The G-Sphere Sounding Booth: Random Album Effect

Friday, January 28, 2022

Random Album Effect - Live (2)

More music from live albums. This was a long all day set. I loved it although by the end I was ready to move on but that's another story and another post.

I started out with a classic live album from 1966. This record was originally released as Raw 'n' Alive at the Cellar, Chicago 1966 in 1992 but was expanded and released in 2015 which is the version I have. It was an awesome sounding live show from a band performing at their height in the mid 1960's which was around the time that I started seeing live rock music. I never did see this band. However, this album sounds great. Very raw and exciting.

Next up was Simon & Garfunkel who I did see a couple of times in the late 60's and early 70's. This is a nice set from 1969. It was amazing to hear Art Garfunkel sound so young and fresh. They had a laid back sound with limited backup and they were introducing some new songs like Bridge Over Troubled Waters. A very enjoyable album.

Gram Parsons came on next. He had Emmylou Harris with him and they sounded fantastic together and performed the songs from his albums they sang together. The only problem with this album was that it was taken from a live radio show performance and there was too much talk by the DJ introducing the songs and commenting about them. Other than that it was a great set although a little raw in places.

Next up with a double live set from Joe Jackson from performances spread out over a six year period from 1980 to 1986. This collection was a little spotty and Jackson just doesn't hold up across all the music in this set. I really loved the early stuff but he really got full of himself in his later records and it came across here. He did close the album with a more interesting version of Steppin' Out.

Then came the Eurythmics. This was a lot of fun and I enjoyed listening to the live versions of these songs very much. Annie Lennox has always been one of my favorite singers. This was another double CD set of songs from around the same time period as the previous album and spanned there initial output of albums. The shows here were from 1983 to 1989. Very entertaining.

I ended with a very crowd pleasing set of music from Coldplay recorded from a 2003 concert. This certainly had all their radio friendly hits and it actually sounded pretty good. There are actually a few songs of theirs I like a lot and have used in various mixes over the years. However, it was a long afternoon and evening of listening to these albums of live music but of course I have so many more to hear over the next couple of months.