Ten brilliant live albums from the 1970s

Kiss - Alive!

You can’t really miss off this first live album from Kiss when it comes to top live albums of the 1970s. The band may well have their critics for their style, approach, and music, but the album is a classic insight into them on stage at that time. Alive! was recorded across just four US dates in 1975 and to, some extent, came quite early in their music career. This was just their fourth album overall when released in September 1975.

Their three prior albums didn't have great sales numbers. Their music was far better seen and heard on stage than from a recording studio. You needed to be there, or as close as you could to that. A live album was a pretty sensible option to take up. The Dressed To Kill tour was quickly set up and the four nights used for Alive! were drawn from that.

Alive! has been criticized as being full of arena rock music cliches and enhanced audience noises. It’s also been lauded as capturing the band's live shows incredibly well and transferring that experience successfully onto the double album. Whatever your view on Kiss, this was very much them live, doing what they do best. It's no wonder they are early in the queue now for an avatar-based show to keep the live element going longer.