BIRMINGHAM RECORD COLLECTORS
DEDICATED TO THE COLLECTING OF MUSIC, ITS PRESERVATION AND LASTING FRIENDSHIP
THIS MONTH’S MEETING WILL BE THE FIRST SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4TH 2:00 PM
HOMEWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY 1721 OXMOOR RD BIRMINGHAM, AL 35209
NEXT MONTH’S MEETING WILL BE HELD THE SECOND SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH AT 2:00 PM
HOMEWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY 1721 OXMOOR RD BIRMINGHAM, AL 35209
THIS MONTH’S MEETING
This month’s meeting will be the FIRST Sunday, October 4TH. We will have our local ‘group harmony’ specialist, BRC member Bob Friedman spinning tunes and educating us with his knowledge of the groups, labels and composers. I know you will enjoy his presentation.
At our November meeting we plan on having another BRC member doing a presentation. Carlos Otalora collects all kinds of music especially those 45’s that are not well-known. He will be playing for us some recordings made here in Alabama that are very rare and unusual.
Plan on making these two meetings and hear from some of very own. See ya!!
MEMORIAL FOR WAYNE PERKINS
Here is the info for the memorial set for long-time guitarist, session man, songwriter and BRC Music Hall of Fame member Wayne Perkins.
Celebrating the Life of Wayne Perkins. Please join us for an afternoon of remembrance, shared stories, and honoring the wonderful life of our brother, Wayne Perkins. While our hearts are still heavy with his loss, we invite family and friends to come together to
celebrate his memory, share cherished moments, and support one another.
Event Details Date: Sunday, October 18, 2026
Time: 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Trussville Civic Center EXHIBITION HALL 5381 Trussville Clay Rd, Trussville, AL 35173
Light refreshments will be served during the gathering.
Please feel free to wear comfortable, casual attire as we celebrate Wayne’s life together.
PLEASE RSVP NUMBER OF GUEST BY:
OCTOBER 2, 2026
LIVE LP’S
Ever been to a concert and wish that it had been recorded? Live music is a great way to listen to music but when it’s over it’s just your memories that you have of it that remains. Or maybe you have been to a concert and it was recorded and was released as an LP or CD and you have a copy. I am just glad we do have recorded concerts that have been released in some format. But buying a so-called ‘live’ concert LP can be misleading. Sometimes the cuts are from different concerts on different nights, sometimes there are cuts done in a studio and put on the LP with audience sound dubbed in. But those live LP’s have been good to listen to over the years. Where did the ‘live in concert’ concept come from? What rock & roll group or performer did some of the earliest ‘live’ LP’s? Let’s take a look.
One of the earliest known live releases was not a rock LP but was done by Benny Goodman. In 1938 the Benny Goodman At Carnegie Hall was released. Of course, the main format at that time was the 78 RPM. It was released on the LP format in 1950. In 1954 the 1948 recording of Dizzy Gillespie And His Big Band In Concert was released as a 10-inch LP playing at 33 1/3 RPM. It seems that Jazz and Folk were the earliest known ‘live’ recordings that were released. Louis Armstrong had Satchmo At Pasadena released in 1951. In 1953 Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and other Jazz performers performed at Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada. This recording was released as The Quintet – Jazz At Massey Hall. Others are Art Blakey’s A Night At Birdland (recorded at The Birdland Jazz Club NYC in 1954)
Erroll Garner Concert By The Sea (recorded in 1955 at Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA), Duke Ellington At Newport (1956). There were other Jazz artists who released live LP’s throughout the 1950’s.
Other than Jazz artists releasing live LP’s we find a folk group, The Weavers releasing The Weavers at Carnegie Hall in 1957. Other notables include Ray Charles who had his 1958 Newport Jazz Festival appearance released in 1959, Muddy Waters At Newport 1960 (‘I Got My Brand On You’ – click to here) and James Brown Live At The Apollo in 1963. When did the rock and roll gang began releasing live LP’s? Let’s take a look.
Probably the first rock and roll live LP would be Joey Dee And The Starliters LP, Doin’ The Twist Recorded Live At The Peppermint Lounge (‘The Peppermint Twist’ – click to hear)which was released in 1961. That LP included the group’s smash hit, ‘Peppermint Twist Part 1’. There were some tracks ‘cleaned up’ in the studio and some crowd overdubbing was done.
There was a live LP released before Joey Dee’s but there are some additions to it that make it a little different. Ritchie Valens had just finished a concert tour in Hawaii and upon return to the states he went to his Jr High alma mater, Pacoima Jr High School and did a concert where he performed along with a friend on drums. The title was Ritchie Valens in Concert At Pacoima Jr High. The LP included 5 live cuts along with a demo of ‘Come On Let’s Go’ with crowd overdubbing filling in the ‘live’ side of the LP and unfinished demos recorded at his manager’s home studio on the other side. These live recordings are the only known live cuts Ritchie ever did. For those who were at the Jr High performance I guess it is a time they won’t forget. Ritchie was killed in the infamous plane crash along with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper less than 2 months later.
Even Jerry Lee Lewis got into the live LP theme. In October of 1964 Smash Records released The Greatest Live Show On Earth. This LP has a special meaning to us here in Alabama since the LP contained recordings from concerts done in Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama. Jerry Lee’s popularity had taken a hit among DJ’s with his marriage to his 13 year old cousin and when he went to Europe to do a tour he had no money to bring his own band. It is said the British group, The Nashville Teens backed him. A recording was done in Hamburg, Germany and was later released called Live At The Star Club, Hamburg. It was released in Europe but not in the states until 1980. So when he came back to the states it was decided to record his show in Birmingham. The record company wanted to restore Lewis’ reputation as a ‘major seller’. Jerry Lee said of the show and record producer Shelby Singleton , “Shelby had microphones set up all across the stage … it was the first time anyone had set up a live recording like that. We got some real momentum goin’ out there and it all had to be captured in one take. No second chances. I think Shelby edited out some of the talking but that was all.” This LP was his biggest selling LP of the 1960’s.
I was in grade school when the 1961 Joey Dee LP came out and although I had a radio on ever where I went I did not buy records since I had no money to do so. The first time I heard of a live LP was in late 1966 when the Rolling Stones LP, Got Live If You Want It was released. And I did ‘want it’ so I bought it. Starting with that LP I started noticing more live LP’s being released. Do you or did you ever own any of these? Release date is noted. I know I left out so great live LP’s that you enjoyed over the years.
February 1964 – Johnny Rivers Live At The Whiskey A Go Go
September 1964 – Here We A Go Go Again. (Johnny Rivers 2nd LP from the Whiskey)
March 1966 – The Blues Project Live at the Café Au Go Go
January 1967 – The James Brown Show (parts were recorded in the studio)
March 1967 – Temptations Live!
May 1967 – Buck Owens And His Buckaroos In Japan
August 1967 – The Live Kinks (US release. Was titled Live At Kelvin Hall in the UK)
October 1967 – Chuck Berry Live At The Fillmore Auditorium
March 1968 – The Great Society’s LP Conspicuous Only in Its Absence (With Grace Slick)
May 1968 – Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison
June 1968 – Wheels Of Fire by The Cream was a 2-disc LP with 1 disc studio cuts and 1 live
recordings.
July 1968 – Ten Years After Undead
October 1968 – Otis Redding In Person At The Whiskey A Go Go (released posthumously)
February 1969 – Kick Out The Jams by MC5 (Motor City 5)
November 1969 – Live/Dead by The Grateful Dead
March 1970 – Jimi Hendrix Band Of Gypsy’s
April 1970 – Steppenwolf Live. (One of my favorite cuts turned out to be recorded in the studio and audience sounds dubbed in – ‘Corrina, Corrina’ – click to hear)
May 1970 – Live At Leeds by The Who
July 1970 – Absolutely Live by The Doors
September 1970 – Get Yer Ya’s Ya’s Out! Another Stones live LP
February 1973 – Elvis’ Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite
May 1977 – The Beatles Live At The Hollywood Bowl. Recorded at three different appearances at the Hollywood Bowl in August 1964 and August 1965. These recordings stayed in ‘the can’ because of crowd noise overwhelming the sound quality. Technology fixed that.
According to the Guinness Book Of Records, The Grateful Dead holds the record for the most live LP’s released. Here is what the website says: “Excluding bootleg recordings, rock band the Grateful Dead (USA) have released 233 full-length live albums since 1969 – the majority of which have appeared since they disbanded in 1995 after the death of their legendary guitarist/vocalist Jerry Garcia (b. 1942).” It seems that before the Rock ‘N’ Roll era the live LP’s that were out there were of the Jazz genre. Well, you can see from this small sample of live LP’s that the ‘live album’ concept really took off around the mid-60’s and continues on. Imagine what it was like before recorded sound was possible. If you did have the chance to hear a person or group or orchestra perform before that time, you could not go home and play a record or any format to hear more of the music you liked. We grew up in a time when hearing music anytime, anyplace, anywhere was taken for granted. What a great time to be alive and to be able to hear music over the radio, on your phone, I-pods, CD’s or vinyl.
See ya,
Charlie