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My top ten live albums
I am not a huge fan of live albums, but of course there are exceptions.
Aerosmith – Live! Bootleg (Columbia)
This is the record that gave me the idea for this week’s list. I’ve been on a major Aerosmith tear lately and I’m trying to fill in the holes in my vinyl collection. (Only up to and including Permanent Vacation- that’s where I got off the bus). I cherished this album as a kid but only had it on cassette, and my copy is long gone. Finally tracked it down at the local used record shop- $9.00 in perfect condition, complete with original sleeves and poster! What a great record, four perfect sides of the hardest working American rock band of the 70’s. Picked up Night In The Ruts that day too, now I only need Done With Mirrors to have the complete vinyl discography.
AC/DC – Live From The Atlantic Studios (Sony)
This is disc 1 of the Bonfire box set and is really, really good. There is power behind those three chords. The box also has the live in Paris Let There Be Rock show, but I prefer this one. It feels more intimate, Bon Scott‘s between song banter is more personal and it’s cool to hear just twenty people clapping after a song instead of a stadium full. And since they’re playing in a studio the sound is excellent.
Husker Du – The Living End (Warner Bros)
I’m getting excited to read Bob Mould‘s new memoir so I’ve been spinning this one, recorded on their second to last tour in October 1987. It’s a three-person wall of sound with beautiful harmonies. It’s hard to believe that they couldn’t stand each other; they broke up a few months later. Honorable mention goes to Minneapolis Is Burning, a bootleg recorded at First Avenue in 1985. The sound quality is rough but the playing is ferocious.
The Allman Brothers Band – Live at the Fillmore (Capricorn)
A safe pick for sure, but I can’t tell you how many times I have played this record. I remember listening to it when I first started playing guitar and telling my teacher “I wanna play like The Allman Brothers!”
Television – The Blow Up (Roir)
For some reason I like listening to this one outside, like when I’m camping or working in the yard. I think it’s just a real organic-sounding record.
Led Zeppelin – How the West Was Won (Atlantic)
Three phenomenal discs of the mighty Zeppelin at the peak of their powers in 1972. One of the best live bands of all time; it doesn’t get much better than this.
Ramones – Greatest Hits Live (Radioactive)
Someday I’ll have a list of ‘the top ten live albums featuring concerts I’ve attended’, but for now there’s only a couple and this is one. Recorded at The Academy in New York City during their final tour. My recollection of the show is sort of a blur because I was so damn excited (good thing I have this album to remind me!), but my most vivid memory is the end- Johnny Ramone had just finished playing and was winding up to throw his pick into the audience when he made eye contact with my friend Johnny Rocket, who was flailing wildly in the first row of the balcony. He launched the pick in the air and my friend caught it, from one Johnny to another! Epic.
X – Live at the Whisky A Go-Go (Elektra)
Fantastic live record from perhaps the most uncategorizable band in rock. Most would just say punk but they are so much more. Recorded at the Whisky a Go-Go on the fabulous Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.
MC5 – Kick Out The Jams (Elektra)
Bands usually wait until they have three or four hit records under their belt before releasing a live album, but not The MC5. Their live show was their greatest strength so the band recorded their debut album in front of a hometown crowd at The Grande Ballroom in Detroit. The end of the record gets lost in jazz odyssey mayhem, but the combination of “Ramblin’ Rose” into “Kick Out The Jams” just may be the greatest opening salvo in rock and roll history.
Frank Zappa and The Mothers – Fillmore East, June 1971 (Reprise)
The secret word for the night was “mud shark”, and over the course of the set Zappa and his band tell a story of pop stars on the road (with pop stars Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan from The Turtles on vocals), featuring the notorious tale of rock and roll debauchery that involves a sex act with said shark, a young groupie and one or more members of Vanilla Fudge. This infamous yarn has been spun many times over the years (I first read about it in the Led Zep bio Hammer of the Gods), but nobody tells it better than The Mothers.
