Are you a fan of live albums?

As the title says, are you a fan of live albums? Personally I dont like them with the exception of the MTV's acouctic stuff. Im much more into studio albums. The sound is just better and I really hate interactions with the audience.

I see no point in listening live performances , though sometimes they can be "better " then the original .

Sometimes I'm in the mood for a live. Sometimes I'm in a mood for bad you tube recording from a concert. Studio is still the main and best thing.

Really depends on the artist, and on the quality of the album.

I don't mind audience interference, as long as it doesn't completely drown the sound of the music.


And some songs just works better live than on the original album. For instance, compare this:



to this:



From the same year (that is the concert was the same year as the album release).

To me, there's no real question as to which version is the superior one.

I detest live albums, apart from a few gold pieces that can be found if one searches diligently

It depends on the production of live albums but if I'd listen something live, then it will be an official DVD gig.

For example

Depends on the artist/band. There are plenty of bands nowadays where I would not go to their performances even if they paid me, just because of how bad they are live. A few current bands and a lot of older bans (mostly 70s stuff) are great live in my opinion.

Iron Maidens fear of the Dark live is one of the best out their, completely blew the studio version out of the water.

I prefer live DVDs to live CDs. A lot of my favorite bands (Slayer, Sodom, Iron Maiden, Bad Religion, NOFX, Amon Amarth etc) are great live so I would buy a live recording (if I could find any in stores around me ). Some bands though are absolute crap live and I wouldn't buy one.

It depends on the band, I guess.

A DVD of a live performance is a bit different than a live CD. The DVD I understand, but as general rule I avoid live CDs, though sometimes a live version can be better than a studio version, but I think that's a rather rare exception. Never ever listen Megadeth live.

Then ofcourse, there are some great Springsteen bootlegs out there. Stockholm Globe Arena, October 30th, 2006. One of the best concerts ever recorded, I believe.

David Gilmour live at gdansk is great!

some of iron maidens tracks are way better live, they got more energy live:



vs

The choice tends to be easy. The live album is either utterly awesome or horribly mixed most of the time. From there it depends on the song.

When the choices are:


Something just seems to be missing from the studio.

When the choices are:



And stuff blurs together in the live recording, definitely the studio.

Point being: case by case, all the way.

Originally Posted by Hakkapeliitta

A DVD of a live performance is a bit different than a live CD. The DVD I understand, but as general rule I avoid live CDs, though sometimes a live version can be better than a studio version, but I think that's a rather rare exception. Never ever listen Megadeth live.

Sounds like you need a program that will rip the sound tracks off a dvd. I did that with the recent Eagles dvd(and by recent i mean like five years), and man is it awesome. All those songs you never hear on their live albums, but they're always doing at concerts, its beautiful.

HAARP kicked ass. All of those songs were better than their studio counterparts (imo of course)

That's the only live album I can really say that I liked, maybe I shouldn't have voted yes, lol.

I could post dozens more, but.... /thread

Depends completely on the quality of the production. For example, this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

is easily on par with the studio version in my opinion. On the other hand there are live albums that are barely listenable, especially when compared to their studio counterparts.

Depends on the band. If they are obsessed with having the audience sing lyrics then no. If they are about playing the album music along with jamming and doing off the cuff solos as well and representing their music and I like to hear it, etc like Iron Maiden, Dio, Rush, Pink Floyd, Iced Earth......

Good live album examples, all these videos have a live CD version:




Iron Maiden and Rush live albums are absolutely amazing. I mostly only listen to their live stuff.

live albums are also those that try to too emulate the album material. Like The Wall Live from 1983 or that first Judas Priest live album.


Some bands like Iced Earth and Iron Maiden do songs from their previous lineups with their current, and favored, members which you only get on live albums.




There are some bands that are good live but their live cds I think suck, like Megadeth and Ozzy.

My favourite live album is Rainbow on Stage. A young Ronnie James Dio in an energetic performance paired up with Ritchie Blackmore on the guitar, so sad this version of Rainbow did not last longer. Parts of this get uploaded and removed from YT all the time, this was one of the longest and best parts available right now:

Stuff like 9:20-11:00 just does not happend on studio albums.
I'm just gonna include something newer (and older) with Ritchie, from the Castles and Dreams live DVD. I just have a thing for Candice, sorry if you feel a classic is being ruined here:

I prefer live, since it gets to see the artist as who they are and not as the producer sees them. Plus we all know the best bands do well when they are live, such as Queen. If you are not prepared to see someone live, then you really are not interested in them as an artist.