Do You Feel Like We Do?

Peter Frampton, 1976

 

Thanks, Dave Torromeo.

Dave, my good friend and co-host (with Mark Jeffers) of "The Clubhouse" posted on Facebook tonight. He said Frampton Comes Alive, one of the best live albums, was released on this day 47 years ago. Well, that it was.

The album is a touchstone for music listeners in the 1970s (including a seven-year-old). It's iconic and still holds up, even if it might be a touch dated. It was everywhere on the radio in 1976 with "Show Me The Way" and "Baby, I Love Your Way" rolling up the pop charts. 

Still, to most, it's "Do You Feel Like We Do" that might inspire the most nostalgia. I'm sure, contained within, are myriad memories that are, er, hazy.

You know, "alright alright alright."

Dave went on to call it the best live album ever and I'm not here to argue. I'm sure of working off the top of my brain on this one.

With that, he inspired me to write.

Of course, I remind you that these are purely opinions and, beyond that, are entirely subjective. To many of us, our favorite live albums weren't commercially available. I think of recording the audio of Huey Lewis and News's Feb 1985 show that aired on Showtime later that year. I have quite a few HLN live shows that are among my favorites. Still, the band released only one show commercially, Live at 25.

So, if we're going with commercial releases, I'll just throw a few out for fun. These aren't ranked and I'm not even trying to fire up a debate. 

I start with two non-rock and roll live albums, the first being Bennie Goodman's The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert. Unlike anything like it at the time because such shows were non-existent at Carnegie Hall. Simply the explosion of "Sing Sing Sing (with a Swing)" over 12 minutes is enough for me.

In that same way is The Drum Battle, featuring Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa. I've written about this one numerous times. The album -- also recorded at Carnegie Hall, in 1952 -- was a favorite of my father and you knew the windows would rattle if he put that one on the turntable.

Staying away from rock and roll for another moment, I'll add the monumental effort that is Sinatra at the Sands from 1965. Frank's the boss. Frank's the star. Frank is Frank (and only the 19th greatest singer ever, per Rolling Stone, but I digress). But Frank, with Count Basie and an incredible orchestra, fly through a list of songs with non-PC banter during "The Tea Break." "I've Got You Under My Skin" is still one of the finest songs I've ever heard on a recording. Basie's band and Sinatra's vocals combine for powerful magic. Frank is coming down from his Rat Pack peak but he's still tops in cool. Still, it was a strange time for Sinatra as he competed with The Beatles and rock and roll.

The next live album that I can think of straddles the rock and country line. It's Johnny Cash Live at Folsom Prison. From that greeting, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash," to the raucous cheers of the inmates to "Folsom Prison Blues" and "Jackson" with June Carter Cash, this album is pretty great.

As we go into full rock and roll, certainly I'll acknowledge "Frampton Comes Alive" and if you've ever heard someone utter "Bob Mayo on the keyboard! Bob Mayo!" now you know why.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's, One More From the Road merits a mention, if only for another line that you've heard uttered countless times: "DO FREE BIRD!" There's a lot more to the album than just the epic 11:30 version of "Free Bird" but that's probably the highest of the highlights. That album had a big impact on me at the time.

The Band and The Last Waltz also deserve a nod, not only because of The Band themselves but because of the hall of fame collection of guests. Of course, Martin Scorses's film is an important document and that's where I became most beguiled by Joni Mitchell's version of her just-released "Coyote." Mesmerizing. Then you throw in Levon Helm doing basically anything and you've got greatness.

While it doesn't have the feeling that it was one singular show (because it was curated from several shows) Billy Joel's Songs in the Attic remains near the top of any list for me. It would have been easy to throw "Piano Man" and his late-70s hits together, but Joel instead presents a group of songs that might not have been familiar to his more-recent fans of that era. Yet all I need to hear are those opening notes of "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" to raise some chills. The crowd cheering the line "and picked the Yankees up for free" will further those chills and bring me to raise a glass.

Nirvana's Unplugged in New York is among the more poignant albums because of Kurt Cobain's suicide only a few months after it was recorded. There are too many great performances on this album to highlight just one.

Paul McCartney's Good Evening New York City will be the last I'll bring up because I was at one of the shows that the music is from. I basically was content to retire from attending big concerts after that night because I'd finally seen a Beatle and he was incredible. That album is a great souvenir.

OK, I could obviously do this all night, and, trust me, I'm forgetting a bunch. I didn't want to go crazy researching it as I mostly wanted to just see what I could think of.

I realize I'm not breaking down The Allman Brothers Bands' At Fillmore East and James Brown's Live at the Apollo, 1962, and a ton of others. The Who, the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads, and others all made important live records. 

I suppose I'll leave it to you to fill in the comments.