With Valentine's Day approaching, it's only natural to start thinking about "Love Songs." Oddly, love has never been much of a topic for songwriters. It's really tough finding songs about love. Much harder than you'd think. Sure, there are songs like "Heard It In A Love Song" but that's hearsay! We need actual proof. Besides, the word "Love" has to be in the title. And most songs don't include that key word in their title and how else can you tell if a song is about love? By listening to the lyrics? Who does that? Sounds too much like work. I need to be hit over the head hard in order to understand anything.

Let's get to it!

"The Greatest Love Of All"--Whitney Houston: I only know her as the wife of Bobby Brown from that reality show, but I read somewhere that she was once a popular singer and, well, alright! I mentioned this song to a few friends and they shook their heads and said, "No!" But I don't see how you can not include a song that has both the word "greatest" and "love" in

As long as there are contractual obligations, there will be live albums. What better way to not write new songs and still get paid? What better way for your record company to sell songs that people already own back to them a second time? Now, rock music is known for its live "exuberance" and its audience is known for its inability to clap in time with the music! Put the two together and you've got Kiss at their peak!

Now lots of people will point out Live At The Apollo by James Brown or one of Johnny Cash's prison albums, or that Dylan live album where someone mistakes some concert hall in England for the Last Supper and calls out for Judas to pass the wine, but I don't like historical documents. I like stupid between-song patter and out of tune guitars! I want to know that on any given night a great performer can--through poor equipment, a hazardous mix of alcohol and pills and general indifference--play as poorly as me in my prime.

Live Bootleg--Aerosmith: I remember when I first

Oh, I know, I left off Wings Over America. How could I?  And where's that Springsteen box? And what about Yanni at Red Rocks or the Acropolis? And don't forget those two hundred Pearl Jam concert CDs! And the Dead! And Phish! And, aw see, it just goes on forever.

Some bands didn't shine in the live milieu. Most of my favorite performers either never made live albums or regretted doing so. They liked the recording studio, but then there were others who revealed something greater about themselves in front of a live audience and we need to look at what they accomplished, too.

Here are five live albums that give you new insights into old recording artists.

Live At Leeds--The Who: It was always said the early Who records didn't capture the band's true live thunder and once you hear the raw and ragged Live At Leeds you pretty much have to agree. They never sounded like this before. The original album wasn't much, either, just six tunes jammed on to two sides, but the expanded version now

Before you letter bomb my email box with examples of "great" songs that last a half an hour, I thought I'd offer a few of my own. One of the joys of this job is noting how everyone's taste is different. Hey, one man's ceiling is another man's floor, I suppose. But, I'm always amazed when people question my intelligence! With a provable I.Q. somewhere hovering around 40, and an unprovable I.Q. lingering around 65-70, you'd think there'd be a place for me somewhere other than List Of The Day, but this is where the government put me. Did you know the other bloggers are actually computers? Just remember them at Christmastime next year, you hear!

Now for five songs that last a very long time that I actually enjoy hearing.

"Summertime In England"--Van Morrison: This song is 15 minutes long. I have one friend who said when he heard it, it felt like the song had been playing for most of his lifetime, but I'm a sucker for any song that includes finger-snapping, references to Wordsworth and