Improv...endearing or annoying?

On Ice · #1 10-30-2012, 07:47 PM

I was listening to some of Stevie's live material recently and wondered about the different improvisation she has done over the years and whether these add to, or take away from the song. Some that I find endearing:

"say women, they will come and they will probably go"
"dreams unwind and love is hard to find"

Not so much...

"sings a song like she's singin' it to ya" (I have never like Edge live because of this and dropping the register on Just Like the White Winged Dove, that has always annoyed me.
" I took my love and Itook it down" the pause is much more effective
"you pick Your path and then you pray Changing to third person takes away the intense autobiographical nature of Gold Dust Woman.

What do you think?

olive · #2 10-30-2012, 08:20 PM

I have never given it any thought , besides she is probably not even conscious of it .

UndoingTheLaces · #3 10-30-2012, 08:35 PM

I actually like it. I used to go through every performance of Sara I could find just to listen to the endings. My favorites are from the Tusk tour, especially Melbourne. It just sounds so sorrowful and beautiful. There's one from Cleveland that year too where the whole song is a mess with Stevie hitting really bad offkey notes, missing cues and just sounding off. But at the end she sings "it never really died, never really died... oh it was such a heartbeat" and it absolutely breaks your heart. And all the stuff from before just adds to the tragedy of it, like she's some torch singer from days gone by lamenting a life she once had.

I also love how she's changed things in Dreams over the years. "what you had and what you lost, what you had... you know what you lost". I just love that.

On Ice · #4 10-30-2012, 08:36 PM

Maybe there's a bit of a boredom factor, but overdoing lyric improvisation can affect a song's impact. I think Stevie does this more often than other singers. For me as a listener at a concert , I know a killer song like Edge of Seventeen totally loses it's impact when she changes those beautiful lyrics around too much.

WildHearted · #5 10-30-2012, 09:01 PM

I enjoy it, when it's true and honest improv, because I feel like it's very emotional and just how she feels in the moment.

Now, when these "variations" become rehearsed, then that's a different story.

And of course, some of the things listed in the OP have nothing to do with improvisation at all - like Stevie taking the lower harmony on Edge of Seventeen. That's due to vocal range.

APerfectLie · #6 10-30-2012, 10:11 PM

I actually love most of her improv! Some of my favorites are:

Rhiannon:
"Rhiannon you cry but she's gone and your life knows no answer, still your life is haunted."

Dreams:
"They say, some women they will come and they will always go baby, go baby... when the rain washes you clean you will know."

"Oh who is the wildest, the wildest, wildest heart of all? When the rain washes you clean, you will know."

Outside the Rain:
"Look in my eyes, touch my face, do you think baby, there's anyone in this whole wild world that could ever replace me? I don't think so! But if so then take it away!

Stand Back:
"So one man said he could not stay, I said, 'Well darling goodbye! Well go away!'"

The only one that really bugs me is when she sings "down" twice in dreams, but I really wouldn't call that improv since she has been doing it for years now.

britt0308 · #7 10-30-2012, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UndoingTheLaces

I actually like it. I used to go through every performance of Sara I could find just to listen to the endings. My favorites are from the Tusk tour, especially Melbourne. It just sounds so sorrowful and beautiful. There's one from Cleveland that year too where the whole song is a mess with Stevie hitting really bad offkey notes, missing cues and just sounding off. But at the end she sings "it never really died, never really died... oh it was such a heartbeat" and it absolutely breaks your heart. And all the stuff from before just adds to the tragedy of it, like she's some torch singer from days gone by lamenting a life she once had.

I also love how she's changed things in Dreams over the years. "what you had and what you lost, what you had... you know what you lost". I just love that.

I agree..for the most part I really enjoy being able to intently listen and discern subtle differences/pick out my favorites.

UndoingTheLaces I oddly enough was going through some live performances and was 2 songs away from Sara on the Melbourne Tusk show before I read this post. It is GORGEOUS. Do you, or anyone else happen to have a clear version? Also the Cleveland Sara? I hadn't heard that..

EDIT: because I just finished the whole set and Stevie sounds amazing..even in backup roles this concert is worth a listen. Longer held notes, riffs, really great stuff! Also a little laughing exchange between her and LB on Angel

dreamer78 · #8 10-31-2012, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UndoingTheLaces

I actually like it. I used to go through every performance of Sara I could find just to listen to the endings. My favorites are from the Tusk tour, especially Melbourne. It just sounds so sorrowful and beautiful. There's one from Cleveland that year too where the whole song is a mess with Stevie hitting really bad offkey notes, missing cues and just sounding off. But at the end she sings "it never really died, never really died... oh it was such a heartbeat" and it absolutely breaks your heart. And all the stuff from before just adds to the tragedy of it, like she's some torch singer from days gone by lamenting a life she once had.

I also love how she's changed things in Dreams over the years. "what you had and what you lost, what you had... you know what you lost". I just love that.

would love to hear this Sara

UndoingTheLaces · #9 10-31-2012, 04:35 PM

I'm at the office now but I'll do my best to post both of them tonight. I don't know where the Melbourne recording came from but I've never heard one that was crystal clear. It's definitely soundboard but it sounds like it was dubbed to a casette many years ago. Would be awesome if the original tape would surface. I have one that's not too bad and better than some other ones I've heard, so I'll post it tonight, along with the Cleveland one.

britt0308 · #10 10-31-2012, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UndoingTheLaces

I'm at the office now but I'll do my best to post both of them tonight. I don't know where the Melbourne recording came from but I've never heard one that was crystal clear. It's definitely soundboard but it sounds like it was dubbed to a casette many years ago. Would be awesome if the original tape would surface. I have one that's not too bad and better than some other ones I've heard, so I'll post it tonight, along with the Cleveland one.

Looking forward to it! Thanks so much

michelej1 · #11 10-31-2012, 08:50 PM

Sometimes, it makes a song for me. Like with How Still My Love, Edge and Gold Dust Woman in particular, I just can't get enough of those little lines and asides she throws in. They feel raw and spontaneous (even if she does it for a whole tour) and it's like they're tapping into a fresh vein of emotion.

Michele

UndoingTheLaces · #12 11-01-2012, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by APerfectLie

I actually love most of her improv! Some of my favorites are:

Rhiannon:
"Rhiannon you cry but she's gone and your life knows no answer, still your life is haunted."

"Oh who is the wildest, the wildest, wildest heart of all? When the rain washes you clean, you will know."

Stand Back:
"So one man said he could not stay, I said, 'Well darling goodbye! Well go away!'"

I would love to hear these. Where are they from?

UndoingTheLaces · #13 11-01-2012, 02:00 AM

Okay, here are the versions of Sara we've been talking about:

Sara, Melbourne 80

https://www.yousendit.com/download/W...TER0NjlFQmRVag

Sara, Cleveland 80

https://www.yousendit.com/download/W...TERoeVlkVU1UQw

They'll only be good for about a week or so (yousendit, not my rule), so please grab them up now.

And just for fun I'm throwing in the Sara from St. Louis in 79. This is the full length soundboard recording from the performance you've seen in the Tusk documentary. That one was recorded from the speakers I believe and then heavily edited, so this one sounds much different but the vocal is the same. There's even a moment in the video where she sings "All I ever wanted was to know...." letting "know" trail off rather than finish the line and in the video you barely hear her and it's kind of echoey. That's because the sound was coming through the vocal monitor but not going out to the audience, so you're actually hearing it through the monitor. In this recording you'll hear her voice fully when she sings that part. It's really cool. And here's a fun fact, this is also the performance they took the music from for the version on Fleetwood Mac Live. Then they went into the studio and redubbed the vocals. Betcha didn't know the one from the live album and the one from the video were the same performance.

Sara, St. Louis in 79

https://www.yousendit.com/download/W...TEQxUUJDaDhUQw

priestofnothing · #14 11-01-2012, 05:26 AM

I'm OK with most all of Stevie's improvisations. It must get boring sometimes for her to sing the same songs thousands upon thousands of times, so to change it up a bit probably keeps it at least a little interesting for her when performing.

The one that she almost always does that I absolutely can't stand though is during "Beauty and the Beast", after the big crescendo or whatever where she holds out the long note at the end of "I never doubted your beauty, I've Chaaaaaaaaanged" like on the record and then afterward she says "Or at least I'm trying to change" Ugh! I hate that! And I cringe everytime I hear it. Sometimes less is more. And in this case I prefer less. Her ad lib just takes away from the whole big drama of the moment that preceded it.

OK. I'm done. Love ya anyway Stevie. LOL.

APerfectLie · #15 11-01-2012, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UndoingTheLaces

I would love to hear these. Where are they from?

Here you go!

Rhiannon is from Baton Rouge 1978.
http://www.mediafire.com/?1op6oyn5kn8dnnr

Dreams is from Austin and Houston 1986. (Improv near the end. Wish these two were better quality!)
http://www.mediafire.com/?bhzp106plwxgdxc

http://www.mediafire.com/?4dfwd33il5xl9p1

Stand Back is from her Solid Gold performance. (Improv near the end)
http://www.mediafire.com/?r6bgjt2ptomlun5