There is such an extensive range of music and artists available from the many live albums released in the 1970s. And so many amazing ones which came out back then. There were very few you could or should ignore from the decade. It was a time absolutely crammed with stunning live albums. Especially so after a few like Frampton Comes Alive started to hit astonishing levels of success.
Even before that one from Peter Frampton rejuvenated his career and encouraged more live releases artists were putting out their stage acts on records. In some cases, this was well before they hit the top spot with a huge hit. Meaning we now can still hear them play live at an early high point in their musical career. Or we get to hear songs from some of their earlier albums that may be less played now.
In some cases, a live album provided a real boost. An artist’s studio albums perhaps weren't attracting enough attention or excitement. An album showing their exceptional talents live on stage instead then helped them make a breakthrough to the next level and a wider listening audience. That’s certainly what happened with some of the albums featured here.
Here are ten amazingly brilliant 1970s live albums
You won’t find too many of the usual list of top sellers here. If you want to see more on those you can easily check back on a previous top ten list where several are included. They have had their share of the limelight though. Other live albums, like the ten here, get mentioned less often. But that doesn’t make them any less worthy whatsoever. Let's take a look now at these ten amazingly brilliant 1970s live albums.
Rush - All The World’s A Stage
Rush is another band who have been quite prolific with their live albums with 11 released. To be fair though they have a lot to offer from them given their brilliant live shows. All the World's A Stage marked quite a few firsts and started a trend.
It was released in 1976 as their first live album. The band set a pattern from this one of producing a live album after every four studio albums. That avoided overlapped and repeated content on their live releases and continued until 2003. Choosing your favorite Rush live album is more about selecting which period and studio albums you want to hear songs from and going to the right live release for them.
All the World's A Stage was their first album to reach the top 40 in the US Charts as it headed towards platinum status. Since then their live albums have become more and more polished, this first one had raw energy and power though, of the exciting sort that needs to be kept. It brings the live show home to the listener.
This is a super summary of their early albums and the trio comes across extremely well live on the record, as of course, they do on stage.
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