Essential Live Albums

[liebzz]

Yeah, I think the Allman’s set, when I get there, may be the last classic rock for a bit til we get to the Unplugged sets.

[liebzz]

Starting back at it today.

[oasisfan35]

When you hit the aughts you're going to listen to entire PJ tours, right?

[liebzz]

I have a plan but not the whole tours.

[Happy Trees]

I have a plan but not the whole tours.

Why don't you review local fan comps like "All Jacked Up" and "Alone And Far Away" and "The Guests Are So Refined" and "Preternatural Other Plane"? Nobody has ever done that - I'd like to see it. And that way you won't have to listen to entire tours.

[liebzz]

My plan was actually to cover highlights selected in essence by the band. 2000: the ape/man designation, 2003 the handful of shows that were release commercially (Perth, Tokyo, State College, MSG/Mansfield 3, Benaroya Hall), Gorge 05/06, maybe the Philly Boxed set, the Vaults, etc.

[oasisfan35]

My plan was actually to cover highlights selected in essence by the band. 2000: the ape/man designation, 2003 the handful of shows that were release commercially (Perth, Tokyo, State College, MSG/Mansfield 3, Benaroya Hall), Gorge 05/06, maybe the Philly Boxed set, the Vaults, etc.

Yeah it's actually a lot when you lay it all out. I was kind of surprised you were even going to include them, partially for the volume but also to keep the thread integrity with OB

[liebzz]

Allman Brothers Band - Play All Night

This live album features one of the more classic ABB lineups Post Duane. Warren Haynes and Dickey Betts have great chemistry at this point, and the band clobbers these songs, be they classics or new songs, so well interwoven and seamless you can only tell the difference through sheer familiarity. The drum solo in Elizabeth Reed May have been a little much, but otherwise this is pretty flawless, and the repeat of Midnight Rider stripped down shows they unlocked something with that one. This is a stunning Blue Sky and that is the winner here.

The Essential Performance: Blue Sky

Up Next: AC/DC - Live

[liebzz]

My plan was actually to cover highlights selected in essence by the band. 2000: the ape/man designation, 2003 the handful of shows that were release commercially (Perth, Tokyo, State College, MSG/Mansfield 3, Benaroya Hall), Gorge 05/06, maybe the Philly Boxed set, the Vaults, etc.

Yeah it's actually a lot when you lay it all out. I was kind of surprised you were even going to include them, partially for the volume but also to keep the thread integrity with OB

It only happened because I put in so much Grateful Dead that I wanted a counterweight.

[liebzz]

AC/DC - Live

By 1991, at the least, AC/DC is this band who can bang out the hits, loudly at that, and make no apologies for it. Thunderstruck is a newer song in that vein here, but it serves as a cool build up, and then it’s off to the races with Shoot to Thrill, Back in Black, Who Made Who, Moneytalks, Hells Bells, Dirty Deeds…, You Shook Me All Night Long, Highway to Hell, TNT, and the winner for being the most ridiculous and over the top, For Those About to Rock (We Salute You). Never mind that there’s an element of sameness to it all with the cheesy intro and such, good fun is good fun.

The Essential Performance: For Those About
To Rock (We Salute You)

Up Next: Slayer - Live: Decade of Aggression

[liebzz]

Slayer - Live Decade of Aggression

Upping the ante a little further up the hard rock chain, this one is loud as hell, and really a caricature of the whole late 80s/early 90s thrash metal business. I pretty much have next to zero background in this, totally out of my comfort zone and really for a reason. I enjoy a good guitar solo as much as anyone, but where a band like Metallica, in this era, could actually deliver quite a bit of variety and oscillate between thrash and a more Sabbath like English 70s metal, these guys are all thrash, which is fine and good for a few songs, but then it sort of just melds together. It could just be my untrained ear to be fair - I am sure some metal head could tell me all the Pearl Jam songs sound the same to them after all, but this seems to just hurtle over the cliff into unappealing.

The Essential Performance: flip a coin - it’s all basically the same thing

Up Next: Metallica - Live Sh!t: Binge and Purge

[liebzz]

Metallica - Live Sh*t: Binge & Purge

This is from the black album tour in Mexico City. At this point, Metallica was every bit a behemoth and maybe near the top of their game. While the black album stuff sounds great, it’s the material from Kill’Em All, Ride the Lightning, and Master of Puppets that really shine here. It’s sometime easy to forget that in these early days they were such intricate composers, with massive rock music movements and cohesive concepts played out masterfully. In this 3 hour epic compilation, you can see it play out not just in the songs themselves but in the way the chaos is carefully managed by James Hetfield and the band, including the ham fisted song intros and calls and responses. Every bit the stadium band in the midst of the metal.

The Essential Performance: One (I mean, gotta give it to the carefully curated pyrotechnics where the highlights are all so high)

Up Next: Guns N Roses - Live Era ‘87-‘93

[wease]

I fucking LOVE that GnR record.

The AC/DC and Metallica are the only albums by either band I’ve ever owned. Same for Ozzy’s live album that came out around this time. I dig it too.

[liebzz]

As a kid I had Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, …and Justice for All, and the black album. When they went nuts over Napster, I dropped them off at my local used CD store and didn’t listen to them for 20 years. I am slowly working my way back knowing I didn’t miss much thereafter.

[McParadigm]

I bought the Binge and Purge box the day it came out, and I sold it at a head shop two weeks later. It sounded to me then like a band trading in a ton of their grit and power for stadium pomp and circumstance.

To be fair, I was never all that big on the black album compared to other people, either. It has a couple of good pop songs, but it’s a chore to make it through front to back. A few of the songs are so similar (and a few are so dumb) that I think it’d make a good EP. But a short one.

Believe it or not, I find the Load era preferable to the early 90’s, just because it’s interesting to hear a band who had the world eating out of their hand not understand at alllllll why that had happened. It’s like if AC/DC had followed up Back in Black by trying to make the white album.

[VinylGuy]

I love the Gnr live album and it came out when i really needed it.

I remember watching the Its So Easy video and thinking damn this song is so fucking good!


Also, i like your PJ plan.

[liebzz]

Guns N’ Roses - Live Era ‘87-‘93

One of the most fascinating live albums thus far, mostly because you can hear the difference between GNR on the knife’s edge in ‘87, and then get a more arena sized version of them on the ‘92 and ‘93 songs, each of course with their own values - but in what I didn’t expect, it almost has a Stones like quality but of course in a much shorter period. Move To The City might be the most unexpected surprise of the whole journey. That said, this cover of Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door is killer and wins the day.

The Essential Performance: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

Up Next: Van Halen - Live: Right Here Right Now

[wease]

The VH is one of my favorite live albums ever. I still spin it every now and again.

[Ello Sailor]

Never did catch the VH bug. Eddie is obviously amazing, but I don't find much to like about the songs themselves. Roth is a chore.

[Ello Sailor]

Hurry up and listen to Portishead Roseland NYC