If I could go back in time I'd probably shoot whoever invented the live album. I mean, seriously, what is the point? The cynic in me thinks that the whole point of these things was to fulfill contracts. You know, like a band signs a 5 album deal and then wants to leave the label after 3, so to see them out of their contract the label releases a live album and then probably some kind of greatest hits compilation. But other than that, live albums have no point.
That said, if you like a band a lot and they release a live album, it's hard to say no. So I found myself happily paying money for a copy of Dinosaur Jr's 'Bug Live' LP, which is a recording of a show at which they played the classic 'Bug' LP live in its entirety.
What I like best about this is that the cover art is some kind of tribute to the original cover art, rather than some kind of stupid live photo, which is what most live albums seem to use. Here's a photo with the live LP cover next to the original cover:
So despite not really liking live records, there are at least two other versions of this one out there that I would like to own. It comes on purple out of 200, and a green vinyl in a sleeve numbered out of 50. I probably have a chance at getting the purple, but not the limited sleeve version. Still, whether I ever obtain them or not, it's kinda funny to think that I actually want three different versions of a live album at all when usually one is too many.
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