Features

This article originally ran in issue #16 of The Tracking Angle, published in the Fall of 1998. It's run here with minor changes reflecting the happy fact that many of these titles have since been reissued on high quality vinyl. Thanks to all of the talented writers who contributed.

TheTracking Angle's Contributing Editors Pick Their Favorite Live Albums

Once upon a time all recordings were “live,” whether captured in front of an audience or in a studio. The purpose of a “record” was to document a live performance. Les Paul probably was the first artist to “overdub” an additional part onto a live "in the studio" performance. At first overdubbing was considered a pleasant novelty, but by the late 1960s and throughout much of the 1970s, heavily produced multi-track recordings became commonplace - even in jazz, which depends heavily on spontaneity and close interaction among musicians.

To get the “perfect” recording, musicians were put in separate soundproofed studio spaces, given individual microphones or sets of microphones, and assigned a track, or several tracks, on a multi-track recorder. Communication occurred via headphones. When all of the tracks had been laid down to the satisfaction of all concerned (sometimes individual parts were re-recorded many times until “perfect”), they were “perfectly” mixed down to two tracks with artificial or chamber reverberation added to create the illusion of everyone playing together in a space. It didn't really work.

Classical music recordings could not be so easily compartmentalized, but even there, multi-miking and multi-tracking were used so orchestral balances could be “touched up” in the mix, instead of relying upon the conductor to achieve the proper instrumental blend.

The result was musical and sonic sterility. No wonder the jazz and classical recordings from the 1950s and early '60s are considered classics today. Most were recorded, of necessity, live to two and three tracks using but a few microphones. The sound was better and so was the musicianship.

Live jazz, folk, and classical recordings from that era, both studio and in front of an audience, are considered by many to be some of the finest, most exciting recorded musical documents ever made. Recording raucous amplified music created an entirely new set of engineering problems, and many of the early live rock albums suffered from distorted, mediocre sound. But even in rock, there were also many great live performances and outstanding recordings made throughout the '60s, '70s, '80s, and beyond.

We asked The Tracking Angle's contributing editors to pick a few of their favorite live albums. Some choices were obvious, some surprising. All were chosen for their ability to communicate the excitement, spontaneity, and chemistry of a live performance in front of an audience of adoring fans.

Otis Redding
Live In Europe
No producer credit
No engineering credit
No mastering credit
Volt S 416 LP/Sundazed 180g LP reissue)

Music: 11
Sound: 9

This supercharged set, In Person at the Whisky A Go Go, and his stunning performance at Monterrey Pop, either on Rhino's The Monterrey International Pop Festival box (R 70596) or on the Reprise LP (RS 2029) allow listeners a choice of live Otis; preferably, one would get them all. If I had to choose one, it would be this one, recorded during a spring 1965 Stax/Volt tour of Europe but not released until 1967.

Backed by Booker T and the MGs and a napalm-hurling horn section, Redding gives an absolutely electrifying performance before a large, rowdy, theater-sized crowd which sounds heavily American, judging by the individual voices popping up demanding to hear particular Redding tunes.

Otis doesn't accede, though; he sticks to the planned set, which includes scorching takes on “Respect,” “Can't Turn You Loose,” and impossibly intense, tender readings of “I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now),” “FA-FA-FA-FA-FA (Sad Song),” and “These Arms of Mine” - all Redding originals. A cover of Smokey's “My Girl” fares less well - it's not really suited to Redding's style. But he transforms “Satisfaction” from The Stones' simmering frustration to a furnace blast of almost uncontrollable desire and need.

A similar mutation of Lennon/McCartney's “Day Tripper” is less successful, though still compelling, but the finale, Redding's recasting of the old ballad “Try A Little Tenderness,” which Frank Sinatra covered decades ago, is guaranteed to raise the hair on your neck and give you the willies every time you play it. It's done it to me for over 30 years now! Goaded on by the crowd, Redding takes the refrain to energy levels rarely achieved by mortals, and unmatched in vocal intensity by any other recorded performance I can think of.

The sound on the original LP - particularly on Otis' voice - is open and transparent with tremendous focus, despite the echoey venue, which puts the band somewhat in the distance. The stereo recording does a great job of capturing the crowd's frenzy and the venue's ambience. Whatever immediacy is lost to the somewhat distant perspective is made up for by the sense of place captured in the mix. Sundazed's vinyl reissue isn't quite as vivid as the original, but its' very well done. The CD loses much of the sonic magic, but Otis' performance survives intact. One of the most exciting live albums ever by anyone. Whatever you must pay for an original Volt pressing will be well worth the money, but the Sundazed will do.
-MF

ARETHA FRANKLIN:
Amazing Grace
Produced by Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin, and Aretha Franklin
Engineered by Ray Thompson for Wally Heider
Mixed by Arif Mardin
No mastering credit (probably George Piros)
Atlantic SD 2-906 (2 LP)

Music: 11
Sound: 9

Aretha, at the height of her popularity and singing prowess, returns to the church, and the sparks fly on this superbly recorded two-LP set first released in 1972. Backed by James Cleveland on piano and The Southern California Community Choir throughout, as well as a crack rhythm section on some tracks (including Chuck Rainey on bass and Bernard Purdie on drums), this set smartly skirts the edges of secular music with covers of Carole King's “You've Got A Friend” and Rodgers and Hammerstein's “You'll Never Walk Alone” while remaining true to its gospel mission.

The combination of Franklin hitting some impossibly high, powerful notes backed by the choir and augmented by the church organ is a sonic cocktail that will intoxicate the most agnostic and atheistic among you. The high point on a double album of towering exultation could be Clara Ward's “How I Got Over” (with Ward in the audience), on which Franklin is backed by the aforementioned rhythm section. Then again, it might be “What A Friend We Have in Jesus,” the 10- minute monumental “Amazing Grace,” or maybe “You'll Never Walk Alone.”

If Franklin has ever sung better on record I don't know about it, and the recording is absolutely spectacular. For the sake of clarity, Franklin is closely miked and thus somewhat out of the rest of the acoustic, but it's worth it to hear her pure, soaring tone so powerfully presented. Everything and everyone else is bathed in the church acoustic, including the electric bass guitar, which shakes the rafters. The audience is well-miked, too, and appropriately so, given gospel's participatory tradition.

Find an original red-and-green Atlantic pressing (“1841 Broadway”) and let yourself sink into the glory! The only bummer is the 1/4 and 2/3 side pairing. Why did Wexler, et. al. do that? Must have been the devil.

Editor's runner up: Another Atlantic gem, and extremely hard to come by: Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival 1972 (SD 2-502). Released in 1973, this two-LP set features Hound Dog Taylor, Koko Taylor, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Bonnie Raitt (solo and in a duet with her idol, Sippie Wallace), Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Luther Allison, Johnny Shines, Otis Rush, and Sun Ra (!) among others. Superb live sound, great performances and reissued with excellent sound by Classic Records. Not sure if it's still in print, but well worth looking for.
- MF

Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention
Roxy & Elsewhere
Produced by Frank Zappa
Engineered by Kerry McNab and Bill Hennigh
Mastered at Artisan Recorders, Hollywood (LPs)
Mastered by Stephen Marcussen at Precision Mastering, L.A. (CDs)
Discreet 2DS 2202 (2 LPs); Rykodisc RCD 10520 (CD)

Music: 11
Sound: 10

Zappa's greatest live album was a showcase for one of his very best bands: George Duke, Napoleon Murphy Brock, The Fowlers (Tom, Walt, and Bruce), Ruth Underwood, Jeff Simmons, Don Preston, Ralph Humphrey, and Chester Thompson. Originally filmed (unfortunately, yet to be commercially issued) and broadcast on L.A. television, the Roxy shows were amazing. The precision and sparkle of these interpretations are often breathtaking. “Penguin In Bondage” and “Pygmy Twylyte” have appropriately entered the Zappa pantheon as characteristic of his biting satirical lyrics and musical brilliance. FZ's humor is all over the place, of course, but the highlight of the album is the amazing instrumental, “Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?” Bruce Fowler's soaring trombone solo is a thing of beauty and the band performs with stop-on-a-dime, obsessive accuracy. "Essential" seems an inadequate word to describe this magnificent album.

The original LPs - and that "10" sound rating is for the vinyl (yellow, red-and-black label, first pressing is better, promo is best) - are wonderful, offering bass and drums that sound real and a mix to die for. Especially when heard via the mighty Grado Reference Woody at The Vulture's Nest, the bottom end on these records hits you right in the gut. The subsequent digitally pressed LPs included in the Old Masters box set were noticeably inferior. The best CD is that last one from 1992, which features a remixed “Cheepnis.” The CD ain't half bad and the “Cheepnis” remix is worth having as an alternative to the original, required for hardcore Zappa fans. “Get the distilled water, the canned goods, the toilet paper. You know we need it!” Where are the rock albums like this today? Shit.
- Carl Baugher

The Band
Rock of Ages
Produced by The Band
Engineered by Phil Ramone and Mark Harman
No mastering credit
Capitol SABB-11045 (2 LPs); CDP 7 93597 2 (93595), Discs 1 & 2 (2 CDs**)

Music: 11
Sound: 9

Man, what a concept. Get the best band in America, add five of the hottest horn players in New York, bring in Allen Toussaint to write some smokin' arrangements, and put the whole thing onstage on New Year's Eve at The Academy of Music in New York City. Mercy mama. Rock of Ages almost lives up to its title - in any case, it's The Band at its rollicking, lively best. And it don't get much better than that, mis amigos.

Running through a bunch of classics like “King Harvest,” “Dixie,” “The Weight,” and damn near the whole Robbie songbook, the boys in The Band plays with loose-limbed, good-time relish, but they're sharp as a razor's edge, too. The horns kick ass with Toussaint lines that add real musical meat to these already fully realized songs. There's a great Garth Hudson “Chest Fever” intro called “The Genetic Method,” and fine, fluid singing from all the bad-ass singers (and this group had three bona fide killers in Levon, Rick, and Richard). I remember a little grousing in '72 when the album came out that there weren't enough new songs. Duh, yeah. Right. Definitive live Band is what this here is, friends and American popular-music mavens. Dee-fin-uh-tivo.

The 1972 double LPs comes in a tri-fold cover with great pictures from the show. The sound is warm and packs a mean low-end punch. Listen to Danko's fretless Ampeg electric bass on the opening “Don't Do It” as ol' Levon kicks it along with those great thudding drums of his. The middle register is sweet and the top end is smooth. Soundstaging is also pretty good. In all, a fine remote recording lacking only the last measure of openness and depth that distinguishes the best recordings. The originals are still available in good used record stores and sound wonderful, even up to the third pressings (the original is a red label with the purple, circular Capitol logo). If you can't find the LPs right away, keep looking. Or wait until somebody with brains and regard for The Band's music reissues the album in proper sound. Don't hold your breath, though.

The 1990 CDs suck like a Hoover. Thin, no bass, and the damned right channel is even gone on the spoken word intro to “Don't Do It”! Tsk, tsk. Typically shoddy, half-assed, disrespectful major-label pieces of polycarbonate fecal material. If you buy the CDs, you'll have drink coasters, but you won't hear Rock of Ages. Simple as that.
- Carl Baugher

The Doors
Absolutely Live
Produced by Paul A. Rothchild
Engineered by Bruce Botnick
Mastered by Paul A. Rothchild, Bruce Botnick, and The Doors
Elektra 61972-2 (CD)

Music: 9
Sound: 8

Though this album is somewhat of a sleeper in the Doors catalog, it is of particular interest in that it documents The Doors at a point in their career when they were beginning to shed their "Lizard" skin (somewhat, anyway) and were rediscovering what a cool rock 'n' roll band they were, despite Morrison's apparent lethargy and debauchery around this period. Perhaps it's an overstatement to say that this album contains Morrison's greatest vocal performances ever, but there is self-assured power in his voice, yet he sounds confident and relaxed.

On "Celebration Of The Lizard," Morrison moves through each of the theater play's seven sections almost effortlessly, donning characters and changing moods to sew the suite together. This is also the first (and only) time that "Celebration" was released during the band's lifetime (it was originally recorded for but left off Waiting For The Sun). Jim also sounds like he's having a lot of fun, too, and that's the point of this record.

"Well, it might have been that after The Soft Parade," comments guitarist Robby Krieger, "and all the strings and horns and everything, we changed a little. We got shit-on by the press quite a bit for that, too (laughs). We wanted to get back to being a good old rock 'n' roll band, I think that's what it was."

Krieger is right: the album starts out with a smoking version of "Who Do You Love," which immediately lets you know that everyone on that stage aims to burn. Krieger jolts the tremolo-soaked African rhythm with his slide guitar and the classic Bo Diddley tune takes a fresh breath.

Among the highlights is the previously unreleased "Universal Mind." It's a beautiful autobiographical lament on Morrison's love life and existential projection to the public. The song starts out slow and melancholic, but when the band slips into the instrumental waltz-time bridge, Manzarek and Densmore swing like Dave Brubeck and "Philly" Joe Jones. Pretty hot stuff.

The album is also distinguished by its superb sound. Label founder Jac Holzman was and is a connoisseur of good sound - and of the latest technology. Holzman's high-quality 1950s field recordings make that obvious. Elektra hired Fedco Audio Labs and The Wally Heider remote to record the nationwide tour, and the result is a very-high-quality live rock recording culled from those performances.

Paul Rothchild and Bruce Botnick's seamless edits and overall attention to detail are particularly noteworthy, especially when you consider their minimal experience with live recording at the time. Botnick presents a sonically clear, onstage view of the band, closely miked, with very little room sound and almost no mike leakage evident.

"I'm glad it still holds up," comments Ray Manzarek, "because for us to play to a 25,000-seat room was weird. I'd look up at those balconies way up there and wonder, "How am I going to reach these people?" Reach them they did.

- Matthew Greenwald

The Who
Live At Leeds
Reissue produced by Jon Astley
Original recording produced by The Who
Remixed and premastered by Andy Macpherson and Jon Astley at Revolution Studios
Mastering by Tim Young & Jon Astley
MCAD-11215/11230 (limited edition 12”x12” package)
Original 1970 LP: British Track 2406 001/American Decca DL79175

Music: 9
Sound: 8

The greatest live rock album? The greatest Who album? One of the greatest rock albums? Well, Live At Leeds is all of those things for this writer. Still basking in the glow of Woodstock, which helped the band reach a new level of popularity, particularly in America, The Who was ready to take on (and take over) the mantle of being the world's greatest rock 'n' roll live act. Live At Leeds documents the moment.

The Who, even in its early days, had a reputation for being a powerful live act. But by this time it had become a machine, in the best sense of the word. The experience in America had obviously exposed the group to many other acts which were going down very well with audiences performing long extended numbers (especially the San Francisco bands). But The Who had a couple of things going for it that many of those bands didn't: they were tight (no noodling allowed), and they were in-your-face powerful. That, plus the group's new-found desire for lengthy improvisation, are the ingredients that make Live At Leeds such an exceptional album.

Roger Daltrey gives one of his greatest recorded vocal performances, handling Townshend's increasingly complex and lofty melodies and showing exceptional growth as an improvisational vocalist, on par with the band's growing instrumental complexity. This is most evident on the selections from Tommy and the extended versions of "My Generation" and "Magic Bus."

Tommy really comes to life on stage, and the band gives its finest recorded performance of it here - most of which is not on the original LP. Townshend and Moon are kinetic. Keith's multi-layered explosive madness punches through the entire album, but particularly on the covers: “Young Man Blues," “Summertime Blues," and “Shakin' All over."

The latter is particularly amazing, with Moon and Townshend barely retaining control (always the band's strongest asset). Entwistle, as usual, holds everything together with his fluid yet incendiary bass lines. Live At Leeds marks the first issue of "Substitute" on a U.S. album. One of the band's finest early singles, it's an angry statement about the shallowness of pop stardom. This live version downplays the message while emphasizing the power of the music.

The remastered 1995 CD version of the album takes a great, but highly edited document and expands it to almost double the length. While the original omitted most of the band's performance of Tommy, the reissue, thankfully, gives us almost all of it.

The sound is also amazing on the reissue. Using digital technology, the producers have removed the recording's crackling noises, replacing the original label's "Crackling noises O.K. do not correct!” with “Crackling noises have been corrected!” The sound quality on the original was superb to begin with, but the reissue improves on the ambient room noise, particularly Townshend's EchoPlex experiments. Entwistle's bass rumblings have more bite and definition. Collectors might want to seek out the rare and numbered box-set version which includes all the original album's many inserts. Live At Leeds - one of the greatest rock albums? Maybe. Greatest Who album ever? Perhaps. Greatest live rock album? No doubt about it.

- Matthew Greenwald

Neil Diamond
Hot August Night
Produced by Tom Catalano
Engineered by Armin Steiner for Sound Labs. Inc.
No mastering credit
MCA Records MCA2-10013 (LP)

Music: 10
Sound: 9

The cover shot alone justifies this album's existence. A denim-clad, long-haired Neil Diamond is caught in a frenzied sexual pose, a Dionysian figure transformed by the power of his own music. In an era when live albums could launch careers (Kiss, Peter Frampton), this record was a true breakthrough for Diamond. The singer had scored plenty of hits by 1972, but all those radio-friendly sides pale next to the awesome power of this Hot August Night. Recorded at the Greek Theater, Los Angeles, in August 1972, this performance was Diamond's moment.

Even the back cover seemed designed to build anticipation, quoting suitably dramatic reviews: "The audience falls like plums at his feet," said Daily Variety. "Most of all, Diamond gave of himself," gushed Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times. James A. Doolittle, General Director of the Greek, raved about the "unsurpassed and almost hypnotic talents of Neil Diamond."

Backed by a seven-piece band and 36 string players, Diamond gave a performance that justified the almost religious fervor of those responses. It's no coincidence that the album takes its title from, and culminates with a performance of, "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show." Like a Bible-thumping evangelist, Diamond wields his pop songs like instruments of spiritual transformation. At times, Diamond is shouting more than singing, but it works. After you hear Diamond belt out these live versions of hits like "Cherry Cherry," "Sweet Caroline," and "Brother Love," the studio takes sound like Perry Como.

The anticipation grows as the record begins with an orchestral "Prologue." As the music builds, you imagine yourself on the edge of your seat at the Greek or as one of the "tree people" watching the show from a nearby branch. The strings build to a sustained note, and then the band kicks in, leading into a truly amazing rendition of "Crunchy Granola Suite." Propelled by a guitar riff not found on the studio version, this track exemplifies how much Diamond had grown as a performer. Diamond mutters and growls the lyrics. What he's singing about is anybody's guess, but when he shouts "Dig!" it just doesn't matter.

After that opener, it's straight into "Done Too Soon," in which Neil's opening "Jesus Christ!" cuts through one of his trademark acoustic-guitar intros, taking you by surprise. Some reassurance comes when he follows it with "Fanny Brice" and a litany of other people who have died.

"Solitary Man" is classic Diamond: husky, brooding, but accessible enough to ensure that his records could be found in everyone's wood-paneled rec room. Another one of those patented acoustic rhythms leads us into "Cherry, Cherry," sounding more virile than the original. (This live version was pulled as a single and made the Top 40.) The hits keep on coming until the show culminates with "Brother Love." "It was a hot August night," shouts Diamond, leading the crowd into a fully realized version of his evangelical hit. By the song's frenzied climax, even the most jaded listener falls like a plum at Diamond's feet, begs for another sip of Cracklin' Rosie, and casts hipster credibility to the wind.
- Robin Platts

Donovan
In Concert
Produced by Mickie Most
No engineering credit
No mastering credit
Epic Records BN 26386 (LP)

Music: 10
Sound: 9

By the end of the '60s it was not uncommon to find albums that bore neither the artist's name nor the album title on the cover. However, to find a live album so unidentified - without even a picture of the artist on the front cover - meant that this was not your run-of-the-mill "On Tour"/"In Concert" Greatest-Hits-Plus-Screaming package. Recorded at the Anaheim Convention Center in 1968, Donovan's In Concert album only includes two hits, "There Is A Mountain" and "Mellow Yellow."

"With fingers sticky with new songs we began the tour," writes Donovan on the back cover. In the two years since The Beatles gave up touring, the pop concert format had evolved somewhat. No longer an inaudible 25-minute medley of hits, it could now be accorded some of the respect being given to the albums of the time. So, short on hits and long on new songs, Donovan In Concert stands as an album in its own right.

"Welcome to the phenomenon of Donovan," says the MC at the beginning, before clarifying the phrase with an anecdote about a performance at the Hollywood Bowl, at which Donovan's music stopped the rain for the duration of his performance. Then the troubadour's father, Mr. Donald Leitch, comes onstage to introduce "your evening's star." From the first lines of "Isle Of Islay." that tremulous voice transports you to another plane of consciousness. Words like "hippie" and "psychedelic" don't really apply here; Donovan's muse transcends them all. A Celtic mystic with a guitar, he gives a performance that is rarely less than mesmerizing.

Donovan's flirtation with Jazz is very evident on this set, with free-form flute lines percolating throughout. While live albums often sound like stale, tired retreads of songs the performer has grown tired of, that is not the case here. The songs on Donovan In Concert sound alive and vibrant, as though the singer has written them just before walking onstage and is eager to share his new creations. This particular performance may not have driven rain clouds away but, 30 years after the event, there is most definitely some powerful magic contained within the grooves of Donovan In Concert.

- Robin Platts