Music question: name a band or recording artist whose most acclaimed or best selling or most defining work is a live album. I can only think of two…

There’s one answer so obvious that it barely needs mentioning:  Peter Frampton’s Frampton Comes Alive!. Can you even name another Pete Frampton album? Have you ever even heard a Peter Frampton song that wasn’t from FCA?

The only other answer that is definitely correct is Cheap Trick’s At Budokan. Again, have you ever even heard the non-live version of I want you to want me (or can you even imagine that song starting with something besides a voice going “I want YOU…to want…ME!”). Of course, one big reason for this is that the non-live version of IWYTWM is more or less terrible. Seriously, listen to it. And then listen to the Budokan version. It’s like two different songs. On the other hand, I’m not surprised the live version of Surrender (This next one…is the first song…on our new album…) isn’t as popular on the radio as the studio version. The studio version is a tight power pop song, which looses something live.

Beyond those two, there might not be another correct answer. The closest would probably be KISS’s Alive, but I never really liked KISS, and I’m not in much position to judge.  I guess I could entertain a debate about Live at Leeds, but can you really say that’s more iconic of the Who than Who’s Next? Do Live at Leeds songs ever get radio airplay these days? In the same vein, Neil Young’s Live Rust or Rust Never Sleeps might be contenders, but they are so dominated by Harvest that you’d only be pushing for them as a contrarian. Ditto for How the West Was Won, especially because it came out like 20 years after Zeppelin broke up.

I also want to rule out things like Clapton Unplugged. That seems gimmicky. And I feel bad for you if you think that’s Clapton’s best work.

I guess if I was really getting into this, I could make a case for Ben Folds Five’s Naked Baby Photos, but half of that album isn’t even live. Poison’s Swallow This Live is probably their best record, but 98% of people have never heard a single track from it, and they all heard the studio version of Talk Dirty to Me.

One reason there are so few bands that fit this category is that it’s hard to have a monster live album unless you’re already a huge band, and if you’re already a huge band, you’re unlikely to be remembered for your live album. In some ways, that makes Live at Leeds all the more amazing. It also doesn’t hurt if you have a single live song that puts its studio version to shame (like I Want You to Want Me), but again, that’s going to be super rare.

Anything obvious that I’m overlooking?

UPDATE: Two friends have come up with two pretty good answers: Johny Cash, Live at Folsom Prison, and The Allman Brothers, Live at Fillmore East.