Live Albums Don't Do Much For Me

I love music. I really do. And I have a nicely-sized (but not outrageously large) collection of music to show for it. If you were looking through it you might wonder a couple of things like, "Why aren't there many live albums here?" and "Is that really Salt-n-Pepa... IT IS?!?"

I really do like live music. I don't see it enough. But I also feel that I don't need to have, say, every recording of a band's tour for a year. Or even a compilation of selected tracks. For me live music is something that works best in the moment; recording it changes it for me somehow. Because I wasn't at that show, I don't have any memories of it. And I didn't see it. So why bother?

The only exceptions that I own are cover versions that aren't released or are plenty rare. Like Glen Phillips covering "Exit Music" by Radiohead - that's good stuff, live or not. But I don't need 47 versions of an R.E.M. song, nor do I really need 2.

(And yes, the Salt-n-Pepa is my wife's.)