Index
Twenty-five Killer Concert Sets
Here they are—the 25 live albums that belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If the Hall enshrined albums, that is.25. The MC5, Kick out the Jams (1969)
As soon as you hear the title song (covered by a number of acts including a tame version by Blue Oyster Cult) or the metallic blast of "Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)," you will experience temporal displacement—this live set sounds as if it was recorded in 1978, not 1968. No wonder this proto-punk band didn't make it at the time—but the MC5 is a cornerstone of modern rock, as just one listen to Kick out the Jams will confirm.
24. Jefferson Airplane, Bless Its Pointed Little Head (original release: 1969)
Jefferson Airplane was not only the best of the San Francisco hippie bands, it also made the best live album of the period. Don't believe it? The Airplane was a power trio (guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, bassist Jack Casady, drummer Spencer Dryden) that backed three singer-songwriters (Marty Balin, Grace Slick, Paul Kantner), and that sounded awesome, from the compact statements "Somebody to Love" and "Plastic Fantastic Lover" to the extended rumblings of "Bear Melt." And they even made Donovan ("Fat Angel") sound tough too.
23. Jimi Hendrix, Band of Gypsys (original release: 1970)
There have been a plethora of posthumous Jimi Hendrix live releases, many of which are technically better than this one. (And I'm still keeping my LP version of Hendrix in the West because "Little Wing" and especially "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" are not the same on the CD reissue.) However, Band of Gypsys, the only one released during his lifetime, remains important because it marked a crucial transition in Hendrix's short but meteoric career. Most of the songs are just okay, but "Machine Gun," a ground-zero inspiration for funk-rock, hints where this titan may have gone had he lived.
22. Aretha Franklin, Amazing Grace (original release: 1972)
The passion and the power that fueled Aretha Franklin's galvanic soul performances are on full display on this dynamic gospel set—just listen to how she fires up the choir, and vice versa. Franklin sprinkles the secular ("Wholly Holy," "You'll Never Walk Alone") among the spirituals ("How I Got Over," the rousing "Old Landmark," the marathon "Amazing Grace"), backed by a crack band (including guitarist Cornell Dupree, bassist Chuck Rainey, and drummer Pretty Purdie) that, elsewhere, drove her nasty secular stuff (e.g., "Rock Steady") as well.
21. Led Zeppelin, How the West Was Won (2003)
How concerned with legacy is Jimmy Page? After decades of the middling, tepid The Song Remains the Same being Zep's official live testament, the guitarist turns around and finds some concert tracks that justify the band's reputation as one of the best live acts of the 1970s. Better late than never, I suppose—even if he does brag about it in the title. The big guns are here, of course, but the modest gems ("Since I've Been Loving You," "That's the Way") are the pleasant surprises, while the extended "Whole Lotta Love" is classic hard-rock concert grandstanding.
20. Frank Zappa, TinselTown Rebellion (1981)
Leaving aside just what is "live" in Frank Zappa's conceptual-continuity universe, picking among his many concert sets is difficult, but Tinsel Town not only has a good mix of material from the Mothers' days forward, but a first-class band, including Ike Willis, Ray White, Steve Vai, and drumming god Vinnie Colaiuta, to drive it home, from "Easy Meat" and "Pick Me, I'm Clean" to "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" and the barbed title track, a lampoon of punk and New Wave. Meanwhile, we get a taste of Zappa's infamous "audience participation" ("Dance Contest") along with an aromatic surprise ("Panty Rap").
19. Santana, Lotus (original release: 1974)
Buttressed by the best of his early 1970s material and a number of sharp improvisations besides, Carlos Santana boldly leaps into the fusion fray, backed by a sizzling, sinuous band that generates the intensity of early Weather Report—with the crucial addition of Carlos's blazing lead guitar and its sustain that famously lasts into the middle of next week. There are some long ones here ("Every Step of the Way," "Incident at Neshabur"), but they are the antithesis of boring, and just check the closing wallop of "Toussaint L'Overture."
18. Motorhead, No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith (original release: 1981)
All right—this one is a ringer: This may not fit as "classic rock"—in fact, it sounds the death knell of classic rock—but No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith makes such a bookend with the Who's Live at Leeds that I had to include it. Besides, its stripped-down metal taken at punk-rock tempos—not forgetting bassist Lemmy's lycanthropic growling—spelled the future of rock, from "Stay Clean" to "Iron Horse" to "We Are the Road Crew."
17. Johnny Cash, At Folsom Prison (original release: 1968)
In case you thought country couldn't be rock, let alone punk, Cash's first live prison record will convince you otherwise. This was a gutsy move that reinforced his instinctive populism; just listen to how engaged Cash is, both in his performances and in the between-song patter with his (ahem) captive audience, who eats it up like Christmas candy. "25 Minutes to Go" and the title track spoke to the incarcerated, while "Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart" showed he had a sense of humor. And naturally he duets with wife June on "Jackson."
16. Jackson Browne, Running on Empty (original release: 1977)
One of the most unusual live albums because it features not only all-new songs by Jackson Browne (and others) but they are played onstage, backstage, in hotel rooms, on buses, and who knows where else. "The Load-Out"/"Stay" and the title song, arguably the apotheosis of Browne's soulful, yearning angst, are the marquee draws, but "Rosie," "ShakyTown," and "You Love the Thunder" are fan favorites too.
15. Little Feat, Waiting for Columbus (original release: 1978)
Another underrated band, particularly on stage, where Little Feat's heady mix of funk-rock, seasoned with soul, country, and blues, generated a bracing, robust head of steam. Adding the Tower of Power horns here smacks of slickness although they ultimately enhance a killer line-up that includes fan favorites "Willin'," "Fat Man in the Bathtub," "Sailin' Shoes," and a nasty "Spanish Moon" while the Dixieland flavor of "Dixie Chicken" segues into the slamming "Tripe Face Boogie" with assurance. And, boy, do these guys sound assured on Waiting for Columbus.
14. B.B. King, Live at the Regal (1965)
If you had to pick the definitive album from B.B.'s long, illustrious, and hugely influential career, Live at the Regal is not a bad choice as so many of its tracks are signature tunes, including "Every Day I Have the Blues," "Sweet Little Sixteen," and "How Blue Can You Get." And like James Brown and Otis Redding, King shows on his live set just how masterful he is at orchestrating the concert experience. If you can't be there in person, this is the next-best thing, while "Help the Poor" shows just how hilarious this blues titan can be.
13. Bob Marley and the Wailers, Live! (original release: 1975)
Just as reggae was beginning to make serious inroads into Western pop, Marley and his band put the icing on the cake with this early definitive statement. Each one of the seven tunes from the original release is a Marley touchstone, from "Trenchtown Rock" to "No Woman, No Cry" to the anthemic "Get Up, Stand Up," which became a Third World rallying cry. With rocksteady rhythm from the Barretts, Aston and Carlton, and the I-Threes backing him vocally, Marley proved himself to be as much as rock star as anyone.
12. Van Morrison, It's Too Late to Stop Now . . . (original release: 1974)
A tremendous self-assessment not only of his career and his influences but even of his generation ("Wild Children"), It's Too Late to Stop Now finds Van Morrison pulling out all the technical and emotional stops as he revisits his early Them days ("Gloria," "Here Comes the Night"), his rocking instincts ("Caravan," "Domino," "I've Been Working"—which Bob Seger later covered on his own landmark live album), and his Caledonia soul ("Cypress Avenue," "St. Dominic's Preview," "Into the Mystic") along with the nod to his blues ("I Just Want to Make Love to You") and soul inspirations ("I Believe to My Soul," "Bring It on Home to Me"). The band cannot always match him (particularly the backing vocals), but Morrison is so on top of his game here it's a wonder anyone can keep up.
11. Deep Purple, Made in Japan (original release: 1973)
Exemplifying Deep Purple's brief but memorable mid-1970s glory period, every one of the seven tracks on the original album surpasses its studio counterpart, largely because this was a hard-rock band in its prime: While silver-tongued, leather-lunged singer Ian Gillan hit the stratosphere in "Child in Time," quicksilver guitarist Ritchie Blackmore was firing off fleet-fingered solos in "Highway Star" and "Smoke on the Water" while sparring with Gillan ("Strange Kind of Woman") and keyboardist Jon Lord ("Lazy"). The capper is the twenty-minute opus "Space Truckin'," which approaches progressive rock while evincing a cinematic, sci-fi feel.
10. The Band and Various Artists, The Last Waltz soundtrack (1978)
Truth be told, veteran road warriors the Band sounds a little perfunctory during its farewell concert famously filmed by Martin Scorsese. However, it is the stellar array of guests that makes this elegy not only to the Band but to classic rock a milestone. Those luminaries include former bosses Ronnie Hawkins ("Who Do You Love") and Bob Dylan ("Baby, Let Me Follow You Down") along with Joni Mitchell ("Coyote"), Neil Young ("Helpless"), Van Morrison ("Caravan"), and Eric Clapton ("Further on up the Road"), although it takes Paul Butterfield's duet with Levon Helm on the propulsive "Mystery Train" to really goose the Band into top gear.
9. Otis Redding, Live in Europe (1967)
Just how great a loss was Otis Redding's? Just listen to this and mourn the lost possibilities. Using as his core the same set with which he wowed the crowd at the Monterey Pop Festival, Redding, again backed by the incomparable Booker T. and the MGs, not only proves himself the soul man both swinging ("Respect," "Shake") and suffering ("I've Been Loving You Too Long," "Try a Little Tenderness"), but with his irresistible renditions of "Day Tripper" and "Satisfaction" he proves himself a rocker too. Gone much, much too soon.
8. Bob Dylan and the Band, Before the Flood (1974)
This may be the most fascinating live set on this list. Reuniting with the Band after his lengthy withdrawal from the public eye, Dylan revisits his back catalog with a vengeance—he reinterprets everything from "Blowin' in the Wind" to "Like a Rolling Stone" to "Lay Lady Lady" so drastically that you are forced to re-evaluate what those songs meant previously, both to you and to him. And fired by Dylan's intensity, the Band injects brimstone into its own songs ("The Weight," "Stage Fright," and a previously unreleased "Endless Highway") as well as into its backing of Dylan, although the trio of songs done solo by Dylan, including an incisive "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)," may be the highlight of Before the Flood.
7. The Rolling Stones, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! (original release: 1970)
"The world's greatest rock and roll band"? That's always debatable, but there is no doubt that this is the best Stones live set—and by extension one of the greatest in rock. Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! captures them at the height of their potency, fired by Mick Taylor's stinging lead guitar while the other Mick commands the stage from "Jumpin' Jack Flash" to "Stray Cat Blues" to "Sympathy for the Devil" to "Street Fightin' Man," although this version of "Midnight Rambler" is arguably the showcase here And Charlie is good tonight.
6. Bruce Springsteen, Live 1975-85 (1986)
This three CD set is as marathon as an actual Bruce Springsteen concert, and it faithfully exhibits all the excitement and grandstanding of that mighty heartland hosanna. The anthems are here ("Badlands," "Born to Run," "Born in the USA") as are the crowd-pleasers ("Hungry Heart," "Rosalita"), but when the Boss dives into melodrama, from "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" to "Independence Day" to the extended storytelling of "The River," you can hear why his concerts could be transcendent, while "Nebraska," "Johnny 99," and "Seeds" are stark and compelling.
5. Bob Seger, Live Bullet (original release: 1976)
How appropriate that Live Bullet came out the same year as the first Rocky film because Bob Seger sounds as if he too had only one shot to make it. You get that feeling in "Travelin' Man"/"Beautiful Loser" while he and the Silver Bullet Band kick out the jams with "Nutbush City Limits," "Get out of Denver," "Lookin' Back," and "Katmandu," and chronicle life on the road with "Turn the Page." And to think that more people bought Frampton Comes Alive! instead. Where is pretty boy Pete now? Yeesh!
4. Bob Dylan and the Hawks, Live 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert (1998)
When Dylan, already a (literal) folk hero, plugged in and went electric, he set off a firestorm around the world as purists screamed "Judas!" at him—again literally, as you can hear on this arguably most famous of bootlegs finally released officially. The first half contains impassioned solo readings from "Visions of Johanna" to "She Belongs to Me" to "Desolation Row," while the second half, with the Hawks backing him (they later became known as the Band), is the contentious electric stuff from "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" to "Ballad of a Thin Man" to the signature "Like a Rolling Stone," on which Dylan exhorts the band to "play it fucking loud!" He's a rebel, and so are they.
3. The Allman Brothers Band, The Fillmore Concerts (original releases: 1971 and 1972)
Blessed with an overarching sense of grace and grandeur, the Allmans mixed blues and country, and even smatterings of jazz and classical, into their definition of Southern rock. Their early apotheosis came with the live tracks originally released on At Fillmore East (1971) and half of Eat a Peach (1972), from compact bursts ("Statesboro Blues," "One Way Out") to bluesy ballads ("Stormy Monday") to marathon jams ("Mountain Jam"), although for my money their tour de force is the instrumental "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," which builds from a lullaby to a breathtaking intensity.
2. The Who, Live at Leeds (original release: 1970)
The most remarkable aspect to this set is that it was released as a stopgap after the band needed time to produce its next record after Tommy. That record only turned out to be Who's Next, but in the meantime Live at Leeds became a definitive statement all its own. This one has undergone several expansions over the years—not a bad idea as any live Who from this period is golden—but for an adrenaline shot I'll stick with the original six-song version, which is the purest hard-rock dynamite ever released, from the opening blast of "Young Man's Blues" through the extended thunder of "My Generation" and the proto-metal of "Magic Bus." A young man ain't got nuthin' in the world—except this gem.
1. James Brown, Live at the Apollo (original release: 1963)
There may be better live albums on this list, and there are certainly longer ones, but without Brown's landmark set, the live album in classic rock and soul may not have gained the cachet that it did. Financed by his bad self, Brown proved to his label, his fans, and his critics that capturing the intensity of one of his shows would be a hit. Just check out how tight he and his band are—and how much the audience loves it, from the introductory one-two punch of "I'll Go Crazy" and "Try Me" to the crowd-pleasers "Think" and "I Don't Mind" to the extended caresses of "Lost Someone" and the "Please Please Please" medley, capping it all off with "Night Train." Whew!
With these 25 concert classics, and a dozen worthy runners-up waiting in the wings, the show never ends. Get out those Bic lighters!
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