In the seventies it
was standard procedure for a band to release
a Live album from their latest tour. This
formed a dual purpose. One - it was a
cheap way for the ever greedy record company
to extort more money from their clients,
and the ever gullible public. Two - it
made it more difficult for the pirate
recorders to tape the Record Companies’
artists and put out bootlegs on the ever
willing fans, who wanted to hear their
heroes in concert. Whatever. The seventies
were a wonderful era for those of us that
loved the "Live Album", whether
it was a single or a double album, or
even a triple in the case of Chicago.
Almost anybody who was anybody had a Live
album put out and most of them caught
your favorite artist at a defining moment.
To name them all would be impossible.
However, here a few of those gems, not
necessarily in any particular order.
Deep Purple - Made In Japan
U.F.O - Strangers In The Night
Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous
The Who - Live at Leeds
Little Feat - Waiting For Columbus
Humble Pie - Performance Live at the Fillmore
Mott the Hoople - Live
Lynyrd Skynyrd - One From The Road
Jethro Tull - Bursting at the Seams
Joe Cocker and a cast of Thousands - Mad
Dogs and Englishmen
Peter Frampton - Frampton comes Alive
(the biggest selling live double album
ever)
Ten Years After - Recorded Live (which
was to be surpassed by the release of
'Live at the Fillmore' when it was finally
released thirty years after the event)
Grand Funk Railroad - Live (oh, come on,
admit it you enjoyed it)
I have to include Hendrix - In the West.
Even though it was released posthumously,
it still really cooks and would leave
any present day guitarist’s album
in its shadow.
Kiss - Alive - both One and Two (ah,
come on, they were fun)
Lou Reeds - Rock 'n' Roll Animal
AC/DC - If You Want Blood You Got It
Aerosmith - Live Bootleg
Fairport Convention - Full House
Neil Diamond - Hot August Night (do not
ccoff until you have actually heard it)
The Rolling Stones - Get Your Ya-Ya's
Out
Allman Brothers - Live at the Fillmore
East
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - Welcome Back
My Friends to The Show That Never Ends
(now they also had to release a live triple
album just to get half their show on one
release)
Ted Nugent - Double Live Gonzo
Hawkwind - Space Ritual Live
Uriah Heep - Live
Rory Gallagher - Live in Europe
Genesis - Live (the first one with the
classic five piece)
Derek and the Dominoes (also) - Live at
the Fillmore East
Slade - Alive
Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young - Four
Way Street
And I have to include Nutz - Live Cutz,
but I refuse to include Led Zeppelin's
- The Song Remains the Same. One listen
to the release of 'How The West Was Won',
released in 2003, will show you what a
pathetic live release that was. I apologize
for anybody’s personal favorite
I have missed out, but as you can see,
there were quite a lot of fantastic live
albums from this glorious era. One band
that is glaringly obvious is Black Sabbath,
who did not get to release an approved
live album until the turn of the millennium.
One person who nearly had his entire
career ruined by the live album was poor
old Bob Seger. This album was recorded
in Cobo Hall in Seger's home town of Detroit
in 1975, and unfortunately caught this
very talented band on a bad night. There
are so many bad things about this recording,
it is difficult to know where to start.
The selection of songs is as good as any.
For such a great songwriter as Bob Seger,
why! oh why! are there so many covers?
The show kicks off by the band butchering
Tina Turner’s 'Nut Bush City Limits'.
What they do to Van Morrison's ‘I've
Been Working' and Bo Diddley's signature
tune 'Bo Diddley' should have the band
up for musical murder. Not that the band
does any favors to Bob Seger's own songs.
The version of the moving ballad ‘Turn
the Page' can give even the hardest Cowboy
a tear in his eye. The studio recorded
version is taken at such a ridiculously
fast pace that one can only assume that
the band members had one thought in common
- going home. Merely the last two songs,
Seger's own classic 'Get Out Of Denver'
(who Eddie & the Hot Rods covered
better anyway) and the final rave up on
E. Anderson’s 'Let it Rock’,
when the band finally lets it all hang
out, give the album any credibility.
The production of this paper thin album
is credited to Bob Seger and Punch. I
feel it would of been better off left
to Judy. Anybody having seen Bob Seger
and the Silver Bullet Band live in concert
will know that they can turn in a good
show. Anybody having listened to this
album would not believe you. The album
cover is also as rushed and as rubbish
as the music within.
Pawed by Mott The Dog
Trying to find a redeeming feature, Ella
Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
