I was tagging songs on my Last.fm account the other day (I like to listen to an eclectic mix of music while I work) when I noticed the sheer number of live albums which were being scrobbled from my music library. In no particular order or ranking (they are all equally excellent listening):
- Live at the Fillmore East (1971)
The Allman Brothers Band - Circles in the Stream (1977/2005)
Bruce Cockburn - Live And Dangerous (1978)
Thin Lizzy - Just One Night (1980)
Eric Clapton - Live In Boston (2004)
Fleetwood Mac - Return to Forever Live: The Complete Concert (1977)
Return to Forever - Procol Harum Live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (1972)
Procol Harum - Live On Tour in Europe (1976)
The Billy Cobham — George Duke Band - Performance Rockin’ the Fillmore (1971)
Humble Pie - What Do You Want From Live (1978)
The Tubes - Raunch ‘N Roll Live (1972/2007)
Black Oak Arkansas - Stand In The Fire (1980/2007)
Warren Zevon - Live: Bursting Out (1978)
Jethro Tull - Live Killers (1979)
Queen - Zappa In New York (1978)
Frank Zappa - Rock ‘N Roll Animal (1974)
Lou Reed - The Turning Point (1969)
John Mayall - Roxy & Elsewhere (1974)
Frank Zappa - Super Session (1968)
Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, Stephen Stills - The Jean-Luc Ponty Experience with The George Duke Trio (1969)
Jean-Luc Ponty
Perhaps it was the advent of the music video, MTV, the videotape recorder/player and the eventual evolution of the DVD player along with the rest of the technological wonders of the last twenty years or so that led to the gradual demise of the great live albums. Has any recent band and/or musician released a live album that measures up to the great live albums like those listed above? Where is the impetus for bands/musicians today to record great live albums if a video or a DVD will suffice? I don’t know. There’s something about a really well recorded live album that sticks with you long after you have heard it. It’s like an artifact of an other time. As much as a video or a DVD may attempt to (and in certain ways it may surpass a live recording) it doesn’t capture this aspect of the live album experience. Perhaps this is why field recordings are still so popular.
Let me ask, if and when a Zappa “Roxy DVD” is released, will it take away any of the mystique from the original vinyl recording?
