Studio vs. Live Versions 2

I've always been a big fan of live recordings. Many artists take advantage of concerts to reinterpret a song, or often a song isn't fully realized by the band until it's performed in a live setting. Sometimes on a live album I'll hear a song that really jumps out at me, and I'll discover that I already have a studio version of that song, but that version never really caught my attention. Often times it's a solo or instrumental section that will hook me, or maybe an acoustic song performed electric. This is one of a series of posts comparing live versions with their original studio counterparts.

This time I have a couple of tunes from the nineties. Paul Weller's second solo album, Wild Wood, included a compelling acoustic number called Foot Of The Mountain. When he toured with that album, the song was performed by the full band and it rocked. The live version was recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in November 1993, and originally appeared as a b-side on the Hung Up single. I'm not sure that I prefer one version over the other, it's a great song either way.

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Paul Weller - Foot Of The Mountain
Paul Weller - Foot Of The Mountain (Live at Royal Albert Hall 23.11.93)

54-40's first album for Columbia was 1992's Dear Dear. It was their biggest album to date and included the hits Nice To Luv You and She-La. My favourite track from the album was a song called Music Man. It had a slow rhythm and a pulsing bass line, once you got into the groove of the song, you felt it could go on forever. 54-40 put out a live album in 1999, Heavy Mellow, taken from recordings made on the Since When tour of 1998. On that tour they were accompanied by jazz vocalist Coco Love Alcorn, who showcased her talents on a number of songs, including Music Man. I saw the tour when it came to Guelph, and this was definitely one of the highlights of the show.

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54-40 - Music Man
54-40 - Music Man (live autumn 1998)

Related Posts:
Studio Versions vs. Live Versions