Raw, Gritty, Live R&B Performances
October 23, 2014 12:09 PM   Subscribe

Recently I've been all about Sam Cooke's Live at the Harlem Square Club, Etta James Rocks the House, and James Brown Live at the Apollo. Can you recommend other live soul or R&B recordings that have the same kind of raw energy?
posted by Rinku to Media & Arts (17 answers total) 28 users marked this as a favorite
 
The T.A.M.I. Show will blow you away.

The James Brown segment is music history in the making.
posted by swoopstake at 12:26 PM on October 23, 2014 [1 favorite]


There are so many to choose from, but my favorite live JB album is Say It Live and Loud: Live in Dallas 08.26.68, and it too will blow you away. And the T.A.M.I. Show segment is music history in the making. But it's also a blast of the past and the future wrapped up in one, telling the now that now ain't shit. Ad infinitum.
posted by blucevalo at 12:31 PM on October 23, 2014


Wattstax
posted by Thorzdad at 12:39 PM on October 23, 2014 [1 favorite]


Donny Hathaway, "Live"
posted by thelonius at 12:47 PM on October 23, 2014 [1 favorite]


Otis Redding at the Monterey Pop Festival, or also any other time
posted by one_bean at 1:12 PM on October 23, 2014


I love Curtis/Live!
posted by raisindebt at 1:33 PM on October 23, 2014


Lee Fields, Wish You Were Here.
posted by entropone at 1:42 PM on October 23, 2014


I don't think they have a live album out, but they are a live, touring band, so if you want that experience yourself I'd recommend checking out Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. (If a non-live but high energy album is accetable, try 100 Days, 100 Nights.)
posted by Diablevert at 1:57 PM on October 23, 2014


Bill Withers, Live at Carnegie Hall
posted by neroli at 3:00 PM on October 23, 2014


"Soul Power" is actually the documentary footage of James Brown's concert in Zaire, where Muhammad Ali was fighting. Features James, Bill Withers, a young and fired up Celia Cruz (and although they don't perform) a young and innocent looking Sister Sledge.
posted by nubianinthedesert at 3:11 PM on October 23, 2014


Marvin Gaye — Live in Montreux 1980
posted by John Cohen at 5:50 PM on October 23, 2014


Warning time Sink

http://www.musicvault.com/

Warning time sink
posted by kanemano at 6:46 PM on October 23, 2014


Sam and Dave live in Norway.
posted by asterix at 7:06 PM on October 23, 2014 [1 favorite]


Johnnie Taylor's 'Live at the Summit Club' is great. JB's 'Love Power Peace' is also awesome. For Marvin, I'd take 'Live at the London Palladium' before Montreux--there's a moment where he starts singing 'Distant Lover,' and the crowd just totally loses its shit.
posted by box at 7:18 PM on October 23, 2014


One more: Aretha Franklin's Fillmore shows with the King Curtis band. There are a bunch of editions--I'd suggest the exhaustive Rhino 'Don't Fight the Feeling'--Ray Charles guest shot on 'Spirit in the Dark'!
posted by box at 7:22 PM on October 23, 2014 [1 favorite]


One song: Wilson Pickett's live 'In the Midnight Hour' with Magnificent Montague. It's on some Pickett best-ofs, and it's transcendent.
posted by box at 7:25 PM on October 23, 2014


(If you're into soul-jazz, check out Grant Green and Lonnie Smith's live albums from Detroit's Club Mozambique.)
posted by box at 7:32 PM on October 23, 2014


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