Thursday, June 21, 2007

DOES THAT SOUND "OFF" TO YOU?

I probably shouldn't post this stuff, but I can't really resist. As a musician, I'm very picky whenever I listen to a recording I've made. I cringe whenever I hear the slightest hesitation between beats or something else that's "off" somehow.

This is due in no small part to the impression that I've accepted, or created, or had created for me, that "the pros" and/or "the legends" don't make "mistakes" in their recordings. So I have to admit that I get some gratification out of spotting the little things that are "off" in classic recordings. And I was reminded of that yesterday when I was listening to Vince Guaraldi's classic "Linus and Lucy"--a classic tune and a great performance.

I'd heard the little finger slip before, but never thought to post anything about it. But I'd also heard a little finger slip a month or two ago in Neil Young's "After The Goldrush" that I'd never, ever noticed before. So I thought it'd just be fun--and make all of us amateur (and probably professional) musicians feel a little better about ourselves--to compile a list of well-known artists leaving something in a recording that they, like I sometimes do, hope no one ever notices.

Because hey, at some point you gotta say "It's good enough" and move on. You can never achieve perfection and why would you want to?

Here's what I can think of off the top of my head:

1. Vince Guaraldi-"Linus and Lucy" finger slip on piano keys on return to first section :50
2. Neil Young-"After The Goldrush" finger slip on piano keys after the line "hoping it was a lie" (the first time) 1:46
3. Ozzy Osbourne/Randy Rhoads-"Crazy Train" notes in solo not doubled exactly (after joining back in unison following a harmony section) 3:05
4. Soft Machine-"10.30 Returns To The Bedroom" finger slip on organ 2:07 (this was not off the top of my head--I heard this while I was looking for CD/mp3s of the songs mentioned above and was listening to the song while flipping through CD books and searching the computer) If there was a ever a reason to listen to Soft Machine, that sweet distorted organ is it...that might sound sarcastic, but I'm being serious...I love the Soft Machine organ stuff...

Please feel free to add any others in the comments or email me at leftbehindchild@gmail.com and I'll update the list as I get entries.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Clinton,

One slip I can think off of the top of my head is on the Deliverance soundtrack. In the song Dueling Banjos at the very end (about 3:03), the guitar starts to go back around while the banjo is doing an ending lick. The guitar abruptly stops when he realizes that's the end of the song.

LarryG