Another thread (about the rock band Phish) made me think about how I like studio recordings of music (in virtually every genre) much better than live recordings... I feel the crafting of a studio album offers more listening pleasure.. I do realize that sometimes a live recording captures that magic that could never take place in the studio and I have heard that happen (on live recordings and in person)... But to me, 90% of the time or more, the studio crafted material is superior then a live recording of the same material...

What do you think???


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I should add that some people think certain bands (Phish, Grateful Dead) were always better in live performances... I can't say anything about Phish because I have never heard them live, but for me there are plenty of choice studio songs by the Dead (and I've heard tons of their live stuff and saw them live and I think they captured some great stuff in the studio at times too,,, I know most Dead Heads would not agree)...

Perhaps the "experience" of a Dead show pushed people's opinions on this... But strickly from a listening standpoint, I find a lot of Dead studio material as good, if not better then their live stuff... That statement may be sacrilegious to some serious Dead fans...

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I'd preferr stuodio recording. But somtimes live recording can be cool too...

I've tried my hand at doing some live recordings, and its extremely difficult, for the simple reason that when sorting shit out on the mixer/eq, stuff like that, what sounds good at the venue may not neccesarily sound good once recorded, if you follow me.

There are some very special live recordings that I'm glad to own. "Yessongs" is simply amazing, when you consider how technically challenging their music is, and how well they could deliver it in concert (and still do, in fact). There are some others I like, usually for sentimental reasons. I do very much enjoy Phish live, but unlike many of their fans, I am also a real fan of their studio work, and if I had to choose one or the other, I'd have to go with the studio albums.

Overall, though, I prefer studio recordings, because there's a magic that happens there which often cannot even be reproduced in live performance. Those of us who are particularly fond of the music of the psychedelic era have a real affinity for that magic, I think, and we look for music that will take us "somewhere else". Live recordings, by their very nature, attempt to take you to a place in time, a location, an event. Studio recordings, at their best, aim to take you someplace beyond space and time. I like that...a lot.

...and as of this post I'm alone in my love of live recordings.

Don't get me wrong, I adore a well-crafted studio piece...there's just this unique quality of a live performance that could never be accurately put to tape, something intangible and important to those unique moments of musical performance...studio performances often come across as contrived and overbearing at times, while a true, honest, passionate live performance will capture a band/musician as they are, naked and real and 'in the moment' (assuming that the musicians we're talking about are a good live act and that they aren't just lip-synching to a recording...)...

...I often judge a band/musician solely on how well they present themselves in a live setting (obviously, this doesn't extend to Electronic musicians and those artists that simply detest live performance in general)...but this doesn't take away from the quality of their studio works, of course, but it just adds another dimension to their work and makes me appreciate them all the more if their live works hold up as well as (or surpass) their studio recordings...

...but ultimately, it all depends on the artist we're talking about. If we're talking King Crimson, Keith Jarret, Ruins, Bill Evans, Uz Jsme Doma, Cecil Taylor, I'll immediately go for a live recording over a studio work...

...if we're talking The Beatles, Talk Talk, Pat Metheny, and of course, most every electronic artist, than obviously I'll go w/ a studio work.

(and yet, while I did say most every electronic artist, Throbbing Gristle is one group that I almost always prefer to hear live.)

(( Of course, I'll take a studio recording any day over a poorly recorded/mixed live recording! :tongue: ))

The best "live" album I can think of is the Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore East.

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That is true,, there are many "overproduced" studio albums... But, for the most part I agree with Reverend Rock's first post...
While there are times that a live performance can capture a pure magical moment,, a well produced studio album is often a complete work of art, in my opinion...

John Lennon had a saying that sort of makes sense here... He compared the work of the Betales (post-Rubber Soul) to that of Picasso... When someone would ask why the Beatles no longer played live, he responded that they couldn't properly recreate their studio craft live... One reporter kept at him asking why a trained musician with proper backing musicians couldn't recreate any sound,,, and Lennon said something like,,, "well, when you see Picasso, do you ask him to re-create his materpieces right then and there on a stage somewhere.. It's not like there is a crowd shouting at Picasso, "paint, paint"....

It seems absurd when you think about it...

Some studio works are best left as that, studio works... I'm glad the Beatles never re-created "I am the Walrus" or "Tomorrow Never Knows" live... Some might want to hear those,,, not me... The complexities of those two songs (and scores of others) keep me interested year after year... I don't want to see Picasso paint live on stage... I prefer his finished crafted work (just as I do many many many rock artists)...

Don't get me wrong, as I said earlier, there are artists whos songs can be wonderful live... And that is cool too... Heck, even many rockers like Sprinsteen or someone like Jerry Lee Lewis have songs that are perfect for live performance... But, often they too did better work in the studio...


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Well, like I said, it all depends on the artist in question...I have far more studio records than live recordings, but as a matter of personal preference I'd rather have a really great live recording by an artist when I can find one.

You should listen to more jazz.