Live - Rank The Albums, You Asked For It! Options

[Hoodstock]

When was the last time there was a post where everyone ranked the Live albums in order?

Ask and you shall recieve!

If you are inclined rank Live's albums from favorite (#1) to least favorite. If you want to go big time include it all!

Feel free to throw in any commentary.

Live Studio Albums:

- Mental Jewelry
- Throwing Copper
- Secret Samadhi
- The Distance To Here
- V
- Birds of Pray
- Songs From Black Mountain

Other Live Albums (If You Want To Include):

- Death Of A Dictionary
- Radiant Sea
- Live At The Paradiso
- Awake

Other Works By Live Members (If You Want To Go Big!):

- Alive
- The Gracious Few

[Aitkens]

1. Throwing Copper: My all time favorite cd. Simply a great cd from start to finish.
2. Secret Samadhi: I remember walking into The Wall the day it came out, making sure I was the first person in there that day to pick it up. Lakini's Juice makes me want to run through a wall, and Turn My Head picks me up when I'm having a shitty day.
3. Mental Jewelry: To this day, I'm still blown away that a band so young, could make music with so much soul in it.
4. The Distance To Here: I enjoyed the cd, I just wish it were heavier. That tour also brought forth the falsetto and the horrible keyboard and synthesizers. That being said, some of the released B-Sides were masterpieces and TDTH demos are exactly what I was looking for with the increased heaviness in the music.

I will rank Birds of Pray at #5, only because of Like I Do. Heaven and Run Away were complete crap, and it blows me away that those were the 2 tracks released.

V falls into place at #6, if only because some of the music on the cd was actually decent. It's a damn shame that the lyrics were a complete clusterfuck. How a guy could go from writing such dramatic songs as Beauty of Gray, TBD, and so forth to write the complete shit on V, blows my mind.

I refuse to rank the last cd, as it was a complete piece of shit.

[Pokey]

ok i'm gonna give this a shot, the number 1 spot is the hardest because it can honestly on any given day be either Throwing Copper or Secret Samadhi.

1. Throwing Copper. But I'm going to say Throwing Copper, normally my favorite album by a band is not the most popular with the masses, it also is generally not my favorite because the songs on it are generally overplayed and I get a little annoyed with them, Lightning Crashes for example. But my theory is the fact that all of this generally works against the most popular albums by my favorite bands (The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead being another exception) but I'm still tossing up whether it's my favorite or not here means that it probably is.
I know that a lot of TC was played to death in concert, but the thing is by the end the songs were just such pussified versions of themselves (vocally at least) that when I stuck the album in to play it still sounded fresh and different to what you hear live. And the songs that weren't played often like Iris, TDAOC, Top, TBD etc are all just A+ songs. White Discussion is still one of this most amazing rock songs ever recorded as far as I'm concerned capture a pure intensity that is so powerful. So for me, TC is number 1.

2. Secret Samadhi. Very close number 2, SS has the sound of Live that I really love .. brooding, dark, rough around the edges rock. It has great memories for me attatched to the first big live music act I saw when my Dad took me to see them in 97, the opening moments of Rattlesnake always make me think of that moment when I was a kid sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the gig to start. The relentless bass of Heropsychodreamer, the epic weirdness of Gas Hed, the psychedelic tinge of Unsheathed and the beauty of Ghost and Turn my Head just make for such an atmospheric album. Its an album I love to listen to in the dark, in bed with the headphones on at night, or blasting out loud in the dark, its one of those intense "lights out albums" like maybe along with Tom Waits' Bone Machine.

3. The Gracious Few. Putting this one before Mental Jewelry, it's pure rock'n'roll, it taps into the best bits of 70s rock and grunge but modernised enough to sound fresh and not like they're relying on an old sound. Honest Man is one of the best rock songs I've heard, I'm a sucker for guitar riffs like that in a song that you can stomp or head bang to. I love The Few, another fast paced forward propelled rock song like the Live days of old ala Iris or Heropsychodreamer. I love the fact that every musician gets a time to shine and no one is hidden in the shadows. Just such a great album to blast loud and rock the hell out to. I think lyrically it misses the brilliance of the first 4 live albums, but to me this one is more about the music and the voice itself as more of an instrument rather than having something in particular to say. That being said TROY and What's Wrong both are great lyrically.

4. The Distance To Here. Initially I wasn't thrilled with TDTH because I so badly wanted another SS or TC, but it didn't take long to grow on me. I think the best way to sum it up is "stunning". I can't think of another album by a band that sounds like TDTH that I would listen to. It's unique in that normally it's not the "sort" of music I would listen to but Live manages to pull off the inspirational uplifting rock without crossing the line of cheesey. Face and Ghost is just a beautiful song, one of my favs, Dance with You is equally as beautiful. I think initially Sun was my favorite song on the album, I still struggle with Feel the Quiet river and Dolphin's Cry and RTTW I feel I've heard a little too often. I dig the country/trippy vibe of The Distance.

5. Mental Jewelry. This one still astounds me that someone at age of 18 can write like this yet at 40 is giving us stuff like "Just In Time". Lyrically it feels like this album had the most to say. I love the stripped back feel of the songs, but I prefered their live versions where they had more guts and Ed's voice sang with even more conviction. I love when a band I love has a fantastic first song on their first album as like an introduction to the band as a whole and Pain Lies smashes that one.

6. BOP - There is a big gap between 5 and 6, but BOP had bright moments. Like I Do is a monster rocker and Lighthouse is such a great rocker too. I have soft spots for She, Everytime.. and Out to Dry. I don't find WAWFF as cheesey as some do. But I struggle with Heaven, Sweet Release and Run Away. It's too polished and too digital sounding, not like they just set the mic to record and rocked it live. Ed does sing his guts out on the album to his credit but his lyrics took a dive to the mundane and the begining of the band taking a back seat was happening.

7. V is close to BOP and almost interchangable, but I have a more emotional connection with V. Almost more so than any other album (not just by Live). It came out at a really rough time and I clung to it pretty hard and convinced myself it was the greatest musical achievement man had created at the time of its release. Obviously hindsight is a wonderful thing as it's pretty terrible mostly. Ed should never, ever rap. The lyrics mostly are terrible. But I don't know many songs that have such a grip on me that Flow has, again it's not even about the song musically, it just transports me to a place and time that was so bad yet the music made me feel so good. Very comforting.

8. Death of a dictionary. I think this one suffers a lot from its recording quality. But there were some gems, I still think Who put the fear in here is a killer song. "I thought I knew exactly what scared me, and i would never have to run again, so i went to sleep and began dreaming of perfect lives and paradise, woke up and started screaming". From the pen of a teenager? brilliant. But overall still very bare, juvinile and basic.

9. Songs from Black Mountain. Its pretty telling when a album done by the band almost 20yrs earlier available by casette when they were about 16yrs old is higher on my list than this abortion. Just terrible from start to finish, a couple of songs had potential. Sofia mostly, the live version had a pretty cool opening, but the lyrics are cringeworthy. The whole album suffers from major production problems in that it sounds so flat and lifeless, no energy at all. Love Shines and Home are 2 of the worst songs. Just, argh.

10. Alive. This one could be 9 based purely on the strength of Zion and that the production/Ed's voice is a little better. But there's nothing else good about it. Everything besides Zion is just trash in my view, no other redeeming features.

So there.

[T.B.D]

I did this last year ...

http://www.fansoflive.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3494

[+Ed+]

For now the list is as follows (without any comments really so far):

TDTH (the best record in the music history)
SS
TC
MJ
V
BoP
SFBM

And now I am going to compare to my last years list

[Pokey]

I would genuinely like to see Nick's reply to this, the rankings and comments pertaining to the contents of each album, no judgement, it would just be refreshing to hear.

[Wambangalang]

hoodie back with another poll/whatever. ! jusdt like aold times. none really can be prioritized coz i love/hate song on all albums. thats live, their whole discography for me is one big graph with up s and downs. more downs lately but i really fucking hate some songs on their more lovd albums. insomnia god shithou se. mreica meh. i just love live no albums get less spin from me really, listen to
all

[+Ed+]

mreica!

wohoo!

[Pokey]

mreica!

Looks like Ray has to register a new forum name!

[+Ed+]

I wonder how Wam typed INSOMNIA perfectly?

[Merica]

Looks like Ray has to register a new forum name!

Bah. Nobody who has even seen my username reads it right first time anyway. Most of the folks who've seen it over my shoulder say "m....mercia? What's Mercia?" IT'S FUCKING MERICA YOU FOOLS.

As for ranking the albums, shit that's tough... I'll try come back to this, but it will be some combination of the usual top four vs the rest.

[Wildman]

Secret Samadahi (the best record in the music history) to +ED+
TC
TDTH
SS
TC
MJ
V
BoP
SFBM

[Hoodstock]

1. Throwing Copper - My Favorite Album Of All Time!

2. The Distance To Here - Great Album. They Stood Up For Love is a fantastic song.

3. Secret Samadhi - I could listen to Lakini's Juice all day. If this list were based on tours this album would be #1. Vine Street should have been on this album and even though it didn't sound like the album I wish they would have stuck with what they did on Throwing Copper and thrown Cheetah on the end as a secret track (ala Horse).

4. The Gracious Few - Love how this album rocks. Appetite, Honest Man, The Few, Sing ... all fantastic songs. I have absolutely no problem playing this album with anyone around.

5. Alive - I'm not huge on the lyrics but for me this album has more songs that I can enjoy and listen to than anything that follows it. Zion is fantasitc. A New World should have been on the physical album. Grace sounds like it could have been a single on BOP. I also enjoy Drive, The Great Beyond, Stand, and Just In Time.

6. Songs From Black Mountain - I really like The River. To me the album drops off from there but Mystery, Sofia, Love Shines, and All I Need are all right (not fantastic by any means).

7. Birds Of Pray - I've always had an issue with this album. The first time I played it I loved it and the moe I listened to it the less I liked it. Like I Do rocks and I really like Sweet Release - that's about it. The rest of the album is forgettable. Heaven is nothing special and I don't like Runaway.

8. Mental Jewelry - I'm basing this on what is on the album, and I just can't get into the quality and sound of MJ. I actually wish they would have recorded this album live or just did one straight take playing the album through for the record. I love many live versions of these songs found elsewhere, and listen to them a ton, but I don't care for the recordings on the album itself. Operation Spirit from the Unplugged performance is amazing!

9. Death Of A Dictionary - This album doesn't get alot of spins but it is cool to go back and listen to where it started. Saviour For A Day should have been on MJ.

10. V - To me this album is a steaming pile of crap. They even managed to fuck up the name (should have been EF). No album I've purchased has pissed me off more than this. Simple Creed rocks and is the only thing on this album I can even stand listening too (and even that has corny lyrics). After about a dozen spins I wanted my money back.

Other Works

1. Radiant Sea - I could listen to this compelation of live tracks all day. I really dig Beautiful Invisible (a unique Live song that sounds different from the rest). Radiant Sea is not a fantastic song, but I'd say it's one of the best Live songs since TDTH.

2. Live At The Paradiso - Contains my favorite version of Simple Creed. Everything else is forgettable.

3. Awake - A "best of" album that is missing a lot of their best! Whoever picked the tracks got it all wrong.

I did this last year ...

http://www.fansoflive.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3494

It's all been done before - Congrats

This post has been edited by Hoodstock: Jul 14 2011, 9:45 am

[Pokey]

Bah. Nobody who has even seen my username reads it right first time anyway. Most of the folks who've seen it over my shoulder say "m....mercia? What's Mercia?" IT'S FUCKING MERICA YOU FOOLS.

As for ranking the albums, shit that's tough... I'll try come back to this, but it will be some combination of the usual top four vs the rest.

Pretty sure I admitted that until I knew your name was Ray I thought you were a girl with the name Mer-cee-a. As I never made the connection, to be honest sometimes, you know, just as a treat, I still pretend you're a girl

[FishOutaWater]

My rankings would go like this:

1. MJ
2. TC
3. TDTH
4. SS
5. SFBM
6. V
7. BoP

I I had to throw TGF and Alive in there, TGF would go just below TC and Alive would go second to last, above BoP.

I will try to write explanations later when I have more time.