One of the best things about Music is going to see bands play. It is something that doesn't really exist in other art forms. Obviously actors go on stage as well, but they very rarely are performing the film you saw them in. Bands and artists however, get up there and bang out the songs from their back catalog and if you are lucky, a once only cover, or a song from a new album (sometimes you are not so lucky and you do get that new song).
There can few be experiences as cool as seeing band on top of it's form playing live. The crowd of people all also into the band as much as you are singing, jumping around. A collective being full of energy and life. It's brilliant and if you have ever felt this then you know that it is an unforgettable experience in so far as it doesn't happen anywhere else. I have not ever been to one of those sing along film sceeenings . . although I doubt 250 flamboyant people singing along to the Sound of Music has anything like the same impact as a mosh pit going nuts.
Some bands then try and capture this for those of us not so fortunate to have been there on that great night. With extremely mixed results. I am not entirely sure where I stand on the live album. The quality is so vastly different. I have always also thought it is a bit of a lazy way of putting another album out there and fulfilling the record company contract for the requisite number of albums. That said, some people owe a huge amount of their careers to the live album. 'Frampton comes alive ' was the biggest selling album of all time until Rumours and Thriller came along. 'Live at the Budokan by Cheap Trick really ignited their career and without it they would have been very much a fringe band.
Some bands simply fit the live album mode so well that it seems entirely natural. Take this .
Stick with that until 2.34 in, and you will see what I mean. I have watched Flight 666 a number of times and that is the moment that you get just how much of a unique tribe a concert audience is. The entire crowd raising their fists at the same time. All feeling it. It is amazing that it comes across so well, because you can get the other extreme, the situation were the audience ruins the entire experience for those of us not there.
That to me just about sums up what is wrong with live albums. It is a brilliant a song as I have remarked upon many times. However, that version, with the vague promise of an extremely intimate version unplugged is ruined by the people whistling every time it strums the guitar. The vague crowd singing in the back ground. the rest of the band then coming on stage and then doing needless repeats of the least interesting part of the song. I don't like it. At all.
That is not to say though that a band can't change one of their existing songs into something new and making it better than the original
It is a long song. But it is worth it. I was lucky enough to see Tool play and I have to say it was a pretty amazing experience. I do understand that it is not everyone's cup of tea, but the way a band of virtuosos doing what they do best and having an appreciative audience is just amazing. It isn't so much about the show they perform, more about that you were there.
I have never been to a pop concert. Actually ever. I find it a very informative point that very few pop bands release live albums of any note. This has to be because their shows are about entertainment and not an experience. Doesn't it? Because they are not as good at actually performing without the aid of the studio?
Getting back to the Tool song, what I like about it is that it is such a good song in it's own right. Yes it was played live, but the recording quality is amazing. the clarity of the instruments is just brilliant. This is one thing that puts me off a lot of live recordings I have to say. The fluffy noise. The distortion and the inability to hear whom ever it is shredding or wailing properly. I realise it is not supposed to be the same as the studio recoding, but I feel somehow that while it is great if you are there, it isn't so good if you aren't. It is alright in the background, or if they are doing a cover, but I never put on a live recording, close my eyes and imagine I am at the concert. It just doesn't translate to me.
Am I alone here? Give me your best concert and or live recording? It can not be the same , because if there is an album of a concert you went to then that is a completely different kettle of fish.
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