I've been wanting to write this article for a while, it's an interesting phenomenon when you "discover" an artist on youtube, play that song repeatedly then excitedly download the album expecting the album version to be even better.
I'm not quite sure why these tracks are better than their album counterparts, personally I think some artists lose a certain quality that is captured in live performances, or perhaps the songs are refined over time after their initial studio recording.
1. Kimbra - Two way street
1. Kimbra - Two way street
This track is really quite beautiful - lyrically and musically. It has nice harmonies with the backing vocals (yes the backup singers/musicians are all men). It's quite strange that the album version feels flat and overproduced, and doesn't really capture the unique quality of Kimbra's voice and the instrumentals of the song.
Studio Version
2. Ratatat - Seventeen Years
I never really liked this song much until I heard the live version, I found it a bit too synthy, no offence to Ratatat as they are an amazing band but I definitely prefer the music they've done that uses more guitar riffs. For that very reason I really love this live version and think it really has a quality that is lost on the album version. The raw power chords really make it something special and give it a quality that is really lost on the album version which has more of a synthesised guitar/keyboard sound. The video quality is bad but it definitely has the best audio.
Live Version
Studio Version
So there you have it, 2 live versions of songs that are better than their album counterparts. I'm sure there are more I could have added to this list but those were the best examples that came to mind.
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