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Songs that sound better live

Something that I have always wondered about with performers who use backing tracks for shows:

Why on earth don't they ever record a fresh vocal for it? To me that is the cheating part. I was surprised that not even Michael did this. It's always so very clear when he's not even mixing his live voice with the backup, but that it's literally the same one that went onto the album. It would create an illusion if they had a fresh vocal that was also a bit more rough and raw that sounded like he was dancing with it...am I making sense? Like, we're fans, we listen to this ALL THE TIME, we know every nuance and frequency in the track, so of course we'll recognize original vocal tracks.

Not a criticism, like FFFFUUUUU MIKE, just something I've always wondered.
 
It's called playback listen to Human Nature performance during TII rehearsals

 
reibish said:
Something that I have always wondered about with performers who use backing tracks for shows:

Why on earth don't they ever record a fresh vocal for it? To me that is the cheating part. I was surprised that not even Michael did this. It's always so very clear when he's not even mixing his live voice with the backup, but that it's literally the same one that went onto the album. It would create an illusion if they had a fresh vocal that was also a bit more rough and raw that sounded like he was dancing with it...am I making sense? Like, we're fans, we listen to this ALL THE TIME, we know every nuance and frequency in the track, so of course we'll recognize original vocal tracks.

Not a criticism, like FFFFUUUUU MIKE, just something I've always wondered.
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Like what he did for TWYMMF on the Grammy performance? Gosh yeah, I wish he would've done that for his tours, that would've been amazing! I guess it would take too much extra time and money to make a 'small' difference. I think a big part of his audiences were made up of casual and even non-fans, and unlike the hardcore fans, I don't think they noticed.
 
Jam
Workin' Day and Night
Things I Do For You
Another Part Of Me
 
The Way You Make Me Feel sounded surprisingly live during the 30th Anniversary concert, by the way. So did You Rock My World.
 
Lil said:
I know, but seeing so many people list it as a track they thought sounded better live, it made me wonder if he ever sung it fully live. I listened to some L.A. amateur audio that sounded a bit different but turned out to just be the same :p So I guess he never did sing it live, except for those Dangerous Tour rehearsals.
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I guess since it was the finale he wanted to make sure he had a good couple minutes to really gain the power to vocally emote the song ? I have literally never experienced the last 2 minutes of a song of any kind, at a show by any singer or band, that makes me feel the way I do and as much as I do when I watch/hear the last minutes of MJ singing Man in the Mirror live. I'm not religious, but oof, does it ever take. me. to. church. The Grammy's did it, Bad Wembley did it, and I have still never seen a bad version of him singing that song live at the end no matter how many years he sang it. "Stand up for me brother! Stand up for me sister! Stand up! Stand up! Stand up!" I just ... *ugh* ... my freakin' heart soars.
 
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reibish said:
Something that I have always wondered about with performers who use backing tracks for shows:

Why on earth don't they ever record a fresh vocal for it? To me that is the cheating part. I was surprised that not even Michael did this. It's always so very clear when he's not even mixing his live voice with the backup, but that it's literally the same one that went onto the album. It would create an illusion if they had a fresh vocal that was also a bit more rough and raw that sounded like he was dancing with it...am I making sense? Like, we're fans, we listen to this ALL THE TIME, we know every nuance and frequency in the track, so of course we'll recognize original vocal tracks.

Not a criticism, like FFFFUUUUU MIKE, just something I've always wondered.
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I think it is not a good idea to test the fresh, pre-recorded backing tracks during different, official shows (the sound outcome is more than likely to be inconsistent & embarrassing, mostly, due to the different, acoustic environments).
 
TinnyandOdd said:
I guess since it was the finale he wanted to make sure he had a good couple minutes to really gain the power to vocally emote the song ? I have literally never experienced the last 2 minutes of a song of any kind, at a show by any singer or band, that makes me feel the way I do and as much as I do when I watch/hear the last minutes of MJ singing Man in the Mirror live. I'm not religious, but oof, does it ever take. me. to. church. The Grammy's did it, Bad Wembley did it, and I have still never seen a bad version of him singing that song live at the end no matter how many years he sang it. "Stand up for me brother! Stand up for me sister! Stand up! Stand up! Stand up!" I just ... *ugh* ... my freakin' heart soars.
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When you think about it the live part of the song was longer than the mimed first half on the Dangerous Tour. But yeah I wholeheartedly agree with you.
 
Another Part Of Me (the official live video)
the music is so much more energetic funky powerfull there than in the album version.

Generally the BAD Tour band was great. I wouldn't say that songs all sounded better when they played them,
but especially on the first leg of the tour it was all very powerfull funky.
The slightly sped up tempo probably also adds to the extra power.
 
TinnyandOdd said:
I guess since it was the finale he wanted to make sure he had a good couple minutes to really gain the power to vocally emote the song ? I have literally never experienced the last 2 minutes of a song of any kind, at a show by any singer or band, that makes me feel the way I do and as much as I do when I watch/hear the last minutes of MJ singing Man in the Mirror live. I'm not religious, but oof, does it ever take. me. to. church. The Grammy's did it, Bad Wembley did it, and I have still never seen a bad version of him singing that song live at the end no matter how many years he sang it. "Stand up for me brother! Stand up for me sister! Stand up! Stand up! Stand up!" I just ... *ugh* ... my freakin' heart soars.
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I 100% agree with you :yes: Like I said earlier, I understand why he didn't sing it fully live and the part that was live was absolutely phenomenal! Just making sure I wasn't missing out on something I didn't know about :)
 
Hmm, if we're strictly speaking about sound, then Michael is not one of those artists who generally sound better live than on record to me. There are a number of reasons for that. The biggest one is probably that the production quality of his records is perfected to an extent that is hard to even come close to in a live setting. Another reason is that he was a great studio vocalist. Artists who are not can sound a bit overly polished and/or sterile on record, but Michael's studio vocals always sounded very raw and lively already (also thanks to the way they were recorded and mixed).

A big reason is also that I am not a huge fan of the sound of his live bands. I thought the Triumph Tour band was great, but the production during the Victory, Bad and Dangerous tours relied too much on the synth-heavy sound that was popular at the time, for my liking. Even though I like some of the arrangements on that tour and the playing in general is excellent, that just is another factor that makes it very difficult to beat the studio versions for me.

The This Is It band was a huge step forward in that regard to me. I thought the sound of the band was more loose and funky, and had a much richer overall production than his previous bands. Although they probably still would not beat the album versions for me, there were several tracks that sounded incredible and came very close (Threatened did beat the album version for me, Jam was very close, and WBSS, Smooth Criminal, the J5 Medley and BoW sounded amazing too).

Finally, I think the faster pace on some of the live versions (particularly during the Bad Tour) works great when you take the visual/dancing component into account and thus I can see why he made that choice, but strictly for listening I don't always find it an improvement. I felt like tracks like WBSS, Off The Wall, Rock With You and Heartbreak Hotel lost a bit of their funkiness because of that. Bad is an example of a track that was sped up to a lesser degree and did retain all its funkiness, and which I do quite like live as a result.
 
The Way You Make Me Feel sounds better just for the ''Come on give it me, come on give it to me'' part of the song
 
Billie Jean (Wembley 88)
Beat it (Bucharest 92)
Rock With You (Yokohama 87)
....
 
reibish said:
Hahaha yes! So much second hand embarrassment listening to her, lol

I love Sheryl, for real, but this was not her forte. I'd like to have seen her audition tape, bc wtf was Michael thinking?
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LOL-I must be the only oddball that really likes Sheryl on this tour-her voice may not be as good as Siedah's, but she IS gorgeous, and she can strut across a stage like nobody's business. :)

Speaking of her audition tape, I remember this old story, and not sure where I heard it-probably years ago from Darryl-but when they were auditioning backup singers, Daryl heard about it like right when they were closing the auditions-and he got together Sheryl, Dorian and Kevin and they rehearsed "Juke Box Saturday Night"-the harmonies and everything all night long The next day they ran down and auditioned-the tape was sent to Michael, and that very night they were hired.

I ran across this video on YouTube of Darryll doing all the parts himself:


Oh, and Reibish-I totally agree with you about Michael re-doing the playbacks for the HIStory tour. Honestly, I think that is the main reason there is so much flack about the tour-if he had just re-recorded them, you'd probably hear nothing about lip synching.
For years, he was lip synching in performances on TV and they all looked live, live, live to me!
 
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I think Bad sounded better live and especially on Bad Tour. Everything sounded better then. :)
 
Another Part Of Me !!! It was just so funky on the Bad Tour with MJ's crisp vocals and flawless dancing
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Brad had a whole discussion during his seminar about how he would prefer Streetwalker over Another Part Of Me. Having seen Another Part Of Me live I understand why it made the album instead of Streetwalker. I love Streetwalker and it should've been on Bad imho as well ;-) I'm sure it would be amazing live too.... Choices, choices...

-- Sent from my TouchPad Go using Communities
 
Heartbreak Hotel in Yokohama 87 is the definition of how a song should sound better live.

My favourite performance of all time.
 
nickyholmes16;4093807 said:
100% Stranger in Moscow!
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The only time MJ sang live ‘Stranger in Moscow’ was during the rehearsals in Prague (1996):

[video=youtube;g1nXlNOHEM8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1nXlNOHEM8[/video]
 
He could have sang it live in other rehearsals too. We just don't have the footage. :)
 
All the songs he performed on the Bad Tour have never sounded better since tho they sounded great in TII

Billie Jean
Smooth Criminal
Another Part Of Me
Man In The Mirror
I Just Can't Stop Loving You
Rock With You
J5 Medley
Thriller
Bad
 
mj_frenzy;4093935 said:
The only time MJ sang live ‘Stranger in Moscow’ was during the rehearsals in Prague (1996):

[video=youtube;g1nXlNOHEM8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1nXlNOHEM8[/video]
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I wish there wasn't screaming in this video, but tbh if it were me and I could put the audio with the visual together, I'd probably be wigging out too :p
 
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