It’s been a little more than a year since this post first appeared and guess what: summer’s still here and summer concert tours are still going strong. That means a new crop of live albums is a-brewin’ – and what better Friday Flashback to set up our next Hear Factor collection, Live, Scratchy Vinyl (coming Saturday, 8/15/09). Without further ado, let’s send Mad Props in the direction of Townsman Mwall, and let’s get it on!
This post initially appeared 8/3/08.
It’s late summer now. I don’t know about you, but sitting outside on a summer night, for me not much is better than pointing the speakers out the window and playing some long live double album that during the regular year I’d have no time or patience for.
The ’70s were the best decade for live rock albums, and certainly the best decade for live rock albums you’d want to play outside on summer nights. It was the Era of the Live Album. There are lots of reasons why.
Let’s face it: as legendary and notorious as shows like Woodstock and Altamont are, they also show that the ’60s was not quite ready for live outdoor rock. People got too intense, couldn’t control themselves, thought the world was ending or changing, shit like that. Of course while it did change, it didn’t change in the way anybody at a ’60s outdoor rock show wanted. No, the ’60s outdoor rock show flounders on its own self-importance. Sitting in the mud fer chrissakes. Who really thinks that’s fun even if you believe it’s going to change the world? You’d have to be on drugs or something.
The 80s, of course, reacted against the idea of the ’70s summer rock show and the double live album. The 80s rock show wants to be indoors and captured on a single disc. It may even add some (now dated) technology just to prove that it’s happening indoors. The ’80s live rock audience is uptight, either too angry or too professional or both, “fuck the outdoors” written all over their pale faces as they crash around for a few short minutes and go home ready to be uptight again the next day. And while it’s arguable that the late ’90s returned to the idea of the outdoor rock show with Lollapalooza and so on, did it really do so well on the issue of the live rock album? Are there any classic live rock CDs of the ’90s? A few maybe, but they don’t hold a candle to the original classics of the genre. As for the oughts, what do I know? Show me the money and maybe I’ll change my mind.
The ’70s live album has its own definite aesthetic. It has to be a double album or it’s not really a live album at all. The ’70s live album needs time to get where it’s going. It has to be a little loose and a lot expansive. You’re hearing it outside, under the stars, drinking whatever crappy beer you drank in the ’70s and taking whatever else you were taking and, if you’re lucky, groping someone under loose summer clothes. It doesn’t make sense to pay attention to the album too constantly. No hands in pockets, “hmm, great bass parts” need apply. The music has to rock hard sometimes, in an earthy way, but at moments it also has to float away transcendently. It has to embrace the grandness. You’re not here simply to listen, but to be. Oddly enough, the great ’70s summer live rock album doesn’t automatically have to have been made outside or in the summer. It just needs to feel like it’s outside in the summer.
I don’t think it’s accidental that some of the best examples of the ’70s live album are by southern bands, or that the Allmans, working on the cusp of the ’60s and ’70s, defined the genre’s possibilities. The south knows that it’s possible to kick back and rock out simultaneously. Little Feat’s Waiting for Columbus-–I know “they’re an L.A. band,” but L.A. knows about summer live–is loose and rambling in just the right southern way for the occasion. By reputation the album is not the group “at their best,” but who really cares about that on a summer night?
There are some bands and albums that surprisingly don’t quite make the cut in this aesthetic. Get Your Ya-Ya’s Out is a little ’70s but not ’70s enough, and later ’70s Stones official live releases are dreck. Maybe the 1978 Stones bootleg Handsome Girls, recorded partly at summer shows in Texas, does make the cut though. Then there are bands that surprisingly do make the cut. Who ever would have thought that The Band would participate in making two of the great albums of this kind, indoors or not, Before The Flood and The Last Waltz? The Band knew that in the ’70s, the people needed to breathe, not just to listen. Van Morrison’s It’s Too Late To Stop Now knows all about what makes a great ’70s summer live album. And interestingly, while Zeppelin botched it with their live album actually released in the ’70s, the 2003 release The Way The West Was Won gives you three CDs of summer live, and it’s from L.A. in late June ’72. I think the people understood.
I also don’t think it’s accidental that some music that I would never otherwise listen to take on a kind of emotional power at this time of year. Frampton Comes Alive!: a record that only becomes acceptable in the summer ’70s rock aesthetic. Listen to that album indoors or in the winter and you’re a loser. Similarly, while I myself never actually ever play any Grateful Dead, even in the summer, it’s in the context of the ’70s summer live feeling that I can get closest to what the Dead were all about. Given the right, uh, attitude adjustments, I think I could have had fun at some of those shows. It’s not all about the music, maaaan. It’s about how the music helps you open up in the open air for at least a few moments in your stuck-in-little-rooms-indoors life.
So go ahead, mock these albums for their lack of precision. Say they would be better if they featured 10-12 songs and a total length of 36 minutes. But don’t expect me to listen. I’m going outside, where the world is, and for a few hours let the sound wash over me. Don’t bogart the music, friends.
The Beach Boys “In Concert” is by far my favorite of their live albums.
Hey, mwall — we REACH, sort of. I was pondering a siilar post when this appeared. Thanks for doing all the hard work for me. I’m surprised you glossed over the Great Hard Rock Live Albums Of the 70s, of which there were an inordinate number: “Kiss Alive,” “Live and Dangerous,” “Live At Budokan,” along with a couple by your beloved Judas Priest and, yes, the Michael Schenker Group, the names of which I’ve forgotten. For the record, none of these sound summer-y to me in the least, but they sure as hell kick major ass, and they sure as hell could never have been released if it wasn’t the 70s.
Your thoughts?
HVB
Gotta correct myself: that MSG Budokan album was released in ’82.
I think The Band’s Rock of Ages is better than either Before the Flood or The Last Waltz.
I’ve got not quibbles with what you’re saying at all, bakshi. The 70s was the Era of the Rock Album, but I wasn’t trying to do a complete catalog of that, or even of the 70s Summer Live branch. I was just mentioning a few highlights of the genre and hoping to hear about other records I may missed.
The records you mention are all ones I like, but I agree that they’re not about summer. Maybe we need a follow-up post: 70s Live Roadtrip. The records you mention are the kind I think need to be played end-to-end, but usually in the car. Live and Dangerous especially needs to be heard in its entirety, and in the car, so that you can hear just how kick ass the guitars become at the end. The 2-CD version of Cheap Trick’s live record is just loose enough to start to seem summery, I would say, much more so than the original record.
Mac, I like the Beach Boys just enough to think that the 30-song compilation CD I have of theirs is great (thanks to the Mod for underlining this important word) and that Pet Sounds is good enough for more wussy, petulant moods. Given that, would I like “In Concert”? Or is it only for the truly convinced?
Steve, I always forget about Rock of Ages because I bought it at the time it was packaged as two single records. I don’t mind adding it to the list. The Band is just a little more tight ass there, though, but the twang makes it 70s summer enough for me.
Everything that was ever good about Ted Nugent is present on the DOUBLE-LIVE GONZO double gatefold LP. I often would often start the morning gearing up for Junior High by listening to a side of this hard-rockin’ gem.
I was surprised it still sounded good a few years back, I especially like the extended instrumental parts, like “Great White Buffalo”. Its a shame he has spent so much time ratcheting up the jackass side of his personality in recent years.
mwall, I think that with your description of what you like about 70’s double album live summer concerts, this would be up your alley.
This is an odd era for the Beach Boys. Their albums are not doing great and you have a couple really bad attempts, but they are at the height of their ability to play live shows.
If you look at the set list, you will notice many of the songs you already like off of the greatest hits or Pet Sounds (the last 7 of twenty are all “oldies but moldies” as Mike Love says.
What is great though is that you have a band that is well past its prime in putting out really solid albums (Surf’s Up in 71 is probably the last great attempt), but instead of touring on their laurels and just playing “the hits” as they originally sounded (as Mike Love does now), they become in essence a loose fun loving live band who really knows how to jam out.
The one thing that I miss is Brian’s vocals, but Carl does a great job and the hired guns they brought in along with the addition of Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fatar of the Carl Wilson produced band, The Flames, give the band a really full live sound.
When a friend asks to hear some later good Beach Boys, this is usually they album I recommend, and I have yet for someone to not like the album.
You’re right about that Nugent album, Buskirk. It’s not for summer, but when you want just the right kind of music to psyche you up for killing buffalo, Double-Live Gonzo is the ticket.
I’ll check out that album, Mac, if I can find it at the right price–thanks.
I think you’re right and I think we’re likely to never see a live ablbum era again and possibly never see a mainstream double-live album at all.
In the case of Frampton, Comes Alive made his entire career. And Budokan cemented Cheap Tricks.
Great post, mwall.
Some thoughts.
Does the live album in question have to be recorded in the summer as well? While I agree with BigSteve that Rock of Ages is far and away the best of the Band live albums, it was also recorded during a New Year’s Eve show. Does that disqualify it?
Does The Who’s Live at Leeds belong here, either the original or subsequent extended issues?
Cheap Trick’s At Budokan sounds summery to me, as do all their great ’70s albums.
Laugh at me:
Kiss Alive.
The back cover says alot.
I can’t help it.
TB
PS–I agree that In Concert is a cool live record.
WINGS OVER AMERICA, motherfuckers! Too much goodness for a paltry two discs! THREE! Three discs’ worth of unapologetic ear candy!
Of course, Great one, I could be snarky and question if WINGS OVER AMERICA is actually a “live” album? But I would only say this becuase you beat me to the punch!
Hey Sammy:
I’d be interested in your take on why we’re never going to see a live album era again. I have some ideas, myself. First, it was out of style for a long time. Second, there’s something vaguely anti-corporate about it, at least in comparison to many of today’s canned mainstream pop rock shows: we’re not talking live shows here in which the songs “sound exactly like they do on the record” or rely, you know, on banks of TV screens etc. But why hasn’t the live album made more of a comeback in the indie or alt-rock universe? Too expensive? Won’t sell enough copies? Maybe it has come back at times and I just don’t know? Nirvana’s Wabash album is only so-so. Spiritualized did two CDs of Live at Royal Albert Hall that’s really pretty good, although the songs aren’t quite different enough from the original studio versions to break free into the open air. But then again, they’re an indoor band if there ever was one. Feeling the breeze on your skin while on heroin is unpleasant, I hear.
Oats, if you’ll read my post again, you’ll see that I answered the question about when a 70s Summer Live album has to have been recorded. Are there any good sounding versions of Rock of Ages? I may need to replace that record. My version, from the time when the album was split into two individual records, has always sounded tinny to me. I think the expanded Live at Leeds almost does the trick. The whole “live rock opera” or “live rock suite” (a less than full concert version of same) sits uncomfortably as 70s Summer Live because it seems maybe overly canned, but ultimately extended bombast is an acceptable replacement for a lack of spontaneous playing–and there’s enough stretching out on some tunes on Leeds to make it work here.
LatelyDavid, you’re the second person to speak up for “Kiss Alive,” and I’m down with that and I think others are too. As long as you’re not playing Frampton Comes Alive! on a cold February night and singing along wistfully to the guitar in the dark, I don’t think anyone here is going to laugh.
Andyr, admitting sour grapes, nonetheless brings up a great question that would define another thread about live music sometimes: those controversial “is it really a live album?” live albums.
mwall, I think you’ve answered your own question. I suspect the reason live albums don’t sell as well as they used to (and consequently are disappearing) is because they sound so negligibly different from the studio product. The last great wave of live product was born in the ’90s, when we got all those “unplugged” albums. *Those* were different — in the same way that all the 70s live LPs you’ve mentioned were from their studio antecedents.
I also, of course, think that the double live LP of years gone by was basically a greatest hits package in disguise — and those probably don’t represent as great a music buying opportunity in the age of the 99 cent per-song download.
I think there are many reasons why the live album era is effectively over. A few:
1) Nobody’s buying new music as it is. Record industry types probably assume no one’s going to buy live versions of songs are selling poorly in their studio guise.
2) Until recently, hip-hop dominated the industry and, in general, it’s not thought of as a genre of music that’s best heard live in concert.
But most importantly,
3) Live “albums” have become the province of die-hards. Live bootleg recordings are easier than ever to acquire from the internet. Lots of bands stream live shows on their official websites, or on a site/podcast like NPR’s All Songs Considered. Some bands, such as Pearl Jam release every live show from a tour, also usually an online deal. In other words, live recordings are out there, but if you’re interested you have to seek them out. They don’t get promoted really.
I know that it came out in 1980, but I would like to add the Kinks’ One For The Road to the list. It actually came out during the summer & I remember listening to it a lot after I bought my copy @ The Harvard Coop for $6.99.
How about the Ramones’ It’s Alive? I kinda wish that Sire put it out here in the U.S. It would have been their career maker like Budokan was for Cheap Trick.
I’m going to get The Beach Boys In Concert. It sounds interesting.
A follow-up. Last year I downloaded a great Wilco summer outdoor show from a now-defunct music blog. This little bit of dialogue from Tweedy proves, I think, that some of Mwall’s criteria lives on.
The Live Album in the Oughts: Death by 99 cent download and live streaming podcast.
I’ve seen those endless Pearl Jam live CDs around. They’re not usually cheap. And of course the flood of them makes them all equally insignificant. Is any one better than the others? How would anybody even know?
Maybe the Paul Westerberg idea could work here. A whole live show on one mp3? But there’d still be a flood of them.
That Wilco outdoor show sounds like a good listen, Oats. Wilco’s got quite a bit of 70s in them, don’t you think?
One for the Road definitely counts, ojoe. The issue isn’t so much when a record was released as when it was recorded or what era of music it covers, and that record is a good accounting of the later 70s Kinks. Besides, 1980 was still the 70s. By 1981 though, especially if you lived in DC like I did, it was like the 70s suddenly never existed.
There’s another Kinks live album that might have qualified that came out in 1988 during their misbegotten MCA period called Live-The Road, which was actually recorded the previous summer during their summer shed tour of the US. It was supposed to come out as a double album, but MCA nixed that idea.
There was a pretty good live Shazam album from put out a few years ago called 2000 Miles from Budokan.
I’m wondering if any of the many Lou Reed live albums are meant to be included in this category. Rock & Roll Animal and Take No Prisoners, though released in the 70s, have a definite indoors/nighttime vibe. Live in Italy was recorded in 1983, but I think it’s much more in line with what mwall is talking about. I believe the concert was outdoors, it’s a double, and it’s a fine document of the Quine/Maher version of the band with lots of soloing.
And I just want to point out that I might actually have been at the Allman Bros. gig pictured at the top of the thread. It vaguely looks like the area on the other side of the batture from Audubon Park in New Orleans where the band used to play leisurely Saturday or Sunday afternoon gigs at the dawn of the 70s when they were playing in town later that night. Can you imagine anyone doing that nowadays?
mwall: The reasons you sited are in line with my feelings on the death of the live album. For mainstream music I think fans expect, want and do hear as exact as possible replications of the recordings.
The ’70s ushered in an era of the freeform “jam” that is now largely missing. Extended guitar solos using violin bows, 20 minute drum solos, The Grateful Dead… I don’t sense that people are craving that kind of thing that much anymore and if they do they hunt down bootlegs.
Which brings me to another theory that boolegs are so easy to make and distribute now that finding live stuff of your favorite current band is probably pretty simple. I’m supposing here.
Yeah, I guess that’s what message boards are for. Even so, they have a pretty die-hard fan base who, I guess, want every show of a tour regardless.
Definitely. A good percentage of it is located in Tweedy’s beard.
http://flickr.com/photos/bouche/194264830/
Sorta related to this thread: Here’s an interesting appreciation of the Grateful Dead in Pitchfork, of all places.
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/142672-column-resonant-frequency-59
Mention of the Dead reminds me that Europe ’72 is a great example of the 70s live album (triple LP/double CD). I loved the very American sound of that version of the band, the sonic signatures being acoustic piano and Garcia in his Strat phase. Tasty.
Also, one reason for the decline in live albums might be the evolution in rock economics. In the old days you toured to promote your albums, which you could actually make money by selling. Nowadays most artists’ bread and butter is touring income, so live albums might be seen as self-defeating.
When they started touring in the new expanded line-up with Nels Cline, the internet was full of downloadable Wilco concerts. I scored a couple that I thought were mindblowing, but then I was kind of let down by the official double live album they released, and I dutifully bought, called Kicking Television.
I don’t think the live album is completely dead.
Sloan’s “4 Nights at the Palais Royale” is pretty great. That came out in ’99 and although not outdoors follows in the same tradition of 70’s live double albums.
The Eels consistently release live albums as well. “Eels With Strings: Live at Town Hall” and “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” are the best I think. Both live albums sport quite a lot of alternate instrumentation. The Chet’s drum kit in “Live at Town Hall” is pretty crazy.
And of course, one of my favorite live double albums is Blur’s “Live at the Budokan.”
But I think the biggest reason for there being less live albums are live shows on DVD.
Also, has anyone else bought Wire’s “Wire on the Box.” It is from a taping for a show called Rockpalast in Germany. Its pretty great, and there are some versions of songs off “154” which are better on this live album then the studio I think.
I was going to bring up Rock and Roll Animal too but it may be too intense for MWALL’s summer vibe.
How about “Live Bullet” – The Seeg
Is WINGS OVER AMERICA heavily doctored? I hadn’t heard that.
Steve, what you say about Lou is fitting for the guy’s iconoclastic approach. He made 80s live rock albums in the 70s and a 70s live album in the eighties. I bet that’s the way his music was meant to sound.
Spirited defense from Mac on the idea that the double live CD concept isn’t dead yet. Sloan bores me, but I’m open to having my mind changed. Any other proponents of the idea that news about the death of the live album has been greatly exaggerated?
It’s not perfect, but the versions of “Handshake Drugs” and “Spiders” on there are amazing. In fact, I think Kicking Television renders A Ghost is Born virtually unnecessary.
I forgot about concert DVDs. Mac is right. In many ways, they’ve supplanted live albums. The Gorillaz Manchester one is probably my favorite.
Also, this is a topic that used to come up on the old RTH. Back there, I suggested that those bad ’80s-’90s live albums from the Stones, McCartney, Floyd, Who, etc. helped dilute the value of the live album concept. All of a sudden it just became a chance to wring a few more dollars out of a stadium tour. I mean, who needs another 10-minute “Hey Jude” with loud synth-orchestra parts?
Absolutely right about the Dinosaur Live Album, Oats. For most bands, one double live CD is sufficient over their whole career. A few groups have perhaps earned the right to do it more often, but not many. I can think of several occasions when “Live CD #2” really should be called “Band Dead in Water”
Well, Looking it up on the web it seems they re-recorded some of the background vocals and guitars
Coincidentally, I received an email from my brother yesterday in which he shared his disappointment in finding out that his fave live album of the 70s, by Thin Lizzy, was dubbed all over the place. They went and re-did the vocals, and then, hearing how good that sounded, they did guitars, and finally left just drums and crowd sounds or some such.
My own favorite live records are Live At Leeds, Live at the Roxy and Elsewhere (Zappa) and the track “Providence” from King Crimson’s great album Red. The track, which I never knew was live, was so named because it was a jam recorded in Providence, RI. As sheer fun, though, you have to check out Uriah Heep’s live record. Rock. Very funny and rock. Also love that early Allman Brothers live in where was it? Atlanta or some such?
O crap! I almost forgot, not a party jammy record, but one of the finest live documents of anything ever, is Lou’s Take No Prisoners. Binaural, yet. Vu’s 1969 (save it Mod, I know!) is also in my pantheon.
GREAT post, Mwall! You’ve tapped into something that I have lined up for whenever I get around to distributing the Hear Factor mixes. (I will, I will…) A few things I think that have killed the live album, as I agree it was meant to sound and be presented in the ’70s, that have not yet been mentioned:
CDs eliminated the joy of getting a live double album on a gatefold sleeve. Let’s face it, a big role the live album would play in the ’70s was for getting psyched up for the actual live show you were about to attend. What better way to prepare for the big show than to listen to a live album by that band AND use the gatefold for cleaning purposes?
I still remember when ELO was caught using prepared tapes onstage – I think it was when Out of the Blue came out (a late ’70s album with “Turn to Stone”, right?). The story was SCANDALOUS! Live shows were automatically cheapened, and live albums as a result were also suspect. It was one thing for Thin Lizzy and others to overdub parts that had been performed live, but now you’re telling me that bands aren’t even playing completely live in the first place? Not too long after this ELO scandal, Pink Floyd used an entire “mirror” band to play some of The Wall live, right? Today you’ve got all sorts of bands “faking” it onstage. Bands that actually do put out and experiment live don’t have the sort of audience to support a double live album. What chick in a tube top on her guy’s shoulders has ever been caught flashing her breasts at a Wilco concert? Pere Ubu put out a few, cool, purposefully humble (in the old VU tradition) live albums, but they too are not close to pulling in that tube top crowd.
Mr. Mod asks
What chick in a tube top on her guy’s shoulders has ever been caught flashing her breasts at a Wilco concert?
Actually, I witnessed this very event at a Wilco show at the Troc during the Being There tour. Go figure. Though I guess that was early on during their Jay Bennett rawk phase. You probably would not see that kind of thing in their current 70’s soft-rock worship phase.
It’s good to hear this practice continues in the indie rock scene, Tvox. I should get out to more shows after all.
Live at Leeds
Kick out the Jams
The Jimi Hendrix Concerts
Humble Pie at the Fillmore
That Live Nirvana stuff is blistering, though the sentiment expressed in the songs hasn’t really stood the test of time well, and they were so unwilling to mach shau.
I thought, for a brief, shimmering moment, that Monster Magnet and Fu Manchu were going to bring the Live Album Era back, but it never really happened. What GREAT live bands they were…so BIG in their approach.
Amazing live acts I’ve seen or heard about in the last year or so:
Supagroup
Upper Crust
Unknown Hinson (winner of the 2008 Hrrundi V. Bakshi “Man, I Wasn’t Expecting THAT” Gold Star for Ass-Kicking Unbelievable Amazingness)
Gotta share a bit of the Hinson. Mockcarr, you in particular should enjoy this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJf9fYM8-s&NR=1
Listening to Marley’s Babylon By Bus this evening. Hard to believe that no one, including me, mentioned this one. Immediately essential to the genre.
Mwal — good call on Marley’s “Babylon by Bus”!
This was a good topic & yes, I did get a copy of the Beach Boys In Concert. In fact, I used the proceeds from trading in that Jefferson Airplane box set to get it. I’ve enjoyed it very much despite the fact there’s no Brian on it, except in spirit & songs. The songs are a very good mix, w/songs like “Heroes & Villains” & “Sail In Sailor”mixed in w/the “car ‘n surf” songs. A very solid live set indeed & thanks to RTH for leading me to it.
I have very fond memories of Bob Marley’s Babylon By Bus (’78-ish). I prefer it to the earlier Live which I think is generally better regarded. I was in Germany on a high school exchange program in the late 70’s and everyday after school we used to go to the town’s Youth Center, drink beer and listen to Babylon By Bus and Get Your Ya Yas Out. Pretty sweet.
The only downside is that, although it was a double album and it had a cool cover, the cover didn’t open up, rendering it completely useless as a weed cleaning apparatus.
I don’t think anyone has mentioned One From The Road by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Great live album. Also, not only did the cover have a gatefold making it much more suitable for separating the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, but one of the pictures in the gatefold collage was a joint! Cool! (To be fair, the “joint” might have actually been a french fry. My brother and I could never quite determine which it was despite a rather thorough examination).
One From The Road is a very strong double live entry, cdm. Wasn’t there some Skynyrd live footage that showed up on RTH after Billy Powell died back in January?
I believe that there was, MWall, but let’s get right to the heart of the matter, was it a joint or a french fry?
We’re talking 70s Summer Live, cdm: it’s whatever you want it to be. My guess though: it starts out as a joint but then later becomes a french fry. A very natural progression.
I was very surprised that the Lollapalooza phenomenon of the 90s didn’t spawn any live box sets or anything.
Just to jump threads a little bit and tie into the current post on Steve Marriot, Humble Pie has two entries in the 70s Summer Live phenom. Live at the Fillmore East is pretty unbearable–too much talking and too many slow, sloppy grooves. Live at the Winterland is better because of a faster pace and more guitar, though it’s Dave Clempson playing it, not Peter Frampton. Those who dislike 70s blooze outright need not apply for either disc–those who can tolerate it might find Winterland enjoyable, although some of Marriot’s talk/sing bits in between numbers are hilariously bad.
Is it alright if I write about 1968 in this thread?
As I alluded earlier, I finally found a gateway to the Dead, via this link to a live show on Arthur Magazine’s blog. While I think the writer of this post oversells the music a bit, I do enjoy it. Very summery.
http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/08/06/heavy-primal-dead-from-october-12-1968/
Oats, I think the original roots of the whole 70s summer live concept might be found in the outdoor Dead show–the looseness, the breadth, the focus on celebration, etc. I don’t think the Dead significantly defined the concept on a released record at the time, although it’s there in the bootlegs and obviously there are many examples now available.
Oats,
That’s a nice piece of early Dead, it gives the idea of the fire that they had in their most extremely psychedelic phase. I just plopped into That’s it for the Other One and it’s really relentless. I intend to give the whole thing a listen tomorrow.
Geo,
Glad to hear you liked what you’ve heard so far. I’m curious to hear any further thoughts you (or anyone else) may have. I’m giving it another listen now — despite the relentless moments and the ending, seven-minute “Feedback,” I’m still not convinced there really is a side of the Dead that sounds like Sonic Youth or other noisy indie rockers. (It’s comparison points like this that keep me curious about the band.) But I’m keeping my ears open.
Oats, who made the claim that the Dead ever sounded like Sonic Youth? I’d love to know where that one came from.