Help me make a playlist
September 6, 2019 9:38 AM Subscribe
What are some great, make-the-hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck-stand-up live tracks (on Spotify)? Neon by John Mayer, Somebody to Love by Queen (Montreal)... what are your favorites?
"How Blue Can You Get?" from B.B. King's Live at the Regal. This whole album is great but this track is really amazing -- one of the most electric live recordings I know.
"Where Did You Sleep Last Night" by Nirvana from MTV Unplugged in New York is a killer. I still remember the gooseflesh I got when that first aired.
"Stigmata" from Ministry's In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up really gets me going but I read recently that album was overdubbed to hell and back so calling it "live" might be cheating, I dunno.
The version of "Lily" from Kate Bush's Before the Dawn is astonishing. What an opener. If I felt like cheating, I might cite the "Ninth Wave" song cycle from the same album, which climaxes with a powerful version of "Hello Earth," but given that it runs close to 45 minutes and takes up an entire CD, that's probably pushing anybody's definition of a "track." So I'll say "Lily" instead.
And I'm on an Otis Redding kick right now so I'll throw in "Try a Little Tenderness" from his amazing set Live at the Monterey International Pop Festival.
posted by Mothlight at 11:19 AM on September 6, 2019 [4 favorites]
"Where Did You Sleep Last Night" by Nirvana from MTV Unplugged in New York is a killer. I still remember the gooseflesh I got when that first aired.
"Stigmata" from Ministry's In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up really gets me going but I read recently that album was overdubbed to hell and back so calling it "live" might be cheating, I dunno.
The version of "Lily" from Kate Bush's Before the Dawn is astonishing. What an opener. If I felt like cheating, I might cite the "Ninth Wave" song cycle from the same album, which climaxes with a powerful version of "Hello Earth," but given that it runs close to 45 minutes and takes up an entire CD, that's probably pushing anybody's definition of a "track." So I'll say "Lily" instead.
And I'm on an Otis Redding kick right now so I'll throw in "Try a Little Tenderness" from his amazing set Live at the Monterey International Pop Festival.
posted by Mothlight at 11:19 AM on September 6, 2019 [4 favorites]
Recently released, but dismissed by Fogarty as a subpar gig for 50 years: Chooglin' live at Woodstock. Crazy hypnotic driving rhythm.
posted by bendybendy at 11:25 AM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by bendybendy at 11:25 AM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
REM - "E-Bow the Letter." There are two live versions that can be found on YouTube (sorry, unsure about Spotify)--one with Patti Smith singing her lines from the song, and one with Thom Yorke. I love the Patti Smith version (because I love anything she does) but the version with Thom Yorke is even more lovely and sad.
Look up NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts--there may be musicians you like who've done one of these.
posted by wicked_sassy at 12:56 PM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
Look up NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts--there may be musicians you like who've done one of these.
posted by wicked_sassy at 12:56 PM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
"Cover Me Up" by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, from Live at the Ryman. Stunning love song, dramatic version. (And it's about his relationship with Amanda Shires of The Highwomen.)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:01 PM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:01 PM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
"Money" by Jerry Lee Lewis from Live at the Star Club in Hamburg, 1964.
To set the scene, this was recorded while Lewis was persona non grata in the US and The Beatles were beginning to outshine the first wave of rock n' rollers, and their version of this song was a recent and massive hit. Jerry Lee is playing to a large theater audience during an era when he didn't get that chance very often.
This version will melt your face. It starts off with a hard jazz intro, then plows into a positively steamrolling version, with watch me knock the fuck out of this song until you forget who The Beatles are as the barely submerged subtext. Part of the fun is listening to his talented but very young band The Nashville Teens struggle to keep up.
And then by the end, as with many JLL songs, it pretty much feels like it's about fucking.
It's amazing. It's full of rage at being ignored and underappreciated, a conscious attempt to outdo the biggest band on the planet, flash and showmanship dialed up to eleven, the adrenaline rush of making it back to a big stage, and pure horniness and lust, all rolled into one.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:11 PM on September 6, 2019 [3 favorites]
To set the scene, this was recorded while Lewis was persona non grata in the US and The Beatles were beginning to outshine the first wave of rock n' rollers, and their version of this song was a recent and massive hit. Jerry Lee is playing to a large theater audience during an era when he didn't get that chance very often.
This version will melt your face. It starts off with a hard jazz intro, then plows into a positively steamrolling version, with watch me knock the fuck out of this song until you forget who The Beatles are as the barely submerged subtext. Part of the fun is listening to his talented but very young band The Nashville Teens struggle to keep up.
And then by the end, as with many JLL songs, it pretty much feels like it's about fucking.
It's amazing. It's full of rage at being ignored and underappreciated, a conscious attempt to outdo the biggest band on the planet, flash and showmanship dialed up to eleven, the adrenaline rush of making it back to a big stage, and pure horniness and lust, all rolled into one.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:11 PM on September 6, 2019 [3 favorites]
Also (and last one for me for now) "Lover, You Should Have Come Over" by Jeff Buckley from Live at Sin-É. Actually, that one has about five tracks that will give you chills.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:27 PM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:27 PM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
Sam Cooke's Live At The Harlem Square Club is incredible, and Bring It On Home to Me never fails to give me the tingles.
posted by thebots at 5:46 PM on September 6, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by thebots at 5:46 PM on September 6, 2019 [3 favorites]
Bowie and bassist Gail Ann Dorsey's Under Pressure from the Reality tour is brilliant. She's astounding. Her crescendo. Wow.
posted by merocet at 6:32 PM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by merocet at 6:32 PM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
This is not from spotify, but PJ Harvey "rid of me" at big day out in Australia 2001 makes all the hairs stand up
posted by clownschool at 7:31 PM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by clownschool at 7:31 PM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
The mention of "Radio Ga Ga" upthread sent me down a tiny bit of a Live Aid rabbit hole while I was working earlier today, and I stumbled across this five-year-old Rolling Stone piece on U2's epic performance of "Bad" that seems to confirm that what happened on stage that day was exactly what seemed to have happened — frustrated that the crowd wasn't really into the performance, Bono abruptly dropped the mic and fucked right off the stage to do some grandstanding at ground level. And the stage was up so high that the rest of the band couldn't see him! They were stranded in the metaphorical dark, vamping, for more than two minutes while Bono pulled women out of the crowd to dance with him. ("I started to think maybe he had decided to end the set early and was on his way to the dressing room," The Edge said later. "Adam and Larry ... are looking back at me with complete panic across their faces.") In fact, Bono was so wrapped up in his own performance that he ran over time, realizing too late they didn't have room in the allotted schedule for their planned closer, "Pride (In the Name of Love)." All he had left was "Bad." And so from there he just absolutely went for it.
Anyway, I think this would hold up pretty well on a playlist of great live tracks, if you're not suffering from U2 fatigue. But it's even better when you've seen the performance and know the story behind how the entire band thought everything was going south on the day and somehow pulled out a career-revitalizing live performance without realizing it until days after the fact. Maybe not exactly what you're looking for, but there it is, just in case.
posted by Mothlight at 8:27 PM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
Anyway, I think this would hold up pretty well on a playlist of great live tracks, if you're not suffering from U2 fatigue. But it's even better when you've seen the performance and know the story behind how the entire band thought everything was going south on the day and somehow pulled out a career-revitalizing live performance without realizing it until days after the fact. Maybe not exactly what you're looking for, but there it is, just in case.
posted by Mothlight at 8:27 PM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Great suggestions so far. Not sure about "self-linking" so I put a link to the playlist in my profile.
posted by starman at 8:30 AM on September 7, 2019
posted by starman at 8:30 AM on September 7, 2019
Response by poster: Bowie and bassist Gail Ann Dorsey's Under Pressure from the Reality tour is brilliant. She's astounding. Her crescendo. Wow.
My face = melted!
posted by starman at 3:36 PM on September 7, 2019
My face = melted!
posted by starman at 3:36 PM on September 7, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
Ghost in this House - Alison Krauss with Union Station’s live album
Down the Road - Steve Earle, Live from Austin, TX ‘86
Free Fallin’ - Tom Petty’s Live Anthology (at the very end you can faintly hear him say “I can hear you singing all the way up here” which is pretty poignant now)
Every song on Aretha’s Live at the Fillmore West and Amazing Grace (the latter album especially)
Oh, Sister - Bob Dylan, Hard Rain (live album)
Miami 2017 - Billy Joel, Songs in the Attic (live album)
posted by sallybrown at 10:19 AM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]