Alan Parsons Live is the first live album by Alan Parsons, recorded in May 1994 during his European tour, and released late that year by Arcade Records in Europe. RCA/BMG added three new studio tracks and changed the cover art when releasing the album in the rest of the world in 1995, renaming it The Very Best Live; stylized on the cover with "The Very Best" in a smaller font between Alan Parsons and Live. The live performances on the album are all songs from his years with The Alan Parsons Project. Project regulars Ian Bairnson, Andrew Powell, Stuart Elliott and Richard Cottle anchor the band with Parsons, Gary Howard and ex-Manfred Mann's Earth Band vocalist Chris Thompson providing vocals for the live tracks. The album is notable for instrumental track "Luciferama" ; "When", another Parsons songwriting contribution by Bairnson, sung by Thompson; "Take the Money and Run", the second songwriting and first lead vocal contribution to a Parsons album by Elliott; and Thompson's first non-demo studio recording of his co-composition "You're The Voice", a song first recorded and released by John Farnham in 1986.
Reception
Despite rating the album 2.5 stars out of 5 for AllMusic, reviewer Mike DeGagne praised "When" for "being the catchiest of the trio" of the new songs, as well as the "explosiveness" of the live performances, especially on "Prime Time" and "Standing on Higher Ground", "which both sound livelier than the album versions". He further praised the "fresh and crisp" sound throughout, and concluded, "The stellar execution of the songs played live on this album proves that the group - which remained shy of the spotlight - should have toured more frequently." Mark Jenkins, reviewing the album for The Washington Post prior to a joint Parsons concert with Kansas, had equal criticism of his keyboard-oriented rock as "rather prim and a bit stiff; it betrays little of the spontaneity of live performance," yet praise for its being "less bombastic than much British art-rock" as well as "a cunning balance between mainstream and snob appeal." Jennings concluded that "slick, tame adult-rock may be out of vogue, but "Live" shows that its melodic quotient is undiminished."
All songs written by Parsons and Woolfson, except as indicated. Side 1 1. Sirius - 2:25 2. Eye In The Sky - 5:04 3. Psychobabble - 5:31 4. The Raven - 5:58 5. Time - 5:19 6. Luciferama - 5:04 7. Old And Wise - 4:52 8. You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned - 4:27 Side 2 9. Prime Time - 5:28 10. Limelight - 4:48 11. Don't Answer Me - 4:28 12. Standing On Higher Ground - 5:17 13. When - 4:15 14. Take The Money And Run - 6:18 15. You're The Voice - 5:06
