Funk Live Albums
I find something very appealing about funk music and the way it can lift your spirits and make you want to move.
Funk music began in the mid to late sixties as James Brown started to experiment more with rhythms based around riffs. Sly Stone and George Clinton linked it to the vocal soul groups and then took it to the rock audience.
In the early seventies, funk was a dominant force as soul moved into more into lover man territory with Al Green and Marvin Gaye but then in the late seventies, disco emerged and provided a bridge between soul and funk. It sold a lot of records and funk groups started to commercialise their sound for mass appeal and lost the whatever made funk special.
To help you to find the best funk live albums, I have a readers poll for funk fans to take part in and recommend the live funk albums they like best.
Loading ...Live funk albums include:
Average White Band – Person To Person 1975
Bootsy’s Rubber Band – Live In Louisville 1978
Brand New Heavies – Live in London 2009
James Brown – Love Peace Power 1971
Cameo – Nasty, Live & Funky 1996
Commodores – Commodores Live 1977
Earth Wind & Fire – Gratitude 1975
Earth Wind & Fire – Alive In 75 1975
Funkadelic – Live Meadowbrook 1971
Maze – Live In New Orleans 1980
Ohio Players – Jam 1977
Parliament – Live P-Funk Earth Tour 1977
P Funk Allstars – Live At The Beverly Theatre in Hollywood 1983
Prince – One Nite Alone 2002
Sly & The Family Stone – The Woodstock Experience 1969
Purple Reign In New York is a live recording by Prince.
It was recorded at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse on 30th March 1985.
It was broadcast on the radio and is released on the Smokin label on June 10, 2016.
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1973 Vintage Blood is a live album by Cold Blood with singer Lydia Pense.
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The Purple Era: The Very Best of 1985-91 Broadcasting Live is a compilation of live recordings by Prince.
This includes songs recorded live from the following years:
It will be released on the Anglo Atlantic label on 27 May 2016.
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The Beautiful Ones is a live recording by Prince.
It was recorded in 1985 and was broadcast on the radio.
It will be released on the Laser Media label on 3 June 2016.
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Nude 1990 is a live recording by Prince.
It was recorded at the Estadio Vicente Calderón in Madrid, Spain on 22nd July 1990 while he was on the Nude Tour with the New Power Generation. It was broadcast on the radio.
During his life and much to my frustration, Prince was reluctant to release live albums. After his sad death, I think we can expect to see quite a few radio broadcasts emerge which are out of copyright in Europe.
This will be released on the Refractor Records label on June 3, 2016.
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Live In Rio is a live album by Earth, Wind & Fire.
It was recorded in Brazil in 1980 and was released in 2002 on Maurice White’s label called Kalimba Music.
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Secret is a live album and DVD by the Sons Of Champlin.
This was recorded at the Expression Center for Media in Emeryville, California on February 2, 2002 and comes from one of their reunion concerts.
It’s hard to believe that the Sons came from the San Francisco scene in the late 1960s that produced Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead with their amalgamation of R&B, funk, jazz and rock.
By this stage, their founding member and lead guitarist Terry Hagerty had been replaced by Tal Morris who was clearly a keen follower since he has a similar style.
I’ve seen it sold under two album covers:
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Live San Rafael 1975 is a live album by The Sons Of Champlin.
If you’re not familiar with the band, the appeared from the San Francisco movement in the second half of the 1960s which gave us bands like Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape. Unlike those bands who developed from a psychedelic folk rock style, The Sons by 1975 are more of a funky R&B group with plenty of horns.
This was recorded at the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California from 28th November 1975 and was broadcast on KSAN-FM. There are no interruptions from the radio station DJ but this doesn’t appear to be the entire concert since it starts with a member of the band saying “This next tune we’re going to play…”
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Live at the Fillmore is a live album and DVD by Ozomatii .
It was recorded live at The Fillmore in San Francisco, California on December 3 and 5, 2004.
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Live 1976-1993 is an extensive compilation of live recordings made by Parliament, Funkadelic.
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