Live Album
Pearl Jam’s Legendary MTV Unplugged Live Album Finally Available on Streaming Services: Stream
Today marks the 30th anniversary of Pearl Jam’s very first concert, something they are celebrating with a vinyl reissue and the first-ever CD release of their classic MTV Unplugged set. Both formats are out as of today, though unsurprisingly, the LP version is long sold out. But thankfully, there’s yet another way to hear the beloved album. In a surprise move, Pearl Jam’s MTV Unplugged has been released on streaming services for the very first time. You can listen to it right now via Spotify and Apple Music below. Captured on March 16th, 1992, the seven-song Unplugged session saw Pearl Jam playing acoustic versions of material from their Ten debut. Also included is the track “State of Love and Trust”, originally released on the Singles soundtrack. Over the years, these recordings have...
Neil Young to Release Bottom Line 1974 Concert Bootleg
One of the most storied and coveted Neil Young bootleg recordings is finally being released as part of the musician’s Official Bootleg Series. The Bottom Line — Citizen Cane Jr. Blues captures Young’s surprise, late-night performance at The Bottom Line in New York City in May 1974. “In my mind it’s a hazy memory, but this moment really captures the essence of where I was in 1974,” Young recalled on his Neil Young Archives website. The impromptu set began around 2:30 a.m. and saw the songwriting legend take the stage alone, with nothing but his guitar by his side. Young played 11 songs that evening, including the first-ever performances of “Citizen Cane Jr. Blues”, “Long May You Run”, and “Pardon My Heart”. Other tracks, such as “Revolution Blues”, “Motion Pictures”, and “Ambulanc...
The War on Drugs Announce New Live Album LIVE DRUGS
The War on Drugs have announced a new live album. Titled LIVE DRUGS, it’s due out November 20th through frontman Adam Granduciel’s own Super High Quality Records. According to a statement, the 10-track effort was “culled from over 40 hard drives” of concert recordings. There are selections from across the indie rock band’s impressive catalog — including the 2008 debut Wagonwheel Blues, 2014’s Lost in the Dream, and A Deeper Understanding from 2017 — but many are captured like never before. For example, their live rendition of “Under the Pressure” features 20,000 audience members singing along to the extended guitar melody. Another inclusion, “Eyes to the Wind”, has “grown wholly independent” of the final album version. Editors’ Picks “As a band leader, I always want to know...
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Unleash New Demos Album, Live Recording for Bandcamp Friday: Stream
The Bandcamp Friday force is strong with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard today. The Australian psych-rock crew have released not one, but two lengthy projects on the beloved digital music platform: a 28-song demos collection and an 18-track live album. Demos Vol. 1 + Vol. 2 contains demos and unfinished loosies plucked from throughout the band’s 15-album discography. There are early versions of old tracks like 2011’s “Let It Bleed” and 2017’s “The Spider and Me”, as well as unheard takes of super recent 2020 singles “Honey” and “Straws In The Wind”. As for the new live album, Live in Asheville ’19 captures King Gizzard’s September 2019 gig at the New Belgium Brewing Company in Asheville, North Carolina. Technically it’s their fifth live record of 2020 following hefty release d...
My Morning Jacket Release Three New Live Albums for Bandcamp Friday: Stream
Not sure what to do this weekend? If you’re a fan of My Morning Jacket, then you can spend it reliving the blissful high of jam band concerts, because MMJ have released three previously unavailable career-spanning live albums to Bandcamp. As the band announced on Twitter, the three-show collection spans 58 tracks in total with a 349-minute runtime. Included are My Morning Jacket’s November 10th, 2005 gig at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, California; their November 12th, 2006 concert at The Tabernacle in Atlanta, Georgia; and their August 6th, 2015 set at Ascend Amphitheatre in Nashville, Tennessee. While it doesn’t appear physical versions of these live albums will be made available, you can buy a digital download of each via the band’s Bandcamp. You can also stream selections fro...
Roger Waters Unveils Live Album Us + Them: Stream
Roger Waters has unveiled the companion album to his latest live concert film Us + Them. Stream it below using Apple Music or Spotify. In 2017 and 2018, Waters embarked on the massive “Us + Them Tour”, which spanned 156-dates across four continents. Footage of those shows captured the old songwriter with some new tricks, including dazzling light displays and a rainbow laser pyramid. Waters co-directed the film alongside Sean Evans, and now the movie soundtrack is available in a 23-song double-CD or double-LP package. Grab your copy here. The collection covers plenty of Pink Floyd favorites, which isn’t a surprise — after all, the tour got its name from a cut off Dark Side of the Moon. But it also prominently features his recent solo work, especially the 2017 album Is This the Life We ...
Dream Theater Announce Live Release Distant Memories, Share “Pale Blue Dot”: Stream
Dream Theater have announced Distant Memories, a new live album and concert film recorded in London back in February 2020. It’s due for release on November 27th, and the progressive-metal legends have shared a clip of “Pale Blue Dot” from the video. The album captures the band on tour in support of 2019’s Distance Over Time and the 20th anniversary of Metropolis Part 2 – Scenes From a Memory. The title Distant Memories can refer both to the album’s content and the fact that it seems so very long ago, despite the performances at the Apollo in London taking place right before the pandemic hit. “Whether you had a chance to see this tour in person and want to relive what was hopefully an awesome concert experience or enjoying the performance on video for the first time, Distant Memories –...
Unheard Thelonious Monk High School Performance from 1968 Finally Surfaces: Stream
A previously unreleased Thelonious Monk live recording from October 1968 is finally seeing light today through Impulse! Records and Legacy Recordings. The album captures Monk and his all-star quartet — Charlie Rouse (tenor sax), Larry Gales (bass), and Ben Riley (drums) — performing a concert at a local high school in Palo Alto, California. According to a press release, the concert was organized by 16-year-old student named Danny Scher, and was recorded by the school’s janitor. The tape was stowed away in Scher’s attic for years and was only recently rediscovered. T.S. Monk, the son of Thelonious and founder of the Thelonious Monk Institute, called the performance “one of the best live recordings I’ve ever heard by Thelonious.” He added, “I wasn’t even aware of my dad playing a high school...
Neil Young Releases The Times EP: Stream
Neil Young has released his new live acoustic EP The Times. To ensure the best audio experience possible (as Young is wont to do), it’s only available to stream on the Neil Young Archives website or Amazon Music HD. Sign up for AMHD here or listen via the embedded player below. The seven-track collection captures the “Porch Episode” of Young’s Fireside Sessions series from back in July. That performance introduced fans to the updated version of “Lookin’ for a Leader 2020”, which reworks the lyrics to specifically target Trump and the current US political climate in 2020. The EP takes its name from another featured track: a cover of Bob Dylan’s classic “The Times They Are A-Changin’”. The Times is rounded out by five cuts from various stages in Young’s catalog, all of which are particularly...
New Jimi Hendrix Documentary Explores Infamous Rainbow Bridge Film and 1970 Concert in Maui
Some performances are as legendary as the story surrounding it, and Jimi Hendrix’s live show in Maui, Hawaii is one of them. The famous 1970 concert took place at the foot of the Haleakala volcano, filmed as part of the rock icon’s hilariously incoherent Rainbow Bridge movie. Now, a new documentary called Music, Money, Madness… Jimi Hendrix In Maui will take fans behind the scenes of that ill-fated film and the unusual circumstances leading up to Hendrix’s performance. An accompanying live album has also been announced. The idea for Rainbow Bridge came shortly after Hendrix’s momentous delivery of the “Star-Spangled Banner” at Woodstock the previous year. Seeking to capitalize on Hendrix’s rock stardom, his manager, Michael Jeffrey, planned out a semi-fictional movie that would captur...
Code Orange Announce Under the Skin Digital Album and DVD, Featuring Alice in Chains Cover: Watch
Code Orange are releasing their recent stripped-down livestream, Under the Skin, on DVD and digitally as a live album. The digital release arrives this Friday (September 4th), while the DVD is available for pre-order. The recent performance saw the hardcore band stripping its songs down to an acoustic format. The concept and set design for Under the Skin are an obvious ode to MTV Unplugged, and Code Orange took the homage a step further with a daring cover of Alice in Chains’ “Down in a Hole”, which the latter played on their own Unplugged nearly 25 years earlier. The final release of Under the Skin touts remastered audio and high-res video, giving the performance a final sheen that was missing from the live broadcast. The footage was shot and edited by Sunny Singh of hate5six. Live concer...
Nick Cave Announces Idiot Prayer Live Album
Nick Cave has announced a physical release for his recent one-off solo piano performance called Idiot Prayer. It will be available digitally and on CD and vinyl beginning November 20th. Additionally, the film will screen in select theaters globally on November 5th. Idiot Prayer was recorded at London’s Alexandra Palace in June 2020 as the UK slowly emerged from lockdown, and “was conceived as a reaction to the confinement and Isolation of the preceding months,” a press release notes. The 22-song set included material ranging from early Bad Seeds and Grinderman through Cave’s most recent album, Ghosteen. The film first premiered in July as a one-off paid livestream. The forthcoming physical release will include four unaired performances, and be pressed on double vinyl. Pre-orders for t...
