Music Break - Some Live Versions

It's certainly about time I made a musical post.  I may have included a few live performances in previous Music Breaks, but this time, I've decided to make live versions the post's theme, so to speak.  Live performances can sometimes have their drawbacks.  Bands might play their songs too fast, the singer can't quite reach the high notes he sang in the studio, or the instruments and sound effects recorded in the studio become difficult to recreate on stage.  Even facing these potential problems, I think I've found a few live performances that do the respective studio versions justice, or at least are enjoyable in their own right.

The Eagles have often incorporated their members' solo songs into their concerts.  Don Henley, officially their drummer, plays guitar in this live version of Dirty Laundry, which appears on his first solo album I Can't Stand Still, released in 1982.  The latter part of the song features consecutive guitar solos by Glenn Frey, Stueart Smith (a sideman hired to replace former member Don Felder) and Joe Walsh.  At this time and at present, the official Eagles are Frey, Henley, Walsh and bassist Timothy B. Schmitt.

Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson, on the TV show SoundStage, performs Wild Honey, the title song of an album they released in 1967, with fellow Beach Boy Al Jardine (guitar), and former Beach Boys Blondie Chaplin (guitar and vocals) and Ricky Fataar (drums) making guest appearances.  Originally sung by guitarist Carl Wilson, the lead vocal was later given to Chaplin after he and fellow South African Fataar joined the band in 1972.  More recently, Chaplin was a sideman for the Rolling Stones, on vocals and acoustic guitar.  Fataar also plays guitar, which he did for the Rutles in the persona of Stig O'Hara.

During the brief time when guitarists Peter Green and Danny Kirwan were both in Fleetwood Mac, they traded licks on Kirwan's song Like It This Way.  I think that the band's other then-frontman, slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer, played piano on this, but its volume in the mix is pretty low.

During the Concert For George, a memorial to George Harrison, Eric Clapton and then Billy Preston sang Isn't It A Pity.  Preston had played keyboards on some Beatles songs and later on Harrison's solo work.

The last song also includes Eric Clapton, from the 2005 reunion of Cream.  On Pressed Rat And Warthog, the lead vocal is not sung by Clapton or bassist Jack Bruce, but in a true rarity by drummer Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker.