Hi,
I hate making these kind of choices, because a band is a band is a band, and one day they are good and the next they are not as good.
GONG, for example, when they came through the West Coast with Pierre Moerlin, did not sound very good in Portland at all, but the next night, in Eugene, they were excellent, and their sound was a bit deeper and stronger. Sadly, stuff like that never got "recorded" and shared, because Pierre's touch was so different than Pip's, or even Chris Taylor. One was jazzy, one was more disco'ey and the other rock-bottom solid!
AMON DUUL 2's Live in London is an outstanding concert, and probably the very best musical show I have ever heard them together, considering that some mp3's and some of the other, later, live albums were not that good, and were an excuse for a band gone crazy that didn't care whatever they did. However, on the tube is a concert or two from 2015 (I think it was ... sorry) and it featured two drummers (just like old days!) and it also had some excellent things done, although I would still think they could use a rehearsal or two to clean up some things! Rehearsal ... on a German Theatrical group? You gotta be kidding me!
CAN's live material, specially with Damo, is finally showing up, and it makes one think that most things were not that good, and that the only stuff that was good was already done on "Tago Mago" and "Ege Bamyasi". I kinda think that there are more tapes, of this stuff, but they are another "Mago Tago" ... and I'm not sure that another version of "Augmn" or equivalent, would sell well and be worth the attention and listen. I would love to hear it, though, but even Damo has been very quiet about these things, and I have a feeling that they were OK, but not very good or ... maybe the word is "concise" and usable within a musical context, like some of their work was. HOWEVER, I think that some of it, specially "Tago Mago", was mixed and spliced so well, that we do not know what was real or not, except what Damo performed later on his own.
PFM, has at least 3 or 4 versions of "Celebration" and not one version is better than the other. And their early years, it was different every time. And fun to hear. Though I'm not sure that Americans enjoy Italians doing classical music! (Hehehehehe!!!!!!)
EGBERTO GISMONTI is/was exceptional in concert and the bits and pieces of him with Charlie Haden show something that is probably ... way beyond what is considered "music" ... and it works together very well. I would like to see this video stuff cleaned up and released properly.
GURU GURU's early shows with Ax Genrich, were phenominal, and Bald Friedel has already mentioned that live album in 1971 ... it is the very best Jimi Hendrix that you have never heard, and you know that Jimi probably wanted to go wild and add some crazy things like this to the music itself ... but the record company would not touch it, or have it.
I'm sure there are many others out there with similar stories.
BTW, SOLAR MUSIC LIVE Remastered is fantabulous ... and those different versions of some things and expanded some are ... awesome. Love the transitional drumming by Eroc ... his transitions start "last week" ... as my joke about a drummer trying to add yet another cheap this and that ... and come back with the same thing. Now, that's got to be creative music design, hey? If you were the professor you would have given that guy a D- and the minus just for the time it took to put it together ... 3 minutes!
PEACE!