Posted by Mike Rivers on 12/04/06 17:58

Bill wrote:

> And no, I don't go to a concert expecting to hear the song exactly as it
> was on the CD. What would be the point of that?

I don't know, but some people seem to complain when a concert doesn't
sound like the CD.

> Just saw Dylan in London, Ontario. I don't think he performed a single
> song the way it was originally recorded. He reinvented everything.

Well, that's the way he is. He's like that in the studio, too,
apparently. He'll start off a song, the musicians will pick it up, and
when he thinks they're in the groove, he'll start again, to a take, and
maybe listen back to half of it, and move on. How can he possibly ever
duplicate that in performance? So he doesn't even try. If you can get
close enough to appreciate that it's a live show, it's probably worth
seeing Dylan. I saw him in a small club in about 1961, and again a few
years later at Lisner Auditorium (seats about 1500 and it wasn't full)
but that was the last time I saw him live. I just don't think I could
enjoy today's concert scene. But I like what I've heard off his latest
album. I might buy it.

> it was certainly more stimulating and
> provocative than performance by rote. Sometimes it was brilliant.

And I suppose sometimes he mumbled and you couldn't unnderstand a word.
<g>

> Cheating with performances advertised as "live" is much like genetically
> re-engineered food.

"Live" has a different meaning than what's in the dictionary. Mostly,
it means that the artist was in front of the audience. I've recorded
more than one "live" album where everything but the audience was
replaced in the studio. And I'm sorry to say that musically, it was
better because of the replacements. The only thing that made it
different than previously issued recordings of those songs was that the
arrangement and vocal performance was different.

Who know but that I might enjoy hearing a couple of sets of Christina
Aguilera in a 200 seat club backed by a quintet. But would she do that?
Could she afford to?

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