Alive...

Quazelar's thread about the Hendrix video made me think...

I was watching a documentary about KISS Alive. For years, people had been noticing and saying that the album seemed heavily doctored in the studio - and the band themselves as well as Eddie Kramer have confirmed that. It's actually pretty cool to see Kramer show how they did it.

I can't help but think that 25 years ago, as a young and naive musician on a quest to authenticity, I would most likely have thrown the album in the garbage can.

But these days, man, it seems like a pretty forgivable approach. Studio albums back then were probably more live than any live albums we hear these days, w/ all the sequences playback and stuff... I mean, so what if they overdubbed the crowd? The point was that it should make you feel like you were there. Furthermore, the overdub didn't involve Autotune or multi-instrument quantization - maybe they beefed up the kick, but when the drummer drifts or accelerate, that's what you get.

I dare say that, even after all those years, it's still one of those albums which I enjoy listening to, and one of my favorite live albums, along w/ Ozzy's Speak of the Devil (another case of heavy studio doctoring), even if I'm not the biggest KISS fan. 

Most of the shows I've seen in recent years - including some of my favorite artists - sounded absolutely tamed and controlled by comparison... It's like, the soundman just edit the performance at the source...

My 2 cents anyway... Just thinking out loud and wondering how we can keep the music alive, where to place the bar...

Some things you just can't fix in the mix.

one of my favorite live albums is Humble Pie's Rockin the Fillmore. 

Great sound, great energy, great playing, and yeah... it was recorded live. 

Man, when I was a little rocker kid (like 10 years old) I LOVED that album. I must have listened to it a million times. hmm... maybe I'm thinking of Kiss Alive II. Whichever one had Dr. Love and God of Thunder on them. Great songs. Looking back though Kiss was pretty cheesy and the Alive albums completely obliterated any studio work they did. They still had a huge impact on a young Beepster though.

Bub


Remember when we were kids, we had those cars that you put this giant nylon tie strap in with teeth, then you pulled it out really fast and the wheels would spin on the car, and some of the cars had sparks that would shoot out ...




I made ramps out of my Kiss albums to jump them off of.

Good times.

I actually didn't before you posted this... :)

one of my favorite live albums is Humble Pie's Rockin the Fillmore. Great sound, great energy, great playing, and yeah... it was recorded live.

 
+1... the tone is SO good on the record, the vibe is all there, the amps sound like they are about to blow up.. I love it. Walk on Gilded Splinters is one of the best live recordings ever.
 
Live/Dead is another really great live recording.
 
J

sharke


I remember listening to some of those Angus Young and Kirk Hammett guitar solos and wincing. 

What people generally take at the concerts makes those moments sound much better, eh?
 

 

First time I saw them was probably 88 or 89 or so, on their Justice For All tour. They were supported by Danzig (who were better I might add). Cliff Em All was an awesome video, probably wore that one out.  Yeah Hammett is a pain. I actually liked his playing on the first couple of albums, it was rough and ready. I think he went downhill after he took lessons with Joe Satriani. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHt6KeFBM08