411 Music Ten Deep 6.04.10: Top Ten Live Albums

Posted by Andrew Moll on 06.04.2010

From Nirvana's MTV Unplugged to Kiss' Alive! to Daft Punk's Alive 2007, see the list of the Top Ten Live Albums, all in this week's edition of 411 Music Ten Deep!



(Disclaimer: All opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of 411 Music and its staff.)


Welcome to you, loyal reader, and thank you for joining us for another exciting edition of 411 Music Ten Deep. Summer is on the way, if it's not already here, and that nice, warm feeling helped to influence today's theme for the column and hopefully it also influenced the feedback as we take a look back to next week and the response to the list of the Top Ten Bob Dylan Songs:





My one friend thinks Bob Dylan is a better singer than Eddie Vedder... It's totally irrelevant but I just wanted to share the humor.
Posted By: Jcon (Guest) on May 28, 2010 at 09:22 AM

Your friend should probably seek some help. Although, I don't hate Dylan's voice like a lot of other people do. But better than Eddie Vedder? No, sorry. Can't agree with that.

what about "blowing in the wind" it was the anthem for every protest that has/or will ever happen as long as there is war it will be there
Posted By: m switzer (Guest) on May 29, 2010 at 08:52 AM

I like "Blowing in the Wind," it was an honorable mention, but for some reason I never connected to it the same way I did with "Masters of War." So if I had room for only one "protest" song, that's the one I would have to go with.

No "The Times They Are A-Changin'" or "All Along The Watchtower" ?!?!?!?!
Posted By: Blode (Guest) on May 30, 2010 at 06:12 PM

Dylan gave up ownership of "All Along the Watchtower" a long time ago. The fact he performs Hendrix's version still today says everything you need to know about that.

more than for any other artist, it's ridiculous to pick a top ten when it comes to Dylan. Part of the reason why he is so great, is that he consistently has put out epic songs of the highest quality for five decaces. He's the opposite of a one hit wonder. And what about his later work? The bard of our time.
Posted By: jl (Guest) on May 28, 2010 at 08:20 AM

Too true. Dylan's the only popular musician you could actually spend time legitimately discussing in a college class. I wonder how people will interpret it all generations from now.

This list is made by people living in the past. Dylan has put out stuff to rival any of those songs on his last 4 albums! And where is A Hard-Rains-A-Gonna Fall!???
Posted By: llary (Guest) on May 28, 2010 at 03:00 AM

Change Lay, lady, lay with Not Dark Yet
and Subterranean Homesick Blues with A Hard Rain's a-gonna fall, and the list begins to look like something not too bad. But it seems like the ones who has made the list have not listened to Dylan after the 60's, except for Tangled up in blue. What a shame!
Posted By: sunset (Guest) on May 28, 2010 at 06:13 AM

Absolutely agree with the top 2 (though I probably would have switched them for personal reasons). Interesting that nothing in the top ten was released after 1975. A lot of great albums not getting represented there (though granted, a lot of crap albums too). 10 is tough enough with Dylan that I might have tried to break it up into 10 pre- and 10 post-motorcycle crash.
Posted By: THESTONE (Guest) on May 30, 2010 at 04:59 PM

Nothing against Dylan's post-Blood on the Tracks work, but can anybody honestly say it measures up to his work before that? It's the same with Paul McCartney. Yeah, Wings had some good songs, but there's just no comparison, in my opinion.

Andrew, the lack of "Positively 4th St." as even an honourable mention disappoints me. That said, I really can't argue the list, and narrowing Dylan's oeuvre down to just 10 tracks is a tireless task unto itself.

By the way, have you heard Pearl Jam's ripping version of "Masters of War?" Ed channels Bob's vitriolic energy & delivers big time.
Posted By: RudoWakening (Guest) on May 28, 2010 at 12:20 PM

I have heard a few versions with Eddie singing; one from the Dylan tribute concert and one from Letterman, and it's always terrific. Where Dylan let vitriol bubble just at about surface level, Eddie isn't afraid to just scream it all out.




Top Ten Live Albums


Seeing as how we celebrated Memorial Day on Monday and how summer is now unofficially underway, it's time for us to look at ahead at our summer concert schedules. And what better way to do that than to take a look back and rank the greatest all-time live albums? I couldn't think of a better way, either, so let's get right on with it. First, however, is the list of the albums that just missed the cut. We call those the honorable mentions.

Some Honorable Mentions: The Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East; The Clash - From Here to Eternity; John Coltrane - Newport '63; Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive; Jay-Z - MTV Unplugged; Wilco - Kicking Television: Live in Chicago




10. Daft Punk - Alive 2007


Sometime in 2006, Daft Punk unleashed a dynamic live show, full with pounding beats, flashing lights and a huge pyramid with the two men of Daft Punk themselves at the top, overseeing the party that was going on down below them. Quickly, the show became a must see, one that presumably wouldn't be suitably recreated on either CD or DVD. Thankfully, the band gave it a shot by releasing Alive 2007, a recording of a concert the band gave in Paris in June 2007 and the result was an album that may not have been quite up to the level of the concert itself, but still managed to do a great job of capturing the excitement of it all on CD.





The album's set list plays like a Daft Punk greatest hits collection, but the duo does a tremendous job of adding to and reinventing their songs so as to keep this form being just a bunch of Daft Punk songs done normally, but with some crowd noise in the background. Fully recreating that great Daft Punk live experience was a fruit-less effort, but Alive 2007 is the next best thing; you could also make the argument that this is the ultimate and definitive Daft Punk album since it combines their great live show, some of their biggest hits and also some of their weaker songs into something great that pretty much defines the band.





9. Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison


"Folsom Prison Blues" is one of Johnny Cash's most iconic songs, influenced by the movie Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison, and detailing the inner conflict of an inmate recounting his crimes while wishing he could be free and on the train he hears as it whistles by. It only made sense, then, that Cash would eventually make his way to Folsom Prison himself to perform a concert in 1968. The album, combining two shows played on one day at 9:40 AM and 12:40 PM, starts off with the famous utterance, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash" before "Folsom Prison Blues" starts up, and the audience reacts wildly, especially when Cash sings, "I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die."





Cash's performance all throughout the disc is pretty special, as he toes the line between relating to the convicts and entertaining them, all without romanticizing or glorifying any of it. That doesn't mean Cash didn't know his audience, as the album is full of songs about jail and murder, whether they be serious like "I Got Stripes" or darkly humorous like "25 Minutes to Go." If you ever need to figure out the outlaw appeal of Johnny Cash, one listen to At Folsom Prison should set you straight, since it shows Cash at his rebel best and gaining the favor of an audience full of convicts who see him as one of them.





8. Jeff Buckley - Mystery White Boy


If you wanted to put a Jeff Buckley live album on this list, you could have gone with Live at Sin-e, but I prefer Mystery White Boy, with its more fully realized Buckley as opposed to the burgeoning talent featured on that other disc. Released a few years after Buckley's premature death, Mystery White Boy captures a young musicians just realizing how to use all of his natural talents, including his great songwriting talents and his beautiful and evocative voice. That voice was the highlight of many songs and he used it to great effect, often letting it soar, turning live performances into high wire acts that he somehow managed to pull off, with Mystery White Boy being the proof.





The tracks featured on the album show Buckley live from 1995-1996, and they provide a good mix of material from his classic debut Grace as well as a number of covers that show off his influences. The opener "Dream Brother" floats effortlessly like it always does, as does "Last Goodbye" and never before released "I Woke Up in a Strange Place." A cover of Alex Chilton's "Kanga Roo" is great as well, and it also acts as a fine appetizer to the finale of the evening, a medley of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and the Smiths' "I Know It's Over" that is sublime. The shroud of Buckley's death hangs over the entire album but it doesn't keep Mystery White Boy from being mesmerizing and entertaining.





7. Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall 1971


For years, Neil Young had built up a library of archived live concerts that he planned to someday release; that took longer than many probably hoped for, but little by little certain recordings began to come out. A recording of a show done at the Fillmore East in 1970 done by Young with Crazy Horse was released an it was clearly something pretty great, but then came Live at Massey Hall 1971. Recorded in Toronto in that year and not released until 2007, the album is revelatory in one sense, but not so much in another. Sure, it's stunning to hear a performance this great, but it's also the kind of greatness we come to expect from Neil Young.





From albums like Harvest that were released around this time, it's clear that Young was peaking as a songwriter, but Massey Hall gives us a glimpse at the performing side of that Neil Young, and the result is great. In fact, some of the songs that would make Harvest so great are tested out here; "The Needle and the Damage Done" and "Old Man" are even more haunting and emotional than they were in their studio incarnations, which is saying something. Young was probably never better than he was around this time, and luckily Massey Hall is able to capture him at this point in his memorable career.





6. Pearl Jam - 11/6/00 - Seattle, Washington


In 2000, Pearl Jam took the unprecedented step of releasing every show on their European and North American tour on CD, seventy-two shows in all. It allowed fans to fully experience the band's tour, but they smartly saved the best for last. Following a long tour that was marred by the death of a number of fans at a show at a festival in Denmark, the band returned as heroes to Seattle for the last show of their tour, and they in no way disappointed the home crowd. The band was in full form for this three hour, thirty song show that covered most of the hits in the band's catalog, as well as a number of covers that help make the evening feel like something special. Songs like "Leatherman" and "Once" fit nicely with "Even Flow" and "Corduroy", proving the band to be an incredibly consistent one.





The show is highlighted by a rousing rendition of "Better Man," an emotional and powerful version of "Alive" and covers of Who classics like "Baba O'Riley" and "The Kids Are Alright." Never before had the band played with such conviction and force and from "Release" straight on through to the end of "Yellow Ledbetter," this bootleg features Pearl Jam at their best and most powerful, a group that ranks among the best live acts of all-time and one who also knew when to step up their game when the time was right. Pearl Jam's 2000 tour may have been an exhausting and difficult one, but they ended it on a triumphant note.





5. Kiss - Alive!


Ultimately, it doesn't really matter if none of Kiss' Alive! was overdubbed in a studio (as has been claimed over the years) or if all of it was overdubbed; this is the album that turned Kiss into mega stars and let Gene Simmons into our hearts, minds and wallets. It also contains an abundance of energy and passion that makes the record enticing and appealing, and the results pretty much speak for themselves. From the moment "Deuce" kicks into gear, it's pretty obvious that this music was pretty different than what was on rock radio at the time. Kiss managed to blast through any barriers that had previously held them back, and the power of Alive! is to thank.





It's weird to think that songs like "Strutter," Black Diamond," "Cold Gin" and "Rock and Roll All Nite" hadn't been major hits before this album came out, but for whatever reason it took Alive!'s success for people to recognize these songs. For all intents and purposes, Kiss have always been more of a live band than a studio band anyway, so it's properly fitting that it took a dynamic live recording of their already great songs for people to take notice of what they were doing. From that album cover and the band's image to their exuberant performances, Kiss comes off like a band that didn't know better and weren't aware they shouldn't be successful, so that should make us only more thankful for Alive!





4. James Brown - Live at the Apollo


James Brown is as an amazing and awe-inspiring live performer that popular music has ever seen, so any list of the best live albums without him, and this album specifically, would have to be considered null and void. If you think of James Brown as just the guy with the crazy mug shot, then do yourself favor and listen to Live at the Apollo and bear witness to greatness at work. Recorded in October 1962 and released in May 1963, this album pretty much flew off the shelves and cemented Brown as one of the premier voices of the time. Everything about this album is fantastic, from the screaming and shrieking fans to the introduction of Star Time to the performance of not just Brown himself, but also his more than stellar backing band the Famous Flames.





Live at the Apollo has large significance for a number of reasons, including establishing Brown's stature at the time as one of the preeminent performers of his era and also one of the most dynamic and entertaining live performers that we've ever seen, but the energy and passion bursting out of the album signify the transition from R&B to soul music, a move that shouldn't be shortchanged. For all the ways music have changed in the decades since, Live at the Apollo still sounds like the vital document that it is.





3. The Who - Live at Leeds


Speaking of legendary live performers, we come to the Who and their definitive live recording, Live at Leeds. The band was on tour in support of Tommy, and needed an album to bide time before the release of their next studio album, and so it was decided that a live album was in order. After screwups and technical problems, it came down to the band's performance in Leeds to be the recording that would be released. Thankfully the album features the Who at this visceral best, pounding out each note and each song with the kind of passion and blazing fury that made their studio recordings so great, as well.





This album may come the closest of defining the band's sound and appeal as anything they ever recorded, a fact that owes much to the band's notorious live shows that could very well leave you deaf (or did, in Pete Townshend's case). Each band member excelled when operating at maximum power, and we see that a lot on Live at Leeds, with Townshend's swirling guitars attacking in coordination with Roger Daltrey's howling vocals and Keith Moon's epic drumming. Shorter bursts like "Substitute" and "I Can't Explain" are quick and effective while jam sessions on "My Generation" and "Magic Bus" show new sides to already well known songs. In the end, Live at Leeds represents everything that was great about the Who.





2. Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York


The other albums on this list seemed to highlight what was already great about the band, enhancing those qualities for a live stage and making something special out of it. The opposite is true for Nirvana's MTV Unplugged, a somber album that revealed much about the band. The quieter, acoustic versions of their songs showed a band that had been hiding underneath all along while also giving some hints as to where the band may have gone in the future if not for Kurt Cobain's suicide. Like with Jeff Buckley, Cobain's death hangs over the entire show, but it also gives the show a context that makes it much more emotional than it would have been otherwise. The pain in Cobain's voice is almost uncomfortable at times, and it doesn't get easier when you remember what would eventually happen.





Unlike a lot of other artists that performed on the show, Nirvana didn't want their performance to just be the same songs, but with acoustic guitars instead of electric ones. They also refused to play only hits, so the result was an album of albums cuts and obscure covers that somehow managed to define the band as well as any of their works while simultaneously showing off a whole new side. For perhaps the first time, this was Kurt Cobain stripped completely bare, free of any glossy productions or inner and outside pressure; his cracking voice at the end of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" tells you everything you need to know about his emotional state. It's a shame we never got to see the progress the band could have made, but at least we have this Unplugged performance as proof of what they were capable of.





1. Led Zeppelin - How the West Was Won


Let's say you're a Led Zeppelin fan in 2003 and you're really interested in having one singular, amazing live recording of the band. Sure, you have that BBC Sessions CD, but that just doesn't quite do the trick. Well, what if I told you there was a triple album of live performances from California in 1972? And that this album had twenty minute-plus versions of both "Dazed and Confused" and "Whole Lotta Love"? Is that something you'd be interested in? Well, I'm assuming you, hypothetical Zeppelin fan, are quite excited about this possibility, and well you should be, because it turns out this triple albums is the greatest live record ever. Compiled by Jimmy Page, the album combines two different concerts into one super show that shows off the band at its absolute best, and he leaves no stone unturned for this two and a half hour journey through rock greatness.





Those twenty minute odysseys are only part of the story, though (as great as they are, because pretty much everything on here is meant to be there. It's hard to make a triple album without any filler, but Page found a way. "Immigrant Song," "Black Dog" and "Heartbreaker" provide plenty of weight and heaviness, "Going to California" has all the tenderness of the original recording, "Moby Dick" proves why there will never be another John Bonham as he goes wild for nineteen minutes, and "Rock and Roll" ratchets the energy well past eleven. There is plenty of muscular rock to go around here, along with rapturous and bluesy guitar solos, pounding drums and Robert Plant's unmistakable vocals providing just a bit more flash. How the West Was Won collects everything we believe to be true about Led Zeppelin and packages it into one amazing live recording that is unlikely to be matched in terms of sheer force. The bottom line is, How the West Was Won is essential for any Zeppelin fan, and any rock and roll fan, period.



That'll do it for this week folks, thanks for reading. If you have any questions, comments or concerns feel free to let me know, and make sure to leave your own lists in the comments. I'll see you all next week. And if you're out on your bike tonight, do wear white.