50th Anniversary live double CD up for pre-order on Amazon

[Pretty Funky]

Yeah going by other youtube clips Brian was UP for that gig and it is reflected in his vocals. I don't know what Joes brief was but getting the best version of each song available was not it.

Also are the band members that insecure in their leads that they gave the ok for any sign of a soul was to be fine tuned out.

Its a real shame, a dissapointment and an unfortunate end for this C50 concert attendee.

....but I'll pick up the CD next week anyway.

[Pretty Funky]

Samples now up on amazon.

edit.
Not quite but looks like they are close.

[Nicko1234]

For comparison. Audience video of H&V from last June. It's just about perfect. Not note-perfect, but feeling-perfect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50p8hryi4oA

To be honest, I think that sounds pretty damn ropey.

[Wirestone]

For comparison. Audience video of H&V from last June. It's just about perfect. Not note-perfect, but feeling-perfect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50p8hryi4oA

To be honest, I think that sounds pretty damn ropey.

Compared to the live CD?

[Nicko1234]

Compared to the live CD?

Well, the good thing about the Youtube clip is that it absolutely sounds like a live recording. It has some energy to it.

But, on the other hand, I don't think Brian's entire vocal there is of releasable quality. At times it is but at times there are the problems of him singing out of tune, shouting and the phrasing. Only at times as I said.

So I'm not saying that the CD has been done well but just that I can understand them feeling the need to do something.

[Mike's Beard]

Recordings for live albums should be mixed and nothing more. If I want note perfection I'll listen to the studio recording. And to be perfectly frank, when Brian can't be bothered on a vocal there is no amount of fine tuning that can save it.

[Cabinessenceking]

The Irvine recording was one which would've worked far better. They coulda autotuned his flat Na-nana-naaa naaa part put apart from that the lead was great, the backing track dynamic and strong and backing vocals spot on. Hugely disappointing to hear this release compared to the Irvine performance.

[Rocker]

So, what are we gonna do about it now?

[AndrewHickey]

So, what are we gonna do about it now?

Return the CD to the shop you bought it from if you found it unlistenable, keep listening to the bootlegs, tell yourself "yep, that's the Beach Boys, they mess things up", and hope against hope that the crowdfunded DVD which was happy enough to take our money but seems unwilling to do anything else ever materialises.

[Lowbacca]

So, what are we gonna do about it now?

Well, I'm going to use some opportunity to listen to the whole thing before actually buying it. Then, if it is as bad as expected, I simply won't buy it. Won't make that big a dent, but that's all I can do.

[Rocker]

Well, it was more a rhetorical question

Could someone compare if some of the recordings were just taken from the NPR-concert for example? That short snippet of DIA that I heard and the NPR one sound close. Plus you got Brian's strange sounds on here. The NPR recordings come from early in the tour when Brian had that effect on his voice even during the shows


http://www.npr.org/event/music/154917913/the-beach-boys-in-concert

[AndrewHickey]

Well, it was more a rhetorical question

Could someone compare if some of the recordings were just taken from the NPR-concert for example? That short snippet of DIA that I heard and the NPR one sound close. Plus you got Brian's strange sounds on here. The NPR recordings come from early in the tour when Brian had that effect on his voice even during the shows


http://www.npr.org/event/music/154917913/the-beach-boys-in-concert

The snippet of Do It Again sounded to me like it had some or all of the vocals from the 2011 studio version on it. But then, the NPR recordings (from multiple shows, not a single show) have all been doctored too, so it may be that they used the studio version for that.

[SMiLE Brian]

Sounds like BBs didn't want to or were unable to do overdubs for the live album.

[Rocker]

Well, it was more a rhetorical question

Could someone compare if some of the recordings were just taken from the NPR-concert for example? That short snippet of DIA that I heard and the NPR one sound close. Plus you got Brian's strange sounds on here. The NPR recordings come from early in the tour when Brian had that effect on his voice even during the shows


http://www.npr.org/event/music/154917913/the-beach-boys-in-concert

The snippet of Do It Again sounded to me like it had some or all of the vocals from the 2011 studio version on it. But then, the NPR recordings (from multiple shows, not a single show) have all been doctored too, so it may be that they used the studio version for that.

Thanks!
I know that NPR used different shows but just to keep it simple I call it the NPR concert
I thought I heard Mike getting a little hoarse at a point in DIA and that I heard it at the same point in the short snippet.
Although not perfect I'm happy we got some live shows like the Sirius and BBC ones. And of course the NPR collection.

Sounds like BBs didn't want to or were unable to do overdubs for the live album.

Well, I'm fine with that. The less overdubs the better.



I wonder if Scott Totten and John Cowsill can share their opinion of the album when released.

[Lowbacca]

I'd rather have had the overdubs and some decent pitch-correction than this bulldozer autotuning & flat-mixing.

[Freddie French-Pounce]

I'd rather have had the overdubs and some decent pitch-correction than this bulldozer autotuning & flat-mixing.

Exactly.

[SMiLE Brian]

Carl's input is definitively missed as he mixed one of the best live albums ever, "In Concert"

[Ian]

As has been said before, this is nothing new.  The 64 concert album was a mix of three shows and they still decided to go in the studio to fiddle with it. Its well known that two songs are studio versions with audience vibe overrdubbed.  In 67 they briefly contemplated redoing the hawaii show in the studio.

[Ian]

Also they doctored the audio for both athe 1980 july 4th special and knebworth.

[Freddie French-Pounce]

As has been said before, this is nothing new.  The 64 concert album was a mix of three shows and they still decided to go in the studio to fiddle with it. Its well known that two songs are studio versions with audience vibe overrdubbed.  In 67 they briefly contemplated redoing the hawaii show in the studio.

At least that was mostly well done, like they actually single tracked IGA, instead of double tracking it!

[Lowbacca]

@Ian: ... which has been common practice with live albums for decades. What's your point? My lament is for how awful it sounds, not what they did to the material specifically. Knebworth sounds great in comparison (only Mike's vocals really stick out there).

[Wirestone]

As I've said, I have no issue with tuning if done well. No issue with studio retakes, if done well. The main issue with this release is that the fiddling is simply careless and draws too much attention to itself. It makes it seem as though the band couldn't perform an adequate concert, when in fact they dazzled audiences in multiple countries. Live, raw BW may be out of tune or shouty on occasion, but he never sounded as old as this gelded ghost of a voice that JT created.

[drbeachboy]

I haven't listened to both CDs in full, but the worst thing, even more than the autotuning, is the lackluster sound. I feel no energy in hardly any of the performances. The DVD isn't like that. It reminds me of the past Beach Boys shows where they just went through the motions. Now, I attended 2 shows last year and neither felt like what I am hearing here. Is this a production or mastering issue? As for autotune, I hear it with some of Mike & Brian's leads. Some worse than others, but on songs like Surfer Girl, I don't hear it at all. So far, I haven't heard anything terrible with any of Al's, Bruce's or Dave's vocals.

[the professor]

From those various samples and from your analysis of them, I think that the Japan and BBC live recordings, however polished or relatively unpolished, are a much better listen: vital, ragged in places, etc., they at least feel like you are listening to a show. Wirestone said something deadly above about a "neutered ghost" (was that the phrase?), what a tragically brilliantly condemnation of what looks like a grave disaster. And yes, the DVD of 26 songs is now more precious, as we will not get a full show and this live album is DOA. Plus no more BB albums. . . .It's only MIC to look forward to now, and that will be gold, I am sure, because AB is at the helm.

Joe Thomas may have made Radio possible, but at what cost to the BB music and to the band itself.

Edit: the QVC show is great too, as is.

[Lowbacca]

And yes, the DVD of 26 songs is now more precious [...]

It wasn't even 26 songs, I think. More like 20 or 22, or something. But yeah, you're right.

It's only MIC to look forward to now [...]

I, for my part, have TLOS-sized hopes in Brian's new studio project.