Live versions that are substantially better than the original

[Sunny]

Rory Gallagher's Bad Penny is so much better than the studio version

 

[Mr. Shadow]

Red House - Jimi Hendrix @ Royal Albert Hall [with v. RARE pics]

 

[zeppelin rocker]

Kiss - Black Diamond

 

[Khor1255]

Excellent! What a gem.

 

[Vehicle]

The version on Live! Go for What You Know is quite a bit better (Mainly because of the presence of a second guitarist. Pat Thrall can friggin' play), but this early one also blows away the studio version, as far as I'm concerned.

Excellent choice. In fact, there are quite a few cuts on that album I like better than the studio versions.

And you're right. Pat Travers & Pat Thrall make Live! Go For What You Know a really, really edgy & and raw guitar oriented live album. They play off each other, and those cats really let the fur fly.

Here's a great example:

Heat In The Street:




This one rocks, too. (sorry about the video, it's the only one I could find with the live cut from that album.

Go All Night



I also like Stevie alot better, but I couldn't find the live version from this album, and I'm too lazy to go dig it out.


And this one. Not only way better than the studio version, but quite possibly one of the greatest live cut ever. To me, anyway. Pat & Pat have at on this one.

 

[gorgon]

If for nothing other than the guitar work here.

D.A.D. - Sleeping My Day Away

 

[Jonny Come Lately]

I significantly prefer the live versions of the Fleetwood Mac songs I'm So Afraid and Big Love from their 1997 live album The Dance to the original studio recordings.

The original version of I'm so Afraid is a decent enough song but I consider it the one slightly disappointing track on the White Album - IMO it would be a good hard rock song were it not for the use of acoustic guitar, which spoils the dark atmosphere created by the lead guitar and organ, and Lindsey Buckingham's unusually high singing voice which feels at odds with the mood of the song - the live version on The Dance doesn't have these issues and features a longer and superior guitar solo to boot.

I find Big Love on Tango In The Night to be dated, overproduced mush whereas the Lindsey Buckingham acoustic version on The Dance is raw and exciting, and much, much better as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Lynch]

The live version of Turn the Page is epic, the studio version is cool, but pales in comparison:

Bob Seger - Turn the Page (Studio)




Bob Seger - Turn the Page (Live from Live Bullet)

 

[Kickstart]

Since the first thing I ever heard of The Velvet Underground was their Gold compilation album, this was the first version of Sweet Jane I ever heard and I never really got into the album version

 

[analoggal]

Live vs Studio... my husband and I have been debating this question for y-e-a-r-s. I contend that the energy emanating from a live recording is unsurpassed vs hubby's contention that the quality of a studio recording is unsurpassed. Here's one song that always sounds great live:

Going Down...
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Jeff Beck

Joe Bonamassa, Billy Gibbons, Derek Trucks, & Dusty Hill