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Post by HotRats on May 13, 2020 8:53:13 GMT
Ok, I'll come clean. Last night I was listening to Whitesnake "Live in the Heart of the City" (I know, I know, no excuses), and I realised I've got into a bad habit of listening to a live album and trying to figure out how many overdubs it has on it.
"Seconds Out" sounds pretty clean to me, but apparently they did some work on that too - so what do I know?
Some are obvious, and some are less so. According to Levon Helm (I think) "The Last Waltz" was drenched in overdubs, which is a shame. If it is mostly overdubs, I think they did a good job of hiding it.
I'd be interested in compiling a very unofficial list of live albums, and an Overdubometer.
I think the discussion can be about personal opinion and the evidence of your ears, but obviously any actual evidence from an artist is good.
Anyone want to kick off?
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Post by DarknessFish on May 13, 2020 9:08:55 GMT
The two most extreme examples I know are Phil Ochs in Concert, where the audience noise is genuine, but most of it was actually recorded in the studio, because the live tapes were badly flawed. And Alice Donut's Dry Humping the Cash Cow is all live (as far as I know), from CBGB's and somewhere else, but the crowd noise is from Kiss Alive and Frampton Comes Alive albums.
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Post by neige on May 13, 2020 11:03:12 GMT
The most blatant (and widely publicised) example must be Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous.
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Post by Mr. FOLLARD on May 13, 2020 11:16:00 GMT
So which is worse - adding crowd noises for atmosphere, or dubbing extra parts (guitars or whatever) in the studio?
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Post by HotRats on May 13, 2020 11:54:50 GMT
One of the worst examples for me was Genesis' Archive 1 boxset, which contained a full live version of the The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway tour in 1975.
Steve Hackett overdubbed some of his guitar work for some reason, which I can live with.
But most of the vocals were re-recorded by Gabriel 30ish years after the event. His new vocals are fine technically, but his voice has changed a lot in those years, and it all just sounds a bit silly.
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Post by HotRats on May 13, 2020 11:57:00 GMT
So which is worse - adding crowd noises for atmosphere, or dubbing extra parts (guitars or whatever) in the studio? Oh, adding extra guitar parts for me. I would have thought the usual culprits are the vocalists. Gabriel is famous for it, even when his original vocals are absolutely fine. It might be easier to compile a list of albums which AREN'T drenched in overdubs (assuming there are any) |
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Post by Charlie O. on May 13, 2020 12:08:08 GMT
Yeah, I think it's more the rule than the exception. Live vocal tracks, especially on vintage live albums, tended to pick up a lot of leakage from the instruments/crowd/whatever, so I can understand wanting to re-do them.
An unusual example, though it's not a full album: the Moby Grape collection Vintage includes three great live cuts. They do sound truly live for the most part, but the vocals - lead and backing - on the song "Changes" are very obviously "flown in" from the studio version on their first album! (And very well done it is, too.)
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Post by Mr. FOLLARD on May 13, 2020 12:14:22 GMT
Most of the live albums I love don't have any overdubs that I know of. The Velvets' 1969 Live, Kick Out The Jams, Viva Roxy Music...
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Post by HotRats on May 13, 2020 15:07:45 GMT
Live at Leeds is a reasonably sparse album - from memory it doesn't like it covered in overdubs.
But I suppose you can't trust these musician types, so who knows.
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