I agree with Jeff. Often the live recording captures a bands excitement
more than a studio record. I know some people who hate live albums and I
just can't figure out why. If I am going to try out a group, and they
have tons of CDs in their section, I'll always choose the live album.
As much as I love Del McCoury and his new band, I don't think he has
ever captured the sheer brilliance and energy of their live set on
record. I pray for a live album. The band I see each year at Merlefest
is way superior to the one I hear on "The Family" or "Cold Hard Facts."
Bands where their best album is the live one: Backsliders, IIIrd Tyme
Out, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Who, Guy Clark, Graham Parker, and from
bootlegs Richard Thompson, Gillian Welch, Loudon Wainwright III, V-Roys
etc (which intersects with the other thread about the (im)morality of
bootlegs. For some bands I couldn't live without them.)
Perhaps this difference also has to do with the fact that most studio
recordings you hear are actually of a song that was never actually
played. Unless the band recorded live with no overdubs the version you
hear of a song on a studio album never actually happened. You'd have to
be a pretty damn good band to record that way and have the same, or
more, energy than a live performance. I'd rather have an occasional
flub, or a sour note, and have it be real.
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Steve Gardner * Sugar Hill Records Radio Promotion
[EMAIL PROTECTED] * www.sugarhillrecords.com
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WXDU "Topsoil" * A Century of Country Music
[EMAIL PROTECTED] * www.topsoil.net
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