I guess what I'm saying is that once it's recorded it kind of loses its exciting qualities, some of which are attributable to what the musician or singer does and some that are beyond his/her like the acoustics of the venue or quality of the instruments that day (did the humidity in the tour bus adversely affect the string tension on the guitar, does the dj need a new belt on the ole wheels o' steel?) and that yes, a 'live recording' is a paradox. If I've been fortunate enough to experience a great live show then it's probably better to savour that memory rather than try to recreate it with a recording...

...Peel sessions. I'm embarassed to say that I haven't really listened to many of the sessions. I always used to browse the 12-inches in the 1980s and heard some that friends bought in that time period but never bought any myself. I recall that a lot of the live recordings were crappy, an opinion consistent with my thoughts above. However, for those who want to sample some of the Peel sessions you may have missed, this website has some downloadable recordings, including this live version of "Here" by Pavement.