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
Face To Face Live is a live album by Scottish funk group, the Average White Band.
It was recorded at the Fillmore West in San Francisco and was released in 1999.
Their 1975 live album, Person To Person is seen by many as a classic. Can this be as good?
Live At The Apollo 2 is a live album by James Brown recorded in Harlem, New York in June 1967.
The original Live At The Apollo recorded in 1962 was a huge success. It presented James Brown as the soul singer.
By 1967, he had started experimenting with funk rhythms and this presents more of the James Brown sound that you probably expect.
Live And In Living Color is the first live album by funk group Tower Of Power and was recorded in 1976.
Continue reading Tower Of Power Live And In Living Color 1976
Live At The Bijou is a live album by jazz / funk saxophonist Grover Washington Jr and was recorded at the Bijou Cafe in Philadelphia in May 1977.
This is jazz with a funky feeling rather than funk with a jazzy feeling. There is a difference and it’s mainly an instrumental album for a start.
Continue reading Grover Washington Jr Live At The Bijou 1977
War Live is a live album by funk group War. It was recorded at the High Chapparral club in Chicago in 1972.
Live: Stompin’ At The Savoy is a double live album by funk group Rufus and Chaka Khan recorded at the Savoy Theatre in New York in February 1982.
It also includes four new studio recordings.
Continue reading Rufus And Chaka Khan Live Stompin’ At The Savoy 1982
Live: P-Funk Earth Tour is a 1977 Parliament live double album that documents the band’s P-Funk Earth Tour with the balance very much on the Parliament rather than Funkadelic sides of their character.
Person To Person is the first live album by Scottish funk group, the Average White Band and was released in 1975.
Gratitude is a live double album by Earth Wind & Fire but one side of the LP had five songs recorded in the studio.
Earth Wind & Fire Gratitude
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Live in Louisville 1978 is a live album by Bootsy’s Rubber Band featuring funk bass-playing superstar Bootsy Collins. It was recorded at the Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky on March 15, 1978.
Bootsy Cllins made his name playing with James Brown and then he became part of the P-Funk antics with George Clinton.
Continue reading Bootsy’s Rubber Band Live In Louisville 1978
