I am with Clinton here. Listening to recordings and listening to a live gig are two different experiences. In front of a audience, you can hope to exude some physical presence and spontanaiety. You can use your face and body language to enhance the music and you can make asides or add inflections to the songs, which might sound tedious, if heard repeatedly on a recording. There's the rub, you hear a live performance once and carry home a memory of it. Recordings are a different animal. They still have to sound good when you hear them after playing them many times. I have tried recording a whole album with only voice and guitar, but you would not be able to listen to more than ten minutes of it.
Ther are artists whom I can enjoy listening to very simple versions of. I would also rather hear simpler recordings than over produced ones. However, being able to make a whole album, which stands up with only voice and one instrument is a talent not given to many.