Music Spotlight - Great Live Albums - Part One

History of the live album

All early recordings were live recordings, in that you had to gather the subject(s) being recorded to perform live until the invention of the multi-track tape recorder which eventually led to ever increasing number of tracks (4, 8, 16, etc.) driving the evolution of the recording process, allowing the producer of the record to layer separate recordings, allowing musicians to re-do parts where they made mistakes, or a single musician to record all the instruments on their record.

As multi-track recording and "studio magic" came into vogue, the general focus moved to very clean recordings, re-worked until perfect by exacting producers.

Eventually both producers and fans felt that the energy and total experience provided by some acts simply could not be captured in a studio environment, which led to the production of "live albums."

What makes a great live album great?

This is of course my opinion and highly subjective, but these are the things that I look for in live albums:

• It should be a good representation of the band's live sound

• It should be well recorded (this doesn't mean that it has to be recorded using the best rig ever, I have heard stereo audience recordings that were quite good.)

• It should contain high quality performances of the material (was the band "on" that night?)

• It should be a concert that I attended (OK, this last one is just for me, but I'll bet that it's pretty universal. It's fun to have a live album of an event you attended.)

Butthole Surfers - Live PCPPEP

I'll start with what I often describe as my favorite live album when asked, but that's really not true as I have no favorite. I do love it like an old friend, however.

Butthole Surfers are a bizarre psychedelic punk band from San Antonio Texas that in many ways defy categorization. As musically dense and intense as their studio recordings are, they became best known for their over the top stage show, including overlaid projections and lights, often with extremely disturbing content, like penis surgery projected along with upside down cartoons. The use of LSD and Psilocybin were common among the band and the fans, leading to a very surreal experience at the shows.

While video is needed to really get an understanding of their stage insanity, this record is a very good audio representation of it.

Live PCPPEP was recorded live at The Meridian in San Antonio, Texas, on March 25, 1984 and is a fantastic representation of the band at that time. The recording is accurate ("clean" would be a stretch) and my only complaint would be that I would hope for more bass, but most punk records of the time suffered from a lack of low end.

Standout songs for me are "Bar-B-Q Pope", "Wichita Cathedral" and "Hey," but the whole album is a work of genius from start to finish. I have the vinyl version and felt that Gibby and crew would have supported my decision to play it at both 45RPM (the one it's "supposed" to be played at) and 33RPM.

It's worth watching some of the live Butthole Surfers shows that exist (with video) on YouTube, especially if you have never seen what they did. If you were there watching it can bring you right back. Although this live album isn't on Spotify by itself, it's included with their debut album here tracks 13-18.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Rust Never Sleeps

Neil Young is an artist who has recorded a tremendous amount of studio material, but he does have elements of his performance which really shine in a live environment. Neil has a rare relationship with both volume and tone that most of his generation of rockers lack. It is this relationship that causes Young's music to relate to the music of bands like Butthole Surfers for a fan like me, much more than someone like David Crosby could ever have.

This album is book-ended with iconic Young songs "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)", and "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" which are both powerful songs with different ways of expressing Young's strong opinions on volume and tone. While I tend to feel that most music should be heard loud and on a quality sound system, Young is an artist who I feel really can't be understood without both volume and quality audio gear. As told here Young went to extremes when checking final mixes, so I don't think I am wrong about this.

The whole album is full of great cuts, like "Thrasher" or "Powderfinger", far too many to embed here, so here's a link to the whole album on Spotify. I want to start to use Spotify more on this blog in order to hopefully generate some income for the artists.

Bad Brains - The Youth Are Getting Restless

I am unapologetically a massive fan of Bad Brains and I am certainly not alone in being one. Bad Brains are a band that seem to have influenced everyone. For those who watch music documentaries, they are frequently brought up when artists are asked for their influences.

There are several live recordings of Bad Brains but for many reasons this is my favorite. This one is of the band during the "I Against I" tour, and was recorded at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, so right off the bat, they were working with a more professional sound system than anywhere they were playing in the US at the time. In addition to that, we are hearing the band at what I consider to be their peak, they are still convincingly playing the early material and have incorporated the new "I Against I" material into the live set, showcasing their virtuosity in ways not seen before. In addition the recording is clean and well produced, and the performance is on point. By my criteria, this is an outstanding live album.

It starts with a few of their powerful punk tunes and continues into the more metal "House Of Suffering" before sliding effortlessly into one of their reggae jams, this time their inventive take on mashing up "Day Tripper" and "She's a Rainbow" in a reggae style.

Here's "House of Suffering" and "Day Tripper/She's A Rainbow"

From later in the show, this is another of their reggae jams, "The Youth Are Getting Restless", this time turning a King Tubby bass line into a jam about a brewing revolution that is quite relatable all these years later:

Another highlight for me is "At The Movies" which features a mind blowing guitar solo from Dr. Know pushing past any preconceptions of hardcore punk guitar playing. For one thing it's not a fast solo, which is interesting coming from a band known for playing fast, then additionally, it's "out there" from a jazz perspective, and the solo just gets further and further "out there" until it's just a growl at times. It's no wonder that "Dr. Know" has been a major influence on every hardcore punk guitarist ever since. Also talk about a relationship with volume and tone! Play it loud!

As with the other artists listed, it's worthwhile to seek out any videos of their live performances, as something this intense really needs to be seen as well as heard.

Since I really love live music and live albums, I expect this to be part one in a long series. I hope I turn you on to some albums you were unaware of!