Many people just love live albums. They can capture a point in time when the artist was at a peak and performing superbly. At times there's an almost electric atmosphere that you can share and become a part of when you listen. Almost as if you were there.
Others though hate the whole live album scene. They don’t like hearing different versions of songs when played live. Or perhaps they dislike the artists playing their work almost exactly like a studio version, with no variation or live feel to it. Some will bemoan the use of post-production, overdubbing, and other enhancements which can occasionally go too far.
I love a live album and can tolerate some of that studio work to pull it all together, especially where it’s been recorded over a couple or more nights. But there can be rogue live releases that for one reason or another just don't work. You can tell pretty early on when listening if it’s going to be a good one. You also get a sinking feeling quite quickly when it's one of the few that just don't deliver as they should.
Six live 1980s albums best avoided
Here are six that I reckon fall into that last category. They just aren't that good as a live record. The six listed here are all from great artists and while the reasons may vary, the fact that these are live albums best avoided remains consistent. Even though they are all from great artists of their time.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Pack Up The Plantation: Live!
It seems wrong to list a Tom Petty album as one to give a miss to. He was such a great artist over the years. But there is a good reason behind this listing and it’s not over-complicated either. Pack Up the Plantation: Live! just isn’t a good enough live album.
At the time, it was released in November 1985, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers had six studio albums to their name. They had plenty of great material to draw on for this their first live album. The recordings were taken from their 1985 tour when promoting their latest album, Southern Accent, which was released just a few months beforehand. Songs from that do feature quite heavily on the double live album.
Southern Accent hadn't gone down too well amongst Petty fans. It was a slight change in style and was criticized by many for being a bit too slick. Which doesn't really help when it comes to the live release. There are a couple of songs on it boosted by the presence of Stevie Nicks and her great voice. A regular with Petty and the band on tour, Nicks joins them on “Needles and Pins” and “Insider”. That at least adds something a little different to what is otherwise fairly bland and safe content.
Pack Up the Plantation: Live! doesn’t excite or stir like a live album should. It’s all a bit too dull even if the songs are competently performed. That in itself is a decent reason to recommend giving this one a miss, an even better one is that if you want to hear Petty and the band on a live album, The Live Anthology from 2009 is a much better option, by far.
Continued on next slide
Bob Dylan/The Grateful Dead – Dylan & The Dead
Opinions are very mixed on seeing Bob Dylan live, some will rave about his appearances, and others will tell you how disappointing he was. It often depends upon his mood either at the stage in his career when you see him or at times his mood on the particular night. With that in mind, it's no surprise that he has some duds among the many live albums he has released.
Dylan & the Dead was a six-gig-long arena tour in the US bringing two legendary acts together on one night, with the album to follow. The Grateful Dead would kick things off with their own songs followed afterwards by them backing Dylan for his set and songs. The collaboration sounds exciting, The Grateful Dead being renowned for their live shows, even if there was that question mark over Dylan at times. But it perhaps promised too much.
Dylan wasn’t in a good space musically at the time, with his career at a low point. If the tour and album were intended to rejuvenate all that, it didn't work. His performance on the seven songs on the album is pretty flat. His top-notch backing band doesn’t sound that inspired either. The album has the feel of a couple of acts going through the motions to a great extent.
The album was heavily savaged by critics. They don’t always know best, but they do get more right than wrong. They’ve called this one right by my reckoning. If you want to hear Dylan or the Dead live there are far better albums than this collaboration.
Continued on next slide
Yes - 9012Live: The Solos
The title here offers enough of a clue to the album to raise question marks and worries. Yes had seen success from their 1983 album 90125, Jon Anderson was back in the band and there was even a rare single hit, “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” from it. The album tour in 1984 led to the recording of this live release, 9012Live: The Solos.
Another live album to ride in the back of the latest version of the band and their rejuvenated success doesn’t sound like the worst idea. But it took a weird turn as someone had what they must have thought was a better idea. The focus switched from the whole band live to a series of tracks featuring solos from the then-five members of Yes. They did include a couple of whole band songs taken from the 90125 album, but neither has much new to add as a live version.
There are some very decent quality performances on the album, Chris Squire and Alan White combine extremely well at times. And it’s always good to hear Anderson’s voice. But while the album may be interesting to some fans, on the whole, it's a dull disappointment for most. If you had been at the tour gigs, then it could act as a neat souvenir and the songs and solos have a bit more meaning. That's not a good enough reason to stick this in your record collection or playlist though.
Continued on next slide
Duran Duran - Arena
One of the regular complaints about a live album is when the crowd noise has been enhanced in post-production. It’s an attempt to up the atmosphere on the record and occasionally works. Duran Duran seems to have taken a very different approach on their 1984 live album Arena. It sounds as if they have cut the crowd sounds out in some places and turned the volume right down in others. All of which adds to criticisms of overproduction and suspected dubbing for the album.
Potentially the live album is a great idea. The band had a load of hits and was on a world tour, so the material was very much there. But as is often the case, there are a few of their best songs omitted here and one very odd surprise inclusion. Classics like “The Reflex”, “Rio” and “Girls On Film” didn’t make it, which seems odd.
And yet there’s space to add in the band's new single, “The Wild Boys” but as a studio recording, not a live version. And that slots in as the fifth track on the album. It may be a great song produced by Nile Rodgers, but that’s an odd placement indeed.
Otherwise, the album is a decent run-through of the band's songs. In places, the vocals are a bit strained, as if Simon Le Bon needed an extra breath or two. But the performances are good overall. It just lacks a bit of real live sound, the flow with the studio album in the middle doesn’t help and the album lags and slows down somewhat as it progresses. Which makes it another one to miss.
Continued on next slide
Eagles - Live
This album from the Eagles was probably up against it from the off. Firstly, I’ve never really seen them as a magnificent live act. If you want to see accomplished musicians, tight harmony vocals, and a strong lineup on stage, maybe. But if you want the buzz, liveliness, and atmosphere of a live gig, they're probably not the right act to see.
Add in that the word live in the title is awkward as to a great extent this album put the band very much in the dead and over category. More of a Blue Parrott than an Eagle if that rings a bell for you. By the time this was released as an album, their first live one, in 1980, the breakup process for the group was well underway.
Some of the album tracks for this were recorded in 1976, others date from 1980. The band's lineup had changed in that period. Some band members were involved in bitter feuds with other Eagles. Glenn Frey didn't seem to be talking to anyone else. The post-production seems to have been a nightmare process with the band in different locations. It’s often quoted that the album liner notes thank five different lawyers. So much for those close harmonies.
Putting all those troubles aside, what about the music? Well, it's pretty ok if you like the Eagles style. It’s polished, perhaps over so, it's accomplished as you'd expect. The songs sound as good as, and very similar to their studio versions. So what’s the point of the album is the main question. A contractual obligation is the top answer.
Continued on next slide
Public Image Limited - Live In Tokyo
This 1983 live album does have a decent claim to fame. It’s reported to be the first-ever digitally recorded live album. This is one of the reasons it's Live In Tokyo, making use of the most up-to-date recording technology of the time. It’s a shame the tech couldn’t rescue what is a pretty dire performance from the band.
When it says Public Image Limited, this is one of those scenarios where you have to look to see who is still in the band. From the original line up only John Lydon remains and even he is half-hearted on the disc. The band definitely lacks the guitar sounds of Keith Levene and Jan Wobble on bass.
Lydon led this version of PIL on a tour of Japan back in 1983. The drive for a live album was purely about the new technology more than a compelling musical reason. Their first live release Paris au Printemps had only been released three years earlier.
The sound quality from the album is excellent, but sadly just enhances the basic level of performance put in by PIL. The stand-ins or replacements for Levein and Wobble are competent, but add nothing of any note. Perhaps if Lydon had been more vexed, angry, or even his usual irritated self, there might have been more spark. Instead, it’s largely bland churned-out songs and not even the best ones in the PIL catalogue. It's not an album to waste your time or money on.