Worst Live Albums of All-Time

I recall that some time ago there was a thread about the best live albums of all-time. I now wanted to submit one for the WORST live albums of all-time. My vote is for:

Motley Crue Live: Entertainment or Death

I have seen the Crue live, and they actually put on an excellent job. The setlist on this double CD is great...but the performances sound uninspired and the sound quality is HORRIBLE. It is very muddled. I have given it a few chances, but it seems each time I listen to it I hate it more.

Iron Maiden - A Real Live One

SpectreFate wrote:

Iron Maiden - A Real Live One

This is specially true when you compare it to their very excellent "Live after Death".

Since I recently bashed it in another thread, I'll add it here too in case y'all missed it...

Dark Angel - Live Scars

You can't tell where one song ends and another begins. It's one long double-bass drum thump thump thumping with guitars riffing over it and indecipherable shouted vocals. It's a mis-mosh of noise occasionally broken up by the singers lame stage banter.

I'd rather listen to white noise in surround sound while alley cats pro-created on my dining room table as I'm drilling holes in my wall and a load of rocks tumble around in the clothes dryer.

I actually like that Motley Crue live album but a 'A Real Live One' and a 'A Real Dead One' are very lackluster.

Was never crazy about W.A.S.P.'s LIVE IN THE RAW. It sounds like it was recorded on a Walkman by someone outside the arena.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Was never crazy about W.A.S.P.'s LIVE IN THE RAW. It sounds like it was recorded on a Walkman by someone outside the arena.

What? That album sounds great to me, probably because it was recorded in a studio.

SpectreFate wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Was never crazy about W.A.S.P.'s LIVE IN THE RAW. It sounds like it was recorded on a Walkman by someone outside the arena.

What? That album sounds great to me, probably because it was recorded in a studio.

You must have a different copy of the album than I do. There's waaaaayy too much echo on that thing. I greatly prefer DOUBLE LIVE ASSASSINS when I want my live W.A.S.P. fix.

Pink Cream 69's live album is pretty bad.

I can't stand live albums where tracks fade in and out at the beginning and end.

Quote :

You must have a different copy of the album than I do. There's waaaaayy too much echo on that thing. I greatly prefer DOUBLE LIVE ASSASSINS when I want my live W.A.S.P. fix.

DLA is a stronger album, but not what I would grab for if I wanted to hear a W.A.S.P. live album.


As for this topic....


W.A.S.P. - The Sting

Chris Holmes couldn't have been more f'ed up during that performance, but part of me still enjoys it.

An album that I really wanted to love, but it was very hard to, was Black Sabbath's Live At Last. It has a great track list, but there is no bottom end and everyone of the songs starts off with a high pitch squeal from Tony Iommi, which drove me nuts. I was also disappointed in that fact that they repackaged(even thought it was never officially released in the first place) it with a second live disc to produce the Past Lives album, which if I remember correctly didn't sound much better anyway.

spiritoradio wrote:

An album that I really wanted to love, but it was very hard to, was Black Sabbath's Live At Last. It has a great track list, but there is no bottom end and everyone of the songs starts off with a high pitch squeal from Tony Iommi, which drove me nuts. I was also disappointed in that fact that they repackaged(even thought it was never officially released in the first place) it with a second live disc to produce the Past Lives album, which if I remember correctly didn't sound much better anyway.

Yes, you are right about Live at Last. I remember I picked it up as an import LP really, really cheap back in the 80's. I was excited about it, until I played it at home. I never played it much, and definitely won't be replacing it on CD.

Barren Cross - Hotter Than Hell, well it actually sounds like it was recorded in that special place in hell for people that hate the cold.

thejokeriv wrote:

Barren Cross - Hotter Than Hell, well it actually sounds like it was recorded in that special place in hell for people that hate the cold.

Florida?

KISS Alive III and IV (or whatever they call it)

Motorhead - What's Words Worth?

released without band approval (for obvious reasons).

detuned wrote:

Motorhead - What's Words Worth?

released without band approval (for obvious reasons).

Is that the one that got them labeled "the worst band in the world"?

I don't know if I'd label it one of the "Worst" live albums of all time but I remember being quite disappointed by Kiss' ALIVE III, recorded during the REVENGE tour. I saw the band on that tour and it was a fantastic show (one of the best I've seen in fact) but the excitement of it was definitely not captured on that album.

I have a 2-CD bootleg of the REVENGE show I was at and it is far better than the official ALIVE III, they had such a great set list that night. The official release should've been 2 CDs and included more of the classic stuff that hadn't been played live in many years up to that point.

detuned wrote:

Motorhead - What's Words Worth?

released without band approval (for obvious reasons).

I actually like this one.

Here are a few:
DEATH ANGEL - Fall from Grace
HELSTAR - Twas the Night of a Hellish Xmas
RECON - Live At Cornerstone
GUARDIAN - Live At Cornerstone

love all these bands, but these are just not good live albums. The Death Angel and Helstar are VERY poorly recorded and are worse than many bootlegs that I have. The Recon is ruined by an akward vocal performance. Lack of monitors on stage left it hard for their singer to do all that falsetto singing. Too bad it wasn't fix after the fact. The Guardian is lame because of the song choices and for the fact that they make fun of Twisted Sister.

ultmetal wrote:

The Guardian is lame because of the song choices and for the fact that they make fun of Twisted Sister.

Say what? What do they do/say about TS ? Let's git'em!!

Most live albums are pretty bad.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I don't know if I'd label it one of the "Worst" live albums of all time but I remember being quite disappointed by Kiss' ALIVE III, recorded during the REVENGE tour. I saw the band on that tour and it was a fantastic show (one of the best I've seen in fact) but the excitement of it was definitely not captured on that album.

I have a 2-CD bootleg of the REVENGE show I was at and it is far better than the official ALIVE III, they had such a great set list that night. The official release should've been 2 CDs and included more of the classic stuff that hadn't been played live in many years up to that point.

I like this album, but I wish it was 2 cd's like you, enough of the rehashed songs. I will say, that I do love the versions of Domino and Watchin' You on it. I would have loved to hear more classics. I like the sound on it.

Most live albums are pretty good.

Most live albums are OK.

Mike G. from Metal Maniacs magazine once summed up why he preferred studio albums over live albums: "The last thing I want to hear in my headphones whilst I groove is f**kin' crowd noise," and for the most part I tend to agree with him.