Seven live albums from the 1970s that should be ignored

Two more live albums you can skip

Elvis Presley - In Concert

Here’s quite a sad one to miss out on. CBS signed Elvis up for a TV special filmed at several concerts in June 1977. That special and the RCA live album of the concerts were shown and released in October 1977, two months after the singer's sudden death.

Elvis was clearly in poor shape for the events. Nowhere near his prime and a sad reminder of what he had been before. There is some stumbling over words, some low par singing and moments to forget rather than treasure. 

To be honest had it not been for his tragic death I can't see that the record nor the TV special would have been released. They are both best forgotten. Presley’s music will live on in other ways, let's just skip well past this one.

Rainbow - On Stage

This choice could be contentious for some. On Stage is an ok record of Rainbow on tour in Germany and Japan back in 1976. The band are in decent form, the album rocks along and it has several well known Rainbow favourites. 

So what's not to like? Well, it's just a bit flat in places for one thing. Ok is the word, not outstanding or great. Rainbow was amazing as a live band. Sadly that doesn't come across, here well enough. For me, though, the other big reason to walk on by this album is that it's a double album measuring in at 64 minutes and 11 seconds long. The four album sides range from 13 minutes to 18 minutes long. That feels very short and I’d have to question if it’s ticking a contract box.