Worst Live Albums Ever?

A guy I used to work with used to play Loco Live all the time as if to show his love of the Ramones knew no bounds, he always liked playing live albums though so it was pretty much a constant loop of various live albums from the Ramones - Cheap Trick - the Fall - KISS. I miss that job.

urge to kill... rising!

I had that and loaned it out to someone and never got it back.... is there anywhere online i can download it?

I forget the names since I didn't bother keeping the cassettes when I moved, but the Depeche Mode and Cure live albums that came out in the mid-90s (must've been somewhere between 1993-1995) were horrible.

Just relistened to it, and okay, yeah -- "Five Years" on same isn't bad, either.

The exact same tracklist as "Songs Of Faith And Devotion", not as good as the studio versions, and released only nine months after the studio album. Someone smelled money, apparently.

*(I know it's not really one person that's the "self" here, certainly it's not just Mr. Cave, but I can't think of a better way to describe the feel of the album, except maybe "Rolling Stone Magazine-ish")

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=12:54:14|AM&sql=Aink9keptkq7v

That's surely the point. Whether you look at it as an historic document (evoking the excitement/insanity of those concerts) or as an early example of Mary Chain-style noise-with-tunes music.

As for Bowie, I'm not massively keen on either 'David Live' or 'Stage'. I wish someone would (officially) release the Santa Monica radio gig from 1972. That was fucking great.

BUt the very worst one has to be the second CD of "Do You Know Squarepusher?". To recreate this album, simply take a very cheap stereo and put it in your bathroom and play CD1 and "Go Plastic!" on random repeat, then shout "COME ON YOU FUCKAS MAKE SOME NOISE FOR THE PUSHA!". Utter pointless drivel trying to make you feel like you haven't been ripped off by the shonkiness of CD1 because you got 2 for the price of one or whatever.

I kinda like "David Live" - but it took me about ten years to warm up to it.

I used to be a huge purveyor of live albums. I sought after them and even paid good money for bootlegs.

I don't get it anymore. Live albums to me very rarely are entertaining to me unless there's something special about them -- often the crowd singing along is a fun touch, but it just makes me want to be at a concert.

Plus I don't like overdubbed live albums. Don't be a pussy and "clean up" your mistakes, gawd.

As for worst though, pretty much any unofficial Metallica bootleg from the mid 90s -- I have one where James' voice cracks ilke a child throughout, and Kirk screws up several times.

for official releases, their Cunning Stunts VHS was also awful.

Kiss Alive! was my favorite album as a kid...I didn't find out til watching the stupid VH1 special a few years ago about the overdubs. My childhood dreams = crushed. Thus, the worst live album. Because it's a lie! (runs away sobbing)

haha Ian was talking about a different album than chaki assumed he was, all those years ago.

Chaki:omg can you post something for me im so mad
me: sure
Chaki: thanks
Chaki: omg i was talking about the right album you dork. christ: the bootleg was reissued as disc 2 on christ the album cd. i know my shit when it comes to crass!
Chaki: Worst Live Albums Ever?
Chaki: ty

not nec. the worst, but the dramatics live lp from '87 or ruins an awesome early 70s live set with a bunch of wikki-wikki rewind overdubs and crap. uggh why?

About four posts up: I think you're talking about the Gun Club's The Birth, the Death, the Ghost[i], which still sits on my shelf. (Your post was seven years ago--I hope you managed to carry on with your life okay.) I used to lap up everything they did, so I probably liked it at the time; I'm sure it's every bit as bad as you say. As for [i]Kiss Alive!, do not break the news to these two people.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2557/4002213559_ac2d9b1ae9_m.jpg

Dylan &The Dead was my introduction to both artists - it's a wonder that I came around on either of them.

Grand Funk Live

this album rools

lmao @ chaki still watching the board like a hawk and defending his good name

Ask chaki:

What about the album that was LP2 on the original "Christ" box?

Because I had that one back in the day, and after reading the Crass book (excellent btw, recommended y'all).. I had a yen to catch up on some.

Might just stick to the "Best Before" set tho...

Yeah I don't think Chaki is right there.

Yeah in fact

Christ The Bootleg:
Recorded live on May 2nd, 1984

Christ The Album - Well Forked But Not Dead (the live disc)
Recorded 1977-1981

So, to summarise, Chaki does not know his shit when it comes to Crass.

Who are all these crazy people who rate Bowie's "Stage" as being better than "Live"? "Live" rules! Fully three quarters of "Stage" is either the plodding instrumentals from "Low" (OK on that album but not what I want to hear at a live concert) or hurried run throughs of Ziggy era material ("Whatsamatter Dave? You have a hot date you gotta get to?")

Chaki was talking about the "Christ" CD set, which is clearly a different thing.

I love double-live albums - big gatefold, 2 discs, usually more raw or kick-ass performances of yer favorite tunes. otm on David Bowie Live, his voice is at its peak, the version of 'Sweet Thing' on there is so languid and achingly emo, one of my top Bowie songs.

If I had a time machine, I would travel back to 1970, score some ludes in the parking lot and settle in for Grand Funk Live, Heartbreaker / Inside Looking Out is the greatest hard rock side of all time imo. Mark says Alright.

or go Waiting for Columbus

oh, and Grateful Dead - Steal Your Face is one of the worst ever. definitely lives down to its reputation

Nah the Crass Christ double CD is just a reissue of the 2xLP iirc

Can't believe this one hasn't been mentioned"
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/89/Queen_Live_Magic.png

Grand Funk Live

this album rools

― went ham in a bad way (stevie), Friday, April 23, 2010 6:39 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Absolutely, it kicks all sorts of ass.

Grand Funk Live was the first LP I ever bought w/ my own money. Played it til the grooves were white. I'm so far removed from that kind of music now, I don't know if I could still appreciate it, but it is ABSOLUTELY rooling and asskicking.

not horrible but completely pointless: the two live Archers of Loaf records, Vitus Tinnitus and Seconds Before the Accident.

xpost I've always wanted to put together an Arc-style composition using the massive final Rock Out endings of Grand Funk songs

I love double-live albums - big gatefold, 2 discs, usually more raw or kick-ass performances of yer favorite tunes. otm on David Bowie Live, his voice is at its peak, the version of 'Sweet Thing' on there is so languid and achingly emo, one of my top Bowie songs.

If I had a time machine, I would travel back to 1970, score some ludes in the parking lot and settle in for Grand Funk Live, Heartbreaker / Inside Looking Out is the greatest hard rock side of all time imo. Mark says Alright.

or go Waiting for Columbus

― solid yet bouncy (herb albert)

I have a soft spot for David Live myself, but I feel like his voice is totally shot. For me, the high point of that record is Earl Slick...I read somewhere that guitar nerds who care nothing for Bowie absolutely revere Earl Slick's playing on this

FWIW, if you like David Live, look out for the Strange Fascination bootleg, recorded in LA same tour--it even includes a cool ten minute sound montage that played before the show

Yeah, Live Magic was a cosmic turd & Live Killers really isn't much better. The queen live experience didn't translate well to vinyl, though there are some respectable bootlegs from the early daze that had some ooomph. As a long-time bootleg listener I don't have much of a problem with poor sound quality if the performance is there, so I can't hate on stuff for that [I'm sort of OK w/ the above mentioned Gun Club LP, for instance] but I really can't deal with dull, plodding wankfests. Therefore [and for other suck-causing reasons] I will say I dislike the following. Kind of a lot.:

ELP - Welcome Back My Friends... Actually it only SEEMS like it never ends & before its over you wanna gouge out your cochlea w/ a rusty grapefruit spoon.
Dylan & the Dead
Dylan at Budokan
Yes - Yessongs Should have the same name as the ELP joint above.
Ramones - Loco Live [there was no reason for this at all, Its Alive or nothing!]
Chicago at Carnegie Hall [WTF?!!?]
David Bowie - Stage [too much Low, not enough... um, non-Low]
Lou Reed - Take No Prisoners [unless viewed as comedy]

The Jam - Dig the New Breed
The Fall - Seminal Live (am I a shitty EP or a shitty live disc? I can be both!)

I've always wanted to put together an Arc-style composition using the massive final Rock Out endings of Grand Funk songs

I really want to do this with the ELP Live Bootleg box sets, but that would involve listening through 14-odd cd's to find the good bits, so fuck it.

Maybe not the greatest band ever anyway, but Uriah Heep Live was a total waste of space. In an era where Grand Funk, Deep Purple etc were releasing career-defining, vastly popular live records all Heep could come up with was half-assed versions of some album tracks and a rock n'roll medley. Plus the absolute worst ever stage banter from a clearly hammered David Byron ("this song features the Moog simplifier and the old Hammond organ...yeah, that's the one! Gypsy!" Way to introduce the showstopper, Dave.)

Lou Reed - Take No Prisoners [unless viewed as comedy]

this album is amazing but yeah obviously it's comedy

live killers does have that great version of 'let me entertain you' though, and a pretty great 'spread your wings'

where the hell are John Deacon's pants?!

I do actually like the NiN live album cuz he does interesting stuff wiwth the songs

23 minutes over brussels?

.. is awesome!

Next?

ah, ok then. :-)

I actually think Dylan at Budokan is rather great. It has that swelling E Street-ish orchestrated feel to it which I love.

What's wrong with that Queen one?

Also:

http://img.snowrecords.com/lp/4/33373.jpg