Anyone else here a fan of raw/"sloppy" live music?

I don't know why, but for some reason, I love the sound of raw, sloppy live music. I don't mean sloppy in the sense that you can't recognize it, but I mean sloppy in the sense that every musician is putting their all into it - giving it all of their energy even if there's some imperfections. Originally, when I listened to prog, I wanted all of the live stuff to be as reserved as it sounded on the albums, but then after attending a few concerts, and watching Yessongs for the first time, I found I would appreciate the imperfections and slight sloppiness and, funny enough, it absorbed me into the music even more and even gave me a jolt of adrenaline lol.

That's also one of the reasons Bruford is one of my favorites; whereas on the albums he's very precise and reserved, on Yessongs he's still playing the same complex parts, but in a more raw, animalistic fashion with an improvised fill here or there. I find that a lot of newer prog bands are all a lot more reserved and trying to play a lot of their songs note-for-note with the exact same energy as on the albums. Which can be good, but, to me, kind of lacks the energy and adrenaline I would get from watching a live show.

Note: Sloppiness used in this sense is more to describe a raw, dirty sound, and not the musicians making mistakes nonstop (which I wouldn't enjoy at all :P).

Saperlipopette! wrote: as a raw expression and just being loose or not giving a damn - yes indeed. You should start listening to krautrock if you don't already.

Bolded is a great summary of this entire topic's idea.

I do listen to Krautrock and, while it's a great example of that, I find that it focuses on repetition and it gets more raw and raw and getting looser and looser, which is likely the point of the repetition.

What I'm talking about would be the more traditional/symphonic prog bands playing their entire and multi-part epics with that same not give a damn attitude while still actually still playing it well. Hearing a 20 minute multi-movement prog epic played with that intensity and ferocity is something to behold, and something only a live environment can give you. Sadly, I'm finding that a lot of bands these days seem to be, as you'd say, "giving too much of a damn" when it comes to live music and tend to play it more as if it's a chamber performance than a rock concert. Even some prog metal bands are like that imo

I agree that the push & pull of music played with some abandon is more interesting, especially prog and fusion because of the contrast created between the precise music and the imprecise humanity playing it.

approximative rock, uh??

zravkapt wrote: souio wrote:   What I'm talking about would be the more traditional/symphonic prog bands playing their entire and multi-part epics with that same not give a damn attitude while still actually still playing it well. Hearing a 20 minute multi-movement prog epic played with that intensity and ferocity is something to behold, and something only a live environment can give you. Like this?

hell yeah man....  good example of why ELP is considered to be one the very tops as far as live acts.

I've been told by more than one oldtimer who saw all those bands back in the day... ELP shows were second to none in their live glory..

I love the more direct live sound and I tend to prefer live albums and live versions of songs. Obviously comparing live with studio albums is not quite fair because most live albums are some kind of "best of" compilations, but anyway, the albums I like to listen to most of Genesis (by quite some distance), Yes, Pink Floyd, Cardiacs, Amon Düül II and many, many more are live.

Sagichim wrote: Not prog but Hendrix fits very well here. Every concert is a raw version of the studio albums.

those to me are some of the most interesting artists.... the studio albums are mere templates to the real artistry which is done on stage.  A couple of bands/artists jump to mind that fall into that.

obviously Hendrix... but add The Who (look no further than Tommy)... the Allman Brothers and the Airplane.

I can understand that. Some that come to mind are Snarky Puppy (they record all of their music live in front of small audiences and have professionally recorded videos of them doing so on Youtube) they have a lot of fun and give it their all. 70s Jethro Tull performances (especially of Aqualung) are waaaaay better than the album for me, Exit, Stage Left... because Rush, The Mars Volta have some awesome live jams some better than others.