"It's Only Rock and Roll..."
It seems like it has been ages when you could actually go out and see live music or a movie or a play and while I don’t go to many concerts, I really do enjoy live music. Thats what today’s Substack is about…Live music.
Like any art form, music is subjective. You like what you like, disregard the rest as they say. My subject today is live music albums and what you think might be some of the greatest live albums of all time.
As I said, this is a subjective list and I would love to hear from anyone and everyone regarding what they feel might be some of the greatest live albums ever recorded.
My list has obvious choices and a couple of choices that, if you haven’t heard them, might be worth a listen.
I will start with a few of the obvious ones, in no special order:
“The Allman Brothers:Live at the Fillmore East.”
Taken from two nights at the Fillmore East in New York in 1971, this album shows the virtuosity of every member and how special they were live. Some of the jams are a little long but that’s what the Allman’s do bettter than anyone else.
“The Who: Live at Leeds.”
One of my all time favorites and should be included on anyone’s list even if you weren’t a fan. The energy from Townsend to Moon is non-stop and Daltry’s voice was pure and easy. There are remastered versions with more songs and which were mainly an introduction to ‘Tommy”. I like the original and on vinyl, if you can find it, is pure rock and roll.
“Humble Pie: Rockin’ The Fillmore”
When the album was released in November of 1971 the band was well known in the US and it seemed the strife between Peter Frampton and Steve Marriot made more headlines in the rock press than did their music. Frampton left the band before the release of the album and had a pretty good solo career as well. You would never know there were issues when they recorded this two record set. It was raw, high energy and it proved that Steve Marriot had one of the most underrated voice in rock.
“Rolling Stones: Get Yer Ya Yas Out”
This album, released in September, 1970, captured the Stones at their best. They were always a great live show, visually and musically, but this album captures the true essence of the Stones in the late ‘60’s early ‘70’s. Raucous, rollicking and tight. Mick Jagger is the star here but every song ends up being the star and thats the way a live show should be, the music should be front and center.
“Little Feat: Waiting on Columbus”
This one is one of my personal favorites. If you ever want to get the true gist of Little Feat, all you need to do is listen to this album, cover to cover. They were a Boogie/Jam/Rock band before it became popular. The live version of “Dixie Chicken” still sticks out in my mind and always causes me to smile.
“Deep Purple: Made in Japan”
I never really appreciated Deep Purple when I was younger. Sure everyone listened to “My Woman From Tokyo” or “Smoke on the Water” but there was so much more to this group. The highlight for me is “Lazy”. I still think that “Lazy” has the greatest intro of any song in rock history. On this record it’s even better.
“Johnny Cash: Live at Folsom Prison”
Is it Rock? Not really but who cares? Someone once said to me that Johnny Cash was an acquired taste and I couldn’t believe some could be so stupid. Johnny Cash is all about taste and feeling and struggles. This album was unprecedented at the time and Cash didn’t care. He had been playing prisons for years and he wanted to record one or two of his shows because he always felt that connection and his audience did too. The audience ate it up because they knew Cash wasn’t pandering, he was one of them, just free. Not one bad song on the whole album.
Those are just a few albums I think should be on that list. Feel free to tell me what you think about my initial list and what albums you think should be included. At some point, I will put out that composite list and we can argue about it then as well.