The Official Hard Rock / Classic Metal Music Discussion and Memorabilia Thread!

[LudwigVan]

So one of the reasons that I was thinking about this "Ranking" issue is that I've been on a Metallica kick as of late.
Great band.

I recently ordered 3 shows from Live Metallica (Great thing!) and have been listening to a ton of live stuff from the last half dozen years.
Obviously they play a ton of Classic material, and it is surely frustrating about the lack of quality material released over the last 20 years.
Personally I LOVED Death Magnetic. Yeah, it does sound iffy, but I think the songs are very cool, especially hearing the live versions.

I know it's a thing to criticize Lars and Kirk. Sure they can be a little sloppy, but a lot of it seems like its just fucking around, especially in Lars' case. And I cannot knock Kirk because I think he is literally one of the coolest cats in metal.

Load/Reload, and St. Anger are really drop offs for me. I'm actually thinking of ordering what live tracks there are from St. Anger and making a CD of that. And I can make an EP of 6 GREAT songs from the Load/Reload sessions. Not that I want to turn this into a discussion of latter day Metallica output...ok maybe I just did...

But I keep asking myself, where and how do I rank Metallica on my Top 10 list. I don't have the deep personal connection that I do to my Top 5, but they have been huge in my musical life, especially up until TBA, which I now hold as an absolute classic. So at the end of the day, they made 8 albums, blipped out on 3 of them, but I absolutely love 5 of them. So I guess they belong. They still kill it live, and I must say, I am so impressed with James as a frontman. But the lack of consistent new material sucks.

Anyway, that's my Metalliramble.

Tim I'm with you on Metallica. I was on board since they released RTL and now when I listen to those albums 30 years later, I find myself thinking: how did they do that? It was magic.

I think I like DM a little less than you do, and Load a lot more than you do. I was certainly disappointed in the turn to "Alternica" when Load first came out, but listening to it now, I think it stands up extremely well. I love it.

What did you think of the Beyond Magnetic EP?

[bl5150]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CVRe8lns3xc

Wait for it......

[TAC]

Nice, but I thought you were going to show us this one!
My wife and I found it and it might be the funniest thing I've ever seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhQK-6iI7cI

[TAC]

Gord, I'm going to give Load a listen before I respond.

[wolfking]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CVRe8lns3xc

Wait for it......

Impressive vocals.

Nice, but I thought you were going to show us this one!
My wife and I found it and it might be the funniest thing I've ever seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhQK-6iI7cI

WOW.

[jjrock88]

Pure comedy

[bl5150]

Sorry I didn't get a band topic up for last week - for this week I want your Top 10 Live albums



 


You can do the band Live too if you really like , but I'm after your best live in concert audio releases.  Live albums have played a minimal part in my listening over the years , with a couple of big exceptions.  Rare bootlegs and radio shows aside , I can't imagine that I have more than 20 (official) live albums all up.  So my selection won't be from a huge group.   There's a few that I know will be making an appearance in your lists (UFO/Iron Maiden for example) but I'll be interested to perhaps discover a few I might check out.

Fire away.................I will check out my collection and post later in the week.  Obviously try and keep the bands at least loosely in line with the thread topic.

[wolfking]

I was like WTF when I saw the Live logo.   

ALbum rankings;

Secret Samhadi
Throwing Copper
The Turn
The Distance To Here
V
Birds of Pray
Mental Jewelry
Songs From Black Mountain

Cracker band, possibly my fav mainstream band back in the 90's.  The new one last year with the new singer was a ripper.

Back to the topic now;

I've only come to appreciate live albums in the last few years actually.  It was always studio albums and DVD's for me.  Now I've gone off DVD's and found new love for live albums.  I'd probably go;


1. Iron Maiden - Live After Death
2. Iced Earth - Alive in Athens
3. Iron Maiden - Rock in Rio
4. Dream Theater - Live Scenes From New York
5. Gamma Ray - Skeletons in the Closet
6. Judas Priest - Unleashed in the East
7. WASP - Double Live Assassins
8. Dokken - Beast From the East
9. Ozzy - Tribute
10. Black Sabbath - Live Evil

That should cover it.

[bl5150]

Nice list.......there's a few in there that will make my list I think.   I have Alive In Athens - someone must have recommended it to me - but can't remember ever listening to it. 

[wolfking]

It got me into IE, it's amazing and I'd still take that over a lot of the studio albums.

The WASP is a toss up between DLA and In the Raw, but Assassins is a great sounding live album and I appreciate the setlist.  If it only had Sleeping, it would be just about perfect IMO.

The Gamma Ray was always just a favourite too.  Probably lots of overdubs but again, a great sounding album that is a good alternate to the studio versions.

The rest are pretty standard.

[gazinwales]

I've always loved live albums, in the 1980's I had more bootleg cassettes of Kiss than I can remember.
Then I became a bootlegger myself, recording every show I attended and even sent bands copies of my recording.
Back on track, these days I prefer the live Blu-ray discs, but always enjoy the following official and not-so-official releases:

Katatonia - Last Fair Day Gone Night
Blackmore's Night - Past Times With Good Company
Dimmu Borgir - Forces Of The Northern Night (not yet official)
Evergrey - A Night To Remember
Lemur Voice - ProgPower 1999 (bootleg)
The Poiice - Live
Tarja - Act II

[jjrock88]

Judas Priest- 98 Live Meltdown
Judas Priest- Unleashed in the East
Black Sabbath- Live Evil
Iron Maiden- Live After Death
Symphony X- Live on the Edge of Forever
UFO- Strangers in the Night
Saxon- Eagle has Landed
Queensryche- Live in Tokyo
Kiss- Alive
Iced Earth- Alive in Athens

[BlobVanDam]

I'm generally not big on live albums at all, preferring the more refined sound of the studio over the more raw sound of the live release.

The ones I have listened to the most would be-

Kiss Alive 3 - Kiss' music has always sounded more complete and energetic live than in the studio, and this lineup slays on everything. Kiss Alive is the classic, and those performances are all superior to their studio counterparts, but the audio is really scratchy and unpleasant in places, so I don't listen to it as much as I otherwise would.
Whitesnake - Live In The Shadow Of The Blues - Coverdale was still sounding very good here, and I like this lineup giving a more modern sound to some of the really early stuff.
Ozzy Osbourne - Randy Rhoads Tribute - I don't listen to it a lot, but it still deserves a mention because Randy Rhoads was awesome live.
AC/DC Live - Basically a best of with consistent production.

[wolfking]

I thought that live Whitesnake one sounded like shit, if it's the one I'm thinking of.

[wolfking]

Judas Priest- 98 Live Meltdown
Symphony X- Live on the Edge of Forever
UFO- Strangers in the Night
Saxon- Eagle has Landed
Queensryche- Live in Tokyo

Music win right here.

That Ryche one is the concert that's featured on the remaster of the ep isn't it?  Great stuff.

[jingle.boy]

When I think live, I usually think concert DVDs nowadays.  But back in the day, there were a lot of great live releases with/without the accompanying video footage.

Van Halen - I prefer Right Here, Right Now over Live Without A Net.  That version of One Way to Rock, as well as Give to Live give me chills every time
AC/DC - AC/DC Live (1992).  Great collection of their best stuff up to that point... which really, is their best stuff
Ozzy - Live & Loud
Maiden - Live After Death
Kiss - Alive... all three of them are good, but the original is often imitated, never duplicated (to steal a line from Paul Ellering)
Triumph - Stages
Tesla - Five Man Acoustical Jam... one of the innovators of the 'unplugged' fad.
Rush - A Show of Hands.  Man, this got a lot of play on VHS.
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Live '75-'85.  So many great classics here.
Page/Plant - UnLedded
Pink Floyd - A Delicate Sound of Thunder.  Ok, I'm going beyond the boundaries of 'hard rock' and 'classic metal', but this was an '80s standout when it comes to live albums
Supertramp - Live in Paris ... ditto.
Queensryche - Operation:Livecrime

[BlobVanDam]

I thought that live Whitesnake one sounded like shit, if it's the one I'm thinking of.

Then it's not the one you're thinking of.

Van Halen - I prefer Right Here, Right Now over Live Without A Net.  That version of One Way to Rock, as well as Give to Live give me chills every time

That version of One Way to Rock is the definitive version to me, and the rest of the live album is really good too (I don't care that pretty much none of it is live). I still prefer the studio versions in pretty much every other though, so I don't listen to it too often any more.

[wolfking]

Excellent list Chad.  Can't believe I forgot Operation: Livecrime, what a performance.  A Show of Hands just missed out for me too.

Blob, I'll have to have a look through my collection.  There was one that the performances were great but I remember the production being crap.  I'll sus it out.

[jjrock88]

I forgot Operation Livecrime too. That's top ten.

Show of Hands is excellent

[bl5150]

I forgot Operation Livecrime too. That's top ten.

So what goes out JJ?    Nice list there too - Chad seems to be having trouble with the brief though 

[jjrock88]

For your list sake Brent, Kiss would be out

[jingle.boy]

I forgot Operation Livecrime too. That's top ten.

So what goes out JJ?    Nice list there too - Chad seems to be having trouble with the brief though 

With the Canadian conversion, I figured I should do a top 13.

[bl5150]

It's okay - there were only 9 or 10 hard rock/metal albums in there anyway   

I will have to look around and see if I have Stages............I know I have a special radio broadcast of Rik Emmett live but not sure about Triumph.  As far as VH goes......you know what a fanboy I am but I wasn't too rapt in Right Here , Right Now.   For me Live Without A Net (even as an audio rip)  kills it.

[TAC]

UFO-Strangers In The Night
Dream Theater-Live Scenes From New York
Rainbow-On Stage
Kiss-Alive
Iced Earth-Alive In Athens
Black Sabbath (Heaven & Hell)- Neon Knights Live In Europe
Thin Lizzy-BBC Concert 1983 (Reading '83)
Iron Maiden-Death On The Road
AC/DC-If You Want Blood, You've Got It
Gary Moore-Blues Alive

[jjrock88]

UFO-Strangers In The Night
Dream Theater-Live Scenes From New York
Rainbow-On Stage
Kiss-Alive
Iced Earth-Alive In Athens
Black Sabbath (Heaven & Hell)- Neon Knights Live In Europe
Thin Lizzy-BBC Concert 1983 (Reading '83)
Iron Maiden-Death On The Road
AC/DC-If You Want Blood, You've Got It
Gary Moore-Blues Alive

good call on Neon Knights Live in Europe!!  What an amazing final live album from RJD

[TAC]

Yeah it's incredible and should not be overlooked. The band was on fire and Dio gives an absolutely wicked performance.

[Deathless]

So... Frontiers posted snippets from Geoff Tate's new Operation Mindcrime album.

"The Key" will be released September 18th.

The Key Samples

[jingle.boy]

So... Frontiers posted snippets from Geoff Tate's new Operation Mindcrime album.

"The Key" will be released September 18th.

The Key Samples

Get that shit out of here!!!  Tate's music is neither Hard Rock, or Classic (anymore).  I won't fall prey to this click-bait.  Tate is on Tolkki level of 'I-refuse-to-waste-my-time-on-his-shit-anymore'.

[wolfking]

 

[jjrock88]

LOL

[bl5150]

To be fair there sounds like one pretty good track there at least - and that critter on his scone seems well looked after.

[wolfking]

To be fair there sounds like one pretty good track there at least - and that critter on his scone seems well looked after.

 

[LudwigVan]

Deep Purple - Made in Japan
Scorpions - Tokyo Tapes
Wishbone Ash - Live Dates
Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains the Same
UFO - Strangers in the Night
Genesis - Seconds Out
ELP - Pictures At an Exhibition
Jethro Tull - Bursting Out
Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsies
Lynyrd Skynyrd - One More From the Road

[TAC]

Deep Purple - Made in Japan
Scorpions - Tokyo Tapes
Wishbone Ash - Live Dates
Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains the Same
UFO - Strangers in the Night
Genesis - Seconds Out
ELP - Pictures At an Exhibition
Jethro Tull - Bursting Out
Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsies
Lynyrd Skynyrd - One More From the Road

Nice. Deep Purple would be 10A on my list.

Scorps!

[wolfking]

Killer old school list.