I have created plenty of polls to catch your thoughts about what are the best live albums.
These polls will stay open but I thought it was worthwhile reporting what the results are at 31 December 2012 (I’ve only included polls where there have been at least ten voters):
2012 Best Live Albums Poll Winners By Genre
2012 Best Live Albums Poll Winners By Group
- David Bowie – Nassau Coliseum ’76
- Eric Clapton – 24 Nights
- Deep Purple – Made In Japan
- Bob Dylan – Live 1966, The “Royal Albert Hall” Concert
- Genesis – Seconds Out
- The Rolling Stones – The Brussels Affair
- Bruce Springsteen – Hammersmith Odeon 75
- The Who – Live At Leeds
- Neil Young – tie between Time Fades Away & Weld
What A Great Collection Of Live Albums
These results show how well the readers polls on the Best Live Albums Blog are working.
Some of the results are predictable. I expect Made In Japan and Live At Leeds to reign for a long time. For Deep Purple and The Who it may be more interesting to see what live album has come second.
There are a few surprises – Eric Clapton’s 24 Nights and Neil Young’s Time Fades Away – but otherwise I believe we are finding the cream. I’m not familiar enough with either of those two albums to argue strongly that they shouldn’t be the best but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are not knocked from their #1 spots when I do the summary again.
I’m very pleased to see The Brussels Affair, Hammersmith Odeon 75 and Nassau Coliseum ’76 beat much better known live albums that have been released for much longer. All three of these are extremely highly recommended. All are famous bootlegs that have been given official releases in the last few years.
I’m planning to update the list every six months, perhaps in three months if we get plenty of voters. I’d like to see more of the best live albums polls by genre get more votes because I think these will help people discover new groups and artists. I only created most of these in December 2012 and they haven’t been seen by enough people.
Please Vote
I know it’s very easy to read about these great albums passively but I urge you to get involved and contribute to the community of readers who love live albums.
Voting in the polls is quick and easy – although the decisions are sometimes hard. The list of best live album polls is growing quickly.
It takes more effort to write a comment but it’s a lot of fun thinking about why you love or hate an album and then explaining it to other people.