[snoot]

It's all fairly subjective in the end but there's no shortage of notable concerts captured live during the sixties and seventies (beyond what first meets the eye, or those thoroughly idiotic Rolling Stone rag lists). I rate the following both by impact of the time, plus how well I feel these hold their own over time (listed roughly by date):

Best Live albums of the late 60's-early 70's period IMO (as cited by consensus already):
- Cream - Live Cream Vol 1 + 2 (1968) ^
- The Who - Live At Leeds (1970) [Expanded set]
- Fleetwood Mac - Live At The Boston Tea Party (1970)
- Allman Brothers Band - Live At Fillmore East (1971)

Live albums from that same period that could easily be categorized with the above IMO:
- John Mayall - The Turning Point (1969)
- Elvis Presley - At The International Hotel (1969)
- Ten Years After - Live At The Fillmore East (1970)
- Creedence Clearwater Revival - The Concert (1970) **
- It's A Beautiful Day - Live At Carnegie Hall (1972)
- Deep Purple - Made In Japan (1972)
- Elvis Presley - At Madison Square Garden (1972)
- Ten Years After - Recorded Live (1973)
- Van Morrison - It's Too Late To Stop Now (1973)

Notable (= above average + above disappointing) live albums recorded during the 60's:
- Jerry Lee Lewis - Live At The Star Club (1964)
- The Yardbirds - Five Live Yardbirds (1964)
- Johnny Rivers - Live At The Whiskey A-Go-Go [series] (1964-65)
- The Ventures - On Stage (1965)

Notable (= above average + above disappointing) live albums from the mid-to-late 70's IMO:
- Alvin Lee - In Flight (1974)
- Robin Trower - Live! (1975)
- Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive (1976)
- Jackson Browne - Running On Empty (1977)
- Cheap Trick - At Budokan (1979)

> Frampton, Browne and Cheap Trick don't rate among my fave bands, but those live albums clearly have their moments.

* Rolling Stones - Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! (1970) :: overrated [saw the Stones a number of times during this period and this recording somehow misses the genuinely engaging interplay between Richards and Taylor]

* Jimi Hendrix - Band Of Gypsies (1970) :: beyond the nice guitar theatrics, it tails off on the whole rather quickly

* Derek & The Dominos - In Concert + Live At The Fillmore (1972) :: unfortunately misses one key element from the studio band who was no longer on the scene by the time the album made its appearance (but could have been when it was recorded - and would have helped greatly - if he hadn't been off making #4 from the top)

** CCR - Live In Europe (1971) :: recorded shortly after brother Tom Fogerty left the band, the 1998 Japanese import remastering of the trio brings new life to the original (which admittedly sounded a tad harsh at times)

^ I believe it was Cream who were the first to tap the sonic reach of mobile recording equipment behind wizards Tom Dowd and Bill Halverson

See you mothers later. Jb