Rhiannon, Midnight Special

iamnotafraid · #1 08-30-2009, 04:21 AM

I've been transferring VHS' to DVD's. Today one of the many
I did was the Midnight Special with the Mac singing Rhiannon and
World Turning. You might have to listen kind of close, but is that
Mick doing that annoying chanting (for lack of a better word)
during Rhiannon? I don't know who else it could be. But I HATE
it.

David · #2 08-30-2009, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iamnotafraid

I've been transferring VHS' to DVD's. Today one of the many
I did was the Midnight Special with the Mac singing Rhiannon and
World Turning. You might have to listen kind of close, but is that
Mick doing that annoying chanting (for lack of a better word)
during Rhiannon? I don't know who else it could be. But I HATE
it.

I've never been able to figure out exactly what that noise is, but you can hear it on various live recordings all the way up to the Tusk tour rehearsal audio & video.

I used to think it was the old Hohner pianet Christine used -- she used to complain about the "belching" & "farting" sounds it made -- but since you can also hear this noise in 1979, it couldn't be the Hohner. I also thought it might be some sort of feedback sound associated with her two or three Leslie speakers, but I don't know enough about those to say for sure. (Besides, she didn't use the Leslies during Rhiannon, & the sound seems most prevalent on that number.)

Sometimes when you are listening to it, it sounds like Mick Fleetwood groaning & grunting a bit while he's keeping time on the skins, but that, too, seems farfetched.

Could the sound be associated with any of the amplification for the various guitars -- lead & bass?

Could it be a deliberate noise? -- something the band had replayed for some sort of weird effect during parts of performances? If Ken Caillat is still around -- & everyone here is quite through asking him what Stevie is really like & all that gush -- maybe he can solve this mystery.

nailatixela · #3 08-30-2009, 04:58 PM

LOL - thank you for bringing this up! I thought I was the only one who heard these noises. And like David I've heard them on other Mac bootlegs too and really got confused at that point. I wish I knew what it is, it's really annoying.

iamnotafraid · #4 08-31-2009, 02:11 AM

I'm glad you all noticed it too. My best guess is that it's Mick.
Next time I watch the video I'll look to see how they have the
drums miked. Maybe it's just the noise that he makes with those
crazy faces.

Come to think of it, could it be that Mr. Wolfman Jack was
singing along???