Live Albums Ranked

Live is an American rock band formed in York, Pennsylvania in 1984, consisting of Ed Kowalczyk (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Chad Taylor (lead guitar, backing vocals), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass), and Chad Gracey (drums). The band started to gain attention following their single “Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition)”, the video for which got regular airplay on MTV, and the moderate success of their second album, Mental Jewelry. Their biggest success came in 1994, with their third album, Throwing Copper, which sold eight million copies in the U.S. The band had a string of hit singles in the mid-1990s, including “Lightning Crashes”, which stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for ten consecutive weeks and the Modern Rock Tracks (now Alternative Songs) chart for nine weeks from February 25 to April 22, 1995. The band has sold over twenty million albums worldwide. Here are all of Live albums ranked.

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10. Live At The Paradiso Amsterdam 

“If you even remotely like this band you need to see this. Hardcore fans will be blown away. Great setlist, awesome show. The crowd is totally into the band. If you’ve ever seen these guys live you know what I mean. You can’t really describe the aura to someone else. I’ve been to a few Live shows and I’m glad this show was captured on DVD before they broke up. This ended up being their swan song.”

9. The Turn 

“Easily the best post-Secret Samadhi album. Chris Shinn could have been a great singer for Live, but something went wrong. Great and quite dark songs. Worth a listen indeed.”

8. Birds Of Pray 

“With this album Live went for a much softer sound than previous attempts. It was much more accessible to the mainstream, which gave the singles that came off of it more radio time. As the album name would lead you to believe, the songs are emotional, sometimes to the point of being too touchy-feely. But still these boys continue to put out classics and all their albums are good.”

7. Songs From Black Mountain 

“Very solid offering from Kowalczyk and Live. Definitely their best album since Throwing Copper. Great hooks and melodies run through most of the songs, although some of the songs start sounding like some of the others.”

6. Awake: The Best Of Live 

“I enjoy this album very much but see a musical direction throughout the duration that diminishes my enjoyment of it. After the Throwing Copper tracks it seems that the songs start to take on a disturbing quality…that of contemporary country music. I can understand this with an idealistic bandleader in that I think that he is trying to reach the segment of the American population that mostly needs some kind of enlightenment or encouragement to think critically about how they view the world and the life decisions they make based on that.”

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5. V 

“It took a while to get used to this album. I must admit, at first I was really disappointed. However, it has grown on me. A new sound, more up to date? In my book it’s not necessary a good thing to try to sound up to date (in fact it’s usually a bad thing, following trends and so forth).”

4. The Distance To Here 

“For me this is one of the most beautiful albums ever. Ed has one of the purest voices in rock history, and I totally dig his Bahai-psychedelic, spiritually progressive lyrics. This is best conveyed on “Feel The Quiet River Rage”, a riveting momentous wail of spiritual power, and Live’s masterpiece in my opinion. This album is also the most passionate statement of love that I’ve ever heard. “Run To The Water” has the highest quality of poetic romanticism you can find.”

3. Mental Jewelry 

“This album has the most personality and character of the live albums. There’s an upbeat optimistic almost “christian” rock vibe to these songs. The lyrics are very “spiritual” and while it can be taken as cheesy, it’s a great album if you know this is the direction of the music. “mirror song” is too lame for me and “pain lies on the riverside” hurts my ears from ed’s voice. Overall though, these are really well written songs and a great album for it’s day. “You Are the World” was really moving for me for years after I heard it.”

2. Secret Samadhi 

“Throwing Copper” opened the doors too the arrival of this album: I cannot say that I have a favourite, I can say a leat favourite maybe… But they are all quite good: “Lakini’s Juice”, “Turn my head”, “Freaks”, “Insomnia…”, “heropsychodreamer”… You choose. Live were never the same after this album. Some people trash it, but I consider it the best Live album ever, and also one to keep on your records collection.”

1. Throwing Copper 

“Live’s 1994 release Throwing Copper is a Hard Rock/Alternative/Grunge masterpiece of crashing riffs, thundering drums and utterly amazing and enigmatic lyrics delivered by Ed Kowalczyk unique singing style. This is a fantastic album of searing dynamics and semantics, of light and shade, and certainly one of the greatest albums of the 1990s. Throwing Copper was also a huge success in terms of both sales and cultural impact.”