Let the Rolling Stones liven up your gift list! ADRIAN THRILLS picks the best live albums for this Christmas

With rock and pop tours booming after the pandemic, live albums are enjoying a resurgence. This week, the Mail’s music critic ADRIAN THRILLS picks the best of the bunch…

THE ROLLING STONES: Hackney Diamonds Live Edition (Polydor)

The Stones’ first set of new songs in 18 years, Hackney Diamonds topped the UK charts when it came out two months ago – and a new edition suggests its best moments will feature heavily when Mick Jagger and Co hit the road next year.

Out today as a double CD (£13), the release couples the original studio LP with a seven-song live album recorded in a New York club. 

The band’s second live album of 2023, it captures them in their element: they tear into 1978’s Shattered with vigour, before playing Tumbling Dice and Jumpin’ Jack Flash.

But the new songs steal the show. The live version of Angry is a step up from the by-numbers studio take and an ad-libbing Lady Gaga is a revelation on gospel ballad Sweet Sounds Of Heaven, matching a showboating Jagger note for note. 

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The Stones’ first set of new songs in 18 years, Hackney Diamonds topped the UK charts when it came out two months ago – and a new edition suggests its best moments will feature heavily when Mick Jagger and Co hit the road next year (file image)

The band’s second live album of 2023, it captures them in their element: they tear into 1978’s Shattered with vigour, before playing Tumbling Dice and Jumpin’ Jack Flash

CAT POWER: Cat Power Sings Dylan (Domino)

As a superb interpreter of other people’s material, Chan Marshall – aka Cat Power – has put her own distinctive slant on hits by the Everly Brothers and Joni Mitchell. 

Turning her attention to Bob Dylan, she does just the opposite: Bob often renders his songs unrecognisable when he sings them live, but Marshall treats his original melodies and arrangements with respect.

On Sings Dylan, out as a double CD (£14) and double vinyl LP (£28), she recreates his most fabled concert – a 1966 show at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall. 

That gig, often wrongly called ‘the Royal Albert Hall concert’, saw him play half his set acoustically before switching to electric instruments, eliciting a cry of ‘Judas!’ from one disgruntled folk fan.

Marshall, who suffers from stage fright and admits she was trembling before this 2022 gig at the Royal Albert Hall, is tentative on the acoustic tracks, but grows in confidence once she’s joined by a five-piece band for electrified takes on One Too Many Mornings and Like A Rolling Stone. There’s even an obliging shout of ‘Judas!’ from the stalls. 

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As a superb interpreter of other people’s material, Chan Marshall – aka Cat Power (left) – has put her own distinctive slant on hits by the Everly Brothers and Joni Mitchell

BRYAN ADAMS: Live At The Royal Albert Hall (BMG)

The Groover From Vancouver is often derided for his radio-friendly rock, but the Canadian delivers a great night out and last year’s three-date residency in London provided just that. 

‘We’ve been waiting two years to do these shows,’ he said of these lockdown-delayed concerts and there’s a sense of post-pandemic euphoria.

This bumper package – out as a 3-CD plus Blu-ray (£30), and 4-LP plus Blu-ray (£80) – is a treasure trove. 

He played a different album in full each night, starting with 1983’s Cuts Like A Knife: amid its heartland rockers, the Paul McCartney-like Let Him Know is a minor chord delight and the title track gets an acoustic makeover.

The second night, showcasing 1987’s Into The Fire, is weaker, but Adams comes into his own for 1991’s Waking Up The Neighbours, letting loose on Can’t Stop This Thing We Started, before an extended (Everything I Do) I Do It For You. 

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The Groover From Vancouver is often derided for his radio-friendly rock, but the Canadian Bryan Adams (pictured) delivers a great night out and last year’s three-date residency in London provided just that

FLEETWOOD MAC: Rumours Live (Warner)

It’s no surprise Fleetwood Mac decided against documenting 1977’s Rumours with a live memento at the time. 

The making of the album had been a drug-fuelled, relationship-wrecking soap opera and it would be another three years, and 1980’s Tusk tour, before a live LP materialised. 

But some Rumours shows were recorded and one from the first date of a residency at The Forum in LA, is now out as a double CD (£13) and double vinyl LP (£32). It’s a performance built on songs that are still winning new, younger fans 46 years on. 

The live versions here are wilder than the studio takes. World Turning, from 1975’s Fleetwood Mac LP, features a fixture of 1970s rock gigs, the minute-plus drum solo, while Rhiannon lasts for eight furious minutes. 

On Dreams, a song directed at bandmate and estranged lover Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks sings ‘women they will come and they will go’ with real intent. 

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It’s no surprise Fleetwood Mac (pictured in 1993) decided against documenting 1977’s Rumours with a live memento at the time

NICK CAVE & WARREN ELLIS: Australian Carnage (Goliath)

‘This is a joyful song… so make the f***ing most of it!’ jokes Nick Cave as he introduces the pastoral pop gem Breathless at the Sydney Opera House.

It’s one of several amusing asides on a live album by Cave and his bandmate Warren Ellis that’s by turns unsettling and uplifting.

Available to stream since August, it’s now out as an eight-song vinyl LP, too (£20). Backed by Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood, U2’s Larry Mullen and three backing singers, the Australian hosts a triumphant homecoming.

Balcony Man, inspired by an Instagram reel of an Italian couple dancing to Fred Astaire in their apartment during lockdown, is the best song written about the pandemic.

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‘This is a joyful song… so make the f***ing most of it!’ jokes Nick Cave (pictured) as he introduces the pastoral pop gem Breathless at the Sydney Opera House

RAYE: My 21st Century Symphony (Human Re Sources)

Rachel Keen – aka Raye – capped a breakthrough year when she headlined the Royal Albert Hall with the Heritage Orchestra and a 30-piece choir in September. 

She based the show around her debut album, My 21st Century Blues, adding bold new arrangements.

Out to download (£8) and stream, the resulting live album packs an emotional punch, although its impact is diluted by orchestral interludes.

But BRITs recognition surely beckons in 2024 for the ex-BRIT School student.

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Rachel Keen (pictured) – aka Raye – capped a breakthrough year when she headlined the Royal Albert Hall with the Heritage Orchestra and a 30-piece choir in September

Silence, please, for a trio of classical treats…

by Tully Potter 

PUCCINI: Turandot (Warner 5419740659, two CDs)

This is the first recording of Puccini’s last opera to use the original ending composed by Franco Alfano. 

Puccini died before writing the final duet and Alfano stepped into the breach, but conductor Arturo Toscanini slaughtered his version, cutting 100 bars. Antonio Pappano restores them.

The cast is headed by Sondra Radvanovsky, Jonas Kaufmann and Ermonela Jaho, and despite ‘social distancing’ the sound quality is splendid.

Turandot needs an armour-plated voice like our own Dame Eva Turner of blessed memory, but Illinois-born Radvanofsky comes through with flying colours.

Kaufmann is at his best and Jaho is touching as the slave girl Liu. Supporting characters are strongly cast and the ending is convincing.

Puccini (pictured) died before writing the final duet and Alfano stepped into the breach, but conductor Arturo Toscanini slaughtered his version, cutting 100 bars. Antonio Pappano restores them

RACHMANINOV: Piano Concertos etc. (DG 486 3405, three CDs)

Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov — still only 32 — has been recording Rachmaninov’s Piano Concertos with the composer’s favourite Philadelphia Orchestra and now they are in a three-CD package. 

The Second Concerto, the one most listeners will play most often, gets a magisterial performance, full of Romantic poetry and virtuosity.

But the understanding between Trifonov and the Philadelphia music director Yannick Nezet-Seguin is exceptional in all four Concertos and the Paganini Rhapsody.

Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov — still only 32 — has been recording Rachmaninov’s (pictured) Piano Concertos with the composer’s favourite Philadelphia Orchestra and now they are in a three-CD package

MAHLER: Symphony No.2 (Pentatone PTC 5186 992)

Czech orchestras bring something special to the music of Mahler, who did, after all, hail from Bohemia. 

This new CD of the Second Symphony is not only an engineering feat, with 87 minutes on a single disc, but a triumph for Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic.

You have to wait a long time for the contribution of the famous Prague Philharmonic Choir, but when it comes (after 71 minutes) it makes a mighty, inspiring impact. The great Russian conductor keeps the music nicely on the move without rushing any fences.

The recording quality is superb, capturing the acoustic of the Dvorak Hall in the Prague Rudolfinum.  

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