Jump to content

Vocal mess-ups on What Light and Airline to Heaven?


Recommended Posts

While listening to SBS for the first time I couldn't help but notice that at the beginning of What Light Jeff's vocal is horribly out of tune. The specific part is ("if you feel like singin a song, and you want other people to sing along, just sing what you feel"...Most of the wrong pitch happens on the word "feel" where he aims too low but eventually slides up and is on the right note by the end of the word. For those of you who actually care to check this out, go back and give this section a couple listens. While it's certainly strange for a band to release a final, mastered track with such a glaring error, what's especially interesting is whether or not this was intentional. After all, the off-pitch lyric is "just sing what you feel, don't let anyone say it's wrong." I have an awesome live version of this track (that I got from this site) where aside from the very first line (same pitch error - not reaching high enough for the interval of a perfect fifth) he totally nails the vocal. Also, on the Kicking Television version of "Airline to Heaven" Jeff makes this same singing mistake at around the 3:19 mark ("turn your eyes to the lord of the skies") while singing the interval of a perfect fifth. From watching the SBS DVD and from reading about the album I know that most of the recording was done with everyone playing simultaneously instead of doing overdubs. Do any of you think it's plausible that while listening to the playback the band decided to leave the mistake since it would be antithetical to the lyric to fix it? Or do you think that Jeff just sometimes tanks singing a fifth above the tonic pitch and it is what it is?

Link to post
Share on other sites

The craziest thing is that Bob Dylan can actually sing like Pavoratti, but the soundman has repeatedly fucked up the pitch control since the mid 60s.

Link to post
Share on other sites

How can something be a mess-up when it is the original and definitive copy?

 

What Light, on the album, IS the song What Light. So if he sings it the way you might say is correct, in concert, he's actually singing it wrong!

Link to post
Share on other sites
i noticed the What light situation and i think it is intentional, the way it happens on that line

 

Yeah he does something similar at the begining of Side With The Seeds, alot of the vocals were done right off the floor so I figure they just didn't care about little stuff like that.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Do any of you think it's plausible that while listening to the playback the band decided to leave the mistake since it would be antithetical to the lyric to fix it? Or do you think that Jeff just sometimes tanks singing a fifth above the tonic pitch and it is what it is?

 

You better stay away from Otis Redding's catalog. That guy had a horrible time with pitch but more than made up for it with soulfulness / raw emotion.

Link to post
Share on other sites

man, I figured someone would have thrown in a reference to a certain "sunken treasure" lyric by now. Also, do you guys remember on the IATTBYH DVD where Jeff's playing "magazine called sunset," the phone rings and interrupts him, and when he starts the song again he comes in off-key and makes that funny embarrassed face? Jeff is one of my favorite singers ever, so when I started this thread it was more out of a need to discuss deeper elements of the music on SBS, not to trash Jeff's singing ability.

Link to post
Share on other sites
How can something be a mess-up when it is the original and definitive copy?

 

What Light, on the album, IS the song What Light. So if he sings it the way you might say is correct, in concert, he's actually singing it wrong!

Maybe your not listening to it right??

 

 

PS Jeff sucks

Link to post
Share on other sites

If I recall correctly, most of the songs on SBS were recorded "live" at the Loft, with very few overdubs added. In circumstances like that, a few less-than-perfect notes will invariably slip through. There's really not much point in overanalyzing it.

 

 

 

Look at it this way: it's proof that Wilco won't use Auto-Tune.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Look at it this way: it's proof that Wilco won't use Auto-Tune.

 

When Jeff redoes the entire Wilco catalog replacing Glenn and Ken's drums with a thunderously loud disco kick drum line, you can bet the Cher pitch corrector will be in full force.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I would guess that he didnt hit the note, but it seemed like the perfect mistake so they left it. And I agree, I think its the perfect mistake. It adds a whole other level to that line that makes the song even more cool.

 

I find it hard to believe that a few off notes just "slipped through." Recorded live or not, if the band didnt like a take, they would have re-recorded it. Just because its recorded live doesn't mean they'd get lazy with mistakes.

Link to post
Share on other sites
I find it hard to believe that a few off notes just "slipped through." Recorded live or not, if the band didnt like a take, they would have re-recorded it. Just because its recorded live doesn't mean they'd get lazy with mistakes.

But you hinted at the key yourself: if the band likes the take, it stands ... even if there are a few "mistakes" scattered about. Live music is like that, and it's one of the reasons it's great.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Remember in IATTBYH, when (I think it was) Stirratt said someting about falling in love with all the little things that are fucked up with a song?

Personally, I like the song, and I don't think I'd like it any more or less if it were pitch perfect. It's all for entertainment, so if the fans like it, it's serving its purpose and is correct.

Link to post
Share on other sites
But you hinted at the key yourself: if the band likes the take, it stands ... even if there are a few "mistakes" scattered about. Live music is like that, and it's one of the reasons it's great.

 

Yeah, I think we are saying the same thing. My point is that nothing "slipped through." This ceased being a "mistake" when they heard it and liked it. It had nothing to do with whether it was live or not. It had to do with the fact that band thought it was cool.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...