Edge of Seventeen - Live at Red Rocks *Original Vocal*

[DauphineMarie]

Alright. So I have always wanted to hear the original vocals from Red Rocks, and when I found it... uh yeah. It sure is original! lol. But the audio quality is literally the worst you could possibly imagine. So what I did is made it somewhat bearable to listen to.. The quality now at most a B, up from at least a C-. I hope you enjoy it! And soon I will do the same for every song I have from Red Rocks..omg.
It's in .wav (lossless) format, to retain the most quality it can lol.

http://www.mediafire.com/listen/5v40..._Seventeen.wav

The song actually starts at about 2:45.

[lvhlive!]

Cool, thanks for posting!

I unfortunately am always naïve about these things and thought maybe the DVD was the original vocal, despite having heard the incredibly patchy bootlegs of the rest of the tour. Red Rocks is my absolute favourite performance by her, I think it's the greatest rock performance by a female artist ever and so am a bit disappointed - but I am glad to hear that some of the best bits of that performance are actually real and only bits were re-recorded, like the crazy bit at the end which is what makes it so special.

[DauphineMarie]

Originally Posted by lvhlive!

Cool, thanks for posting!

I unfortunately am always naïve about these things and thought maybe the DVD was the original vocal, despite having heard the incredibly patchy bootlegs of the rest of the tour. Red Rocks is my absolute favourite performance by her, I think it's the greatest rock performance by a female artist ever and so am a bit disappointed - but I am glad to hear that some of the best bits of that performance are actually real and only bits were re-recorded, like the crazy bit at the end which is what makes it so special.

Exactly. Only certain bits and pieces were rerecorded for the DVD, and the closeups were added as well to make it more TV friendly. But yes, I LOVE this performance too, and Rock a Little is my favourite era, so for me, finding this whole thing is amazing. I'm glad you like it!

[PenguinHead]

Many"Live" albums and video/dvds are not always straight forward; a lot of post production studio work is done on them. In the case of Stevie's Red Rocks, extensive work was done on theaudio as well as the video. All of her close-up shots are not from the performance, but filmed later and inserted into the video. This is the most obvious alteration, revealed in the DVD.

Stevie faced the fact that she had to go rehab. But with this impending tour, she planned to get clean after she fulfilled her tour commitment. The first time I attended a Stevie concert was on this tour. At the time I was unaware of her predicament, but I was disappointed because she was a mess; she missed cues, seemed a little lost, and never sang any song with any consistency; just a lot of over-the-top wailing and blurting, with off-time ad-libs that ruined the songs.

I'm very grateful that she clean up. Yet the next time I saw her on her tour for The Other Side of the Mirror, it was the opposite situation. Her voice was consistent and she sang faithful versions of the songs. But she had very little stage presence, mostly standing still in front of her mike, exerting little or no energy. Only later were we informed of the reason why.

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

Many"Live" albums and video/dvds are not always straight forward; a lot of post production studio work is done on them. In the case of Stevie's Red Rocks, work was done on the recordings as well as the video. All of her close-up shots are not from the performance, but filmed later and inserted into the video. This is the most obvious alteration to the DVD.

Stevie faced the fact that she had to go rehab. But with this impending tour, she planned to get clean after she fulfilled her tour commitment. The first time I attended a Stevie concert was on this tour. At the time I was unaware of her predicament, but I was disappointed because she was a mess; she missed cues, seemed a little lost, and never sang any song with any consistency; just a lot of over-the-top wailing and blurting, with off-time ad-libs that ruined the songs.

Very grateful that she clean up. Yet the next time I saw her on her tour for The Other Side of the Mirror, it was the opposite situation. Her voice was consistent and she sang faithful versions of the songs. But she had very little stage presence, mostly standing still in front of her mike, exerting little or no energy. Only later did we became informed of the reason why.

Exactly the same situation for me. Saw her twice on that tour. The first show, at Alpine Valley WI and she was crazy. Wow. But, at that time, didn't realize what was going on. I was only 16 and still naive and innocent. Didn't really know about the drug usage at all. At that time, the media was fairly conservative and we didn't have the internet and so much media gossip as we do now. I just thought she was having a great time and letting go of her innocent airy-fairy ways lol. But i do remember thinking about how she didn't sing any of the songs like the record and constantly went off into random ad libs etc. Still, thought it was a great show.

TOSOTM show...yikes. It was like no energy at all and like she didn't want to be there. But, like you said, she sang the songs like the record, for the most part.

Still, my mind wanders back to those RAL shows.

[WatchChain]

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

Stevie faced the fact that she had to go rehab. But with this impending tour, she planned to get clean after she fulfilled her tour commitment. The first time I attended a Stevie concert was on this tour. At the time I was unaware of her predicament, but I was disappointed because she was a mess; she missed cues, seemed a little lost, and never sang any song with any consistency; just a lot of over-the-top wailing and blurting, with off-time ad-libs that ruined the songs.

Very grateful that she clean up. Yet the next time I saw her on her tour for The Other Side of the Mirror, it was the opposite situation. Her voice was consistent and she sang faithful versions of the songs. But she had very little stage presence, mostly standing still in front of her mike, exerting little or no energy. Only later did we became informed of the reason why.

I can certainly agree with the assertions of PenguinHead and Joe regarding this era of The High Priestess. At 15 years old, I attended the opening night of the Rock A Little Tour at The Summit in Houston, Texas on April 11, 1986. I was also quite innocent and naïve at this age and oblivious to Stevie's drug use. I just remember thinking that her performance was reminiscent of Linda Blair in The Exorcist. Girl, Stevie was a HOT MESS that night, and as far as I can tell, throughout the rest of the tour. Seeing the tour on opening night, I was lucky enough to see her perform "Gypsy" and "Sara" before they were dropped from the tour set list. Her ragged and possessed performance of "Sara" was interesting to say the least, she took that song to new and dangerous places. After the opening band Opus finished their set, I also remember her being quite late taking the stage. It seemed like forever, but it could have just been the anticipation for the Stevie fanatic like me. The LIVE AT RED ROCKS CONCERT video was a EDITING NIGHTMARE. I'm sorry, but all that footage NOT MATCHING just looks ridiculous. If I didn't look and sound good, I would just rather have not filmed the show.

Three years later, in 1989, I saw Stevie perform at the same arena on the OSOTM Tour. I had been attending Stevie/FM concerts since 1977, BUT I WAS ECSTATIC because this was going to be my FIRST TIME sitting in the front row at a Stevie concert. Those tickets cost a pretty penny from a scalper. The songs were sung beautifully, hitting each cue and note. But, alas, our girl stood at the mike for 90 minutes staring into space with glassy eyes and no emotion. She finally came somewhat alive at the END OF THE CONCERT as she told the audience that they were filming the music video for "Whole Lotta Trouble" and asked us to stick around after the set to be in the video. The band came back out and played "Whole Lotta Trouble" at least 3 times, back to back for some live shots to be included in the video.

[snroxman]

I consider myself lucky to have seen her just a short time later in Lexington. By then, Sara and Gypsy were gone. She still did pretty well, considering the situation. "I Can't Wait" was awesome!

I miss the RAL tour

[TheWILDheart]

Originally Posted by lvhlive!

I think it's the greatest rock performance by a female artist ever

You've not seen many female artists, by the sounds of it. Sorry, but I completely disagree with this.

The Red Rocks performance makes me cringe. Even with the re-recorded vocals, it's still horrible to listen to and she's so out of it, I can't watch it either.

The White Wing Dove HBO special, on the other hand, is outstanding.

[He's So Unusual]

It's a shame that the HBO special, the concert that really shows Stevie at the height of her powers, is still hidden away on VHS while the Red Rocks concert is the one that's readily available on DVD in stores. I really liked it when I first bought it a few years ago, but I don't really care for it anymore. The close-up shots really ruin it, they didn't even attempt to get the hair to match.

[Matthew]

God, I knew that the close-ups are fake... that they are made after that tour... but all the singing is also recorded later at studio or something? all songs? oh my god... is there anything from that concert? why did they recorded that night when they made it once more everything in the studio ... funny
but yeah, she sang it on the official versions much better... that´s true... her live singing on this tour was probably the worst of all time...

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by WatchChain

I can certainly agree with the assertions of PenguinHead and Joe regarding this era of The High Priestess. At 15 years old, I attended the opening night of the Rock A Little Tour at The Summit in Houston, Texas on April 11, 1986. I was also quite innocent and naïve at this age and oblivious to Stevie's drug use. I just remember thinking that her performance was reminiscent of Linda Blair in The Exorcist. Girl, Stevie was a HOT MESS that night, and as far as I can tell, throughout the rest of the tour. Seeing the tour on opening night, I was lucky enough to see her perform "Gypsy" and "Sara" before they were dropped from the tour set list. Her ragged and possessed performance of "Sara" was interesting to say the least, she took that song to new and dangerous places. After the opening band Opus finished their set, I also remember her being quite late taking the stage. It seemed like forever, but it could have just been the anticipation for the Stevie fanatic like me. The LIVE AT RED ROCKS CONCERT video was a EDITING NIGHTMARE. I'm sorry, but all that footage NOT MATCHING just looks ridiculous. If I didn't look and sound good, I would just rather have not filmed the show.

Three years later, in 1989, I saw Stevie perform at the same arena on the OSOTM Tour. I had been attending Stevie/FM concerts since 1977, BUT I WAS ECSTATIC because this was going to be my FIRST TIME sitting in the front row at a Stevie concert. Those tickets cost a pretty penny from a scalper. The songs were sung beautifully, hitting each cue and note. But, alas, our girl stood at the mike for 90 minutes staring into space with glassy eyes and no emotion. She finally came somewhat alive at the END OF THE CONCERT as she told the audience that they were filming the music video for "Whole Lotta Trouble" and asked us to stick around after the set to be in the video. The band came back out and played "Whole Lotta Trouble" at least 3 times, back to back for some live shots to be included in the video.

I really enjoyed reading your experiences which were very similar to mine. You were very lucky to be at an early Rock a Little show when Gypsy and Sara still in the set. Also lucky to be at the show where she filmed the 'Whole Lotta Trouble" video. Did the majority of the audience stay for the all the film takes? Did Stevie talk to the audience?

[WatchChain]

After the initial set, and telling us that they would be filming shots for the "Whole Lotta Trouble" video, Stevie went backstage for just a few minutes to freshen up. She asked us to stick around for the shots, and I was ecstatic, as was most of the crowd on the floor and lower reaches of the arena. Significant portions of people in the upper reaches of the arena and nosebleed seats were leaving. The people in the lower parts stayed, for the most part. For most of the initial 90 minute set, Stevie stood at the microphone in a coma, although she sounded BEAUTIFUL. I was very close to the stage and she stared blankly into the audience as she sang phenomenal versions of "Alice", "Rooms on Fire", and "No Spoken Word". Her vocal on that tour has been one of my favorites.

For the filming of the video, she DID come alive a little bit. She talked to the audience a little bit between takes, saying things like "you all look GREAT!" "You're going to look great in my video", "Thank You", "Take care of yourselves, until we can do this again, see you next time, etc..." After running through "Whole Lotta Trouble" about 3-4 times, the band left the stage. By that time, large sections of the arena were clearing out. The DIE HARD fans of course, stayed until the lights came up. MY SISTER and I actually had tense words, because she said, "OK, time to go, let's get out of here, she's just doing this same song OVER AND OVER and I don't give a rat's ass about being in some cheesy video!". Honey, she had to DRAG me out of there, when I want something, I get it! Needless to say, I got my way and we stayed. Just like the RED ROCKS video, the far away shots are from my concert in Houston, the CLOSE UP shots were filmed LATER on a sound stage. She wears her signature top hat. GOOD TIMES......."Alright said Alice, I'm going back to the other side of the mirror!

[secondhandchain]

I mean just listen to the Dance. You hear 3 Stevies in some of the songs. Lots of overdubs and recorded vocals.

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by Matthew

but all the singing is also recorded later at studio or something?

Not all of the vocals were re-recorded. Just various bits and pieces of each song were.

For example -- listen to the file DauphineMarie posted, and you'll recognize large portions that made it into the final 'Live at Red Rocks' mix.