There's no doubt that generally, when a band are out on stage, they pull out all the stops, with the result being that very often, live versions of studio songs take on a whole new life, get a totally different treatment, and sound often much better. In some cases, the live version becomes the definitive one, the one we're used to hearing, the one we
want to hear.
I'm not talking about concert footage here,
per se, as I'm quite aware (as I'm sure you are) that a certain song can be changed from tour to tour, even night to night, sounding subtly (or not so subtly) different each time it's played. Those versions are to be treasured, for those who are lucky enough to attend the gig and hear them, perhaps for the only time in that format. But what I'm referring to is a live version of a song that is
released, perhaps charts, but at any rate, becomes popular, so popular in fact that it eclipses the original studio version.
To illustrate this, look at our first example in this new section. We all know the live version of Bob Marley's famous “No woman no cry”, even those of us who are not fans. But how does it compare to the original? Or perhaps I should say really, how does the original compare to the live version, if that's not a contradiction in terms! Here are the two versions, original first, for you to judge for yourself.