I've seen a few bands that are absolutely spectacular (or there about) live, so i've gone off to get the album, and found it really boring..
Also visa versa, i've heard a mediocre recording, then seen them live and been blown away..
I'm a Kiss fan. There i said it. The albums are pretty rubbish, boring and lifeless. But the show is pure energy and entertainment. I'm not sure i really consider them to be a band, more just an entertainment act. I will always go to see the show as it is amazing, but i can't really listen to their music.
Saw Ricky Warwick and the Fighting Hearts at one of the HRHs, had an amazing show, great songs, really had a great time even through i'd never heard any of the music. Bought an album, recognised the songs, but was severely underwhelmed.
I've seen the Quireboys so many times, and will always go if they nearby. Never a boring gig, different levels of lyric coherency depending on how much Spike has had to drink, but always great. On album, they are pretty boring.. Spikes vocals are really bad..
There are probably others, but these are the ones i always think of as being disappointing on cd.
Anyone else know great live bands that albums don't do justice?
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Squeeze
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
All About Eve. Superb live.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
Bruce Springtseen and the E-Street Band, especially the 70s output where live they were unstoppable but the studio albums of that time (I'm thinking "Born to Run" and "Darkness..." in particular here) never quite captured the energy that was overflowing in the live work.
The only exceptions are some of the keyboard-heavy mid-late-80s work like Human Touch or Tunnel Of Love, both of which I adore for their own reasons (Porcaro's drums, Lofgren's guitar solo respectively)
But even the later material tends to be better live... listen to recordings of Wrecking Ball or American Skin (41 Shots) and tell me that the studio versions are superior... I will LOL you with a button.
There was a concert by "Jeff Lynne's" Electric Light Orchestra on TV recently, and the sound they got was almost exactly like the original recordings. I saw them live back in the late 70's and they had to make huge compromises compared to the records. Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys have gone through a similar renaissance - in their heyday the technology to reproduce their sound live simply didn't exist. Ditto Dave Gilmour - some of the early live performances of Dark Side of the Moon left much to be desired.
I can think of a fair few bands in the past who were better on record than they were on stage but in the modern day surely every recording is going to be a let down once you've seen them live.
I said maybe.....
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
It may depend on which one you heard first, possibly.
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Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Another band that springs to mind were Mott the Hoople, the first few albums were very weedy sounding, but they were a riot live.
Depeche Mode have different feel on their songs live, which I prefer to the studio versions. Although Andy Fletcher is boring as hell.