Greatest ProgPower Live Album?

[Jasonic]

Album:

Blind Guardian - Live

I will have to disagree with you on this one.
This album represents everything I hate about MOST live albums.

Before I explain, I will say there are some AMAZING performances on there, esp "Nightfall", though as a complete package, here are my issues:

I don't like when bands release a live album where every song is from a different show or venue. When I first got this album, I had to change the volume for each song. It wasn't mixed very well.

The one live album that DID mix different shows well is Savatage - Ghost In The Ruins. It plays like one straight show, where the levels are perfect.

I just wish bands would have the guts to simply let the tape roll, and release the damn thing, feedback and missed notes, and all!

I can understand going back in the studio to fix things up, as I know many bands do this. But at least if it is from ONE performance, the levels will be good and make for a better listening experience.

Just my 2 cents........

 

[Jasonic]

It was soooo awesome to see them pick THIN LIZZY's "Live and Dangerous" as best live disc.

I have been meaning to pick up some Lizzy for years.

Would this be a good starting point, or would you recommend studio material first?

 

[Metal_Camden]

I will say, I would love to see a DVD that was completely RAW and didn't have overdubs re recorded over it. Even if its painful to watch, I would enjoy seeing a bands flaws. No band EVER has a completely perfect show. Granted there are a few bands that come close to perfect.

Now to those DVD's that seem just completely spotless, I wonder how much editing and overdubs got shot into the final mix. I was shocked to find that my one of my faves was pretty much half fake... :'(

 

[J. Golden]

I have been meaning to pick up some Lizzy for years.

Would this be a good starting point, or would you recommend studio material first?

Without say...

 

[Claus / Intromental]

I have been meaning to pick up some Lizzy for years.

Would this be a good starting point, or would you recommend studio material first?

Absolutely. It's a very good starting point as most of their classics are on here. Also, even if it's sold as a live album, rumor has it that they overdubbed a LOT of it in the studio, so it's not raw to that point where it gets irritating. It's more like a "best-of" album with added live-feel

c.

 

[Jasonic]

Thanks. Yeah, actually, for a starting point, if it was polished then that is actually a good thing, at least for someone checking em out for the first time.

Metal Camden - I can only assume you speak of UNLEASHED IN THE EAST, as that is about as fake as KISS - ALIVE II, or CHEAP TRICK'S - LIVE AT BUDAKKAN

 

[The_Metal_Messiah]

I just wish bands would have the guts to simply let the tape roll, and release the damn thing, feedback and missed notes, and all!

I can understand going back in the studio to fix things up, as I know many bands do this. But at least if it is from ONE performance, the levels will be good and make for a better listening experience.

Just my 2 cents........

Thats why I like bootlegs

 

[Jasonic]

Thats why I like bootlegs

I have some boots in my collection, and a zillion cassette boots from back in the day, but unfortunately quality is always sketchy at best....

 

[nomisofsiman]

Nightwish - End of an Era

Both the album and DVD

~Brian~

Totally forgot about that one. Good call.

I will have to disagree with you on this one.
This album represents everything I hate about MOST live albums.

Before I explain, I will say there are some AMAZING performances on there, esp "Nightfall", though as a complete package, here are my issues:

I don't like when bands release a live album where every song is from a different show or venue. When I first got this album, I had to change the volume for each song. It wasn't mixed very well.

The one live album that DID mix different shows well is Savatage - Ghost In The Ruins. It plays like one straight show, where the levels are perfect.

I just wish bands would have the guts to simply let the tape roll, and release the damn thing, feedback and missed notes, and all!

I can understand going back in the studio to fix things up, as I know many bands do this. But at least if it is from ONE performance, the levels will be good and make for a better listening experience.

Just my 2 cents........

I've never listened to this one, so I can't say. However, I completely agree that I'm not the biggest fan of live albums/dvds where it is a mix of shows. It just never seems to show the fire of the band's performance by doing that, and as you said the mix tends to be inconsistent.

 

[Jasonic]

Yeah, and as much as I LOVE Maiden, this is the reason I never purchased the FLIGHT 666 live collection.

At least ROCK IN RIO and DEATH ON THE ROAD (well, I think this from 2 or 3 different nights, but at least the same location / tour), sound consistent.

 

[nomisofsiman]

Yeah, and as much as I LOVE Maiden, this is the reason I never purchased the FLIGHT 666 live collection.

Ditto. As someone said though, they've become whores with live albums. So many of their live offerings are the same damn thing, plus maybe a couple of new tracks. Ugh. This is why I had wished they released the AMOLAD tour on cd/dvd since I wasn't able to see it and it was a different type of tour. I personally wouldn't have minded to have seen that (as I said though I love that album) but at the same time, I agree with a lot of you that they should have played more classics than they did after.

 

[DTJeff]

Flight 666 = BY FAR the best Maiden DVD. It's not even a remote competition. I loved the documentary - saw it in theaters as well, and the live portion is BY FAR the best editing and mixing on a live video of theirs. GREAT concert.

And it helps my opinion that I was at the show they filmed Rime of the Ancient Mariner at.

 

[Jasonic]

I assume they didn't release that tour as a live album, since the majority of the set was just the full length.

I think live albums, esp in Maiden's case (and the case of their label / mgmt) are just fancier ways to release a Best Of, without having to call it a "best of"

 

[Jasonic]

Flight 666 = BY FAR the best Maiden DVD. It's not even a remote competition. I loved the documentary - saw it in theaters as well, and the live portion is BY FAR the best editing and mixing on a live video of theirs. GREAT concert.

Sorry, but there is NO way that this DVD is better than THE EARLY YEARS DVD.

I have not seen Flight 666 in its entirety, but caught most of it from various VH1 showings. It is cool indeed, but very few metal DVDs can touch THE EARLY YEARS.

 

[Metal_Camden]

Metal Camden - I can only assume you speak of UNLEASHED IN THE EAST, as that is about as fake as KISS - ALIVE II, or CHEAP TRICK'S - LIVE AT BUDAKKAN

HA no I was actually talking about Alive in Athens from IE. hahaha. but lol @ that is about as fake as KISS

 

[nomisofsiman]

It is cool indeed, but very few metal DVDs can touch THE EARLY YEARS.

+1

 

[DTJeff]

Here's my thing - for a band I really like, they can put out as many DVDs as they want and I will buy them all. Especially if the setlists are somewhat varied and/or they load the release up with bonus material. I really just get off on live music, even in video form. CDs just have limited appeal to me. There's some actual live albums I really like (they're GREAT to play along to on guitar if it's a band I love - can't tell you how many times I've played "live After Death" in its entirety for fun) - but all in all I won't go out and buy live CDs barring some exceptions. However DVDs are a must-have.

 

[DTJeff]

but very few metal DVDs can touch THE EARLY YEARS.

My problem with Early Years is that I was one of the people who actually had an (albeit bootlegged) copy of the Twelve Wasted Years video from '87 - which includes the grand majority of that live footage. Also, I think they did a pretty meh job of picking the songs from the specific shows. Granted on the really old stuff there's not much to pick from, but the Piece of Mind and even Number of the Beast-era shows mostly just stuck to the basics.

 

[Metal_Camden]

BTW i need to get the kamelot DVD immediately in prep for PPXI!

 

[DTJeff]

BTW i need to get the kamelot DVD immediately in prep for PPXI!

Unfortunately the one Kamelot show I've seen did even begin to approach the quality of that DVD. Hoping the PPXI show changes that for me.