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Bands With MANY (Semi-)Official Live Albums...

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sharkcrap11 Just A Guy from A Special Hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
Just A Guy
#1: Oct 4th 2014 at 11:24:35 PM

...And Which Ones Are Best, to finish the title. wink

Just downloaded some King Crimson live tracks and improvs, and I kinda made note of just how many freaking live albums, official and otherwise, they have. Namely, 15 official ones and 38 in the Collector's Club series. And then there's the Collectable and DGM Live series, and the various comps that have live tracks. surprised

Where I'm going with this is basically this: which bands have MANY official or semi-official live albums- bootlegs don't count for this post. And, which ones do you think are the best, and why?

I seem to recall that Phish have quite a few (probly more than Crim), and The Grateful Dead are obvious shoe-ins as well. tongue

Also, one of the best of the King Crimson live collections (IMNSHO, anyways) is the classic 4-disk The Great Deceiver collection, which features the Lark's Tongue...-Red lineup and has a TON of improvs, some great versions of various key tunes of theirs and pretty great sound. [awesome] The Night Watch is quite good as well, though it has fewer improvs and is much shorter. [tup] And Epitaph (4 more disks) has some awesome playing (it's the '69 lineup), but the sound ranges from average to pretty terrible...

edited 4th Oct '14 11:25:22 PM by sharkcrap11

Rvdz Don't mock the shocker from in a bar, under the sea Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Don't mock the shocker
#2: Oct 5th 2014 at 1:36:12 AM

Pearl Jam sells live recordings of every concert they do on their site. Haven't heard one myself yet, but from what I've heard the sound quality is pretty awesome. Plus, since they never play the same setlist all the live cd's are pretty essential if you're a really hardcore fan.

Sing the song of sixpence that goes burn the witch, we know where you live
Surenity Since: Aug, 2009
#3: Oct 5th 2014 at 2:45:13 AM

Kraftwerk had a few unofficial live albums floating around until they finally did an official one in 2009. I happen to own a CD of one they did in the 70's, pre-Radioactivity.

My tropes launched: https://surenity2.blogspot.com/2021/02/my-tropes-on-tv-tropes.html
MrMallard Since: Oct, 2010
#4: Oct 5th 2014 at 10:34:31 AM

Counting Crows have some live albums to their name - and apparently a torrent network for fans to release live recordings? They like to mix it up and do acoustic versions of their songs usually, and hearing the crowd go absolutely nuts over the songs is just spectacular and energizing.

sharkcrap11 Just A Guy from A Special Hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
Just A Guy
#5: Oct 5th 2014 at 2:04:49 PM

@ Rvdz: Now that you mention it, I do remember they had quite a few- in fact, didn't they do one tour where they decided to release most of the shows as albums or something? tongue Also, I'll admit that not playing the same setlist twice is a great idea. I hear great things about Pearl Jam live... grin

@ Surenity: How is it? tongue Also, how many have they done, roughly?

@ So they kinda have what Phish has going, then? Cause I recall they have a site for downloading and posting live shows (and only live shows- the studio albums and official live albums are decidedly NOT available there)... tongue I like some of Counting Crows stuff, may need to check this out... smile

Surenity Since: Aug, 2009
#6: Oct 5th 2014 at 7:39:23 PM

[up] I'm not sure what other live Kraftwerk albums are floating around out there. The album I have is called Kraftwerk Concert Classics, made in 1998, though the concert is from 1975. It is pretty good though, being played at what sounds like a small venue with little interruption from the audience, and they perform a couple tracks from their disowned first albums as well. Interestingly, the track listing is mislabeled on the back cover, it says the last two tracks are "Morgenspaziergang" Parts one and two, when they're really "Tanzmusik" and "Kling Klang".

edited 5th Oct '14 7:40:23 PM by Surenity

My tropes launched: https://surenity2.blogspot.com/2021/02/my-tropes-on-tv-tropes.html
sharkcrap11 Just A Guy from A Special Hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
Just A Guy
#7: Oct 6th 2014 at 10:01:54 PM

That DOES sound promising, I'll admit, especially if the sound quality is as good as you say. grin I'm also curious- did they re-arrange any of the songs from those first few albums (the disowned ones)?... tongue

Surenity Since: Aug, 2009
#8: Oct 7th 2014 at 12:35:07 AM

[up] I'd have to listen to the original versions again but I think they did play them a little different. Not that different though, I guess it was still 1975. I know Kometenmelodie sounds a lot different on the live album, it starts out with bells chiming and a pipe organ, and then Ralf Hutter saying something in German into a vocoder that I have trouble translating.

Anyway, I found the album on Youtube if you're curious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m_9vrIqN0U

My tropes launched: https://surenity2.blogspot.com/2021/02/my-tropes-on-tv-tropes.html
Rvdz Don't mock the shocker from in a bar, under the sea Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Don't mock the shocker
#9: Oct 7th 2014 at 11:58:59 AM

[up][up][up][up] Yeah, Pearl Jam live is awesome, just take a look at these three setlists (I was at the second one :D). And yeah, I'm sure they actually did something like that in 2000 or so, and now they basically do it for every show. I still need to get the live recordings of both Amsterdam shows. evil grin

edited 7th Oct '14 12:03:26 PM by Rvdz

Sing the song of sixpence that goes burn the witch, we know where you live
sharkcrap11 Just A Guy from A Special Hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
Just A Guy
#10: Oct 7th 2014 at 1:16:31 PM

@ Surenity: I seem to recall that the original Kometenmelodie on Autobahn was a two-part suite with a slow, ambient-ish synth-driven first part and a slightly more kinetic second part with a beat and such... tongue Bells and a pipe organ are definitely different...

Excellent! grin I must give this a listen... [tup]

@ Rvdz: Great stuff, especially some of the encore stuff. [tup] Makes me wish I'd seen 'em live when they were in Kitchener a few years back... sad

MrMallard Since: Oct, 2010
#11: Oct 8th 2014 at 6:19:16 AM

Counting Crows in particular are fond of playing their more up-tempo poppy hits in a more subdued acoustic way during live shows - they pretty much rearranged Mr Jones after it became their breakout hit, and Adam Duritz got so sick of it.

They also have a killer version of a song called Sullivan Street, where he talks for a minute about a relationship he had - then the guitar takes off into this great, sweeping spectacle that hasn't been replicated on any other recording. It's like listening to magic being made.

The Mr Jones example is on their Across A Wire live album in New York, and the Sullivan Street is from their August and Everything After live album from 2011. Both are great albums in their own right, even if the latter has an opening that drags on forever.

BrainSewage from that one place Since: Jan, 2001
#12: Oct 8th 2014 at 10:17:59 AM

@OP: Man, I clicked on this thread specifically so I could add King Crimson to the list, only to see it in the first friggin' sentence. You ever hear the rendition of "21st Century Schizoid Man" on the Cirkus live set? That's the best one I've heard so far.

edited 8th Oct '14 10:18:18 AM by BrainSewage

How dare you disrupt the sanctity of my soliloquy?
sharkcrap11 Just A Guy from A Special Hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
Just A Guy
#13: Oct 9th 2014 at 5:38:33 PM

[up] Yup. [tup] Cirkus is one of their better live albums, IMO, so I would tend to agree there...

[up][up] Counting Crows are a pretty solid band, actually, especially live, if some of the live stuff I've heard online is any indication. I've always loved it when bands improvise stuff and play very different-sounding versions of their songs live... grin

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