Live Albums Are Among the Nation’s Most Popular

Performers often talk about the energy they get from an audience.

In the new spate of live albums that have hit the market recently, they hope to share that exchange of energy within their concert recordings.

At the end of 2001, live albums have been among the country’s bestsellers, many of them rushed into print for charity purposes. The roars in the audience show how appreciated the artists were in “The Concert for New York City” (Columbia), a double-disc overview of the event that brought Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, David Bowie and the Who to Madison Square Garden in October.

There are live performances, too, in “America: A Tribute to Heroes” (Interscope), the soundtrack to the Sept. 20 telethon, which included Bruce Springsteen, U2, Stevie Wonder and Dave Matthews.

It was Matthews who had the highest-charting live recording of the season when his band’s “Live in Chicago 12-19-98” made its debut at No. 6. The double-disc release, recorded three years ago, came before there was a debate over the studio cuts on “Everyday” and the unreleased, leaked-on-the-Internet cuts he scrapped that became known as “Lillywhite,” after its dismissed producer.

Although it represents the first official release of live versions of some of Matthews’ favorites, it’s his fourth live recording in five years. Which may sound like a lot, except that Phish, deep in its performing hiatus, has released six triple-disc live albums. The Phish half-dozen go back as far as a July 16, 1994 home-state show in North Fayston, Vt., and are as recent as a Sept. 14, 2000 show in Darien Center, N.Y. There are two other releases from 2000: Fukuoka, Japan, June 14; and East Troy, Wis., July 8. The series is rounded out by shows in Binghamton, N.Y., Dec. 14, 1995 and “11/27/98--Worcester, Mass.”

Pearl Jam completed its mission to release CDs of nearly every show on its 2000 tour. That was 72 different titles.

Nothing was conventional about the recording of Sting’s “ ... All This Time” (A&M;), his first in 15 years. He had long planned to record it among a small group of friends in Tuscany as a thank you to fans. But he pulled the plug on the Internet simulcast after the tragedy that occurred earlier that day--Sept. 11. It brings more import to “Fragile,” which opens the set, and a humane undertow to the rest of the set, lighter and jazzier than one would expect from the former leader of the Police.

While Sting’s album has been in the Top 40 since its release, the live album from Radiohead managed to last only three weeks after its debut at No. 44 before dropping off altogether--a surprise for a band whose last two studio albums went to No. 1 and No. 2.

It could be because “I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings” (Capitol) has just eight songs and lasts 40 minutes. All are from the last two albums except the previously unreleased “True Love Waits.” Still, it shows how well the band transfers its unusual studio sound to live shows, from one of the year’s best tours.

It’s unusual to have a live album after just one album, but “Experience: Jill Scott” (Hidden Beach/Epic) goes even further--with two discs, it’s twice as long as last year’s debut “Who Is Jill Scott.” In an 80-minute show in Washington, D.C., she languishes on tracks that crossed the line from spoken word to rap to remarkable R&B; singing. The second disc has six new tracks--enough to make you wonder why she didn’t wait to complete a new studio album, as well as a house remix of “Free.”

“Live at Red Rocks” has been the title of concert releases by artists from Dave Matthews to John Tesh. Rickie Lee Jones is the latest to use the Arizona amphitheater to showcase her jazzy roots.

Elsewhere in the quasi-folk field, Jesse Winchester “Live From Mountain Stage” (Blue Plate Music) chronicles new and old work by the Southern-hewn Canadian.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble’s “Live at Montreaux 1982 & 1985” (Epic/ Legacy) ought to tide over fans of the late Texas guitarist, if only for historical import.

Soundtrack albums are usually exempt from being turned into live albums, but the exception is “O Brother Where Art Thou?,” whose producers staged a live show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. “Down From the Mountain” (Uni/Lost Highway) gives fans of the 3-million selling soundtrack more music from the Fairfield Four, Emmylou Harris and Alison Krauss.

“Daft Punk Alive 1997” (Virgin) is an album of limited release that chronicles a 45-minute British appearance that remains the French electronica duo’s live peak.

Roger Catlin is rock music critic at the Hartford Courant, a Tribune company.