Lip Synching & NOT on TV: Your suspects

It is more funny than you can imagine! It is supposed to be tongue and cheek, too. The skeleton has a mohawk!

Here's a section from the video, similar to what was shown on tour:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yk6vXyxMw8&feature=related

And here's footage from the 1992 tour. The rap starts at about 3:30:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dX5FejXYYg

You can find more examples on YouTube--for example, in much better quality from the Rush in Rio DVD.

 

Not exactly lip-syncing but a guy who used to run sound for us had a friend that worked at the board for Sting on tour. The story was that they had a guy either behind the scenes or up by the desk playing bass pedals to cover up Stings fluffs. Not sure how much truth was in that but it made for a good story

 

I believe the last Van Halen tour had Michael Anthony's backing vocals played back on tape. I guess it doesn't qualify as lip synching if you're not even there.

 

KI$$ - the Vancouver DJs that introduced them in 1999 accidentally saw really happens underneath the stage after getting lost backstage. They repeated the story on air, and Gene has gone on record saying he'll sue. Gene's laywers have yet to make any calls.

 

I think some nights had more than others or it changed slightly as the tour progressed.

 

It was all live - including "Our Prayer" when I saw two shows at the Royal Festival Hall in London back in 2004.

As has already been stated - this is obvious because they can't sing it perfectly in tune and they manage to fnck it up differently each time

That's one of my big gripes with the 2004 SMiLE tour and album - they can sing OK but they don't have any magic in the blend whatsoever. Back in 1966 the session produced a magical performance of "'Our Prayer" - that master is one of the greatest achievements in human history!

Oh, and yes, there is no doubt that Brian's mic was taken out for that opening number on the SMiLE tour!

As for the live DVD - I imagine some post production was involved but having not listened to it in a while I wouldn't like to say for sure....

 

No . Actually those backing vocals were live but came from two ringers in that "shed" that was on-stage behind EVH. The band's sets were a little too loose to be "flying" old parts in.

 

To be fair, The Beach Boys did it in sections and multiple takes (and of course, vocal doubling and later further overdubs for the mix on 20/20). Not to mention that they were standing in close proximity to each other within the comforts of a studio. On the Smile tour, they were at a further distance from each other in a big concert hall (or sometimes an outdoor venue). You really can't expect it to sound the same. I doubt even The Beach Boys could achieve the amazing blend of the studio version of "Our Prayer" in concert (although their blend would probably be better).

 

The original '66 master (see Good Vibrations box set, disc 2 track 18) sounds like one take to me....

Sure, it's harder to pull off live. The Fendertones do a better job than the Wondermints though if you ask me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sDcuw_YMz0&feature=related

Maybe they are lipsynching to a pre-recorded track, I don't know. Either way, it's better than the Wondermints live or studio versions to my ears. The Fendertones have some of the magic missing from the Wondermints recordings.......

Note I said "some of the magic" - nothing compares to the '66 master. That master alone is all you need to prove that Brian Wilson was the greatest musical genius in the history of recorded music

Related thread:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=155860

 

Madonna, Michael Jackson - too many to list really.

I know that the o.p. asked not to discuss tv appearances, but Cold Play was recently on "The Daily Show" and I believe their performance was mimed to a recording.

The first reference to a lip-synched performance I can remember is a story in 'Rolling Stone' circa 1976-79. The reporter was suspicious about ELO miming to a taped performance during their concert tour. He claimed to have timed different performances on different nights in different cities and that the lengths of all the shows were exactly the same.

 

Remember those guys who sang "Girl You Know It's True"??

 

Sorry squire, the voice of Subdivisions is CITY-TV news man Mark Daly.

 

Thanks Squeals.

 

Boy, you're dyin' tonight.

It's Geddy, thru an effect.

 

I did a little fact checking--actually, the "It's a Rap" interview, part 3--and it indeed IS Geddy. Oh well, can't win 'em all.

I read a lot of this stuff on the National Midnight Star listserv 15 years ago, so some of it is a bit hazy!

 

My Rush book, Merely Players. There's an interview in it where Neil states they wanted to have John Cleese do it, then Robbie Robertson, but in the end Geddy did it thru an octave effect.

 

Look in the dictionary under Rush Geek, it says Dave D.

 

I had a good view of the shed (side stage seats) and could only see DLR smoking once in a while. The backing vocals sounded bad enough to be live.

 

That high falsetto part during the intro on the Fendertones' recording is so flat that I can't bare to listen. Ouch.

 

I think that's a little over the top - it's certainly better than any Wondermints version I've heard......

 

That's total crap. I've seen them tons of times -- including several shows around that time. I have literally hundreds and hundreds of audio and video recordings of their concerts.

They needed absolutely no help to sound as bad as they did in 1999. It was all them -- including the very dismal Vancouver show.

Whatever these guys are claiming is 100% bogus.

 

Just what are they claiming?

 

I haven't seen Queen + Paul Rodgers, but the only tapes they used live while Freddie was still with us was, as Phil said earlier, the middle section of 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

 

The Beach Boys in 1976:"A Casual Look" used tapes for vocals.In 1984,tapes through most of the set.

 

I saw Roger Waters solo live and I would swear that some high parts in Every Stranger's Eyes he lip synched to a tape. It was only in certain high note parts of the song and it sounded just like the record. The other parts were live vocals, no tape. The song was in the original key.