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The Outpost Cafe / Re: You can’t hiii-iiide your lyin’ tracks …
« on: May 07, 2024, 12:40:11 PM »
Ironically, karaoke singing IS live - it's just not always good!
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Gibson Basses / Re: Butchered Bicentennial IV to '64 II Clone
« on: May 07, 2024, 12:38:13 PM »
This is a humanitarian gesture of immense proportions - you'll go to heaven for resurrecting that poor bass from what it has gone through!
PS: Scott, I'll never say a word about you sawing up that TBird once for a deeper cutaway again, your original sin cannot be forgotten, no, but it now has been dwarfed beyond relevance.
PS: Scott, I'll never say a word about you sawing up that TBird once for a deeper cutaway again, your original sin cannot be forgotten, no, but it now has been dwarfed beyond relevance.
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The Outpost Cafe / Re: Sam Ash on the decline
« on: May 07, 2024, 09:34:14 AM »
No one is to blame, the times they are a-changing and have been for a while. Like cars taking the place of horses.
There will be a place for boutiques selling hi-end & vintage stuff to investment bankers, rock stars (“Can I help you with something, Mr Bonamassa?”) traveling through with GAS and people looking for THAT ONE INSTRUMENT, essentially like art galleries - but not for budget, entry level and commodity stuff.
Still sad, SAM ASH was an institution.
There will be a place for boutiques selling hi-end & vintage stuff to investment bankers, rock stars (“Can I help you with something, Mr Bonamassa?”) traveling through with GAS and people looking for THAT ONE INSTRUMENT, essentially like art galleries - but not for budget, entry level and commodity stuff.
Still sad, SAM ASH was an institution.
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The Outpost Cafe / Re: You can’t hiii-iiide your lyin’ tracks …
« on: May 06, 2024, 10:51:54 AM »
Maybe it's an arbitrary distinction, but somehow having the lead vocalist lip syncing feels like crossing a line - but to me it depends on who they are and how the represent themselves to the public. I'm not surprised and don't care if an "entertainer" is dancing with pyrotechnics and needs some help from autotune or tracks because they're too busy with choreography. If I went to a show like that I'd be expecting a visual spectacle.
But if I'm shelling out the big bucks to see an aging rocker who recorded "classic" tracks, I'd rather hear them struggle to hit the notes and hear what they sound like today, even if their voice is shot, and if they can't be bothered to expose that, then I'd rather they and me both stay home.
But that's just me. If other folks want to watch Don Henley or Billy Gibbons or whoever stand at a microphone and do nothing, that's fine. I'd rather it not be a secret though. I don't want to show up expecting one thing and get the other.
Amen!
I can't get worked up about Taylor Swift using Auto-Tune and backing tracks reinforcing her vocals. She was never Ella Fitzgerald in accuracy nor Janis Joplin in emotional outpour in the first place and plays largely to an audience that is under the misconception that an auto-tuned voice is how a natural voice sounds. Plus with the amount of moves she performs she is closer to a figure skater than a singer, you don't expect the former to sing either while they do their loop jumps.
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The Outpost Cafe / Re: You can’t hiii-iiide your lyin’ tracks …
« on: May 06, 2024, 10:39:53 AM »
"kinda sloppy"
That is the understatement of the century, Rob, the Texans are way off beat and timing, hilariously stumbling all over the place!
That is the understatement of the century, Rob, the Texans are way off beat and timing, hilariously stumbling all over the place!
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The Outpost Cafe / Re: You can’t hiii-iiide your lyin’ tracks …
« on: May 06, 2024, 10:37:46 AM »Speaking of The Who, this clip muddies the waters!
I assume the winking lights on the modular synth are to represent the processed organ track, even though the band never tried to pass the organ off as a live instrument during real performances of the song. At a guess we are looking at some of Pete's ARP gear rather than fake synths from the Doctor Who prop department, but Pete never normally brought his synth rig onstage.
I read, years ago, that Pete wanted live performances of Baba O'Riley to feature a spontaneous synth track, generated by inputting metrics from a random audience member into a synth. That would have been interesting to see, if completely implausible.
Frankly, I don't think anything in this performance is live. Daltrey even misses his scream at 03:06 and Moonie isn't in sync with the ending of the song either.
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The Outpost Cafe / Re: You can’t hiii-iiide your lyin’ tracks …
« on: May 06, 2024, 06:40:24 AM »
Good catch, Alan, though I’m not sure whether it might not be an electric piano rather than a guitar. (The studio version features prominent keyboards during the solo.) But there is undoubtedly a fourth guy playing.
That said, offstage keyboard and other support was nothing new even in the 70ies, Sabbath and Quo had it too. Michael Schenker had his guitar tech play rhythm guitar parts behind the Marshall stacks when Michael was soloing in MSG line-ups sans a second guitarist. And in the 80ies it became de rigueur: Ozzy, Whitesnake, Foreigner and Iron Maiden all had offstage keyboarders.
That said, offstage keyboard and other support was nothing new even in the 70ies, Sabbath and Quo had it too. Michael Schenker had his guitar tech play rhythm guitar parts behind the Marshall stacks when Michael was soloing in MSG line-ups sans a second guitarist. And in the 80ies it became de rigueur: Ozzy, Whitesnake, Foreigner and Iron Maiden all had offstage keyboarders.
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The Outpost Cafe / Re: You can’t hiii-iiide your lyin’ tracks …
« on: May 05, 2024, 08:50:29 PM »
That's sobering. 
I saw them in 2017 with Status Quo as openers at an open air. The difference was day and night: Everyone laughs about Quo, but their music is the epitome of live excitement, warts and all as well as taking the piss out of themselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=louOWbSA4aI&list=PLOaOZamj9YJVGz7LZ1jZGxJ7EKVTL1SJr
ZZ Top were very collected, safe and lifeless in comparison.
I saw them in 2017 with Status Quo as openers at an open air. The difference was day and night: Everyone laughs about Quo, but their music is the epitome of live excitement, warts and all as well as taking the piss out of themselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=louOWbSA4aI&list=PLOaOZamj9YJVGz7LZ1jZGxJ7EKVTL1SJr
ZZ Top were very collected, safe and lifeless in comparison.
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The Outpost Cafe / Re: You can’t hiii-iiide your lyin’ tracks …
« on: May 05, 2024, 07:39:09 PM »Funny thing about Alice Cooper having a boa on stage is that they are wonderful creatures. I've had one. It was probably just thrilled to have warmth.
Like all snakes it was also deaf (they have an inner ear that senses vibrations, but doesn't really "hear") - that no doubt helped!
It wasn't even his snake and saw retirement to a snake farm eventually. It must have liked the warmth from the stage lights, but keeping it cozy warm during transport must have been a task. And then Alice's alcohol breath ...
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The Outpost Cafe / Re: You can’t hiii-iiide your lyin’ tracks …
« on: May 05, 2024, 07:25:32 PM »
I know. Poor critters. Not that it was remotely "worldwide", they didn't even get to Canada or Mexico, it was strictly nationwide (in the Lower States).
But one look at their opening acts during 1976/77 tells you how big they were, albeit as a strictly US-American phenomenon: Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Wet Willie, Marshall Tucker, BÖC, Rory Gallagher, J. Geils Band, Bob Seger, The Outlaws, Ted Nugent, Foghat, Foreigner, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Pure Prairie League, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Edgar & Johnny Winter, The Band, Montrose, Point Blank, Head East, Elvin Bishop, The Dictators, Santana, Rush, Nils Lofgren, Sea Level, Burton Cummings, Muddy Waters, Climax Blues Band, Piper, Blackfoot, Atlanta Rhythm Section and Starz.
But one look at their opening acts during 1976/77 tells you how big they were, albeit as a strictly US-American phenomenon: Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Wet Willie, Marshall Tucker, BÖC, Rory Gallagher, J. Geils Band, Bob Seger, The Outlaws, Ted Nugent, Foghat, Foreigner, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Pure Prairie League, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Edgar & Johnny Winter, The Band, Montrose, Point Blank, Head East, Elvin Bishop, The Dictators, Santana, Rush, Nils Lofgren, Sea Level, Burton Cummings, Muddy Waters, Climax Blues Band, Piper, Blackfoot, Atlanta Rhythm Section and Starz.
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The Outpost Cafe / Re: You can’t hiii-iiide your lyin’ tracks …
« on: May 05, 2024, 12:20:47 PM »
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.
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.
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The Outpost Cafe / Re: You can’t hiii-iiide your lyin’ tracks …
« on: May 05, 2024, 09:19:13 AM »
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.
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The Outpost Cafe / Re: Sam Ash on the decline
« on: May 05, 2024, 06:47:54 AM »
Yeah, the Hendon Museum is great, been there twice. Motörhead of course immortalized the Heinkel 111 look (with some artistic freedom like B-17 style lower gun turrets or exterior bombs which the He 111 did generally not have).
Crews liked it as it was generally perceived as a warhorse that brought you home no matter what and didn’t act up like the (performance-wise mostly superior) Ju 88 or the (visually more elegant) Do 17.
Crews liked it as it was generally perceived as a warhorse that brought you home no matter what and didn’t act up like the (performance-wise mostly superior) Ju 88 or the (visually more elegant) Do 17.
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The Outpost Cafe / Re: You can’t hiii-iiide your lyin’ tracks …
« on: May 05, 2024, 06:29:13 AM »
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.