Art Rock is clever music where the musicians are trying to do something different by combining various art forms and musical styles. It’s not prog rock but it may be close, it’s not normally a big commercial success although some artists like David Bowie and Peter Gabriel are the exceptions.
Wikipedia says “Art rock was a form of music which wanted to “extend the limits of rock & roll”, and opted for a more experimental and conceptual outlook on music. Art rock took influences from several genres, notably classical music, as well as experimental rock, psychedelia, avant garde, folk, baroque pop, and, in later compositions, jazz.” I’d add in the influences of world music as well.
Art Rock Live Albums Recorded In The 1970s
Barclay James Harvest Live 1974
Barclay James Harvest After The Day The Radio Broadcasts 1974 to 1976
Barclay James Harvest Live Tapes 1977
Be Bop Deluxe At The BBC 1974-1978
Be Bop Deluxe Tremulous Antenna Radioland 1976 &1978
Be Bop Deluxe BBC In Concert 2nd October 1976
David Bowie Live Nassau Coliseum ’76
David Bowie Stage 1978
Kate Bush Live at Hammersmith Odeon 1979
City Boy BBC In Concert 1975
Electric Light Orchestra The Night The Light Went On 1974
Electric Light Orchestra Live In Winterland ’76
Family Live 1971
Fripp & Eno Live in Paris 1975
King Crimson Ladies of the Road 1971 1972
King Crimson Earthbound 1972
King Crimson The Night Watch 1973
King Crimson The Great Deceiver Part 2 vols 3 & 4 1973 1974
King Crimson Live in Central Park NYC 1974
The Moody Blues Live At The BBC 1967-1970
Procol Harum Live In Concert With The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra 1971
Procol Harum BBC Live In Concert 1974
Queen Live At The Rainbow 1974
Queen Live At The Hammersmith Odeon 1975 video
Queen Live Killers 1979
Roxy Music Viva 1973 to 1975
Roxy Music Concerto or Ladytron 1979
Supertramp Is Everybody Listening? 1975
Supertramp Live At Hammersmith Odeon 1975 (with Crime Of The Century Deluxe Edition)
Supertramp Paris 1979
Supertramp Live In Paris 79
Supertramp Live Tracks With Breakfast In America Deluxe 1979
Talking Heads The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads
Talking Heads Real Live Wires 1978
Talking Heads The Boarding House San Francisco 1978 (TAJ)
Talking Heads Performance 1979
Talking Heads The Boston Tea Party 1979
Television The Blow Up 1978
Television Live At The Old Waldorf 1978
10cc In Concert 1975 (King Biscuit Flower Hour)
10cc Live And Let Live 1977
10cc Live In Concert 1977
Frank Zappa You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol 1 – 1969 to 1984
Frank Zappa You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol 2 – The Helsinki Concert 1974
Frank Zappa You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol 3 1971 to 1984
Frank Zappa You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol 4 1969 to 1988
Frank Zappa Carnegie Hall 1971
Frank Zappa Zappa In New York 1976
Frank Zappa Baby Snakes 1977
Frank Zappa Sheik Yerbouti 1977 1978
Frank Zappa Hammersmith Odeon 1978
You can get these albums from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk
The All Time Best Live Art Rock Albums
I don’t have a poll to find the best art rock live albums of the decade but I do have a poll for the all time best art rock live albums which will help guide you:
Loading ...You can get these albums from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk
Art Rock Live Albums By Decade – 1960s – 1970s – 1980s – http://www.bestlivealbums.com/tag/1990s-art-rock/ – 2000s – 2010s
Ladies of the Road is a live double album by King Crimson.
The first CD has live recordings from the Burrell-Collins-Wallace version of the band recorded in 1971 and 1972. The second CD has innovative excepts from live versions of the classic song 21st Century Schizoid Man.
This second version of King Crimson is often overshadowed by the original Greg Lake version and the third band that produced Larks Tongues In Aspic but their contribution has been reprised.
You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol 2: The Helsinki Concert is a live album by Frank Zappa.
Although the title suggests that this was one individual performance, it was actually compiled from the concerts at two concerts at Kulttuuritalo in Helsinki, Finland on September 22 and 23, 1974.
This makes it very different from other albums in the You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore which are compilations from many different concert recordings.
That indicates that Frank Zappa was very impressed with these Helsinki gigs and this album needs to be considered carefully by anyone who wants some live Zappa in their lives.
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Continue reading Frank Zappa You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol 2 – The Helsinki Concert 1974
You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol 1 is a live compilation by Frank Zappa.
It collects songs from concert recordings between 1969 and 1984.
In total, Zappa put together six live albums in the You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore series although volume 2 focused on a single set of concerts.
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Continue reading Frank Zappa You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol 1 – 1969 to 1984
Roxy & Elsewhere is a live album by Frank Zappa & The Mothers.
Most of it was recorded at The Roxy Theatre in Hollywood, California on December 8, 9 and 10, 1973.
Son of Orange County and More Trouble Every Day were recorded at the Edinboro State College in Pennsylvania on May 8, 1974. Parts of Son of Orange County came from the concert three days later at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. Parts of Penguin In Bondage also came from the Chicago recording.
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Continue reading Frank Zappa & The Mothers Roxy & Elsewhere 1973 1974
The Great Deceiver vols 3 & 4 (sometimes called part 2) is a live album by King Crimson.
It was recorded in Europe in late 1973 and in North America in 1974.
This is complemented by King Crimson The Great Deceiver Part 1 vols 1 & 2
Continue reading King Crimson The Great Deceiver Part 2 vols 3 & 4 1973 1974
The Great Deceiver vols 1 & 2 (sometimes called Part 1) is a live album by King Crimson.
It has been compiled from various concerts in Europe in 1973 and the USA in 1974.
From the same tours, there is also The Great Deceiver Part 2 vols 3 & 4.
Continue reading King Crimson The Great Deceiver Part 1 vols 1 & 2 1973 1974
Performance is a live recording by Talking Heads made for broadcast on the radio and turned into a live album released by the Applebush label.
It was recorded at The Berklee School of Music in Boston on 24th August 1979 while the band were promoting the Fear Of Music studio album.
I’ve also seen what I think is this recording offered for sale on the Sonic Boom as Boston Tea Party with two extra songs at the end from Saturday Night Live. These songs are repeats of Take Me To The River and Artists Only.
I think this is one of those live recordings that slips through the copyright laws after 35 years and can be sold legally in Europe. Please correct me if you know the truth.
The two official live albums, The Name Of The Band Is Talking Heads and Stop Making Sense are two of the greatest live albums ever released. It is interesting to hear other material when Talking Heads were such an innovative new wave band in the late 1970s.
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BBC Live In Concert is a live album by Procol Harum.
It was recorded in 1974 at the Golders Green Hippodrome in London and broadcast on the BBC In Concert radio programme.
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Real Live Wires is a live album by Talking Heads released on the Smokin’ label.
It was recorded at The Park West, in Chicago, in 1978 while the group were promoting their second album, More Songs About Buildings and Food for a radio broadcast.
There is another version of this recording on the Nova Sales & Distribution (UK) Ltd label called Live Chicago 1978 but feedback from Amazon is that the recording quality is not as good as Real Live Wires.
I think this is one of those live recordings that slips through the copyright laws after 25 years and can be sold legally in Europe. Please correct me if you know the truth.
The two official live albums, The Name Of The Band Is Talking Heads and Stop Making Sense are two of the greatest live albums ever released. It is interesting to hear other material when Talking Heads were such an innovative new wave band in the late 1970s.
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Is Everybody Listening is an archive released live album by Supertramp.
There is disagreement about where and when it was recorded.
According to the sleeves notes, it was recorded in Cleveland, Ohio, USA in 1976 but John Helliwell’s website says that it was recorded on March 9th, 1975 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London.
“The gig was a last minute add-on to the end of the tour and has become famous or rather perhaps infamous as an illegal bootleg beloved amongst Supertramp fans. It was also briefly commercially released in 2001 as “Is Everybody Listening”. For some bizarre reason the original bootleg erroneously gave the venue for this show as Cleveland, Ohio rather than London, England, a mistake which the 2001 commercial release unfortunately replicated on its own cover notes. ” http://www.johnhelliwell.com/bio2013.php
The 1975 concert at the Hammersmith Odeon has been included in the Deluxe edition of the remastered Crime Of The Century.
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