The Essential Live Album
Cheap Trick At Budokan.
When trying to pick one live album that’s better than all the rest, you’re inevitably going to piss some people off. While it is widely accepted that Johnny Cash’s At Folsom Prison is one of the best live albums in the history of music, the choice is a little too obvious. What about Peter Frampton’s Frampton Comes Alive or the Rolling Stones’ Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out? There are scores of great live albums, but not all are able to capture a band early in their career in a setting where they are surrounded by their most dedicated fans. That’s what Cheap Trick At Budokan does. Early on in their career, the band found big success in Japan, and that’s where they continue to have their biggest following.
There are two separate types of live albums. Some include crowd noise, while others are simply recordings taken directly from the sound booth. Cheap Trick At Budokan is in the former category. In fact, the thing that makes a live album great is the ability to hear how the band feeds off of the crowd’s energy and we all know that nothing provides more energy than hordes of screaming Japanese girls. Hell, if Japan could find a way to harness that energy, they’d probably make a car that runs on it. There are times on album that the crowd is so loud that it almost drowns out the band. Some might say that the whole point of a live album is to hear how the band sounds live, but really it’s more about the experience of being at a concert.
As should be expected from a live performance, Cheap Trick At Budokan includes some of the band’s biggest hits at the time. “Hello There”, “Ain’t That A Shame”, “I Want You To Want Me” and “Surrender” all incite squeals of excitement from the gathered masses. Another thing that makes a live album great is the opportunity for a band to improvise a bit where an album track needs to be kept to a certain time. A great instance of improvisation on Cheap Trick At Budokan is at the beginning of “Ain’t That A Shame”. Drummer Bun E. Carlos and guitarist Rick Nielsen do some solo filling that gets the crowd revved up before the song begins in earnest.
While there may be better live albums by bands that are talented, Cheap Trick At Budokan really captures the essence of what a live performance is all about and for that reason, it is the one live album that should be a staple for anyone who is a fan of live music.
Posted by Cory Roop on Jan 19, 2009 @ 7:00 am