Best Live Album

A Night at the Village Vanguard is a live jazz album by tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, recorded at New York City's Village Vanguard in November 1957 and released by Blue Note. Rollins performs in a pianoless trio, accompanied by bass and drums, with different rhythm sections heard across the recor...

MTV Unplugged in New York is a live album by Nirvana, recorded for the MTV television series at Sony Music Studios on November 18, 1993, and released posthumously in 1994. Its restrained arrangements place Kurt Cobain's singing and songwriting ahead of the amplified force associated with the band's...

Stop Making Sense is a 1984 live album by Talking Heads and the soundtrack counterpart to Jonathan Demme's concert film of the same name. The performances were drawn from shows at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood during the band's 1983 tour, with a touring ensemble that expanded the core quartet th...

Judy at Carnegie Hall is a double live album documenting Judy Garland's concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City on April 23, 1961. Backed by an orchestra conducted by Mort Lindsey, Garland performs standards and show songs closely associated with her stage and screen career. Released by Capitol Re...

Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife is a live jazz album by Ella Fitzgerald, recorded at the Deutschlandhalle in West Berlin on February 13, 1960, and released by Verve Records. Accompanied by a small jazz group, Fitzgerald performs standards while demonstrating her command of swing, phrasing, and scat s...

Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! is a 1970 live album by the Rolling Stones, drawn chiefly from concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York during the band's 1969 American tour. The performances feature Mick Taylor alongside Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, and Charlie Watts, documenting the guitar li...

Live at the Village Vanguard is a John Coltrane album assembled from performances recorded at New York City's Village Vanguard in November 1961 and released by Impulse! Records in 1962. The sessions document an expanding musical language that joined modal jazz, blues, extended improvisation, and inc...

Bill Evans Trio's recordings from their June 1961 residency at the Village Vanguard in New York City, notable for capturing the short-lived lineup featuring bassist Scott LaFaro shortly before his death.

Keith Jarrett recorded The Köln Concert at the Cologne Opera House on January 24, 1975, performing alone at the piano. Released by ECM Records, the album documents an entirely improvised concert rather than a predetermined written program. Recurring rhythmic figures give the music continuity, while...

At New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, Aretha Franklin recorded Amazing Grace over two services in January 1972. The resulting double live album places her singing within the Black church tradition that shaped her early musical life. The Southern California Community Choir performs...

The Band's 1978 farewell concert film and soundtrack recorded on Thanksgiving Day 1976 at Winterland in San Francisco, directed by Martin Scorsese with guest performers including Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell.

Released in 1998 as the fourth volume of Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series, Live 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert documents Manchester Free Trade Hall on May 17, 1966. The title preserves a longstanding bootleg misidentification rather than the actual venue. A solo acoustic first half gives way to an...

Van Morrison's It's Too Late to Stop Now draws on 1973 concerts in Los Angeles, Santa Monica and London, released as a double live album in 1974. The Caledonia Soul Orchestra combines a rock rhythm section with horns and strings, giving the performances a fuller instrumental setting. Morrison's own...

Assembled from the Grateful Dead's April and May 1972 tour of Western Europe, Europe '72 is a triple live album that balances concise songs with extended improvisation. The performing group included Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh, with Bill Kreutzmann on drums, Keith Godchaux on keyboards and...

Issued as a double album in 1969, Live/Dead was the Grateful Dead's first official live release. Recordings from San Francisco venues, including the Fillmore West and Avalon Ballroom, capture the group's psychedelic concert approach. Rather than relying chiefly on separate songs, the album gives ext...

The Who's Live at Leeds documents a concert at the University of Leeds Refectory in England on February 14, 1970. Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon create a loud, rhythmically forceful sound in which every member remains clearly identifiable. The original album offered a c...

Recorded at California's Folsom State Prison and released by Columbia Records in 1968, At Folsom Prison places Johnny Cash's country music in direct conversation with its audience. The Tennessee Three back him, with June Carter, Carl Perkins and the Statler Brothers also participating. Songs about i...

A live album by James Brown and the Famous Flames, recorded in October 1962 at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Brown financed the recording himself after his label, King Records, declined to fund a live album. The record captures the energy of his stage show, featuring dramatic transitions between son...

Recorded at concerts in Osaka and Tokyo in August 1972, Made in Japan captures Deep Purple's Mark II lineup on a live double album. "Highway Star" and "Smoke on the Water" appear alongside extended performances of "Child in Time" and "Space Truckin'." Rather than presenting concert versions as simpl...

Band of Gypsys is a live album by American guitarist Jimi Hendrix, released in 1970 from performances recorded at New York's Fillmore East around New Year's Day. Hendrix played with bassist Billy Cox and drummer Buddy Miles, forming a power trio distinct from the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Its materia...

Live and Dangerous is a 1978 double live album by the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, assembled primarily from concerts recorded during tours in 1976 and 1977. It features Phil Lynott, Brian Downey, Scott Gorham, and Brian Robertson, with the twin lead-guitar interplay of Gorham and Robertson central to...

Performance Rockin' the Fillmore is a live album by the English rock band Humble Pie, released in 1971 and recorded at the Fillmore East in New York. It documents the band's extended, improvisational treatment of blues, soul, and hard-rock material, with prominent vocals and guitar from Steve Marrio...

Live! is a 1975 concert album by Bob Marley and the Wailers, recorded at the Lyceum Theatre in London during the Natty Dread tour. The performing group includes Marley with the Wailers band and the I-Threes vocal trio, presenting reggae arrangements built around bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, and l...

Live Rust is a 1979 double live album credited to Neil Young and Crazy Horse, compiled from performances on the 1978 Rust Never Sleeps tour. Its structure reflects the concerts themselves: an opening acoustic section features Young largely alone, followed by an amplified electric section with Crazy...

Smokin' at the Half Note is a 1965 jazz album credited to guitarist Wes Montgomery with the Wynton Kelly Trio. Its performances were recorded at New York's Half Note club and feature Montgomery alongside pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb. The program combines standa...

MTV Unplugged is a live album and concert film by Alice in Chains, recorded on April 10, 1996, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The performance recasts the band's heavy alternative-rock songs for acoustic instruments, with Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell retaining their characteristic vocal harmoni...

Live/1975-85 is a 1986 concert collection by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, originally issued as five vinyl records or three compact discs. It draws from performances recorded across a decade, from small theaters to large arenas, and includes songs, spoken introductions, and covers. The se...

Sinatra at the Sands is a 1966 live album by Frank Sinatra, recorded at the Copa Room of the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Sinatra performs with the Count Basie Orchestra under the direction of Quincy Jones, combining swing standards, ballads, and spoken comedy. The arrangements place Sinatra...

At San Quentin is a live album by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, recorded at San Quentin State Prison in California and released in 1969. The concert introduced "A Boy Named Sue," written by Shel Silverstein, which became a major hit, and also included prison-themed material such as "San Qu...