One of my favourite live albums:
John Cale - Sabotage Live
I don’t think any of these songs were recorded in the studio which is strange as they rank as some of Cale’s best.
Highlight for me throughout is Marc Aaron’s guitar work with a tone that rivals Earl Slick’s (Gibson SG junior & MXP effects) on Bowie’s David Live.
In truth there aren’t many live albums I listen to without the visuals so I have a large collection of live concert blurays and DVD’s. Deacon Blue’s “Live at Glasgow Barrowlands” is a standout for me though and further reinforces their reputation as one of the very best live bands I have seen - their live performances are very often much better than on their studio albums.
JonathanG
RIP Bruce Guthro.
This thread is doing exactly what I wanted it to… brilliant… another interesting one from me and then another obvious “must” inclusion.
Bill Haley & His Comets: Live in Paris 14-15 October 1958
These were apparently the first rock and roll concerts in France. It’s chaos, and because they were in theatres the audience wasn’t allowed to stand. They have to keep trying to get the audience to sit down or else they’ll have to stop the concert. It all starts here…
My “obvious” inclusion is my contender for best rock live album. AC/DC If you want blood… To me this has got everything… energy, the live sound, the crowd’s energy… it just does it for me from beginning to end.
Such a good album, “Ready for war……indeed!
Indeed - what a blistering Cale delivery
2000 feet and closing
Target visibility nine eight
500m and closing
Target visibility eight four
300m and closing
Target visibility nine five
200m and closing
Visibility seven eight
100m and closing
Target visibility ZEROooooooooo!
Continuing with the Bloomfield connection, this is fascinating if you can get past the sound quality, probably for completists only.
Dennis & Mark are still in the current line up, they often share a bill with a version of Dr Feelgood.
Dennis Greaves strived so hard to be a star - his other band (The Truth) went from mod revivalists in the early/mid eighties to some kind of California FM radio outfit, covering things like Argent’s god gave rock n’ roll to you - long hair, denim and everything 
. He was/is a great talent but the planets just didn’t align for him.
You will probably remember 9 Below Zero’s performance of 11+11 on the very first episode of The Young Ones.
Forgot about these two - some of the finest live soul recordings ever. The clapping from the audience at the start of Donny Hathaway’s ‘The Ghetto’ is the best audience clapping full stop
Yep
Like a lot of the live album suggestions on this thread and it especially brought back memories of the Mott the Hoople live concert recording - this was by far the most violent concert I have ever attended absolutely manic.
Agreed. One of, if not, the best live albums of all time. On every level this is quite magnificent: playing, atmosphere, song forms, sound quality.
A good summary well put - thank you. I followed Dennis in The Truth a great guitar player and songwriter but as you say sometimes that just isn’t enough.
Oh yes 11 + 11 on The Young Ones from possible the first episode.
Live Dates was one of the first live albums that I owned and have loved ever since. Must have more WA live recordings than any other band.
This was the other one that has been a fave for nearly 50 years. The raw energy is so enjoyable.
Judy Collins - Living
I was 15 in the hot summer of 1976 and had a summer job saving up for a moped.
Every morning I would fall out bed reach over to my stereo - that’s we called them in those days and put on the track Chelsea Morning.
Wasn’t sure where my life would take me but…
Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning
And the first thing that I knew
There was milk and toast and honey
And a bowl of oranges, too
And the sun poured in like butterscotch
And stuck to all my senses
And absolutely they were a phenomenal live band. Saw them 5 times (the second gig with Queen as a support band no less).
Yes, it’s an old favourite. Seen them loads of times starting with the Laurie Wisefield era onwards!
