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
Live At The Beverly Theatre in Hollywood is a live album by the P Funk Allstars (that’s Parliament & Funkadelic) recorded at a concert in 1983.
Continue reading P Funk Allstars Live At The Beverly Theatre in Hollywood 1983
That’s The Way Of The World: Alive In ’75 is a live album by funk group Earth Wind & Fire and was recorded from concerts in May 1975.
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Nasty is the first live album released by funk group Cameo in 1996. On re-release in 2007, it has been called Nasty, Live & Funky in some parts of the world.
I like my funk live so what is the best live funk album of all time?
Is it a classic from James Brown, P-Funk or someone else?
There are a lot of albums in this poll because of the varied nature of fun – you can vote for up to five of your favourites that you’ve heard so far. Continue reading What Is The Best Live Funk Album?
One Nite Alone is the first official live album by Prince and its from his tour in 2002.
If you’re like me and you were lucky enough to see Prince in the eighties, you’ll know that this is much too late. prince used to be THE hottest act around and his live shows were sensational.
Let’s be honest. He did lose his way when he changed his name to Symbol.
James Brown released a lot of live albums but what are the best? Which James Brown live albums would you advise someone to buy?
The obvious answer is Live At The Apollo 1962 but is that really representative of the legacy that James Brown has left? I don’t think so.
You can vote for your three favourites and if you think I’ve missed a great one from my poll, leave me a comment and I’ll add it in. Continue reading What Is The Best James Brown Live Album?
Love Peace Power is a James Brown live album recorded in Paris (France) in March 1971.
This is a very different James Brown than was featured on the famous Live At The Apollo 1962. The high energy soul and r&B tunes are out and in their place is hard driving funk.
If you’re a late comer for James Brown, this is probably much more how you expect him to sound when he was in his prime (he was coming up to his 38th birthday).
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Live In New Orleans is the first live album by Maze featuring Frankie Beverly and was recorded in the city in November 1980. It also included four new studio recorded songs.
Frankie Beverly is the smooth voiced leader and songwriter of the band.
I have mixed feelings about this “live” album.
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The full title of the only live Funkadelic album is Funkadelic Live: Meadowbrook, Rochester, Michigan 12th September 1971.
I always think that is a shame. There are other P-Funk live albums but I’ve always much preferred Funkadelic to Parliament because of the rock based guitar of Eddie Hazel and other members of the gang.
The Woodstock Experience by Sly & The Family Stone was recorded in August 1969 at the world famous Woodstock festival.
I don’t understand the marketing but this is a two CD set. The first CD is the studio version of the Stand album, the second is the Woodstock recording. There is a series of these Woodstock albums including Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin and Johnny Winter.
It’s taken us a long time to get a live Sly & The Family Stone album because this was first released in 2009.
Continue reading Sly & The Family Stone The Woodstock Experience 1969
