Live Killers (Possible findings)

Gregsynth wrote: Sir GH wrote: It's possible, but we can't know that for sure.  They're not nearly as obvious as the overdubs in say, We Are The Champions.  He could have easily sung those notes in Let Me Entertain You live at some show on the tour if he had a good night.

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But that's the thing, those A4s don't even sound like live ones! If Freddie sang A4s on the Live Killers tour, they would've sound forced! The A4s on the Live Killers version sound like freaking Crazy Tour ones/Studio ones.
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Not had a listen to LK for a long time, but can you tell me what A4s your talking about? I cant think of any in LMEY?

Bad Seed wrote: Gregsynth wrote: Sir GH wrote: It's possible, but we can't know that for sure.  They're not nearly as obvious as the overdubs in say, We Are The Champions.  He could have easily sung those notes in Let Me Entertain You live at some show on the tour if he had a good night.

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But that's the thing, those A4s don't even sound like live ones! If Freddie sang A4s on the Live Killers tour, they would've sound forced! The A4s on the Live Killers version sound like freaking Crazy Tour ones/Studio ones.
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Not had a listen to LK for a long time, but can you tell me what A4s your talking about? I cant think of any in LMEY?
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During the chorus, Freddie sings "Let Me Entertain You!"

On the word "tain," Freddie hits A4.

He sings the note once, in the second chorus.  It's likely an overdub, as he rarely managed that note on the Jazz tour.  Roger sings it in unison with him, and is higher in the mix.  Again, it's possible it's not an overdub and that Freddie had a good night to hit the note once.

He only hit that note a couple times during the North American leg!

It's true, the numbers are what they are.  But without having all the necessary research materials available, it's impossible to make certain conclusions.

But we can be skeptics!

I'm positive that A4 is dubbed: We don't have all the recordings, but that A4 sounds way too unstrained (especially since it's the 1979 leg of this tour). Almost all of Freddie's notes above F#4 on this leg sounded forced or strained!

True, so in that case you're probably right.

Intersting topic this one with lots of views...I don't think we will ever have the definitive answer though! Well done to all for all the research so far.

Dean

Not sure how valuable this info is, but I'll throw it out there anyway...

Consulting my notes, I see the Jazz Tour European leg ended March 1st, 1979. 
The Jazz Tour Japanese leg started April 13th, 1979.
The Jazz Tour Japanese leg ended May 6th, 1979.
Live Killers was released June 22, 1979

Assuming the band was not working on the album (selecting tracks, over-dubbing, etc) while in Japan, that only leaves the month of March and maybe part of April to do a lot of the work of selecting tracks and probably the month of May to do the overdubbing. It's an educated guess that the overdubs would be among the last things they'd do for the album. Here's why I think that:

First, someone has to comb through hours of concert recordings to find the good tracks. I'm not sure if this would be the band themselves or an engineer or producer. They probably selected two or three (or more) recordings of each track.

Second, this person would present the tracks to the band for consideration.

Third step, the band weighs the merits of the tracks, argues over quality and eventually picks what they agree are the best takes. This step is possibly where the decision is made to edit multiple takes together, with an eye on doing overdubs once this first mix is done.

Fourth, said engineer and producer go back to the studio and mix a rough cut of the album, probably while the band is in Japan.

Fifth, the band returns and listens to the rough mix, deciding what needs to be 'corrected' with overdubs.

Sixth, the band, either individually or together, record the overdubs (we're now likely into May, 1979).

Seventh, the final mix is done,approved by the band (grudgingly in Roger's case, so I've read), sent to the record company, pressed and packaged, and then released (June 22, 1979).

RhyeKing's comment makes sense.

Plus, it also answers why Freddie sounds so freaking STRAINED while "singing" Champions!

Gregsynth wrote: RhyeKing's comment makes sense.

Plus, it also answers why Freddie sounds so freaking STRAINED while "singing" Champions!

i doubt freddie left his overdubbed "strained" vocals on purpose in we are the champions. It is probably the actual performance from yugoslavia.

It isn't. It's an obvious studio dub.

As always, so many opinions, so little facts.

But on a short note, I too hate these overdubs, first time I saw the Wembley VHS I was stunned at the level of overdubs on there. It's almost better to ask DoRo to cut a nice live video to some studio songs with audience overdubs.

Alhough I'd prefer a nice faultess live performance, I really dont mind the overdubs. I'd rather have an odd overdub than an awful vocal crack, or Brian's STL solo from Sao Paulo.
However I can't understand why Freddie would overdub perfectly good whole song's like on Montreal (I know few agree with that).

I would imagine DTMN and WATC have been done for LK, but would be suprised if that A4 in LMEY is a overdub? Why would they bother to do 1 word which is mixed below Roger? Unless it was a crack?

marvinp01 wrote:

[QUOTE]It is probably the actual performance from yugoslavia.[/QUOTE]

Yugoslavia?  Who started that fable, anyway?

Bad Seed wrote:

[QUOTE]However I can't understand why Freddie would overdub perfectly good whole song's like on Montreal (I know few agree with that).[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't doubt it.  Which songs do you think were overdubbed for Montreal?  I haven't really analyzed this one.