Am I the only one who thinks that many artists blow it when releasing live albums and it is only one disc and contains a partial show. I will not even buy them anymore unless they contain a full set and 2 disks (unless one disc can fit a full show, but this is very rare). Some who have gotten it right recently:

Iron Maiden
Megadeth (even though I do not like them)
Dream Theater
Queensryche
Phish

Some who have gotten it wrong:

Radiohead (8 songs)
Sting (Partial show, mostly hits)
Elton John (Partial show, mostly hits)
Sade (Partial show, mostly hits)


Some of the above artists actually released DVD's containing full shows, which makes it more frustrating since I know the material exists. Plus most of the set is just a repeat of their Greatest Hits albums, only live.

The absolute worst live album is Depeche Mode's Songs of Faith and Devotion Live. I bought that in the cut-out bin years ago and have played it maybe twice. Essentially, it sounds exactly like Songs of Faith and Devotion (an album that I love), only with crowd noise and David Gahan adding a few "heys" here and there.

Hopefully, their upcoming concert DVD will be better.

So, I guess to answer your question, I don't like live versions of songs to sound identical to their studio version counterparts. And full shows are always nice.

The Corrs: Unplugged. Loved it.

I agree Radiohead should put out a legimate "live" album/DVD

I do prefer it to be a full show but will accept tour highlights structrured like a full show. Phish "A Live One", moe. "L", String Cheese Incident "Carnival 99" and Widespread Panic "Light Fuse, Get Away" are great examples of this concept. Double discs set up like a full show would be featuring highlights from an entire tour. These work well, but, yes, I'd still rather have one entire show's worth of music.

Most live albums leave me "not-quite-satisfied" as a studio album can. Martin Sexton's 2CD "Live Wide Open" breaks that rule completely though.

You left out the band that got it exactly right, Pearl Jam! They released all 72 shows in their entirety from their 2000 tour.

Yeah, the Pearl Jam thing was great. Very few bands can do that though, as most play the same set the whole tour. It would be pointless to release each show. Dave Matthews could probably do it though.

Ben Harper's Live disc is how to do it right.

It's a two disc set.

The first disc is almost 80 minutes and consists of "louder" songs played in larger venues.

The second is about an hour and has "quieter" acoustic songs played at smaller, more intimate venues.

It has a great track listing, consisting of his best songs and a few strong cover choices.

The only negative thing I could say is that the sound mix is rather muddy and could use much better separation of tracks.

I'm not a big fan of live albums, but I LOVE "Stop Making Sense" by the Talking Heads. If I buy a live album I would prefer the recording to be a lot different from the studio versions.

This is the key. I think there are some amazing live albums. A few of my favorites are James Brown at the Apollo , Galaxie 500's Copenhagen and both the Velvet Underground's "Panty" albums and the Quine box set.

Yancey, how is the Galaxy 500 album different? Is it MORE upbeat I like Luna.

The songs aren't all that different on the Galaxie record, but the bass and drums are mixed much higher. It's just phenomenal. I saw Luna live recently and all I could think of was how pathetic Dean was in comparison to his Galaxie days.