Are there any songs or albums for which you prefer the live version?
It’s not quite the same but I like Daft Punk’s Alive 2007 as a mash up of their two albums. Nightwish’s Ghost Love Score and Green Day’s Jesus of Suburbia.
Portishead (Roseland NYC) and Wax Tailor (Phonovisions)
I think Rage Against the Machine should’ve just avoided the studio altogether. They were so good live. Killing in the Name is great.
Haven’t seems Muse since Black Holes, but they were also very good live.
Rush-dreamline: studio version is so weak. Live has epic energy
Cheap trick-want you to want me : there is a reason you never hear the studio version. Its terrible.
Tool's Third Eye hits differently when live for me.
Led Zeppelin - How the West Was Won
I'd heard many times from people who were old enough to see them live that it was a completely unique experience, describing how the band fed off the energy of the crowd.
Didn't fully comprehend the magnitude of that truth until I heard that live album. I've heard other live albums from other artists where it was performed roughly the same as the studio version with the further addition of a cheering crowd. This was a completely different animal.
How The West Was Won really showcased how malleable a work is in the hands of truly talented artists.
This album was a game changer/lifesaver for this band. Had it not been for the success of the live version of “Rock & Roll All Night”, they may have never been as much a draw as they were/are? I dunno either but “ KISS Alive” brought the goods of three previous studio albums into a masterpiece of technical significance. Live recordings with studio overdubs. It was great & we loved it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alive!_(Kiss_album)
This version is just superior.
Iggy Pop's live version of I Wanna Be Your Dog from the Crow: City of Angels Soundtrack. It's noisy and raw, sounds great.
The War on Drugs - Under the Pressure - Live
The build in this tune is epic. Best live version I've found so far.
(Uploader says that the equalizer has been messed with, I'd love to find the original video)
Reel Big Fish's "Our Live Album is Better Than Your Live Album" is a masterpiece of ska
I saw them live 7-8 years ago in Dallas, awesome show! Went to the bar run by the same concert venue afterwards, they were in there hanging out! I got to take photo with them and everything, loved it!
Love this album, and I still sometimes jokingly shout "shut up! I'm trying to be funny" at my friends if they interrupt me. The songs are amazing but the crowd interaction is just as memorable for me
Counting Crows Across a wire concert album was great! I loved everything about it even though I already loved the original songs and rhe original albums. Yes I am a hardcore fan, but that album was perfection!
All of Linkin Park's "Live In Texas", basically.
There's an album for Simon and Garfunkel live at Madison square garden. I think I only really love it more than most of their other stuff because it's the album I grew up on and it's got all the classics. Unfortunately I couldn't find it on Spotify, but it's probably out there.
It's not an album necessarily, but there is a Portugal The Man live sort of half documentary half album that's done acoustically. It's awesome, I think it really highlights how eclectic they are as a group.
Similarly, not an album, but there's a few accoustic songs done by Manchester Orchestra in one sitting that's on YouTube and it's just absolutely gorgeous. It's my favorite songs of theirs and it's just beautiful.
There’s an album for Simon and Garfunkel live at Madison square garden.
They did a benefit concert of some kind in Central Park, and it was all the TV picked up a few years later as my mom held me when I was sick as hell and we stayed up on the couch, in the dark, no picture but the sound on. It was hours, and I hated their music then as it wasn't Tony Basil and had neither Huey nor any News. But It's grown on me since I associate the two. I love the Disturbed cover of TSoS.
Roger Waters - The Wall
Thursday - Full Collapse live
Lots of stuff from I Might Be Wrong by Radiohead. Like Spinning Plates, especially.
Clavicle (Live acoustic in London) 05/11/2005 - Alkaline Trio
I first heard this version around 2008 and it would pop up in my head over the years. My high school best friend and I moved into our first apartment together and we both love this band. Early youtube days meant that we found a lot of live shows to listen to until we got cable. I couldn't find it for so long and thought it was lost media, only to exist in our heads, for years. I finally found the whole show 2 months ago and sent him the links. We've been listening to it on repeat ever since.
Test Dept when they played live in an old car factory. The drumming and vocals (later in the track) are much better in the live version
P.U.L.S.E.is probably the best live album out there, with Comfortably Numb on it surpassing all of the other versions I've ever heard
There´s a Talking Heads live album called "The Name of this band is Talking Heads" which is incredible and surpasses their studio versions IMO.
The War Is Over by Phil Ochs
John Farnham was incredible live, but a special shout out for his version of Help, the one with the orchestra backing (edit: Melbourne Symphony).
For me he's up there with the best male vocalists ever, Help was the last song after 3 hours or so on stage and you can tell he's loving every moment as much as the crowd are. The album version is excellent but the live one...
Alive 2007 is the best daft punk album and it's not even close
I prefered the experience of hearing songs live but man its tough for live to beat the equipment and control that comes from a studio.
Big Black’s Pig Pile absolutely slaps as a live album over the studio versions.
Tame impala did a live video of the innerspeaker album that sounds better the studio album. Plus the video starts at dusk and slowly transitions to darkness as the album progresses so it looks tight.
Midlife Crisis by Faith No More is much better on the live performance from a late night show.
Johnny Winter had a great live version of Mean Town Blues I forget which version though. He also had a good live cover of jumping jack flash.
Alive 2007 is a masterpiece, right up there with it for me is Justice - across the universe
Some other notable favorites for me.
Bridge over troubled water - Aretha franklin - live at the Filmore west
I wish I knew how it feels to be free - Nina Simone - the montreux years
Momma look a boo boo Dey - lord melody - having trouble finding the right album but live versions are considerably better
Lagrimas Negras - many artists, not sure who did it originally- Cuba Feliz live
Josh Ritter's Kathleen performance from Live at the Iveagh Gardens has far and away subsumed the studio version for me. The original track is fine, I guess, but there's some kind of alchemy in that live performance that takes it from a kinda sleepy singer/songwriter ballad to a roots rock revival jam. Or something like that. Idk, I'm certainly no music critic, but I know which version I prefer.
chris de burgh - high on emotion live is better than the studio
Ministry - Stigmata from In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up.
Especially the ending. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK
Opio & the syzygy orchestra live at redrocks.
Smashing Pumpkins - Thru The Eyes Of Ruby, Bristol Academy 1996 is the 'proper' version of the song in my head now, the album version sounds weird lol
Alice in Chains MTV acoustic album
A lot of the Unplugged concerts are so much better, IMO
Oooohhh Layne had such a beautiful haunting voice. I still remember the first time I listened to Jar of flies, I just stood still taking in this new sound and the lyrics were so depressing and obscure and... man! I feel 16 again just typing this up. I brcame an instant fan and would have loved to see them live.
Ohhh, excellent example. That album is fantastic.