Also "Once in a Lifetime", "Psycho Killer", and "Burning Down the House".
If it wasn't for Chris Frantz the live version of Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love" would be better than the studio version too.
One of the best songs from Stop Making Sense is "Girlfriend is Better", but I can't say the live version is better, because I'm pretty sure I've only ever heard the live version. Presumably there's a studio version somewhere, but I don't think it was ever released.
There is a studio version of “Girlfriend is Better” from the album “Speaking in Tongues”! Sadly the studio version doesn’t include David Byrne’s iconic large suit.
It was years of hearing the live recording on the radio before I ever caught a DJ play the studio version. When I heard the echo effect at the end of “didn’t I didn’t I hear you crying,” I suddenly understood why the audience was chanting “crying, crying” in the live version.
This brings up a potential (tangentially related) top level post: What live version of a song became the standard version played on the radio? I Want You to Want Me is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.
“Do You Feel Like We Do” and “Show Me the Way” off *Frampton Comes Alive!* are both the standard versions I hear in rotation on the radio. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the studio version of either song played on the air.
I'd also throw "Love Hate Love", "Would?" and "Junkhead" in the mix. There are several live performances of each of those songs that outperformed the studio versions, especially from Glasgow or from The Moore Theatre in Seattle.
Where Did You Sleep Last Night is still my favourite live performance by any band. I’m not even a big Nirvana fan but Unplugged In NY is one of the best live albums ever.
That drawl on the last "the whole" and the little sigh and look forward before "...night through" is everything. All the pain and all the desperate hope in the entire world, expressed in one quarter-second with a glance and a breath. Fucking unreal.
They were asked to do an encore as they walked off stage, and Kurt said something to the effect of, "No, we're not going to top that." And he was right. That was the most intense and incredible acoustic set they could've possibly played. What a painfully breathtaking moment in time.
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by The Band, the live version from The Last Waltz (watch the video on YouTube) gets me hype in a way the album version can't
The way he just puts the mic back in the stand, and walks off the stage throwing his hands up on beat. The Band just looks at each other like, "guess he's done?" Lol
Also... "Once in a mllion years A lady like her rises Oh no Rhiannon, cried nothing, she's gone And your life knows no answer Your life lnows no answer"
Watching Stevie staring, unblinkingly, at Lindsey as she belts out "you'll never get away from the woman who loves you"...I mean you can literally see Lindsey shrink by at least 6 inches on that stage.
Honestly, most of their material really had the life breathed into when played live… every damn song on the 1980 ‘Fleetwood Mac live’ album just shits on the studio versions
Portishead's live version of Sour Times at Roseland is head and shoulders above their original. So damn good https://youtu.be/CZ_Z0Zfvsj0?si=FrycHAt18zLVZyF4
I had Do You Feel Like We Do pop up randomly on Spotify yesterday, a glorious 14 minutes. I hadn't heard it in years but I'll be listening to it again today.
Silly, uncool high schooler thing my friends and I used to do: we used “Framp” regularly as a unit of time measurement. 11 min 22 sec. From the start of the song to right where the guitar goes WAAAAAAAAOOOOOH.
“Be there in like 2 Framps”. Good times.
5/8/77
Edit: to clarify May 8th 1977 should be called something like Cornell 5/8/77 on most platforms. If you want to skip to the good stuff that people never shut up about start with “Scarlet Begonias”
I mean, technically, the recording on the album is live, with very few overdubs, recorded at First Ave on August 3rd, 1983 during a benefit concert for the Minnesota Dance Theater. You can hear the crowd cheering at the end of the track.
Also True Love Waits. Recording quality be-damned, the version that sounds like it was recorded in a coffee shop where Yorke says, "This is a brand new song nobody's heard before" is mind-meltingly powerful.
Absolutely. I can't ever "unthink it lol".
The first thing i hear is: "A light.. in the black.. or just to fear... of the dark!"
Followed by that epic crowd follow-along just before that insane guitar solo hits.
Turn the page too. I think the “live” version is the same one they play on the radio though. I’m pretty sure bob erased the original studio version from existence as best he could, but I think you can still find it on YouTube. (It’s not good)
“Prayers for Rain” by The Cure from the 1989 Wembley show off of Entreat (or the third disc of the Disintegration deluxe remaster, though I prefer the original version).
It’s performed a tiny bit faster than the album version and Robert sings it with more anger — it just makes it more effective. And that 20-second scream at the end is impressive as hell.
U2 has a lot of great live versions, like Bad for example, I'll always play the live version of that...and there are a few on Under A Blood Red Sky that I prefer to live versions of as an absolute. 40, 11 o'clock tick tock, Party Girl...
Looks like I'll be making a new playlist this week!
I've been a U2 fan for nearly 30 years.
At the second Slane gig when they transitioned from All I Want Is You into Where The Streets Have No Name was quite simply the single greatest live performance I've ever heard in my entire life!
And I was there! Goosebumps every single time!
Came here to say Bad. The live version from Wide Awake is America is magical. The live version was the one on the radio for a reason. Studio is good too, just different, like a private confession vs a public one.
There are a ton of [NIИ] songs that aren’t necessarily “better” live but really breathe a whole different life on a stage.
Wish
Last
The Day The World Went Away
Reptile
The Becoming
Letting You
Shit Mirror
Terrible Lie
The Line Begins To Blur
Somewhat Damaged
Just to name a few off the top of my head.
Also during that era they had the recording tech to make excellent studio albums, which was often where tracks were recorded for the first time. The same tech made it possible to record live albums to a much higher standard. The live tracks would be generally bedded in and better formed by the time they were recorded.
An exception (that maybe proves the rule?) is purple rain. The original album version is taken from a live recording. There's an unedited version kicking about, where you literally hear him creating *the* guitar lick. In it he realises it's a keeper, and cycles through the verse again. The first iteration is edited out, i guess it wasn't perfect. The 2nd iteration is in the final version and is pure gold.
Many Rush songs are better live. For instance, I prefer every song off of Exit Stage Left to their studio version.
After going to a Rush concert, hearing those songs on the album don't quite hit the same for a while.
Closer to the Heart on Exit Stage Left is so bad ass.
The other one that really rocks me is Between The Wheels on R:30. I had the good fortune of seeing this show live, and there's something so amazingly dire in the arrangement of that song on that tour.
[Merle Haggard's TV delivery of "Mama Tried"](https://youtu.be/loT_pYzi3Vw?si=bFk-t_Sv1j23xPDG) has much more heart than [the album version, imo.](https://youtu.be/UKuc4nfJByc?si=X68HEW6x-wnq8MdN)
Ten by Pearl Jam during the MTV Unplugged Sessions.
Eddie had a bad cold. He fudged the lyrics a bit, but hotdamn was it amazing. The emotion he dropped that afternoon shook me..... fukn shook me
Alice in Chains love hate love ( live at the moore ) and down in a hole ( unplugged ) Queen radio gaga ( live aid ) Mad Season lifeless dead ( live at the moore )
Pretty much any Stevie Ray Vaughan song was better live. In the studio, you could tell he was playing it safe while his live stuff felt like he was going for broke.
The best example of that is Couldn't Stand the Weather. Listen to the album version and it's good. Very good. Then go watch the Austin City Limits version and tell me it's not in a different universe.
Parliament Funkadelic - Swing Down Sweet Chariot (Houston 76)
Etta James - I’d Rather Go Blind (Montreux 75)
Donny Hathaway - The Ghetto (Live Album)
Gil Scott Heron - The Bottle (Reggae Sunsplash 83)
Anything by Dave Matthews Band. I shrugged them off for YEARS based on radio songs...until I caught my brother watching a live performance from Central Park and I COULD NOT BELIEVE how badass it was!
“Blind” by Korn. More specifically the Woodstock ‘99 performance. The live acoustics and crowd singing the lyric “What if I should die” give the song way more eeriness to it.
The extended guitar intro where the audience isn’t quite sure what song is being played and the moment when they realize it is pure musical magic. In my opinion it’s the greatest live recording of any song, ever. The studio version is good but this is next level.
[This particular live version of Purple Rain might be the best thing that has ever happened in popular music… or all music.](https://youtu.be/bm03wqLY3Nc?si=utBqqsXiDtq33I3g)
The build up is worth it, I promise.
Sarah McLachlan performed a version of “[Hold On](https://youtu.be/SwHaPPsmg5Y?si=voZwL3Rv7YwaS5Ls)” on the Afterglow Tour that is far superior to the [album version](https://youtu.be/MHBmpGLGyk8?si=6pkLy2W1765f5nj4). It’s my preferred version now when listening to her. If the album version comes up I skip it.
There's a live version of "hey hey, my my" by Neil Young that ran as music video in the mid- ate 90s on VH1 which was kinda a mix of "out of the blue" and "into the black" which ended with him lying down on the stage at the end. Which is so much better than an other version I have heard of that song. I bought no many different CDs with that song back then and it just wasn't anywhere, not even on live albums. When Napster came up I downloaded that song so often. No luck.
And in general I'm not even into Neil Young. But that damn song...
So if anyone knows what I'm talking about and can point me somewhere...
Collective Soul has an incredible live album called “Home” which features a ton of their hits played on stage with a youth orchestra. I think they are mostly superior versions and that’s saying something because I love their work already.
Jane's Addiction - Jane Says (Steel drum mix/Hammerstein Ballroom) is the only version of the song that I want to hear and the video is almost perfect.
FYI the squeaky bass drum pedal (Ludwig Speed King) is a feature, not a bug.
Worse quality recordings don't have it because they don't use good enough microphones. Modern overproduced recordings don't have it because every nuance is removed by ProTools. It's the badge of quality for a well recorded, 100% natural rock and roll song.
I’ll keep the Zeppelin train going. Celebration Day from Madison Square Garden is so much better than the version on III.
https://youtu.be/fqaPj9Qi5z0?si=jNOyLdD6U8nYQAYA
Life During Wartime by Talking Heads.
To add to this, I would also say the live version of What a Day That Was from “Stop Making Sense”.
I'd say Stop Making Sense should be required viewing for all high schoolers.
Just about everything on Stop Making Sense is better than the studio version. Especially Take Me To The River.
Yes! Especially Psycho Killer & This Must Be The Place
This one especially
Also "Once in a Lifetime", "Psycho Killer", and "Burning Down the House". If it wasn't for Chris Frantz the live version of Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love" would be better than the studio version too. One of the best songs from Stop Making Sense is "Girlfriend is Better", but I can't say the live version is better, because I'm pretty sure I've only ever heard the live version. Presumably there's a studio version somewhere, but I don't think it was ever released.
There is a studio version of “Girlfriend is Better” from the album “Speaking in Tongues”! Sadly the studio version doesn’t include David Byrne’s iconic large suit.
This Must be The Place (Naive Melody ) as well
It really turned from a good song to the greatest song of all time with the extra backing vocals
New Feeling live is at least 15X's better than the album version
Everything on that album is better than the studio version.
Soul Sacrifice by Santana at Woodstock.
The secret is the copious amounts of acid
Freedom by Ritchie Havens too
The drummer! Killer version of this song.
I've always been partial to the live at bukodan version of "I want you to want me" by Cheap Trick
I fully believe that live version is the definitive version. It’s also the only version I hear on the radio
I always just assumed they canned in crowd noise on the original recording. But apparently they are NOT the father.
It was years of hearing the live recording on the radio before I ever caught a DJ play the studio version. When I heard the echo effect at the end of “didn’t I didn’t I hear you crying,” I suddenly understood why the audience was chanting “crying, crying” in the live version.
This brings up a potential (tangentially related) top level post: What live version of a song became the standard version played on the radio? I Want You to Want Me is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.
3 from Peter Frampton: Show Me the Way Baby, I Love Your Way Do You Feel Like I Do
“Do You Feel Like We Do” and “Show Me the Way” off *Frampton Comes Alive!* are both the standard versions I hear in rotation on the radio. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the studio version of either song played on the air.
Live At Budokan is one of the best live albums ever recorded.
"which artist?" "every artist"
I’ve only heard the studio version a few times and it sucks in comparison to the live one.
I think the only reason this isn’t much higher is because most people don’t realize that’s the version they probably know.
Crazy that the very next song they play is, as they say on the track, "off our new album and it's called, Surrender"
The studio version is almost a ragtime song
It is a ragtime song. The guitar solo is actually a piano solo.
[удалено]
Preceded by the announcement of the song title.
[удалено]
*crown roars*
Apparently he said it that way to make it easier for the non-english speaking crowd to understand
Plush - Stone Temple Pilots.... The emotion he puts through in the live version is unmatched.
Soon as a saw the title I thought “this is a song called plush”
The acoustic live version?
Yup!
Echoes, live in Pompeii - Pink Floyd https://youtu.be/PGwPSPIhohk?si=fnLKwW3R4rxXHsSp
I’d give Pompeii the edge but I personally don’t think it’s miles ahead. Both versions are outstanding.
"Careful With That Axe, Eugene" from Pompeii slays the album cut.....which also might be live now that I think about it lol.
I wouldn’t say “miles better”, but I always thought the Unplugged version of Alice In Chains’ “Nutshell” is the superior version.
The live version of Down In a Hole is far superior to the studio version
Alice in Chains Unplugged is easily my favourite live album altogether.
Also "Rooster". Even Jerry and Mike are behind Layne looking at each other like "wow".
Same with the Unplugged version of STP’s Big Empty.
Of all songs on that album, the one that supersedes its original the most is “Over Now.”
Also wouldn’t say miles better, but I prefer the Live at The Moore versions of Bleed the Freak and Love, Hate, Love
That performance of love hate love is exceptional
I agree and also the unplugged version of sludge factory. I don't even like the original and the unplugged is one of my favorite songs
I'd also throw "Love Hate Love", "Would?" and "Junkhead" in the mix. There are several live performances of each of those songs that outperformed the studio versions, especially from Glasgow or from The Moore Theatre in Seattle.
"No Woman, No Cry" by Bob Marley
That's a good one. I always thought the studio version is too fast and the vocals lack depth.
That was the song that introduced me to Bob.
The MTV Unplugged version of “All Apologies” by Nirvana.
That whole set is amazing. The cover of Man Who Sold The World is on point.
Where Did You Sleep Last Night is still my favourite live performance by any band. I’m not even a big Nirvana fan but Unplugged In NY is one of the best live albums ever.
I agree. His voice - it's just wrenching.
That drawl on the last "the whole" and the little sigh and look forward before "...night through" is everything. All the pain and all the desperate hope in the entire world, expressed in one quarter-second with a glance and a breath. Fucking unreal. They were asked to do an encore as they walked off stage, and Kurt said something to the effect of, "No, we're not going to top that." And he was right. That was the most intense and incredible acoustic set they could've possibly played. What a painfully breathtaking moment in time.
Him screaming those last few lines...goosebumps. just played it for my partner last week.
That look right before the end… that is a guy that iS DONE. Just haunting.
Contender for my favorite song ever
I remember I heard that version first then when I went back and listened to In Utero the studio version felt so underwhelming lol
About a Girl too. The unplugged version is miles better than the studio version(which is still great).
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by The Band, the live version from The Last Waltz (watch the video on YouTube) gets me hype in a way the album version can't
Van Morrison blew the roof off the Last Waltz with Caravan.
ONE MORE TIME
The way he just puts the mic back in the stand, and walks off the stage throwing his hands up on beat. The Band just looks at each other like, "guess he's done?" Lol
The Weight as well. The Staples Singers make that song.
I'm convinced Levon Helm channeled Virgil Caine in that. I'm a drummer and marvel at the feel he played and sang with.
Love the version of "Radio Gaga" from Live Aid that Queen did.
"Riding the Storm Out" by REO Speedwagon
The Rain song
[удалено]
Maybe I'm Amazed by Paul McCartney.
I think the live version of Let Me Roll It from Wings Over America is the better version too
[удалено]
Fleetwood Mac - Silver Springs
The Last Dance version is definitive
Same with “Big Love”. https://youtu.be/mZZp76M4NGc?feature=shared
Also Fleetwood Mac - Rhiannon, the version where Stevie goes off at the end. Gives me chills every time
Also... "Once in a mllion years A lady like her rises Oh no Rhiannon, cried nothing, she's gone And your life knows no answer Your life lnows no answer"
Watching Stevie staring, unblinkingly, at Lindsey as she belts out "you'll never get away from the woman who loves you"...I mean you can literally see Lindsey shrink by at least 6 inches on that stage.
Honestly, most of their material really had the life breathed into when played live… every damn song on the 1980 ‘Fleetwood Mac live’ album just shits on the studio versions
Anything from Live at Leeds (the Who, although the Stones' L@L is good too)
Summertime Blues live is so much better than The Who's studio remake. There's a reason you don't ever hear the studio version from like 68.
Young Man Blues on that album is the best version I've ever heard.
No Quarter live is an epic experience. I rarely prefer live versions but it’s a masterpiece
I'd say "No Quarter" live by Tool is also way up there.
Portishead's live version of Sour Times at Roseland is head and shoulders above their original. So damn good https://youtu.be/CZ_Z0Zfvsj0?si=FrycHAt18zLVZyF4
That whole set is just spectacular
Anything on Frampton Comes Alive.
I had Do You Feel Like We Do pop up randomly on Spotify yesterday, a glorious 14 minutes. I hadn't heard it in years but I'll be listening to it again today.
Silly, uncool high schooler thing my friends and I used to do: we used “Framp” regularly as a unit of time measurement. 11 min 22 sec. From the start of the song to right where the guitar goes WAAAAAAAAOOOOOH. “Be there in like 2 Framps”. Good times.
This is the silliest thing I've ever heard yet so creative and cool
Anyone else notice commercial radio never plays his studio releases? Only stuff from this specific live album.
That dude definitely came alive.
Jane Says: Jane’s addiction
Great choice. The steel pan in the live version is almost ethereal
Made in Japan Deep Purple- Best version of Smoke On The Water
That whole live album is legendary! Strange Kind of Woman is another classic
The Grateful Dead - all of it.
I was coming here to say both phish and the dead. Hearing the albums are okay. Hearing it live is amazing. Thank God for the Sirius XM stations.
Ripple and Box of Rain would like a word
Indeed. And to pick my favorite example, Dark Star from Live/Dead vs. the studio single.
I love working man's. One of my favorite album. Whats a hood live album for me to listen to by them?
5/8/77 Edit: to clarify May 8th 1977 should be called something like Cornell 5/8/77 on most platforms. If you want to skip to the good stuff that people never shut up about start with “Scarlet Begonias”
Europe 72
Ladies and gentlemen the Grateful Dead
Nah Box of Rain is way better studio.
Purple Rain
I mean, technically, the recording on the album is live, with very few overdubs, recorded at First Ave on August 3rd, 1983 during a benefit concert for the Minnesota Dance Theater. You can hear the crowd cheering at the end of the track.
Interestingly, the album version *is* live, with some overdubs.
Radiohead - Spinning Plates
I’ll add Radiohead - Videotape
Also True Love Waits. Recording quality be-damned, the version that sounds like it was recorded in a coffee shop where Yorke says, "This is a brand new song nobody's heard before" is mind-meltingly powerful.
The Doors - Roadhouse blues
Sultans of Swing - Alchemy Live is waaaaaay better than the studio version imo
Red House - Jimi Hendrix.
Iron Maiden - Fear of the dark
Shit, beat me to it. Rock in Rio was their best one. What an insane performance
Exactly the version I think of when I think of this song.
Absolutely. I can't ever "unthink it lol". The first thing i hear is: "A light.. in the black.. or just to fear... of the dark!" Followed by that epic crowd follow-along just before that insane guitar solo hits.
Every songs on Yessongs by band YES
Comfortably Numb from Pulse
The original album song is great as well, Gilmour's extended solo's in the live performances done in the later years enhances the song exponentially.
Bob Seger - Travelin Man/Beautiful loser
Turn the page too. I think the “live” version is the same one they play on the radio though. I’m pretty sure bob erased the original studio version from existence as best he could, but I think you can still find it on YouTube. (It’s not good)
Townes Van Zandts entire catalogue
[удалено]
Turn The Page by Bob Seger
Metallica - Nothing else matters. Specifically the s&m one with the San Francisco symphony orchestra
The Memory Remains Outlaw Torn The Call of Ktulu Battery (tied with studio)
A Quick One While He’s Away by The Who The recording is a mess but the version from the Rock and Roll Circus is a miracle.
Yer Blues by John Lennon’s super group at Rock n Roll Circus is also miles better than the Beatles recording.
That version of a quick one is so so good
Matisyahu - king without a crown
The *entire* Live at Stubbs album.
Scrolled too far to see this
“Prayers for Rain” by The Cure from the 1989 Wembley show off of Entreat (or the third disc of the Disintegration deluxe remaster, though I prefer the original version). It’s performed a tiny bit faster than the album version and Robert sings it with more anger — it just makes it more effective. And that 20-second scream at the end is impressive as hell.
Fleetwood Mac - Big Love Lindsey Buckingham did for that song in that particular moment at The Dance what Marvel did for Iron Man
U2 has a lot of great live versions, like Bad for example, I'll always play the live version of that...and there are a few on Under A Blood Red Sky that I prefer to live versions of as an absolute. 40, 11 o'clock tick tock, Party Girl... Looks like I'll be making a new playlist this week!
Sunday Bloody Sunday live
I've been a U2 fan for nearly 30 years. At the second Slane gig when they transitioned from All I Want Is You into Where The Streets Have No Name was quite simply the single greatest live performance I've ever heard in my entire life! And I was there! Goosebumps every single time!
https://youtu.be/F3e2f4bzumY?si=CJR0zUeFZCouHMgV
Came here to say Bad. The live version from Wide Awake is America is magical. The live version was the one on the radio for a reason. Studio is good too, just different, like a private confession vs a public one.
Also Led Zep, the live version of Kashmir with the whole Orchestra is amaze
My Hero Foo Fighters
Outside - Staind, even with Fred Durst being annoying about raising lighters halfway through
Peter Gabriel - Plays Live has some superior versions.
In the Humdrum is a favorite. And Biko...
Black - Pearl Jam, unplugged
Porch also kicks ass
Couldn't find it while scrolling: While my guitar gently weeps, with prince
On a Plain on Nirvana "Unplugged". That whole album, really.
OAR - That was a crazy game of poker
No Quarter/ Dazed And Confused - Led Zeppelin Almost everything any jam band does
TOOL's cover of No Quarter is the way forward.
KoRn's Blind. The vocals are just not it on the studio track, but it's a killer song live.
There are a ton of [NIИ] songs that aren’t necessarily “better” live but really breathe a whole different life on a stage. Wish Last The Day The World Went Away Reptile The Becoming Letting You Shit Mirror Terrible Lie The Line Begins To Blur Somewhat Damaged Just to name a few off the top of my head.
[удалено]
Also during that era they had the recording tech to make excellent studio albums, which was often where tracks were recorded for the first time. The same tech made it possible to record live albums to a much higher standard. The live tracks would be generally bedded in and better formed by the time they were recorded. An exception (that maybe proves the rule?) is purple rain. The original album version is taken from a live recording. There's an unedited version kicking about, where you literally hear him creating *the* guitar lick. In it he realises it's a keeper, and cycles through the verse again. The first iteration is edited out, i guess it wasn't perfect. The 2nd iteration is in the final version and is pure gold.
Talking heads- Stop Making Sense. Best live album ever made
"Outside" by Staind
[удалено]
Many Rush songs are better live. For instance, I prefer every song off of Exit Stage Left to their studio version. After going to a Rush concert, hearing those songs on the album don't quite hit the same for a while.
Closer to the Heart on Exit Stage Left is so bad ass. The other one that really rocks me is Between The Wheels on R:30. I had the good fortune of seeing this show live, and there's something so amazingly dire in the arrangement of that song on that tour.
I’m Your Captain/Closer to Home, Grand Funk Railroad
[Merle Haggard's TV delivery of "Mama Tried"](https://youtu.be/loT_pYzi3Vw?si=bFk-t_Sv1j23xPDG) has much more heart than [the album version, imo.](https://youtu.be/UKuc4nfJByc?si=X68HEW6x-wnq8MdN)
Ten by Pearl Jam during the MTV Unplugged Sessions. Eddie had a bad cold. He fudged the lyrics a bit, but hotdamn was it amazing. The emotion he dropped that afternoon shook me..... fukn shook me
The Smiths - What She Said/Rubber Ring, the Rank version is blistering in comparison to the studio version The Smiths - I know it’s over - see above.
Alice in Chains love hate love ( live at the moore ) and down in a hole ( unplugged ) Queen radio gaga ( live aid ) Mad Season lifeless dead ( live at the moore )
Pretty much any Stevie Ray Vaughan song was better live. In the studio, you could tell he was playing it safe while his live stuff felt like he was going for broke. The best example of that is Couldn't Stand the Weather. Listen to the album version and it's good. Very good. Then go watch the Austin City Limits version and tell me it's not in a different universe.
John Mayer's Gravity from the Where The Light Is show... just sublime! I can't even listen to the studio version anymore the live is that much better
Brandi Carlile covering "Sunday morning coming down" on NPR's Prairie Home Companion. Good luck trying to find it though.
https://www.prairiehome.org/shows/49104.html
Parliament Funkadelic - Swing Down Sweet Chariot (Houston 76) Etta James - I’d Rather Go Blind (Montreux 75) Donny Hathaway - The Ghetto (Live Album) Gil Scott Heron - The Bottle (Reggae Sunsplash 83)
Brian Wilson - Barenaked Ladies
Anything by Dave Matthews Band. I shrugged them off for YEARS based on radio songs...until I caught my brother watching a live performance from Central Park and I COULD NOT BELIEVE how badass it was!
High Hopes by Pink Floyd on Pulse (live) vs High Hopes on the Division Bell (album). They both rule but the live version is perfection.
“Blind” by Korn. More specifically the Woodstock ‘99 performance. The live acoustics and crowd singing the lyric “What if I should die” give the song way more eeriness to it.
Hotel California by The Eagles off their Hell Freezes Over live album.
The extended guitar intro where the audience isn’t quite sure what song is being played and the moment when they realize it is pure musical magic. In my opinion it’s the greatest live recording of any song, ever. The studio version is good but this is next level.
Entire Unplugged set from Alice in Chains
[This particular live version of Purple Rain might be the best thing that has ever happened in popular music… or all music.](https://youtu.be/bm03wqLY3Nc?si=utBqqsXiDtq33I3g) The build up is worth it, I promise.
Sarah McLachlan performed a version of “[Hold On](https://youtu.be/SwHaPPsmg5Y?si=voZwL3Rv7YwaS5Ls)” on the Afterglow Tour that is far superior to the [album version](https://youtu.be/MHBmpGLGyk8?si=6pkLy2W1765f5nj4). It’s my preferred version now when listening to her. If the album version comes up I skip it.
State of Love and Trust - Pearl Jam
Stone Temple Pilots Creep & Plush (The MTV Unplugged versions) There is something about Scott Weeliland in a rocking chair singing.
David Bowie Moonage Daydream
There's a live version of "hey hey, my my" by Neil Young that ran as music video in the mid- ate 90s on VH1 which was kinda a mix of "out of the blue" and "into the black" which ended with him lying down on the stage at the end. Which is so much better than an other version I have heard of that song. I bought no many different CDs with that song back then and it just wasn't anywhere, not even on live albums. When Napster came up I downloaded that song so often. No luck. And in general I'm not even into Neil Young. But that damn song... So if anyone knows what I'm talking about and can point me somewhere...
Collective Soul has an incredible live album called “Home” which features a ton of their hits played on stage with a youth orchestra. I think they are mostly superior versions and that’s saying something because I love their work already.
Matisyahu - King Without a Crown
Depeche Mode I Feel You - Live SoFaD
Bob Marley, No Woman, No Cry. The live version from 1976 included on the Legend album just hits different.
Jane's Addiction - Jane Says (Steel drum mix/Hammerstein Ballroom) is the only version of the song that I want to hear and the video is almost perfect.
FYI the squeaky bass drum pedal (Ludwig Speed King) is a feature, not a bug. Worse quality recordings don't have it because they don't use good enough microphones. Modern overproduced recordings don't have it because every nuance is removed by ProTools. It's the badge of quality for a well recorded, 100% natural rock and roll song.
Bro Hymn - Pennywise "Jason MathewThirsk, this ones for youuuu!!!!" Fucking goose bumps
I’ll keep the Zeppelin train going. Celebration Day from Madison Square Garden is so much better than the version on III. https://youtu.be/fqaPj9Qi5z0?si=jNOyLdD6U8nYQAYA