Hidden Treasures - Resurrected Live Shows

[Scott]

It is very interesting that a recent report finds that classic rock CD's are outselling popular music lately. Interesting, but not surprising. As a result of this resurgence of sorts, I find it also interesting that classic rock bands are releasing old concert sets as new Live albums. Typically we don't feature Live albums on our New Music Corner so that makes my forum perfect to host this new phenomena...

So I've got suckered into a couple of these releases and I'm glad I pulled the trigger on each one. This weeks showcase is the new live renditions of some old classic rocks shows... Bad Company and Queen. (Note: Queen also released a 1975 set titled "A Night at the Odeon".  Though I don't own it, from what I've heard its a fine set but the two Rainbow '74 concerts are a hair better IMO)



Enjoy!



PLAYLIST --> http://www.podsnack.com/sgabbert/avk9qpcc

Bad Company Live in Concert 1977 & 1979 2016 1 - Hearbeat (The Summit, Houston TX 5/23/1977) 2 - Oh, Atlanta (The Empire Pool, Wembley, London, England 3/9/1979) Review pulled from Amazon... Live recordings of the original Bad Company lineup are perhaps more rare than those of any other band in classic rock. The group never issued a proper live album during their ‘70s peak and bootlegs have always been few and far between on the grey market and in collector’s circles. Mick Ralphs offered the Albuquerque 1976 concert from his personal stash of cassettes but it was withdrawn just prior release. The source tapes were hissy; either direct to two track or multi track mix down sourced cassettes but the material was first rate. The recording was a revelation in that it presented a band at the absolute top of their game, burning through hits and album tracks alike with aplomb. I’m happy to report that Live 1977/1979 delivers on the same scale and with even better sound quality, having been restored from multitrack recordings obviously shelved and locked up for many years. Bad Company were certainly a bit formulaic in the studio and their sound didn’t vary much from album to album. Their approach works better live with the emphasis on tight playing and Paul Rogers soaring vocals. Both the hits and deep album rise several notches above their studio counterparts in a live setting.

Queen Live at the Rainbow '74 2014 3 - Procession - Father To Son (Queen II Tour March '74) 4 - Flick of the Wrist (Sheer Heart Attack Tour Nov '74) Review pulled from Amazon... This amazing CD (and its Blu-ray counterpart) essentially servers as a time capsule for Queen fans and rock fans in general. It offers listeners a trip back to 1974, prior to Queen hitting mass success. "Queen Live at the Rainbow 74" offers a rare glimpse into Queen's early, heavier style; capturing the group live at time when they were still striving to establish themselves as a truly great rock band. The first set on "Queen Live at the Rainbow 74" (recorded in March of 1974) was originally intended to be released as a live record to help support Queen's first two albums but was shelved in favor of recording their next studio album (which would eventually become "Sheer Heart Attack"). That said, the material on the CD may not be familiar to many people who identify themselves as Queen fans (and that's completely understandable). It's easy to forget that Queen was a band that produced 15 studio albums and as a result, many fans are simply unaware of the powerful brilliance and dark intensity of Queen's earliest material. Better stated, "old Queen" did not start with "A Night at the Opera"; it started with Queen and Queen II. When haring this material performed live you'll not only realize how rich and diverse Queen's catalog of material is; you'll also realize that Queen was a band that had many different musical incarnations and was constantly reinventing themselves while at the same time retaining the stylistic elements that made their sound truly unique.

[Jon]

Well, I'm a Queen fan and am very familiar with their first three albums as I'm sure most (if not all) Queen fans are. That doesn't make sense to me. "Queen II" and "Sheer Heart Attack" have been mentioned as influential albums to a lot of metal musicians. Just a silly statement. Silly.

Oh, I have this. No duh. Actually had a bootleg of a concert someone gave me in the early 80's, it was from a 70's concert. I wonder if I still have that cassette? Probably not.

Bad Company is Bad Company to me. Just meat & tater rock and roll. No frills, just rock. You know what you get with Bad Company and that's not a bad thing.

[Scott]

What used to plague live albums, sound quality, crowd noise, studio overdubs etc...  seems to have gone away with these new/old shows and the technology they've used to put these out, they are sooooo much better!  I love them, may even do another SHT list on two discs I picked up...

Best part of these?  Driving...  yup, jamming is the best way to crank it up and go and these offer the best sound and bets jams from the best bands...

[Jon]

Uh-huh. I see.

[Scott]

Glad I could clear things up for you...

[Jon]

Oh, definitely. You bet.

[RJhog (Admin)]

First, I've thought several times about featuring all live albums for a Summer month, you know, a Summer Concert Series. I just haven't pulled the proverbial trigger.  Maybe one of these days.  I do find it interesting that bands are releasing this material more frequently these days, though in many cases it's probably a record company as opposed to the band.  But it's really a brilliant idea if you ask me.  For most bands and record companies, this is really just easy money.  You know you're gonna sell it to the die hard fans.  And you are sure to pick up a few more sales as well.  This is already recorded material that you don't have to try and "fix".  I can't believe Kiss hasn't done more of this, especially from the early days.  They have released some of the material on DVD (Kissology), but why not sell some CD's of these performances?  I don't know what they are waiting on.

Bad Co - I'v never heard that first track.  But I certainly like this live version of it.  The bass sounds terrific, as does the dual guitars in the solo.  Just nice playing top to bottom.  And Rodgers voice easily sounds as good live as it does on studio recordings.  Oh, Atlanta sounds fine as well.  This sounds like it might just be a worthy purchase.  With the recently released 2CD Deluxe re-issues, this release and hopefully a few more of the deluxe re-issues, as well as recent touring activity, I have a feeling we may just get a new Bad Company studio recording, which in this late stage of the game, would be quite sweet!

Queen - Wow!  Freddie sounds fantastic right off the bat on this one.  He and Rodgers were/are just phenomenal rock vocalists.  And man, let me tell you, Roger Taylor is one helluva drummer.  I don't care what anybody says.  And don't even get me started on the mad scientist (meaning he is amazing).  Father To Son is an epic track, and you can really feel it here.  Another fine sounding release.

Here's the head-scratcher to me.  These aren't individual shows.  They appear to be made up of multiple shows.  Which I don't understand based on the album titles.  Maybe I'm just missin' something...

Either way, I enjoyed these tracks.

[Scott]

Actually the Bad Company package is 2 CD's, 1 CD per show.  I pulled one track from each show, there are a few duplicates...  I haven't read through all the liner notes on the Queen package, but it appears to be the same concept, here again I pulled one track from each show.

[RJhog (Admin)]

I gotcha.  That's cool.

[RJhog (Admin)]

Jon doesn't like live releases.  He has said it many times.  I'm very surprised he's being so docile.  

[Jon]

Probably because I'm stoned.

[RJhog (Admin)]

What a silly way to spend one's time.

[Scott]

hahahaha...  I'm going to do this again next week...