Can - Queueing Down

live paris 1973 krautness from the masters themselves. great sound quality and half-hour jams with classic tunes like 'vitamin c', 'spoon' & 'one more night'. damo suzuki at his finest.

do this.

King Crimson - The Great Deceiver: Live 1973-1975

enough said. classic fripp/wetton/cross/brufford lineup. check out this wiki article for more information.

CD1: Things Are Not As They Seem

CD2: Sleight Of Hand (Or Now You Don`t See It Again)

CD3: ...Acts Of Deception (The Magic Circus, Or Weasels Stole Our Fruit)

CD4: ...But Neither Are They Otherwise

have a nice day!

Sam Cooke - Live At The Harlem Club, 1963

The epitome of CLASSIC. Energetic and fun in a way only Cooke is capable of.

Don't fight it (feel it)

The Smiths - Rank.

I've always heard people talk about how listening to The Smiths depresses them, but to me at least its quite the opposite. A great live album from an equally great band, but that really goes without saying.

Does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body?
(I Dunno)

Lou Barlow & The Minders - Live Tribute to Elliott Smith

Lou Barlow of Dinosaur Jr/Sebadoh/Folk Implosion pays homage to my favorite sad-sap.

Im stuck here waitin' for a passing feeling.

[thanks to: musicasocial.blogspot.com]

Brian Eno, John Cale, Nico & Kevin Ayers - June 1, 1974

Masters at work.

Portishead - Live at Roseland (1998)

I fucking love this album by one of my favorite bands.

"Recorded with a full orchestra on a cold, rainy day shortly after the release of their second record, Portishead, the project doubled as a live album and the soundtrack for a BBC documentary. In addition to being economical and perhaps lucrative, the disc demonstrates how sampled and sequenced music can be re-created in concert without losing any of the charm or dynamics of the original recordings. All it takes is a 22-piece string section, some horns, and a band whose tightness is exceeded only by its creativity. At times the performances on PNYC sound even more breathtaking and cinematic than Portishead's original recordings, as humming theremin, skittery scratching, and gliding strings mingle with stealthy guitar lines and sultry vocals."

Here's some background info on Portishead for those who are new to their music.

"Portishead are a band from Bristol, England, named after the small coastal town of Portishead, twelve miles west of Bristol in North Somerset. They were initially known for their use of jazz samples and some hip hop beats along with various synth sounds and the hauntingly beautiful vocals of singer Beth Gibbons. Their current sound drops the samples in favor of a harder, more abrasive edge, but retains Gibbons’ vocals.

The band was formed in 1991, by keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Geoff Barrow and singer Beth Gibbons. Barrow had previously worked with two other bands from Bristol, Massive Attack and Tricky, and decided to name his new endeavour after his hometown.

After releasing a short film (To Kill A Dead Man) and its accompanying music, Portishead signed a record deal with Go! Beat and their first album, ‘Dummy’, was released in 1994. It featured heavy contributions from guitarist Adrian Utley. In spite of the band’s media-shyness, the album gained universal critical acclaim and was successful on both sides of the Atlantic, spawning two hit singles, “Glory Box” and “Sour Times”. The album won the British Mercury Music Prize in 1995 beating albums such as ‘Definitely Maybe’ by Oasis and Leftfield’s ‘Leftism’.

Their second album, ‘Portishead’, was released in 1997, and featured the single “All Mine”. A live album featuring new orchestral arrangements of the group’s songs was recorded primarily at Roseland in New York City and released in 1998, as well as a DVD of the Roseland concert."

but don't despair

Storefront Hitchcock.

Jonathan Demme(Neil Young: Heart of Gold, Philadelphia, Silence of the lambs) brings us a great Robyn Hitchcock concert film in... well... a storefront.

Arthur Lee & Love - Live at the Knitting Factory, May 1st 2002

Love, one of my most cherished bands. When I found out back in 2006 that Arthur Lee had died of leukemia, i felt intense grief as if he were a personal friend. But i truly feel as if he were, his lyrics and arrangements move me deeply, and have accompanied me through thick and thin. Forever Changes is an irrefutable masterpiece, ive heard this record countless times and it fails to grow old. Well, after Artie served a 12 year sentence for firearms possesion he went on tour in 2002 with Johnny Echols(original guitarist of Love) and the "Love" band also known as Baby Lemonade(my guess is its a Syd Barrett reference). This live album is an excerpt of said tour and it includes many of my fav Love tunes, including: she comes in colors, alone again or, que vida, you set the scene, etc. etc. Here the violins and horns are replaced with some blazing guitars which really add some spice to it, one hell of a show, you can really feel the energy of the crowd. enjoy.

Thrum pum pum pum...

Fania All-Stars - Live at the Cheetah Vol 1 & 2

I was digging through my Dad's closet a few weeks ago looking for any old records he had. Amongst the big pile of shit that is Boston, REO Speedwagon, and Kenny G I found a few gems. A live Donna Summers record, The White Album, an old Menudo album (mine when I was little), and Vol 2 of this legendary piece of music. 

Recorded live at the NYC club the Cheetah, a few years prior to their famous Yankee Stadium gig, it features one of their best line-ups ever performing so tight even the paraplegics must have been dancing. Larry Harlow, Ray Barretto, Willie Colon, Johnny Pacheco, Roberto Roena, and Bobby Valentin all provide the musical backdrop with their coke fueled grooves while Hector Lavoe, Ismael Rivera, among others provide the vocals.  

Here we have both Vol 1 and 2 originally released as separate records. There's a reason they became some of the highest selling Latin music albums ever.

Quitate Tu

Tach.Dé - Live @ La Respuesta

Live performance by Puerto Rican post-rock band "Tach.Dé".

Myspace

Buena Vista Social Club - Live at Carnegie Hall

Recording of Buena Vista's legendary 1998 performance at Carnegie Hall, some of which was featured in Wim Wenders' excellent documentary. They play all the songs from the studio album along with a few other Cuban classics.

"This set is every bit as necessary as the solo albums by the singers, and perhaps even more than the studio effort. It is not only a historical document; it is a living, breathing piece of work that guarantees the transference of emotion from tape to listener, and cements the Buena Vista Social Club's place not only in the Latin music pantheon, but in the larger context of popular music history."

Beyond Essential.

King Crimson - USA

There's a lack of Crimson here that I'm about to remedy. This album was recorded live in 1974 with the line up of Fripp, Wetton, Cross, and Bruford. It's one of Crimson's best line-ups ever which gave us the classics: "Larks' Tongues in Aspic", "Starless and Bible Black", and "Red". Not surprisingly most of the songs on here come from those albums. Be sure to check out the improv session titled Asbury Park where Fripp goes mad on the guitar. Technically though, he goes mad on the entire album.

Get it.

Don Cherry/Krzysztof Penderecki - Actions

Penderecki is one of the great modern composers. He's most famous for his piece "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima" which you've probably heard on different films. Here he teams up with free jazz madman Don Cherry and an orchestra packed with the cream of the crop of European improvisers for a live album recorded at theDonaueschingen Music Festival in 1971.

Cherry's pieces are a blend of arabic chanting, oriental and indian music mixed with his explosive passages of energy playing and jazz freak outs.

I'll let the BBC explain Penderecki's piece which is called "Actions for Free Jazz Orchestra":

"The Penderecki piece explores the balance between composition and improvisation in a less playful yet no less meaningful way. Drones and extended techniques such as overblowing (which explore a concern with timbre) sit alongside brass chords which hang in the air as well as 4/4 walking bass. Apparently influenced by the Original Globe Unity Orchestra piece of 1967, "Actions" often sounds more overtly 'jazz' than that group; there are episodes that showcase the explosive playing of guitarist Terje Rypdal and saxophonist Brotzmann that will make your hair stand on end."

Download

Gang Gang Dance live in Paris.

  

A recent performance by one of Brooklyn's finest. The song is "Egowar" off their great album "God's Money".

More info here.