statcat

practically everything on the alive albums is overdubbed because of mistakes

JAA

Very much agree.

MooMooMooMoo

Aerosmith (at least in the 70's when they were hammered all the time, never saw them after they sobered up).

Hokeyboy

And the same is true for almost every "live" album ever produced.

I've seen KISS live too many times. They've always been pretty tight as a live act, even with all the antics, pyro, explosions, etc.

B5Erik

Re: KISS
While there were a lot of overdubs, the truth is a lot of bands have done that. Thin Lizzy's monumental Live and Dangerous, for example, is every bit as overdubbed as KISS ALIVE. Thin Lizzy producer Tony Visconti let the cat out of the bag in an interview a few years back. Like a lot of bands in the 70's and 80's Thin Lizzy got caught up in cleaning up the recordings. One thing led to another and about 90% of the guitar, bass, & vocals were overdubbed.

The irony of that is that Live and Dangerous sounds exactly like the raw live recordings from that era, minus the small flubs here and there (when you're moving around you tend to misfret things on occasion).

KISS was no different, except that they moved around even more and had platform boots and bulky costumes that made it harder to play. They were no virtuosos, but the way they performed live would have made it impossible even for a virtuoso to go mistake free for even one song.

And raw live KISS recordings sound pretty good - just he occasional misfretting or a vocal that drops out because the singer looks away from the mike for a second. It happens. So what? It's Rock and Roll!

statcat

the shows before they got very heavy on the drugs when they first started aren't so bad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=828dl_FMoJs

nando820

This is wrong!

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It doesn't get more soulful than this, not soul as in the style of music bus as in from the heart.

Flashback

Very easy one for me and every time I have seen them. The Smashing Pumpkins.

story

Especially that Hennepin Avenue Block Party in the late 1990s. Ouch.

It's not that she's bad live, per se, but I've seen Nelly Furtado live a couple times and I was amazed at how she could either sing really well or dance really well but never did the two at the same time. Like, she never even made an attempt. It's like she knew it wasn't going to go well so she didn't even try it.

Apple Gooncha

I know many disagree with this, but especially with some of the bands that I listen to where technicality is a key, I prefer to hear them play it spot on 98% of the time than be "energetic" and sloppy, so I'm sure my opinion on this is skewed.

Numanoid

Nobody can sing and dance at the same time. All that moving and jumping changes your breathing and forces the air out of your lungs at inappropriate times. Any concerts that you've seen where they do sing well and dance, it's been lip-syncing.

JTH182

I came in to post this... one of my all-time favorite bands, but when I saw them live I was kind of let down.

I wonder if that has anything to do with Billy saying he was 90% of the music you heard on the albums? (he said he played just about every instrument on the studio recordings)

Geofferson

I saw that as well -- yeah, wasn't very good. At least it was free though.

My vote goes to the RHCP -- I've seen them twice now and was disappointed both times. I don't think I'll see them live again.

Ropes Pierre

Hence the Rob Zombie "out of breath" stuff mentioned earlier.

RE: Live KISS

I wish they would let some stuff out without being cleaned up. If i were going to see KISS, i would not be expected Yngwie Malmsteem, i would be going to see a "show" and be entertained. I think it would be cool to get some of the real live experience of being there, mistakes and all.

B5Erik

Well, most of the stuff from the KISSology DVD's is undoctored.

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(Truth be told, most fans prefer the raw live recordings from Detroit '92 to the polished up ALIVE III.)

But like I noted before, a lot of bands doctor their live albums. A flub is no big deal live because once it's over it's over. On album it's forever. Flubs happen when you're playing to the crowd and are running around. You can't see that on album. But you can hear a misfret or a note sung off key.

Jason

Just played the Alive III clip and the tracks from the CD. I think the problem is more the mix than overdubs. For one thing, the drums are much more pronounced in the video. I noticed this even before playing the album track.

statcat

Stevie Wright used to do quite well at it, even did back flips. Now I look at him and I'm horrified. If there was ever someone to warn people to stay off heroin it would be him

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