Re: backing solo performances

[Legion <legion@voicenet.com>]

> >However, the end result for me was that I felt like he was playing 
>karaoke.
> I had the feeling that he wasn't even singing or >playing guitar anymore,
> and that it was all recorded. (Not true, but that's what it felt like to
> me.) At that point I decided that >a full band was the way to go.

I missed the begining of this thread so I'm not sure who you are talking
about but a good example of backing tapes and Live performance could be
seen on the recent Adrian Belew small club tour. Others like Todd
Rundgren and even They Might Be Giatnts have done similar things but
nowhere could you see the mix of live and tape so evident than in this
belew show.

Sometimes he played 100% live. Both acoustic songs and full blown noise
guitar w/loops. Sometimes he played 99% live and then had a tiny bit of
backing (Evidenced in the song "fly" where he played acoustic and then
at the very end a beautiful ambient wash of sound filled out over the
lyric). And sometimes he played guitar and sang doing just those parts
while he had the rest of the song (bass, drums, keys, ect) on ADAt. He
did this quite a bit on everything from his new solo material to a Bears
song.

All the controversies and benefits of this type of playing were in
evidence. On somthing like "Fly" I think the tape added a lot to the
performance. On the Bears song he simply played along. On "I Know What I
Know" some tape was required even if everything was played by a band
because there was an ongoing sample and intergral part of these songs
that someone needed to trigger at various key points. Rather than have a
samplist he opted for an Adat and played along.

Did any of this this "hurt" the live element? IMO it may have a bit but
the end result was fine. he was doing a showcase tour of a variety of
stuff and mixed up the playing, improv, and backing so much you never
knew what was next. also he was a great preformer and entertainer so you
constantly were aware this was a live show no matter what was going on.
Same with some of the playback pioneers such as Todd R, etc. While it is
a matter of tatse these guys show that there also are a variety of ways
you can perform - even with tapes - that make a show more spontaneous
and exciting.

In the 80s everyone from Nine Inch Nails to George Michaels to U2 used
some form of "sweetening" in their live mix. In many cases people
couldn't even tell, in others it might have been painfully obvious.
Given the evolving nature of electronic based music I've found my own
opinions changed over the years. I don't play with any backing tape and
used to proudly wear "f*uk midi" t-shirts with my industrial band where
everything including the synths and samplers were played 100% live. Now
I deconstruct old weird records on 8RPM record players and process them
in real time.  Is that live? I dunno but I know I wouldn't have
considered it a few years ago. Some solo electronic artists I know use a
homebrew CDr as backing and then play over top of it. the Orb make no
bones about the fact that they have a ton of multitracks onstage for all
the parts and "simply" mix and process the tracks "Live". In both cases
I've heard interesting and varied shows which went beyond kareoke type
sets. Again a few years ago I would have been disturbed but if done
right I see the benefit.

It can be done wrong too as can the overuse of sequencers or anything
else. Still it has it's niche and if used(abused?) properly can
defeinitley add to a show solo or otherwise IMO.


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