You can’t hiii-iiide your lyin’ tracks …

[uwe]

Ouch. The quest for perfection and how it leads men astray ...

[TBird1958]

Posers! I knew it!

[uwe]

Now I don't "hate the f***ing Eagles", but the guy (he's called Fil) in the vid builds an elaborate and compelling case that Henley's voice is canned (and if it wasn't, I doubt the vid would still be up without the mighty Eagles swooping down). I don't discount the possibility that Henley only uses it on some nights when he feels his voice isn't up to it and, yes, the Eagles have never been shy to doctor their Live albums in the studio for release, especially the vocals.

I like the way Fil avoids to scandalize the whole thing, it's almost like he regrets having found out, he's not an Eagles or Don Henley hater at all.

[Dave W]

That's the lame "British guitarist reacts" guy. I won't waste my time listening to anything he has to say.

[Basvarken]

and, yes, the Eagles have never been shy to doctor their Live albums in the studio for release, especially the vocals.

Absolutely. The Hell Freezes Over DVD is doctored to death.
A studio engineer of a studio we once recorded in showed me how Don Henley's vocal has zero bleed from the drums, by disconnecting a few speakers from the 5.1 Dolby system.
It was really funny to see Don basing aways on the drums without hearing anything. Yet his voice was crystal clear. In a real live recording that would have been impossible.

[uwe]

That's the lame "British guitarist reacts" guy. I won't waste my time listening to anything he has to say.

You fearsome revolutionary Yankee Doodle, you don't even have to listen to that King-grovelling lame Limey,



just start at 03:07 and listen to a 'live' vocal of Don singing Desperado on the left channel from 2023 and one from another gig in 2024 on the right channel. There is no - zero, keine, zilch, nada, null - difference.

Rob, let's not even talk about the Live album by the Eagles from 1980 about which Glenn Frey once quipped: "It's the only "live" album in rock history where the backing vocals to one and the same live performance were recorded on different coasts weeks apart years later!"

I actually prefer Henley's (real) singing when he is playing drums while doing it - he sits more on the beat with his voice then. But for some reason he got this thing in his head that he had to stand in front with the umpteenth acoustic guitar in the Eagle's line-up - he was always an awkward front man, with none of Frey's Detroit schmooze.

PS: I didn't know you really cared, Rob. About live albums being undoctored. I  mean as a Thin Lizzy fan and all ...

[Dave W]

You fearsome revolutionary Yankee Doodle, you don't even have to listen to that King-grovelling lame Limey,



just start at 03:07 and listen to a 'live' vocal of Don singing Desperado on the left channel from 2023 and one from another gig in 2024 on the right channel. There is no - zero, keine, zilch, nada, null - difference.

Rob, let's not even talk about the Live album by the Eagles from 1980 about which Glenn Frey once quipped: "It's the only "live" album in rock history where the backing vocals to one and the same live performance were recorded on different coasts weeks apart years later!"

I actually prefer Henley's (real) singing when he is playing drums while doing it - he sits more on the beat with his voice then. But for some reason he got this thing in his head that he had to stand in front with the umpteenth acoustic guitar in the Eagle's line-up - he was always an awkward front man, with none of Frey's Detroit schmooze.

I never listen to the Eagles anyway unless I can't help it, couldn't care less if the King-groveling lame Limey is right or not.

[Alanko]

I watched another video recently of a guy calling out lip synching, and they are all at it! Bon Jovi, Kiss, Roger Waters... worst example is Frankie Valli as he is using old studio tapes but appears to be barely lucid, so he is barely gumming the words while a young and sprightly Frankie comes out the PA.

[uwe]

You know, when Britney Spears or Madonna do it - they're dance acts. If Paul Stanley does it - KISS are putting on an amusement park type show. But if Don Henley does it - what the hell does he have to do on stage other than sing? And if Desperado is too high for him by now, then change the f***ing key and sing it lower.

[Dave W]

I watched another video recently of a guy calling out lip synching, and they are all at it! Bon Jovi, Kiss, Roger Waters... worst example is Frankie Valli as he is using old studio tapes but appears to be barely lucid, so he is barely gumming the words while a young and sprightly Frankie comes out the PA.

Add Billy F. Gibbons to that group.

[uwe]

He has a whole army of canned rhythm guitar tracks behind him when they play the 80ies hits and the background vocals don't sound real either, let's not even talk about the sequencers, but does he lip sync too? It wouldn't surprise me. ZZ Top's legacy as a great live band goes back to the 70ies and early 80ies, ever since then they have become more and more "augmented" live.

[Alanko]

He has a whole army of canned rhythm guitar tracks behind him when they play the 80ies hits and the background vocals don't sound real either, let's not even talk about the sequencers, but does he lip sync too? It wouldn't surprise me. ZZ Top's legacy as a great live band goes back to the 70ies and early 80ies, ever since then they have become more and more "augmented" live.

I'm not really up to speed on ZZ Top chronology, but it seems like they were an amazingly tight bar band who got nowhere, then jumped the shark and added a lot of schtick, stage wizardry and sequencers? All the weird and mysterious custom guitars, complex back line stuff, mythology of Billy using five random unknown amps to track parts, etc. A larger than life band! Billy lip synching is disappointing as he is hardly a singer with a high range needing much breath control. Just grunt out the lyrics.

[Pilgrim]

I like ZZ TOp, including most of their newer stuff. They simply are what they are, and have been for years.

[uwe]

ZZ Top were road heroes long before they became a household name and an MTV icon with Eliminator. Even in the 70ies there were (mainly Southern and Midwest) States where their gigs outsold, say, someone like Aerosmith. Some of their songs like La Grange were already then FM staples, Tush was a Top Twenty hit in the US. Billy Gibbons was a musicians' guitarist of sorts, his sparse style with quirky tones/notes was appreciated by many as both rootsy and original.

In Germany they broke around Degüello (their first album after changing from London Records to Warner Bros. whose marketing and distribution clout gave them an international boost) with one single TV live appearance broadcast Europe-wide in 1980 (they had never played in Germany or Europe for that matter before, but had this reputation as a great live act from their circuit in the States).



No sequencers, electronic drums, extra guitar tracks or scantily dressed women back then. Just real drums, two guys swapping lead vocals, one guitar and a Telecaster bass with a broken pup that distorted. I don't think they ever bettered that. I was aghast when I first heard Eliminator and what they had done to the three-piece. Frank Beard had always defied convention as a drummer and there they go and largely replace him with a drum machine programmed to the most mundane factory settings.

[doombass]

The ZZ Top Worldwide Texas Tour that went on for several years (around 75-77) was huge. They used shticks like having livestock, vultures and rattlesnakes on stage but I've never heard of any faking og the musical performance. It was a massive production with great revenue.