songs that should stay in the studio

[oh oooh]

Actually when he paired up with Iggy a few years ago, Josh Homme pushed his band hard enough to replicate these glorious sounds - but Iggy, as compelling a performer as he is, never really did it justice live...






and (as I think we've discussed before), the Stones nearly always - puzzlingly - left out the fuzz-riff from 'Satisfaction' when they performed it for the crowds. It appears at the very start here, but is very quickly drowned out by the beat-group thump and strum






Of course there are thousands of examples of studio creations that could never even be approximated when performed live, but these days tribute acts (for want of a better term) seem to have a good crack (I'm thinking of the fabulous combos that put on Pet Sounds and Forever Changes tours 15 or so years ago).


Have you ever been let down by a live performance of a favourite song? Are there songs which just have to be heard on disc because they're always destroyed by a concert rendition?

[~ / % ? *]

This one is kinda tough. Many musicians of the time we are talking about, saw it as more of a lifestyle than a craft/job that they should put time into, to deliver the goods. So a lot sloppiness got accepted as pro forma and romanticized. Current tribute bands don't have anything else to build credibility with the audience other than to nail the versions of songs we carry around in our head. The original performers/creators get a break cause they are the originators of said piece. I've seen lots of disappointing performance... maybe they were drunk, sick, etc., or just plain sloppy/careless. Usually things were too fast, never got the groove, or they couldn't hold it together musically or battling sound problems or just plain couldn't sing it.

[oh oooh]

This could also be extended to 'songs that should never be covered'

[~ / % ? *]

I guess with cover songs I am willing to give wider acceptance to something done live, in the moment, possibly reading the crowd. Rather than something one bothered to record and not really make their own or just do it as a not for note space filler on an album. This seem to happen a lot with rock acts covering soul tunes.