This list started out as five albums, then ten. Finally, after some agonizing, I settled on a dozen. It’s killin’ me to leave off some long-time faves, but I had to decide on a final number without making a book out of it. So here we have it, the twelve left standing. I’ve heard them all too many times to count, and love every song. Most of them pull up memories of friends, family, and good times, which is always a plus. Since I ended up with more than planned, I’ll keep the descriptions as brief as my fanboy obsession will allow.
Note: I included the year the gigs were recorded, not the year the records were released. They usually match, but not always.
The Rolling Stones, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! (1969) - The one that started it all. From the fabulous sound collage of Sam Cutler’s intros at the beginning, to Keith’s guitar throwing feedback on the closer “Street Fighting Man,” I have every note memorized. The 1969 tour of the U.S. was the first time the Stones could hear themselves play onstage in the monitors, and the first time their crowds stopped the constant screaming and really listened. To say the very least, they rose to the occasion. They would have a bigger, more aggressive sound on their next tour in ’72, also brilliant, but I prefer the slightly smaller scale, more theatrical presentation of ’69.
EARWORM: "Sympathy for the Devil" - A lotta diehard Stones fans call this the best version of the Beggars Banquet classic. Who am I to argue?
Mott the Hoople, Live (1974) - Yeah, Mott was all in on the glam rock look. The goofy hats, furry vests, and thigh-high platform boots look dated now, of course, but in their prime they were a blazing live act with few peers. Lead singer/songwriter/rock legend Ian Hunter mined a previously unknown sweet spot between T. Rex and Bob Dylan. Live captures them at their loud, bombastic, theatrical (half of the album comes from a multi-night stint on Broadway) best. A huge concert draw at home in the U.K., with a much smaller, but rabid, following over here. Sadly, this was their last gasp. By the time Live was released the original lineup was no more.
EARWORM: "All the Young Dudes" - A soaring-to-the-rafters version of their biggest hit single.
Emmylou Harris, Spyboy (1998) - Emmylou’s long-time fans had no clue how to react to her 1995 album, Wrecking Ball. She had abandoned her folk and bluegrass roots to work with arty New Orleans producers Daniel Lanois. What they gave the world was Emmylou’s moody, echo-y, deeply soulful masterpiece. Rather than tour the album with her usual Nashville-approved revue, Emmylou doubled down and went out on the road with her new band Spyboy, comprised of a Lanois-approved New Orleans rhythm section and left-of-center Nashville guitarist/songwriter Buddy Miller. They not only played her new songs brilliantly, they rocked like hell on the older crowd favorites. A daring success.
EARWORM: "Love Hurts" - Emmylou regularly included a haunting version of this song in her sets. It's nothing like the famous hard-stomping version Nazareth topped the charts with in '76.
Keith Jarrett, The Köln Concert (1975) - The story behind this amazing record has become the stuff of legend, and the subject of a compelling documentary. Keith was touring Europe solo, playing completely improvised piano music. He had driven by himself from Switzerland, through terrible January weather, to make an 11:30pm showtime at Cologne’s Opera House, only to find there had been a mix-up with the piano. Instead of the concert grand he had been promised, sitting on stage was a rehearsal-only baby grand that wouldn’t stay in tune and had pedals that didn’t work. Add in his back issues that were forcing him to wear a brace while he performed, and Keith was ready to walk away. The promoter and his contact from ECM records (who were there to record the show) eventually convinced him to play. He took a seat on the stool and did…this. No road map, no plan, 100% improvised music of breathtaking, timeless beauty. Often cited as the second highest-selling jazz album of all time, behind Miles’ Kind of Blue, I’ve often questioned if it should even be called jazz. To me, it’s a unique musical artform unto itself.
EARWORM: "Part 1" - No song titles, since it was all improvised. Exquisite, flowing solo piano music.
Elton John, 11-17-70 (1970) - Elton was starting to make a name for himself back in the U.K.; his first trio of albums had sold decently, “Your Song” did nicely as a single, and he was a decent concert draw. But he wanted bigger stardom and, most of all, he wanted America to love him. When he crossed the pond for a short U.S. tour in 1970, fans who only knew him through the romantic “Your Song” were stunned by the dramatic spectacle they saw and heard.
11-17-70 is the only recorded document of Elton’s original power trio, with Dee Murray on bass and Nigel Olsson on drums. It would be a couple of years before Davey Johnstone was added on guitar, solidifying Elton’s band lineup for decades to come. The show was performed in front of an audience in A&R Recording Studios in NYC and broadcast simultaneously on WABC-FM. Bootlegs quickly followed, so Uni released a heavily edited version as a single LP. Some fans complain about the record being an incomplete and rearranged version of the show, but I don’t. From the pounding “Take Me to the Pilot” opener to the 18+ minute “Burn Down the Mission” medley finale, this is Elton as raw and rocking as he’d ever be. The man could work a room like few others.
EARWORM: "Sixty Years On" - A towering, powerful version of this great early ballad.
Lou Reed, Rock 'n' Roll Animal (1973) - I’m not diving in too deep on this one, since I’ve shared my love for it previously. If you’d like to read my full review, click here: https://www.earwormcity.com/post/taming-the-beast-a-walk-on-the-wild-side
Neko Case, The Tigers Have Spoken (2004) - First off, you gotta love Neko if only because she’s the only artist to be permanently banned from the Grand Ole Opry for taking her shirt off during a performance, right? As a singer for Seattle’s New Pornographers, then solo artist with her band, Her Boyfriends, Neko had developed quite a rabid fan and critical following by the time she hooked up with her Canadian pals, the Sadies, for a very short tour in 2004. There was definitely some magic happening onstage during those shows. The setlist included a couple of new songs Neko wrote with the Sadies (album opener “If You Knew” is especially great,) a couple from her solo albums and a slew of fantastic covers. Buffy Ste. Marie’s “Soulful Shade of Blue” is a fantastic song that has always deserved a wider audience, “Hex” is a prime ballad from Kentucky alt-country greats Freakwater, and “Loretta” is a nod to Boston’s Nervous Eaters, a band that held the interest of Ric Ocasek (the Cars) for a short while. Neko being Neko, she chose to cover her idol Loretta Lynn by rocking out the rowdy “Rated X.” The Tigers Have Spoken captured a short-lived, joyous detour for both Neko and the Sadies, and I’m really glad the tapes were rolling.
EARWORM: "Soulful Shade of Blue" - Neko sings the hell out a song that should be much more well known.
Miles Davis, Miles In Tokyo (1964) - This one’s all about the tension. Without going too deep down the rabbit hole of Miles’ musical history (there are dozens of books that do that job,) one of the things he’s revered for is putting together two historically great quintets. The first one, with John Coltrane, ended with the recording of Kind of Blue when they were falling apart. The second one, put together over the course of 1964, was almost in place when Miles toured Japan in July. Only the brilliant Wayne Shorter had yet to claim his seat in the saxophone spot. Miles had recorded and performed with George Coleman on sax early in ’64, but when Coleman left, the empty chair was filled by Sam Rivers, just long enough to leave this record behind. Rivers was more Coltrane than Coleman, too headstrong to fully accept being Miles’ sideman. The two of them onstage battled more than complemented each other, the raucous sound of egos clashing, and I love the results. Mostly riffing on old standards from early Miles albums, the two trying to upstage each other leads to fiery, exciting soloing that hints toward the kind of stuff Miles would be playing with his more aggressive bands of the 70s. And you get Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams playing behind them, which raises the brilliance several more notches. A unique outlier in the Miles catalog.
EARWORM: "So What" - A faster tempo, scorching version of Kind of Blue's opener, the newest song on the setlist.
Neil Diamond, Hot August Night (1972) - It’s a close call, but if these twelve records were ranked by the number of times I’ve heard them, this one would be very near the top. Recorded at L.A.’s Greek Theater, Hot August Night is one of the ten sold-out shows he played there that month. For me, Neil has always been the missing link between the older Brill Building style hits-for-hire model of the music biz and the singer/songwriter boom that hit in the early 70s. Old-school showbiz meets serious recording “artist.” That’s a really tough line to walk, but there’s no question he had mastered it in ’72. He had the songs, without a doubt, too many classics and smash hits to count, and he had a stage crowded with musicians, including string and brass sections, to make a spectacle big enough for the “tree people.” That the huge band played his songs with such agility and sensitivity is still remarkable to me, there’s an impressive control of mood and drama from start to finish. It’s exciting stuff to this day. Neil would try to recreate the Greek Theater magic with a trio of sequels from the same venue over his career, but none of them came remotely close.
EARWORM: "Shilo" - So many great early singles. This one might be my favorite.
Duke Ellington, Ellington at Newport (1956) - By 1956, the big jazz bands that had dominated the scene and the sales charts were on their last legs. Public tastes were shifting, jazz lovers were embracing smaller-scale bebop groups, everybody else’s attention and money was shifting to pop music. Even the great Duke Ellington was having trouble selling records and getting decent gigs. But he got the whole band into the lineup of one of the first Newport Jazz Festivals, and Columbia had the good sense to record their performance.
Ellington and his guys hit the stage with something to prove, and they succeeded beyond anybody’s expectations. Duke and the band swing like mad, joyous and dynamic, basically showing off. The crowd response caught on the album is wild. Duke composed the suite, “Festival Junction/Blues to Be There/Newport Up,” that became Side One of the record specifically for the event, but it's the last song on the record that makes critics and fans call Ellington at Newport one of the all-time great jazz records. "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" was a slight rewrite of one of Duke’s older tunes. His adjustment gave a solo spot to saxophonist Paul Gonzalves, with instructions to play it as long as he wanted. Gonzalves stunned the crowd by blowing his hard-charging, swinging solo for 27 choruses. This record, and that solo, put Duke solidly back in the commercial and creative spotlight for the rest of his life.
EARWORM: "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" - What else?
801 Live (1976) - A fiery live album from one of the greatest, and shortest-lived, of British supergroups. The band was primarily a side project for guitarist Phil Manzanera when Roxy Music wasn’t demanding his attention. They played a grand total of three shows, this recording is the last one. I love it because it’s the only recorded evidence of Brian Eno as a rock star.
All of the band members were heavy hitters on Britain’s progressive art-rock scene, but Eno was the brightest star, commercially and critically. 801 came together during the time he was putting out his run of four brilliant art-pop records, from Here Come the Warm Jets in 1974 to Before and After Science in 1977. Eno’s aversion to touring was a big reason he bailed on Roxy Music after their second album, so getting him onstage as keyboardist and singer for the three shows was something of a coup for Phil.
It’s difficult to find useful comparisons for the music 801 made during these shows, they don’t sound much like any other band, then or now. The songs are a mixed bag of Manzanera acid-guitar solo tracks, four tracks from Eno albums, and covers of the Beatles “Tomorrow Never Knows,” and the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me.” The performances are majestic, arty, experimental, catchy, and a ton o’ fun. There’s so much to dive into on 801 Live, I don’t expect to ever get to the bottom of it.
EARWORM: "Baby's on Fire" - A fantastic version of the surreal centerpiece of Here Come the Warm Jets.
Warren Zevon, Learning to Flinch (1993) - Warren’s unconventional songwriting and dark humor laid bare. By 1992, his career was on the rocks. His last two studio albums had pretty much tanked, he’d been dropped by his last two record labels, and didn’t have the money to tour with a band. But his most recent stint in rehab had been successful, he was in a positive relationship, and was feeling clear-eyed and strong when he hit the road with his acoustic guitar, piano, and harmonica. He took his solo act all over the world, Learning to Flinch is an assortment of terrific performances from many different venues, rather than a single show. There’s a lot to be said for hearing his amazing songs stripped of his sometimes questionable studio production choices. The other live album in Warren’s catalog is the loud, bombastic Stand In The Fire, recorded with a full band at the Roxy in L.A. I love that one, too, but for me the true gems from his career are his ballads, so when I want to hear him in front of an audience, I’m more inclined to reach for this one.
EARWORM: "The Indifference of Heaven" - One of two new, unrecorded songs he was playing on the solo tour. He put in on Mutineer a few years later, one of that album's highlights.
As I said at the top, there were so many albums, including some bootlegs, that could have / should have made this list. I see a Part Two somewhere down the line.
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