Unpopular Opinion...

[bombaysaffires]

the vinyl version is and always will be the definitive version, never to be matched by ANY live version.

That said, some live versions are better than others. Very soon after they started doing it live the toll of hitting the high notes on "it's only right" in the first verse and "it's only me" in the second verse became very apparent. She could not hit those notes live from very early on. Find some early versions on the Rumours tour where she actually sings "hoo hoo" on those words while Chris and Lindsey fill in the backing vocals. Eventually the they lowered the key on the live version and it got slower and slower on the tempo. Too slow for me.

One of the worst things to me on the live versions is how John is just dropped so far out of the mix and the layers of keyboards are reduced to very few. The whole lushness and groove of the vinyl never has made it to the stage.