Twelve overlooked but excellent live albums from the 1980s

Whitesnake - Live In The Heart Of The City

Live albums are often a great way to check in on a band's best songs at a key point in their history. Whitesnake gave that opportunity to drop in on a summary of their first four albums with their 1980 release, Live In The Heart Of The City.

Given that the band has three ex-Deep Purple members Jon Lord, David Coverdale, and Ian Paice, it’s no surprise that a few of their former band's songs are featured too. And that's no bad thing at all. Especially with an epic version of “Mistreated” as the live show encore and the album’s final song. 

Released as a double album in the UK, the first disc was recorded at Hammersmith Odeon, London in 1980. The second disc was also recorded there, but a couple of years earlier in 1978, and had been released as a live album in Japan earlier in 1980. The second disc wasn't included in the US release. Potentially confusing at the time, but later releases and of course streaming sources make it all widely available.

It’s much more than a Deep Purple revisit though. Whitesnake had plenty of their own top songs and they feature strongly. “Fool For Your Loving” sounds great live and then there's “Lovehunter” which really gets the stage show treatment. But then I am a real sucker for amazing slide guitar and that song has it aplenty. Hard rock always seems at its best live and this album helps support that view. 

Continued on next slide