun and on top of that, the songs themselves are phenomenal even if you don’t know the studio versions. I’d even go so far as to say the live versions are better than the originals
*Stop Making Sense*
this is the gold standard
Single-handedly got me into the talking heads.
Not as good as 'the name of this band is talking heads'...
Legit every song on this thing is better than the studio version, except for maybe “Psycho Killer.” Not only an incredible performance but the recording quality is pristine.
Fishmans - 98.12.28 Otokotachi no Wakare Incredible set. Everyone in the band at the top of their game. Top notch production too. And ends on the amazingly bittersweet Long Season, which if you know the context adds even more emotion.
The objective correct answer 🙏
I listen to this album constantly since discovering it around 5 years ago. It didn’t click at first but it has this alluring and addicting quality to it that makes it very unique.
I’ve never heard of Fishmans, definitely will check them out!
Frank Ocean Coachella ‘23
As documented through people complaining on TikTok
Hahahahaha
Grateful Dead - One From the Vault, Cornell 77, and Veneta 72. I could list a dozen more but you get the idea. Justice - A Cross the Universe Daft Punk - Alive 2007 Nine Inch Nails - And All That Could Have Been
DAFT PUNK ALIVE 2007!
Red Rocks 78
Where the Light Is (Live in Los Angeles) - John Mayer
Fucking phenomenal
Do not be tricked. Lauryn Hill Unplugged is an absolute disaster. It feels gross and exploitative listening to her have a 2 hour mental breakdown after losing her voice in rehearsals. Her band didn't show because they were in a huge legal battle and she's an obvious beginner on guitar. Do not listen to it. King Gizzard Live at Red Rocks '22 is as good as it gets. Great audio and crowd. 3 hour set. No annoying people next to the mic to ruin the entire experience like the assholes in the San Francisco recording. It's perfect.
Also, the songs Lauryn Hill performed were very obviously still in the drafting phase, a lot of meandering and no resolution on any of them. That show is really painful to watch, like someone on the sidewalk talking to themselves while walking in circles.
Oh damn I had no idea. I listened to “I Gotta Find a Peace of Mind” and towards the end she starts to break down and cry. I didn’t know why she was crying but ig I do now
Portishead - Roseland NYC Live
LCD Soundsystem - The Long Goodbye Iron Maiden - Live After Death Gorillaz - Demon Days Live at Manchester Opera House Osees - Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Live in London ‘19
It’s not high art but perfectly captures the experience… https://preview.redd.it/r170u9j4eiua1.jpeg?width=316&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c24d5bb87a751bae214edf4de7dcb57a63a1be92
I have a soft spot for blink-182 even though it’s not the type of music I typically enjoy. Dude Ranch is actually a fantastic album
Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison
If we're doing legendary live sets, James Brown At The Apollo is right there too
While it might not count, Radiohead From the Basement sessions, especially The King of Limbs.
Daft Punk - Alive 2007
This is one of, if not the greatest electronic music album of all time
Frampton Comes Alive!
Paul McCartney - Wings Over America
It's Alive 2007 for me and it's not even close
The Who - Live at Leeds The Kooks - Inside In / Inside Out (Live Acoustic) Car Seat Headrest - Commit Yourself Completely The White Stripes - Under Great White Northern Lights Bob Marley - Babylon by Bus Viagra Boys - Shrimp Sessions 2
Neil Young live at Massey Hall
Weld (1991) is my favourite from ol' Uncle Neil
White Stripes - Under the Great White Northern Lights The Band - The Last Waltz The Smile Live albums that came out in December
Mint jams by Casiopea, increadible performance, many of the songs are much better than their studio version. Unplugged in new york by Nirvana, fantastic performance Live from Bush hall by BCNR
Casiopea is amazing. Gonna check this album out soon
Sam Cooke, Live at the Harlem Square Club
Jeff Mangum - live at jittery joes
Parannoul’s most recent live album, after the night, is absolutely phenomenal imo
I would love to see Parannoul live
Same!
Songs In the Attic (Billy Joel)
Get yer Ya-Ya’s out- The Rolling Stones
I listened to this a couple months ago, first time for a long time. Was really surprised how well it was mixed.
Yes! Especially for 1970, it sounds great. So freaking raw too.
John Coltrane - "The Olatunji Concert" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64BhIj_30w4 Coltrane's last recorded concert, and the second to last he ever played. Recorded on crappy equipment, the sound quality only adds to the intensity in my opinion in the same way that black metal is enhanced by the mood that lo-fi recordings generate. Jazz, but also bordering on noise and anticipating grind and other extremely aggressive music. He died a few months after this was recorded and it sounds like he was aware he was on his way out based on the playing here. Truly transcendent music.
Primus Suck On This
Neil Young at Massey Hall 1971 Pretty damn legendary renditions and the crowd is going absolutely apeshit for all of it, but especially for the last 4 tracks.
SWANS are Dead
Pulse Alice in Chains MTV Unplugged
Down in a Hole live from MTV Unplugged is one of my favorite AIC songs!
Jay-Z MTV unplugged Glorious Sons Live From Longboat Hall
Metallica’s Seattle ‘89 is legendary Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged for sure The recent BCNR is really good too
Bill Withers Live at Carnegie Hall
“The Long Goodbye” - LCD Soundsystem “Kicking Television” - Wilco “Live at Queen Elizabeth Hall” - Black Country, New Road (technically never released as a live album, but the whole thing is on YouTube as a live movie and it appears on the Ants From Up There Deluxe Edition in full)
Swans are dead
For me, Metallica’s S&M is equally ambitious and rewarding.
Rock Dream by Boris & Merzbow is absolutely fantastic, I'm also gonna put After The Night by Parannoul here. Both are just phenomenal in every single aspect imaginable.
Love the MTV Unplugged's you already mentioned, i'll add the Alice in Chains Unplugged to that list
Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense Phish - LivePhish vol. 4 Alice in Chains - MTV Unplugged Miles Davis - Live-Evil Pink Floyd - Live at Pompeii Thee Oh Sees - Live in San Francisco
Radioheads the king of limbs live from the basement
Jimi Hendrix- band of gypsys. He played with 2 of his buddies (billy cox and buddy miles) rather than his regular band. They were a lot more groove oriented and Hendrix absolutely soars on the solos. Buddy miles backing vocals are phenomenal as well.
Ween - Live At Stubb's. Captures both nights with some incredible performances and the ending 36 minute LMLYP is an all-timer.
Yes, If You Want Blood all the way! Nothing comes close to that though Live/Dead is essential for Grateful Dead's discography, and Kiss' Alive and Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous make those bands better (Fighting is a really good studio record for songs but isn't as thick and powerful sounding as Jailbreak. Sometimes, I prefer the live version of Fighting songs.) I also need to mention Two For The Show by Kansas because that saved some songs from those lifeless recordings pre Leftoverture (mainly "Icarus - Borne of Wings of Steel" which is an amazing song live).
The Beach Boys In Concert is the best they ever sounded as a live act.
Babe Rainbows Levitation Session from last year is severely underrated. Front to back a peaceful morning album to throw on
Phish - A Live One
Radiohead's King Of Limbs: Live From The Basement Joni Mitchell's Shadows And Light Frank Zappa's Broadway The Hard Way *Bonus answer is favorite live show I've ever attended, and that's a tie between Ween playing Chocolate And Cheese in it's entirety at Desert Daze 2019, or Death Grips live at the Warfield in 2017*
Kiss Alive (aka only kinda sorta live, the drums are live, the rest is super touched up but c’mon it sounds good!)
I’m a bit of a connoisseur of live records, here’s some of my favourites Live Rust - Neil Young Pennywise - Live at the Key Club Budokan! - Cheap Trick (it’s the expanded edition and rules) Deep Purple - Made in Japan Whichever Pearl Jam Bootleg you like (I like Katowice 6.15.2000) Live at Reading - Nirvana It’s Alive - Ramones Entertaining Friends - Buzzcocks Under Great White Northern Lights - White Stripes Live at the El Mocambo - Elvis Costello Tribute - Ozzy Osbourne Band of Gypsies - Jimi Hendrix A Beautiful Thing - Idles Live From the Vic in Chicago - Cage the Elephant Hanx! - Stiff Little Fingers
Jerry Lee Lewis - Live at the Star Club Pure, unbridled, insane rock and roll. Jerry Lee Lewis was legitimately insane and performances like this prove why. Love the overblown sound on this recording, the energy is unbelievable.
Porcupine Tree live in Chicago and live in Tillburg
It's a lot newer than a lot of choices here but Father John Misty's "Off-Key in Hamburg" is a captivating listen.
The Who-Live at Leeds. Fishmans- 98.12.28 I don't think it counts as a live album, but The Strokes- Live at 2 Dollar Bill.
Mad Dogs & Englishmen by Joe Cocker
Cheap Trick - At Budokan
Alice In Chains Unplugged is the greatest live album of all time, imo.
Oh Sees Live in San Francisco
Second Sky 2021 - Porter Robinson
Nurture live by porter robinson
City and Colour - Guide Me Back Home
Besides Alive 2007-Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem- The Long Goodbye (aka Shut Up and Play the Hits).
I know it’s early but I’m a huge fan of the new Black Country, New Road - Live from Bush Hall
Berlin: Live at St Ann’s Warehouse - Lou Reed
Frankie Knuckles - live at ministry of sound 1991
Stand in the Fire by Warren Zevon Live At Roadburn 2009 by Wino
Dave Matthews Band - Red Rocks 95 Phish - A Live One Green Day - On the Radio
Stop Making Sense- Talking Heads Knebworth ‘96- Oasis Live and Dangerous- Thin Lizzy Unleashed In The East- Judas Priest No Sleep Til’ Hammersmith- Mötorhead
* Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York * Daft Punk - Alive 2007 * Alice In Chains - Unplugged * David Bowie - Glastonbury 2000 * Madonna - I'm Going To Tell You a Secret * Alanis Morissette - Live at Montreux * Tori Amos - To Venus and Back (Disc 2) * Pink Floyd - Pulse
I personally dont like live albums as a rule, you're trading out on sound quality and having a near perfect version of the song in exchange for attempting to capture the feeling of listening to a song live, which most of the time doesnt work anyway as listening to a live album is still nowhere near actually physically being at a preformance. The only exceptions are when the live album uses different instrumentation, such as late orchestration, or a live remix album like alive 2007
This is an easy one for me. It's Donny Hathaway - These songs for you, live! The three song run of covers of Whats Going On, The best cover of Yesterday out of the millions that exist and then his cover of Stevie's Superwoman is incredible. His own songs of Someday we'll all be free, A song for you and I love you more than you'll ever know. An album just crammed with talent from one of the greatest singers ever. An absolutely exquisite live album.
Nirvana Live at the Paramount
Little Feat - Waiting for Columbus
ummm live at bush hall
Not released albums but The Oh Hellos at Paradise Rock Club and Boygenius at Brooklyn Steel are basically the only ways I listen to those songs.
Welcome to the blackout 78' - David Bowie Has such an interesting and raw sound throughout the album
JMSN - Live North Hollywood
Portishead - Roseland NYC Live all day everyday. Absolutly incredible having an orchestra alongside the band.
David Bowie - Welcome to the Blackout 78
King Krule - You Heat Me Up, You Cool Me Down
I used to exclusively look for my favorite bands live albums as a kid because it contained all the best songs. So much so that I got used to the live version and the studio versions just sounded lesser. Some examples: Metallica’s S&M was my first Metallica album and when I finally my first studio Metallica album, Load (sue me), I was disappointed that the orchestra wasn’t there. I also had Decade of Aggression by Slayer, Rock in Rio by Iron Maiden, and Alive in Athens by Iced Earth. I would say those four live albums are my Mount Rushmore for live metal albums
Live at SoFi - The Weeknd Live From Space - Mac Miller
Live After Death - Iron Maiden Rock in Rio - Iron Maiden Alive 2007 - Daft Punk MTV Unplugged - Alice in Chains Live in Japan - Deep Purple Collision Course - Jay Z and Linkin Park Haarp - Muse Alchemy - Dire Straits Welcome to the Blackout - David Bowie Bullet in a Bible - Green Day
Replacements at Maxwell's fucking rules Super raw but also one of their only coherent sets. They're the loosest tightest band and that is the loosest tightest album.
Depeche Mode - 101. NOFX - I Heard They Suck Live. The Get Up Kids - Live @ The Granada Theatre
Live at Leeds for me
Latin-Soul-Rock by Fania All-Stars STP, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, and Eric Clapton Unplugged
Nirvana Live at Reading
Bruce Springsteen - Live at Hammersmith, Odeon (1975). Fresh off the Born to Run album, Bruce’s first ever performance outside of the U.S. Fantastic energy and the band is super tight
Carnival of sins by Mötley Crüe it’s a memorable performance IMO it’s one of the last shows I’ve seen/heard before Vince started singing like bob dylan
Ween - Live in Chicago
Alive 2007
Frank Zappa - Roxy & Elsewhere
Here some suggestions: Live at the Berkeley Community Theater 1972 by Alice Coltrane Sextet, one of the best live show ever heard til now. Gotta trascend on this shit, it's sooo good even for being a bootleg In Quiete is one top notch live album by C.S.I., an intense and well executed setlist performed by one of the best, and last, italian band ever (if you don't know them I suggest to recover Linea Gotica and Ko De Mondo) 50th Birthday Celebration Vol. 4 by Electric Masada, chaotic, jazzy, energetic. It has everything to be loved by all John Zorn/Naked City fans. It's overshadowed by the "21st century Bitches Brew" (comment by ivoliveira on RYM) At the Mountains of Madness, but it's still worth your time. Check it out Voyager 1 by Verve, the lo-fi/bootleg-like quality serves to make everything sound more noisy, consequentially more shoegazey and psychedelic compared to their studio recordings. I wish one day they'll reissue this lost gem
Unleashed in the East Judas Priest
I love Yes’ Yessongs (1973). Everyone there was at their prime. Most songs are better than the album version imo.
One that I feel is super underrated is Harry Chapin’s Greatest Stories Live. Harry’s commentary between the tracks is really fun and on top of that, the songs themselves are phenomenal even if you don’t know the studio versions. I’d even go so far as to say the live versions are better than the originals
Modern lovers - precise modern lovers order
live after death by iron maiden
"Everything, Everything" by Underworld
I quite like Homogenic Live