Editor’s Note: The Albumism staff has selected what we believe to be the 50 Greatest Live Albums of All Time, representing a varied cross-section of genres, styles and time periods. Click “Next Album” below to explore each album or view the full album index here.

NATALIE COLE | Natalie Live!
Capitol (1978)
Selected by Brandon Ousley

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While many unjustly recognize the late great Natalie Cole as a jazz and standards chanteuse, there was a time she was heralded as one of R&B’s premier female divas. A vibrant songstress with enough sass, versatility, and verve to boot, Cole was at the top of her game by the time the riveting Natalie Live! arrived in the summer of 1978.

Recorded over a span of two live shows at L.A.’s Universal Amphitheater in 1977 and New Jersey’s Latin Casino in 1978, the album bears witness to Cole masterfully dousing thorough spells of gospel sensibilities to her dynamic brand of female soul. Elongated, rousing takes of classics like “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love),” “I’ve Got Love on My Mind,” “Be Thankful,” “I’m Catching Hell (Living Here Alone),” “I Can’t Say No,” and her show-stopping reading of Doris Day’s “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” are revitalized with Baptist church treatment. Cole forcefully wails, belts, and testifies as if she’s in a choir loft during a fiery, Sunday morning revival service.

Reflecting on her days as a pre-fame, covers belter at rock and blues-designated supper clubs, she gleefully reinvents the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” rips Garnet Mimms’ “Cry Baby,” and spins Etta James’ “Something’s Got a Hold on Me,” as they were her own.

One undermined aspect behind Cole’s showmanship was her ability to interact with candor and humor to her adoring fans, as a means of casting herself as a humble, no-holds-barred soul sister. During one candid monologue, she reveals to an engaged L.A. audience that she’s taking a short hiatus from performing because of her pregnancy duties. A random audience member jokingly shouts, “What’s your baby’s name?” “I don’t know yet, we just gonna call it ‘Baby’ right now,” Cole foxily quips.

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