August 29, 2007

10 recording bloopers that made the album.
posted by HawthorneWingo 17 years ago
  • This guy knows better than John Lennon and Phil Spector what Working Class Hero should have sounded like? I think not.
  • So THAT'S what the president of my middle school AV club is doing these days. Interesting site, kind of like The Nitpicker's Guide to Star Trek.
  • Cool post. Thanks.
  • I thought this was cool. I also agree with the site, that Working Class Hero does sound strange. I do find the difference in tone obnoxious.
  • Lennon was a genius but his approach to recording left a lot to be desired. Especially once he quit listening to Paul altogether. And Phil Spector's a one trick pony, recording-wise. It's a hell of a trick, but there you are. Clapton, Radiohead, Incubus?, Lennon, Zeppelin, Beatles, Christina Aguilera?, Pink Floyd, The Police, Dixie Chicks? Wha? Ease into the decaf, dude.
  • Good post - anyone know any others? Here's one. Beach Boys, I Know There's An Answer. Someone comes in a bar too early at 1:43.
  • What Stan said about Lennon and Working Class Hero. It sounds better with the "blooper".
  • Notice what happens shortly after "Inspired by..." and preceding "...engineer seem lazy": a perfect example of A.R.A.D.D. or what those in the know call Anal Retentive Attention to Detail Disorder. When you have to re-engineer the song or tell a story in order to show the still subtle or indistinguishable flaw (a la Zep, Aguilera & Beatles) in order to make yourself feel better: you need a new hobby. Seriously tho', I'm on the "the tone change in Working Class Hero sounds cool bandwagon", as well. I always liked that shift in the song. It made it more ominous - urgent even. I'm all about my music sounding dirty and raw, all this spit and polish still doesn't make a shitty song or artist sound good, nor does it really make a good song or artist sound that much better - unless we're talking massive leaps, like the difference between a Dictaphone bootleg and a stereo recording. Even then, I don't know how much you gain in clarity - would Son House, Lead Belly or Big Joe Williams sound better fully remastered? I'm not sure I could hear the blues through gold plated wires and diamond studded speakers.
  • how 'bout when a musician leaves VERBAL bloopers in- I love that too! Beatles "ob-la-di", Ozzy and Lita "Close My Eyes Forever", Beach Boys "Help Me Rhonda", and Paul McCartney does a great unplugged version of "We Can Work It Out" where about 15 seconds in he goes: "hold on-hold on... I only got the words wrong, didn't I? S'all right, we're summat informal, let's start again!" There's a great live Hot Tuna song where during a quiet moment somebody in the crowd drops their glass. I guess after that album came out everybody would drop their glasses at that spot in the song, till the venues started selling all drinks in plastic cups!
  • Errr, umm, "Barbara Ann" by the Beach Boys. *hiccup* muteboy has me curious, any other bloopers, engineering or vocal-wise you can think of? (i love this stuff HW-thx!)
  • "You fucking die" I said, to her I said "YOU FUCKING DIE", to her Huh? What? No, no! I was talking to Kim I said "you fucking die" No, I was just- we were just goofing around No, no. It didn't have anything to do with anything She said: "Don't tou- anybody touch this is my stuff" And I said "You fucking die" like that I was finishing her part for her You know what I mean?
  • I find the entire tone of Working Class Hero obnoxious, myself. /Ducks, runs
  • I can only think of one mistake -- Cohen's second live album, on Joan of Arc, where one of the backup singers (Perla?) singing duet got the words wrong. Sha caught herself and recovered, but why pick a faulted version for a live compilation album? There I go with my Cohen again...
  • I had been under the impression that everything Christina Aguilera ever recorded was some kind of mixup at the studio...
  • I read somewhere that the stuttering chords in Radiohead's Creep were either accidentally or the result of a little passive-agressive studio strife, that were left in because they improved the song. I can't vouch for the accuracy. An awful lot of Metallica's recorded output is affected by Lars Ulrich's less-than-steady drumming technique. In the early stuff you can hear the rest of the band compensating by changing their phrasing, it's a little harder to catch in the later, higher production budget albums.
  • I'm pretty certain that Chris Frantz's drumming on 'Never Took A Penny' is not supposed to sound like that. And David Byrne lipsyncs different lyrics ("Where does that highway go/lead to?") in the video for 'Once In A Lifetime'.
  • spit and polish still doesn't make a shitty song or artist sound good I wish I didn't, but I disagree. see Aguilera, Christina: career, e.g. Britney, Madonna, et. al. Maybe it deserves the qualifier "enough".
  • On the Chandos recording of the Variations on a Theme by Hindemith by Walton, half of the orchestra comes in early by two beats near the beginning of the Vivace movement-a shocking error that should have never been released. Why that wasn't listed on the website is beyond me. /snooty elitism
  • The version of Louie Louie by the Kingsmen is probably one of the most famous mistakes. The singer comes in too early on one of the verses says two syllables then stops.
  • see Aguilera, Christina: career, e.g. Britney, Madonna, et. al. I don't think Britney or Madonna sound better for production, Britney still sounds like a throaty goat no matter how much you fiddle with the fiddly-bits. Aguilera does sound good with production but I was under the impression that she was a good singer? But, what do I know? Most contemporary R&B really isn't my bag anyway.
  • I think if you A-B a released Britney track vs. an "unproduced" rough version you'd agree that pitch correction and the surgical visually-based musical-girder-propping of ProTools make a world of difference. All to the end result that bad singers & writers can now make hit records extremely easily. Of course, it doesn't help that the music industry is run by accountants. And another thing thats wrong with everything is . . .
  • ... the influence of carnies on the cost of oil per barrel. Oh, I'm sure they would be noticeably more polished, I was just implying that Britney still sucks and is uninspired no matter the studio magic, as does Madonna.