favorite live album?

[redtulip]

Originally Posted by CADreaming

I made myself listen to the entire thing yesterday so I could give you an accurate description for my disappointment.

I appreciate that you took the time to re-listen to the album.

• His age is more evident in his voice in this recording and sounds thin a lot.

I find that his voice has gotten better with age, and I don't really think it sounds much different than it did on Soundstage, which you said was your favorite.

• The whoops & hollers from the audience bug me. (And rarely does that bother me in live recordings but it does here.) At one point the track cuts off the hollering abruptly which was jarring. Poor editing on someone's part. Needed to fade out/into next track better.

It is a live album, so you have to expect that you will hear the audience. I do agree there was one point where the audience was cut off abruptly, I think it was the transition to GYOW, but in the grand scheme of the album, I don't find it that big of a deal.

• The backing tracks stand out a little too much making it annoying as heck to listen to. (Particularly strange/distracting are his own harmonies on GYOW. WTH - don't do that! LOL. & the clicking/clapping on ISA. Hate it.

I do agree you hear the backing track to GYOW more on the album than you did at the show, but I don't find the backing tracks distracting at all. In fact, the backing track for ISA is one of my favorite parts of the song. I love this version of ISA so much, and this song has never been a favorite of mine. I'm actually dreading it on the upcoming FM tour because I don't think it will ever sound as good with the band as it does on OMS.

• BTLH is a HOT MESS. He is slightly behind himself and it totally ruins this song for me. It's like his fingers are tired and the tone of the melody on the bass strings - it's either slightly out of tune or I don't like the tone of the guitar he is using. Also, his screeching at the end is grating - sounds like he's gonna cough up a loogie. I love this song - both of the other versions and wish he had just left it out of the set now.

I can't agree with any of this. The OMS BTLH is head and shoulders above all the other versions to me. I love how it's sped up and I think that his voice really conveys a lot more emotion in the OMS version than it does in any other version. This is easily one of my favorite songs on OMS. I don't hear any screeching or think he sounds out of tune. Being the perfectionist he is, if it was out of tune at all he would have fixed it or not released it.

• SUD, another one of my favorites, felt rushed and detached. It lacked the emotion he gave it during the GOS tour and that was what really drew me into the song. This just felt like he was trying to get it over with.

I hear plenty of emotion.

• Missed the "Southern" speech/BN reference. I know this wasn't recorded in the South, but maybe it should have been.

I'm not sure why you think the "Southern" speech would/should be included. He only did it at shows in the south, not on the majority of the dates. I think even if he had used one of the shows recorded in the south, he would still have edited this out. This seems like a really random mark against the album and I don't get why it's an issue.

• Overall, I miss production or better editing/mixing and it showcases more "flubs" than I want to admit Lindsey has in his playing. It's a little sloppy.

I don't hear these flubs. And I think the sound and production are pretty good, especially when you consider how quickly he was able to put this out.

So, this live recording was an epic fail for me. I much more enjoyed being at the shows I was able to attend in person.

This really doesn't make sense to me because I was at 10 shows, and they all sounded remarkably like the OMS album (but, I was also at the Des Moines show the album was recorded at). Obviously there are some differences between shows, but since they are all very similar, I would think if you enjoyed the live show you would enjoy the live album as well.