Have you ever heard a live version of a song, loved it, then heard the studio version and thought Yuck!

Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear. The Letterman performance version is the best, IMO, better than the studio version or the one on Later with Jools Holland.

It’s actually usually the other way around for me. When I like a song, it’s because I’ve heard it played on the radio or on my iPod, usually repeatedly. Then I hear a “live” version, and the differences between the two tend to annoy me, as being unfamiliar and not the “real” version.

There are also songs where I like both.

Like Hotel California A

and Hotel California B

Muse- Knights Of Cydonia

The live version is so much better than the studio. Far more feeling and expression.

I had the opposite problem with a 1970s Steely Dan concert. Loved the song Rikki Don’t Lose That Number, but it was awful in performance.

I prefer New Model Army live, they seem to loose some of their raw energy in the studio.

All the time.

I loved kris the winner of American idol this years version of “heartless” by kanye west when he sang it live on the show and then downloaded it from itunes and it sounded aweful

@hurleygrlblink – awe that stinks to find out after the download.

i’ll try anything once > you only live once

i’ll try anything once was the first song by the strokes that i listened to and really fell in love with. i downloaded 4 cds of theirs looking for it, before i realized that they recreated it (you only live once). that kind of ruined my 15-minutes of love for them. i was/am so disturbed that they would recreate such a beautiful song and make it so lame (by comparison, at least).

I feel this way about a lot of dave matthews band music. They’re phenomenal live, but their studio stuff is just meh.