Here's a nice New Yorker article that I read today.

"The new Rolling Stones album, “Sweet Summer Sun,” is a live album that documents the band’s recent Hyde Park performances, though a live album is nothing new for the Stones. After releasing “Got Live If You Want It!,” in 1966, they put out concert records at regular intervals: “Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!,” in 1969; “Love You Live,” in 1977; “Still Life,” in 1981; “Flashpoint,” in 1991; “Stripped,” in 1995; “No Security,” in 1998; “Live Licks,” in 2004; and “Shine a Light,” in 2008. Along with those official releases, bootlegs made their way to market, including famous sets like “Live’r Than You’ll Ever Be” and “Nasty Music.” In the past two years, the band has authorized a series of bootlegs: seven in all have been released, representing every phase of the band’s career (Brussels in 1973, Los Angeles in 1975, Fort Worth in 1978, and so on).

Very few classic rock bands have kept tabs on themselves as assiduously. The Who started with a bang, releasing “Live at Leeds,” in 1970, but didn’t do another live album during the life span of the original lineup. The Beatles made a film of their Shea Stadium appearance from 1965, but it’s more of a sociological artifact than a musical one, and the band retired from touring soon afterward. Ironically, all four Beatles revelled in documenting their onstage life after the group disbanded in 1970. John Lennon’s “Some Time in New York City” and George Harrison’s “The Concert for Bangladesh” were early entries, Paul McCartney’s “Wings over America” was the most monumental one, and both McCartney and Ringo Starr have aged into rockers who release concert albums like clockwork.

The best-represented band, of course, is probably the Grateful Dead, whose entire career as a live act unfolded in full view of fans, thanks to both official releases and tape trading. The nineteen-seventies validated the concert record even more. Cheap Trick, Kiss, and Peter Frampton, three of the biggest draws of the decade, all established themselves with live albums, and acts as disparate as Lou Reed, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Band, and the Allman Brothers solidified their reputations with concert documents. The trend continued through the eighties, with records like “Stop Making Sense,” and then tapered off. Few of the biggest stars of the nineties built their careers with concert records; R.E.M., for example, didn’t release a live album until 2007, when it was almost an afterthought.

As the music industry has changed, we’ve kept hearing that album sales can no longer secure an artist’s financial viability—that artists at all levels are forced to take their acts on the road to survive. Why, then, is the live album almost completely moribund? Part of the problem is the kind of music that dominates the pop space. How would a Rihanna live album differ from a Rihanna studio album? What would be the advantage of a Britney Spears concert document, especially one without accompanying video? Artists now rely on a staggering amount of technology, which isn’t to say trickery, but the music doesn’t translate easily to an onstage environment. As Eminem proved with his strange, subpar “Saturday Night Live” performance, making contemporary music work in concert is difficult even for the most talented artists. And audiences aren’t always receptive, either, as Kanye West is learning with spotty ticket sales on his “Yeezus” tour.

None of this applies to the Stones, of course. They’re a perfect candidate for live albums: a blues-rock band with a deep back catalogue of instantly recognizable songs. But a different question suggests itself: Why so many live records? Cynics will say that it’s a money grab by the band, though the argument could be made that it’s the opposite, since it gives fans a chance to experience the band live without paying extortionate ticket prices.

There’s a creative justification, too. Studio recordings are preserved in amber from the moment they are made. Live albums are an opportunity to let material breathe, to alter it and let it evolve, to play with new musicians and reopen old ideas. This is eminently clear in jazz and equally valid for soul (James Brown’s Apollo albums show him in 1963, 1968, and 1971, all watershed moments as he moved from R. & B. to funk), but does it apply fully to rock and roll? Bob Dylan is perhaps the clearest example of this principle. He released five major live albums between 1974 and 1989 (“Before the Flood,” “Hard Rain,” “Bob Dylan at Budokan,” “Real Live,” and the largely execrable “Dylan & the Dead”), and all of them provide compelling evidence that his songs are living things that can be energized (or in some cases pulverized) by radical new arrangements. Neil Young has done this, too, along two separate tracks. His various live sets have illuminated his progress both as sensitive acoustic troubadour (he just released a superb 1970 show, “Live at the Cellar Door”) and as proto-grunge rocker (the ferocious “Live Rust,” released just months after “Rust Never Sleeps,” back in 1979).

The Stones, in returning repeatedly to document the live side of their long career, help to create a kind of sonic archaeology. You can track the growth of the band through the various versions of trademark songs. Take “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” On “Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!,” from the famous Madison Square Garden shows of November, 1969, it’s slippery and loose-limbed, as much funk as rock. By the time of “Nasty Music,” the band had moved the song toward the end of the show and remade it as something faster, harder, and meaner. By “Shine a Light,” the song had become an opener rather than a closer, and there’s a triumphalist feel to it, a reminder of the band’s power rather than a demonstration of it. On record, the Hyde Park version of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” recovers a bit of the song’s original energy—it’s not quite as stiff as it is on “Shine a Light”—but otherwise plays it safe. It’s the video version of the performance that’s most telling. The Stones, onstage, are presided over by giant images of themselves, and the camera cuts frequently to shots of the crowd, an endless sea of fans who have heard the song before and are more than happy to hear it again".

[www.newyorker.com]

An interesting read that. Thanks for sharing it...

I am curious to read this article and will hopefully get around to it tomorrow. For now, I'll just say that unfortunately live albums are a thing of the past. They don't make em like they used to. Its mostly to do with the time. In all honesty, I don't think many people want a "live album" anymore. They want a full concert and they want it as fast as possible. There is something about newer live albums. They almost sound "too good", and nothing like an album like KISS Alive or Live At Leeds that really have that spark. Its like the great sound takes out some of the spark.

Pearl Jam released a live album like a year or so ago, but for what reason. They already release all their concerts as bootlegs, so its worthless. With Youtube, you can look up nearly any song of any show you want. A live album is no longer the best representation of a band, Youtube is. You don't get a double live album like J Geils Band Blow Your Face Out anymore because there's just no market. Its sad, but its what happened in the last few decades. There are a few really good live albums in recent memory (Roger Waters In The Flesh comes to mind) but for the most part there hasn't been anything thats made an impact like live albums used to. The live album no longer represents this amazing document of a band; its merely a cheap money maker for the masses that don't even really want it that much. There's no heart to live albums anymore.

The live album peaked with Frampton Comes Alive and Cheap Trick at Budokan, because they were career defining moments that made stars out of acts in a way that their previous studio work was unable to. Perhaps it was because the studios of the time could not come up with the big sounds that their live counterparts were able to achieve. Well, maybe anyway. At any rate, I can't think of another live album after Cheap Trick at Budokan that made an artist suddenly huge. Check out the differences in the size, the width of the sound of their signature hit done live compared with its earlier studio version.

I Want You To Want Me, 1977 studio version:





And the epic live 1978 version:

I think stonehearted spoke the "key -word": Youtube...

I have and always will love recordings of live music. I have hundreds of tapes that I still pull out and listen to over listening to the radio play the same versions of the same songs over and over again. Don't get me wrong studio albums are the best sounding but then again they get enough takes to get it down and then overdub on top of that. Real musicians expand a song when done live (I dislike bands playing it live note for note) just as they did in the golden age of Jazz and Blues. Each member gets to step forward to the edge and give their best. Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's not. But music truly is meant to be heard live and it's a shame if we don't get to hear a great version just because we weren't there.As far as YouTube I am guilty of listening to tons of material from there because I always find something I haven't seen or heard before. Sometimes I find myself still on at 3 or 4 in the morning because one video leads you to another and then another. Trouble there is most of the time the sound sucks. I'm surprised that the Rolling Stones haven't offered up CD/DVDs of all their recent shows because you know they are recording them all because I'm sure those projected camera images are not just for those in the nosebleed seats. Long live the live album I say.

I am a fan of "old-school" live albums, where a band gets to expand their songs, with all of the mistakes, feedback, and unexpected things left in. That is the charm and beauty of live performances: the studio recordings are kind of a springboard for what can happen in live performances. In fact, many of the groups from back in the day were much better live than in the studio. Then there were the groups, like Creedence, that would play their studio cuts note for note in concert, without deviation. It was great to see them in concert, but there was nothing revelatory about their performances.

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DaveG
I am a fan of "old-school" live albums, where a band gets to expand their songs, with all of the mistakes, feedback, and unexpected things left in. That is the charm and beauty of live performances: the studio recordings are kind of a springboard for what can happen in live performances. In fact, many of the groups from back in the day were much better live than in the studio. Then there were the groups, like Creedence, that would play their studio cuts note for note in concert, without deviation. It was great to see them in concert, but there was nothing revelatory about their performances.

the 72 live album ( the only one ) isn't like that at all and includes a 10 min + version of keep on chooglin;
I think you mean the eagles , and then with the addition of joe walsh nothing was predictable !

I love old school live albums,

my favourites:

THE MC5 - Kick Out the Jams
LOU REED - Take no Prisoners
THE RAMONES - It's Alive
NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS - Live Seeds
THE WHO - Live At Leeds
ROLLING STONES - Get your ya ya's out
MILES DAVIS - Live Evil
NIRVANA - Unplugged
HANOI ROCKS - All Those Waysted Years

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seitan
I love old school live albums,

my favourites:

THE MC5 - Kick Out the Jams
LOU REED - Take no Prisoners
THE RAMONES - It's Alive
NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS - Live Seeds
THE WHO - Live At Leeds
ROLLING STONES - Get your ya ya's out
MILES DAVIS - Live Evil
NIRVANA - Unplugged
HANOI ROCKS - All Those Waysted Years

What no Frampton Comes Alive?

I never liked Frampton

As many musicians, I spent hours of my teenage years playing along with records in my bedroom trying to learn how to play. Very early on, I discovered I enjoyed playing along with live recordings more than the original studio recordings. Something about the expanded versions of the songs and the audience applauding for "me" at the end of each song! Be they bootlegs or official releases, I still like a live recording for inspiration once I've gone through the studio cut for the basic foundation of a song. I still say (only half jokingly) that I learned more about playing bass from Chris Campbell on Bob Seeger's live albums than I did from any other single source.

Peace,
Mr DJA

Thanks Christiano, that was a very nice read.

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mighty stork

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seitan
I love old school live albums,

my favourites:

THE MC5 - Kick Out the Jams
LOU REED - Take no Prisoners
THE RAMONES - It's Alive
NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS - Live Seeds
THE WHO - Live At Leeds
ROLLING STONES - Get your ya ya's out
MILES DAVIS - Live Evil
NIRVANA - Unplugged
HANOI ROCKS - All Those Waysted Years

What no Frampton Comes Alive?

No, it sucks.

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straycatblues73

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DaveG
I am a fan of "old-school" live albums, where a band gets to expand their songs, with all of the mistakes, feedback, and unexpected things left in. That is the charm and beauty of live performances: the studio recordings are kind of a springboard for what can happen in live performances. In fact, many of the groups from back in the day were much better live than in the studio. Then there were the groups, like Creedence, that would play their studio cuts note for note in concert, without deviation. It was great to see them in concert, but there was nothing revelatory about their performances.

the 72 live album ( the only one ) isn't like that at all and includes a 10 min + version of keep on chooglin;
I think you mean the eagles , and then with the addition of joe walsh nothing was predictable !

No, I did mean Creedence. My thoughts are not necessarily based on their live album as much as the time I saw them perform 4 or 5 times back in '69, '70. In each of those shows, there was no deviation from the studio recordings. Yes, they did an extended version of Keep on Chooglin', but everything else was pretty much note for note. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed their shows. But, yes, we ARE talking about live albums, so from that perspective, you are correct.

I would certainly include Bob Seger's "Live Bullet" in any list of great live albums.

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Elmo Lewis
I would certainly include Bob Seger's "Live Bullet" in any list of great live albums.

I only wish that on the CD versions of both "Live Bullet" and "Nine Tonight" had the full versions of "Let It Rock".

Peace,
Mr DJA

AC/DC Live is a classic for me.

live bullet,was the 1st time I ever heard bob seger, opening with nutbush classic

Live Bullet made Bob Seger's career and no one talks about it. great album

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seitan

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mighty stork

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seitan
I love old school live albums,

my favourites:

THE MC5 - Kick Out the Jams
LOU REED - Take no Prisoners
THE RAMONES - It's Alive
NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS - Live Seeds
THE WHO - Live At Leeds
ROLLING STONES - Get your ya ya's out
MILES DAVIS - Live Evil
NIRVANA - Unplugged
HANOI ROCKS - All Those Waysted Years

What no Frampton Comes Alive?

No, it sucks.

I didn't want to put the "lol" at the end of that statement, but maybe I should have. I wasn't adding it myself,but was joking with you because it is the fourth highest selling live album ever.Number 1 goes to Garth Brooks. So as usual it's hard to judge what the people want and even harder to judge tastes as they change.

There's a guy I know and he wrote a review some years ago talking about Flashpoint. Basically, his statement was that live records once were a good way to hear how a band could prove his power on a live concert, but nowadays had turned merely a souvenir from the concert.

I have never been a fan of live albums. Most of them aren't real live recordings anyway.

Saying this, I admit that I like these ones pretty much.









Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014-01-10 09:40 by Glammy.

Sinatra and Van the Man had one each from 1974....

2 1 2 0

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mr_dja

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Elmo Lewis
I would certainly include Bob Seger's "Live Bullet" in any list of great live albums.

I only wish that on the CD versions of both "Live Bullet" and "Nine Tonight" had the full versions of "Let It Rock".

Peace,
Mr DJA

Agree 100%. Later copies of Nine Tonight do have "Brave Strangers" though. Nice addition.

"No Anchovies, Please"

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Elmo Lewis

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mr_dja

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Elmo Lewis
I would certainly include Bob Seger's "Live Bullet" in any list of great live albums.

I only wish that on the CD versions of both "Live Bullet" and "Nine Tonight" had the full versions of "Let It Rock".

Peace,
Mr DJA

Agree 100%. Later copies of Nine Tonight do have "Brave Strangers" though. Nice addition.

I saw that as I was browsing around amazon the other week. Had some mixed emmotions... Nice to see the additional track and all but couldn't figure out why, if there was room for an additional track, there wasn't room for the entire "Let It Rock" track.

Peace,
Mr DJA

Very good point

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mighty stork

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seitan

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mighty stork

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seitan
I love old school live albums,

my favourites:

THE MC5 - Kick Out the Jams
LOU REED - Take no Prisoners
THE RAMONES - It's Alive
NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS - Live Seeds
THE WHO - Live At Leeds
ROLLING STONES - Get your ya ya's out
MILES DAVIS - Live Evil
NIRVANA - Unplugged
HANOI ROCKS - All Those Waysted Years

What no Frampton Comes Alive?

No, it sucks.

I didn't want to put the "lol" at the end of that statement, but maybe I should have. I wasn't adding it myself,but was joking with you because it is the fourth highest selling live album ever.Number 1 goes to Garth Brooks. So as usual it's hard to judge what the people want and even harder to judge tastes as they change.

Ok, ...I understand, yeah...

Well, I did forget one masterpiece:

Keith Richards & the X-Pensive Vinoes - Live At THe Hollywood Palladium

Full House- J Geils Band.

First album I ever bought and one of the all time greatest live albums.

I'm really surprised to hear that live albums seem to be disappearing. One subscription service I belong to puts out so many live albums that some people started complaining. Not all major bands, admittedly.