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I's also go for Life/Live over Live And Dangerous for Thin Lizzy, mainly because the former is actually live.

This has been debunked. A deluxe box set was released a few years ago with all the raw full concert recordings that the album was put together from, and it shows that there wasn't that much overdubbing done at all.

I should point out that a good example of an artist where you really need the live albums more than anything else is Rory Gallagher. I'm not a huge blues rock fan and threfore I don't listen to his studio output much. But his live albums are something else and that is where he shines. So Irish Tour 74 and Check Shirt Wizard 77 are my go to, along with this, which is absolutely phenomenal:

Rainbow - Live In Germany 1976

One of the two or three greatest live albums ever made.

Grand Magus - Monument

Still their finest hour.

I love live albums. You have to determine the ones which have the least amount of overdubs (though I still like some of the more obviously fixed ones) but a good live album is usually better than practically any studio one.

The best example is Rainbow. Live In Germany 1976 is Blackmore's peak - he's absolutely wild on it, shredding everywhere - and the energy is unreal. Compare the studio version of Sixteenth Century Greensleeves to the live one on here, it's no contest. More energy, more of everything.

Most times the definitive version of a song will be the live one.

Some of my favourite live records:

Hawkwind - Space Ritual
Rainbow - Live In Germany 1976
Allman Brothers - At Fillmore East
Iron Maiden - Beast over Hammersmith and Rock In Rio
Led Zeppelin - Celebration Day
Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Year of the Horse and Live Rust
Deep Purple - Mk 3 Final Concerts
Thin Lizzy - Live and Dangerous
Lynyrd Skynyrd - One More From The Road
Black Sabbath - Live At Last
The Who - Live At Leeds and Live at The Isle Of Wight 1970
Judas Priest - 98 Live Meltdown
Metallica - Live Shit: Binge and Purge
Rory Gallagher - Check Shirt Wizard Live '77
Joy Division - Les Bains Douches 1979

This isn't including bootlegs......... there are so many great performances out there.

Unearthly Trance - In The Red
Black Sabbath - Born Again
Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny

Playing the vinyl tonight.

One of my friends distinctly remembers that during the nu metal era in the late 90s most of the rock/metal press basically went Year Zero and automatically dismissed nearly all the classic metal bands as rubbish while saying how awesome nu metal was.

Then in the 2000s when trad metal became cool again all of a sudden MH was declaring themselves 'Defenders of the faith' and couldn't stop going on about how great all the 80s stuff was.

I haven't forgotten some of the reviews that turned up in K! and MH during the tail end of nu metal. For example, reviewing AC/DC at Milton Keynes in 2001 and giving them 2/5, and Megadeth (who were one of the support acts that day) got 1/5. I remember the K! letters page was inundated with people going "WTF, that AC/DC rating, are you serious?!?!?"

The most memorable one however was that when St. Anger came out MH gave it 9/10 then went through the Metallica back catalogue and declared that AJFA was their worst album.

I will however give a shout out to the late Malcolm Dome who didn't (from what I can tell) seem to care about what was cool or not; he just was enthusiastic about music and if he liked something, he liked it no matter what. Always had time for his reviews.

I wouldn't say Killers is a bad album but I can't give it more than 7.5/10 at best. There are some amazing highs on there - title track, Wrathchild, Purgatory, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Prodigal Son (which is total Jethro Tull worship) - but there are several songs on there which are blatantly B side material. I think Harris said that the first two Maiden albums encompassed their whole repertoire up to then, and that the strongest songs mostly went on the debut and the leftovers mostly went on Killers, and it's pretty obvious when you listen to them both.

The lack of a proper epic a la Phantom Of The Opera also is an issue, had one been included I think that would make it an 8/10 album at least.

Good to see the support for Endtyme here, it's in their top 3 albums, heavy as fuck and the song writing is much more focused than on the previous album. The Carnival Bizarre is still their best one though, that's where Gaz Jennings truly steps up and inherits Iommi's crown, riffs all over the place.

Also I'd recommend getting all their EPs. Some of their best work is on them.

Thin Lizzy - Thunder and Lightning

First example I thought of.

Also in non metal examples, Abbey Road.

I still don't think anyone's managed to beat Sabbath's first six. Metallica have four or five depending on where you start/finish at. Maiden would be a good shout if it wasn't for Killers and to a lesser extent Piece Of Mind interrupting the flow. Saint Vitus are another candidate, flawless discography for the first five albums, if you like C.O.D. then that and the following album give a seven album streak.

You could make a case for Rush having five from 2112 to Moving Pictures but considering their shitty 80s keyboard albums as classics is just demented.

Youthanasia is Megadeth's finest hour along with the debut - it's Mustaine's dark masterpiece. Certainly better than the wildly overrated Rust In Peace.

It's interesting about Priest. I like them because up until KK left they were always evolving in some way. That's why the Owens years were so good - even if the studio work wasn't always as consistent as previous eras you still have songs like Cathedral Spires which is easily in their top 3 IMO, and it could be very well argued that the band's live peak was about this time, they had such a brutal sound and sounded reinvigorated and mean. The main problem with Priest now isn't so much the albums but that without KK and Tipton onstage it's pretty much Halford solo.

I might nominate Electric Wizard for this one - the classic era up to and including Let Us Prey is essential and the first few albums after that were good too, but they've seemed to become rather stale and redoing the same groove since.

Reverend Bizarre on the other hand knew exactly when to call it quits on a high with their legacy intact.

There are lots of bands though who maybe aren't at their peak in terms of recorded output anymore but can still deliver live.

Bolt thrower - Those once loyal, another album I reach for ahead of some the classic BT albums.

Isn't that album really highly regrded though anyway? Good record I agree.

I'll go with Maiden - The Bayley material is great, Sign Of The Cross is Maiden's best song, and The X Factor is a deeply cathartic work that is one of the few albums I can play when feeling depressed and it helps (mostly when I'm like that I'm not in the mood for listening to music generally).

Warning- Watching From A Distance.
Warning- Demos. Serious Saint Vitus and Pentagram influence in the early days. Vitagram?

Do you have the 2CD edition of WFAD as well? I got that when it came out and now it's going for silly money on Discogs.

Title track of AJFA is one of the most underrated Metallica songs.