Ten absolutely stunning live albums from the 1970s

Thin Lizzy - Live And Dangerous

This phenomenal live album was inspired in part by Frampton Comes Alive. Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott kept hearing that album on the radio and vowed his band could do an even better live album. They certainly gave it their best shot on Live And Dangerous when released in June 1978.

The live aspect is brilliantly captured, You can hear the band and the crowd enjoying themselves from the very start and interacting throughout. The sound quality and production are such that it’s as if you were there. Controversial claims suggest there was a lot of post-production and overdubbing work, reducing the real live content significantly. 

The band though has always denied this. When a deluxe box set was released in 2022 with the original live recordings, it helped combat the excessive overdubbing claims. With so much great music and the live atmosphere on the record,  Live And Dangerous still merits a claim as one of the best live albums.

Bob Marley And The Wailers - Live!

Here’s the album that took reggae music to a new level in the US, and probably many other places too. This was the band's Natty Dread tour recorded onstage in London in 1975. There wasn't a lot of pre-planning or preparation for a live recording. Island Records boss Chris Blackwell watched the band in the first of their two sell-out shows at the London Lyceum and arranged for the Rolling Stones mobile studio to capture the second night. What a great decision!

This was a great way to catch the Jamaican legend and his band live and hear their back catalogue of songs. It's another live album that retains the flaws and live issues, adding realism and authenticity. It is of course where the ultimate version of “No Woman, No Cry” comes from, with its feedback sounds and emotion it's a classic live song from a momentous album.