Most of the songs are much better live, the only album they actually managed to produce properly was Technique IMHO, until Get Ready and Sirens, both of which weren't mostly conceived in a live setting.
Movement sounds like Unknown Pleasures, the songs are shrouded in a dense mist and has to be played really loud to get anything out of it. Live though, the songs had all got a lot more going for them, and by the end of 1981 they were flying as a live unit. Listen to Denial, Chosen Time or ICB live and they show you what the songs were supposed to sound like without Hannett's overbearing.
PC&L grew from live evolution, all the songs were crafted over a period of months, bits added and taken away, but they crucially got Ultraviolence hopelessly wrong on record, all the menace was sucked out and what had been an outstanding live song was just another track on the album.
Low Life was a 50/50 split between songs that had been evolved live and songs that were studio conceived and had been recorded before being taken out live. That said, they managed to botch the recording on half of it, Sunrise on record isn't a patch on the live beast, and Face Up deteriorated between the early versions and the recorded version (and was never the same live after they recorded it).
Brotherhood has always felt like a weak album to me, not enough good songs and a piss-poor production that sounded like they didn't really know what to do with the songs. Broken Promise was a real beast live but sounds anaemic and generally rubbish on record. Angel Dust on record isn't a patch on the live takes. Weirdo is ruined on record. That said, BLT was got just right on the record, they managed to capture the live song absolutely spot on.
Technique, Get Ready and WFTSC were all written and recorded before the songs found their way into the live environment, so there's no real valid comparison, the recorded versions are the definitive versions.
