Essential Live Albums

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - Vault #6: Inglewood L, CA 7/13/98

I have sort of experienced this with a few shows on Nugs where the stream is missing a song and repeats a song twice. This happened twice during this show and that was annoying. That aside, Pearl Jam sounds amazing in this show at the Forum. The band seems to really be enjoying what I think is their first show in the venue, blazing early after a great Sometimes opener with the crackling guitars into Corduroy, Hail Hail, Brain of J, and then into In Hiding. While everything nearly sounded equally great, this turned out to be my favorite phase of the show and any of these could easily be the performance of the show. I think in the end though my favorite ends up being the main set closing Go, which really rips here.

The Essential Performance: Go

Up Next: Pearl Jam - Vault #3: Washington, DC 9/19/98

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - Vault #3: Washington, DC 9/19/98

On the second leg of the US tour in 1998, Cameron has had a bit more of a chance to gel with the band, and this one serves as an upgrade even from the Forum show. Long Road is always a great opener and then right into the initial surprise of Mirrorball tune Act of Love, and this is one helluva version. From there, the show simply barrels along, one great track after another, with mainstays Hail Hail, Given to Fly, Corduroy (which really now has that Cameron bounce), and Not For You tearing the place up alongside deeper tracks like All Those Yesterdays and a cut off but moderately sloppy Push Me Pull Me. They certainly deliver on their promise that they knew Faithfull a bit better. The winner, even though I am tempted to give it to Act of Love that is so good here, is a monstrous Do the Evolution, a song truly in its live moment that Ed just nails here. Great show.

The Essential Performance: Do the Evolution

Up Next: Phish (sorry) - LivePhish Vol. 13

[liebzz]

Phish run 3 of 3: the Halloween shows - aptly timed for the start of Fall. Official releases only, so not all of the Halloween shows, but starting with the ones in the 90s: ‘94, ‘95, ‘96, and ‘98. For those who don’t know, Phish is somewhat infamous (I knew this before I was really listening to them) for taking on classic albums, cover to cover, during one of their sets on Halloween night. This I believe is not the last Phish live albums, but the last run of Phish shows on the journey. Enjoy, ignore, whatever.

[Happy Trees]

Pearl Jam - Give Way

This compilation from one last show in the Jack Irons era, one previously highly bootlegged since there was a radio broadcast of the whole show in circulation for 25 years, finally sees the official light of day.

Not a radio broadcast - a complete promo CD (which is arguably semi-official) - and that's why the existence, reissue and subsequent hyping of "Give Way" is totally stupid.

[liebzz]

I thought it was broadcast on Triple J?

[wease]

On my CD Ed talks about being on the radio.

[Kevin Davis]

The show itself was broadcast on the radio, and there is a recording of the FM broadcast that circulates. I had a bootleg CD of this in the late '90's. Compared to the audience recordings that were going for $40 a pop at the time, it's very listenable, but you'd never mistake it for a professional release or choose it over Give Way in a million years. If you've been listening to this version, your ears will almost certainly immediately recognize Give Way as a major upgrade.

However, what Happy Trees is referring to is a properly mixed Sony promo CD of the full concert, direct from the multi-tracks, mixed and prepared just like an official release -- it could easily have been released in place of Give Way with little to no work done to it. This was the source for the 2012 "Soundboard Remasters Series" bootleg by JWB, and has been in general circulation among fans for decades. If you've been listening to this version, Give Way will feel much the same, only shortened.

So yes, the show was definitely broadcast, so you hear Eddie addressing the people listening on the radio, and it is correct to say that a radio broadcast of show has been in circulation for 25 years. But it's the Sony promo CD, not the broadcast recording, which would ultimately render Give Way superfluous.

[wease]

Kevin Davis to the rescue

[Happy Trees]

I thought it was broadcast on Triple J?

It was, but the full show was also released as a perfect quality promo CD at the same time and sometimes bootlegged.

It's the same exact story as Atlanta '94 and the "Dissident" singles.

"Give Way" was always ignored and dismissed after it was cancelled, beyond being a forbidden collectable.

But then they suddenly brought it back and reissued it as a Suck My Dick Day special edition. And everybody is supposed to go, "ooooooooh".

[dad]

I thought it was broadcast on Triple J?

It was, but the full show was also released as a perfect quality promo CD at the same time and sometimes bootlegged.

It's the same exact story as Atlanta '94 and the "Dissident" singles.

"Give Way" was always ignored and dismissed after it was cancelled, beyond being a forbidden collectable.

But then they suddenly brought it back and reissued it as a Suck My Dick Day special edition. And everybody is supposed to go, "ooooooooh".

love a good suck my dick day special...

[super nintendo chalmers]

I'll go on a limb and call this live record essential. It's perfect.


Joan Shelley LIVE AT THE BOMHARD
https://joanshelley.bandcamp.com/album/ ... he-bomhard

[super nintendo chalmers]

Regarding Give Way, I swore I had a version of Porch from that show that was one of my all time favorites. It ended with Ed saying:
Im gonna go get hammered, good night.

That was from the Give Way show, right?

Also, I had a Mac System 7 sound of that clip on my first computer and had it set so every time I shut down the computer it played it.
Aaah, 2001.

[Happy Trees]

I thought it was broadcast on Triple J?

It was, but the full show was also released as a perfect quality promo CD at the same time and sometimes bootlegged.

It's the same exact story as Atlanta '94 and the "Dissident" singles.

"Give Way" was always ignored and dismissed after it was cancelled, beyond being a forbidden collectable.

But then they suddenly brought it back and reissued it as a Suck My Dick Day special edition. And everybody is supposed to go, "ooooooooh".

love a good suck my dick day special...

Me too!

[liebzz]

Phish - LivePhish Vol. 13: Glens Falls, NY 10/31/94

It’s not much a secret that Phish, among others things, is an ambitious band willing to take chances in the live setting. Given that, it’s no surprise that they would decide to throw some caution to the wind on Halloween night, resulting in something of an occasion for fans to spend their time wondering and waiting on what comes next. But here is the first time. Aptly, Phish start this Halloween show with a cover of Frankenstein, and then Simple and The Divided Sky show the band came to party and jam. Julius was another strong highlight in set 1.

This show is all about the second set though. Donning their “musical costume,” Phish come back out to an Ed Sullivan intro of the Beatles, and proceed to play The White Album cover to cover, largely sticking to the script, but tossing in their own flourishes in spots. Without the magic of the studio, they didn’t get it note for note per se, but this is more than an admirable attempt. Back in the USSR, the solo in While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Rocky Raccoon, and Yer Blues were tops here, with the only song that was near unlistenable being the chaos of their Helter Skelter.

Set 3 is another solid set, with highlights David Bowie, and Sleeping Monkey. But one would have a hard time concentrating as well on anything outside that amazing musical costume.

The Essential Performance: Ed Sullivan Intro > Back in the USSR

Up Next: Phish - LivePhish Vol. 14

[Higgs]

[liebzz]

Ha! 3 more and then we’re putting them down for a while.

[oasisfan35]

Do you have John Mayer's Try! release or Tedeschi Trucks Band's Layla Revisited (Live at Lockn') on the list?

[liebzz]

I do have Tedeschi Trucks on the list.

[liebzz]

Phish - LivePhish Vol. 14: Rosemont, IL 10/31/95

Halloween show number 2. On this one, set one is really fantastic, and frankly the strongest part of the show. The Game Henge intro is nice and all, with Icculus, The Divided Sky, and Wilson, but this thing starts cooking with Ya Mar, Sparkle, and then killer versions of Free, Guyute, and Run Like An Antelope are where it’s at here. Harpua has a fun Beat It tease (and a big are they brave enough to play Thriller front to back moment), and then it’s on to the musical costume. Set two is Quadrophenia in full, and while they struggle to pull off the right vocals throughout, they mostly do an admirable job, save for a messy The Real Me (Pearl Jam is way better at covering The Who). The Dirty Jobs, 5:15, Quadrophenia, I’ve Had Enough, and The Rock are the best of this bunch. Set three features a way too long 40 minute You Enjoy Myself, and a very sloppy My Generation, but Jesus Just Left Chicago and A Day in the Life are both spectacular.

The Essential Performance: The Dirty Jobs

Up Next: Phish - LivePhish Vol. 15

[liebzz]

Phish - LivePhish Vol. 15: Atlanta, GA 10/31/96

Halloween show #3 is the best of the bunch so far. These shows are generally defined by their musical costumes, and while this one is no different, the first and third sets on this one are both really fantastic. The entire first set is great, with Sanity, a surprisingly strong cover of Highway to Hell, a blazing Down With Disease, a long but much stronger You Enjoy Myself, another excellent Prince Caspian, finally a Reba I really enjoyed, a sprinkling of the Game Henge story into a great Character Zero rounds out set one. Set three most highlighted by a killer Jesus Just Left Chicago and the Frankenstein encore.

But these things are made or broken on the musical costume, and Phish seem to fully inhabit The Talking Heads’ Remain in Light here, if for nothing else in the spirit of Stop Making Sense in its constant grooves interspersed with effortless genre bending. The section encompassing Born Under Punches, Cross Eyed and Painless, and The Great Curve is some of the best live Phish in this journey.

The Essential Performance: Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On) > Crosseyed and Painless > The Great Curve

Up Next: Phish - LivePhish Vol. 16