Is Queen Wembley 86 overdubbed?

[QUOTE]

[b]cmsdrums wrote: [/b] Live Killers only has a few overdubs, and is mostly as it was, but is cut from numerous performances in search of the perfect performance.

Check out the UK rock band Thunder - one of the only acts I know of that has released a lot of live albums and DVDs without a single overdub. It's all live, and bloody tight.[/QUOTE]

Coincidentally, I just bought 2 of their CDs -- Laughing on Judgement Day and The Thrill of It All. I sw them on Sky Arts at (I think) last year's Download festival and they were excellent.

I would guess AC/DC's first live album "If You Want Blood You've Got It " also isn't overdubbed.

Good stuff Holly2003!

Their debut, Backstreet Symphony is a must, and a three disc 'best of' came out a year or so ago which has the highlights of all their studio output plus some live stuff, and can be picked up really cheap now.

Dream Theater have released six live albums, only one of which has overdubs in it - only a single song.

But the overwhelming majority of live albums in rock have been overdubbed.

The Song Remains The Same, Kiss Alive, so many others ...

[QUOTE] [b]pittrek wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]
The overdubs are a plus in some cases - the MK version of Fat Bottomed Girls is much better off without Freddie's squealing :P [/QUOTE]
I can't agree. Overdubs are always a cheat. When I want a concert recording, I want to hear exactly what the audience could here. That's the meaning of live recordings - to give the buyer the feeling that he's on a (Queen) show.
And I prefer the original FBG on MK[/QUOTE]

I agree that it is cheating. Brian himself once said that he wanted to hear a live show "warts and all"....

I understand the "warts and all" position, to have uncut, unaltered live performances, as a record of what happened on the night.

On the other hand, I understand the desire not hear bad notes and dodgy bits every time I put on the live album. A few add character, maybe, but too many just distract. When you're there at the concert, it's easy to overlook the blown moments in the midst of the occasion. Hearing the bad notes over and over can be distracting, why would I want to buy that, even if it's an accurate record of the event?

I guess I land in the middle. Some fixes are fine, "cheating" or otherwise, but too many risk the release sounding artificial.

Just my opinion.

Fair play.

Queen fudged the ending of Liar ONCE - and it was the Hammersmith Odeon 75 show. It's fair that they fixed that error for the recent BBC broadcast. It's not like Queen blew it every time. Such miscues were ever so rare.

But to overdub a couple guitar notes or vocal lines - that's where it crosses the line for me. Never mind the auto-tune on the White Queen bonus track released last year.

Sometimes bands plan to record a certain special event/concert, and for some reason(s) the performance ends up not being quite that special, and some fixes are made. Other bands prefer not to take any risk as well when they don't have the same talent live as they "have" in studio.
The recent live album by Roger Hodgson (Classics Live) suffers of some other annoying problem, that also happens a lot in live albums: the (re)mix. In some songs the audience singalong was entirely cut, and the audience was very present in the original audio... not sure if it had overdubs but that odd mixing was as annoying as overdubs. It's ok to fix instrument levels and all that in the final mix (that's what mixing is for), but to almost remove an important part of the performance (the audience!), that's no good.

I didn't even know they used auto-tune on the bonus track version of Hammersmith's White Queen. Yikes, 'how my heart did ache' sounded fine in the first place, can't see how they could justify messing it up like that.

Sorry for the lenghty ramble posts..."Cough medicine"

But isn't this the primary reason why when "big bands" recorded a show for release, filming would be done on two back to back nights to aid in getting the best of the two performances; same sets, costume changes and all?

I used to love tracking down "LIVE" albums, but as far as that goes, to really get a live one, ya gotta hope you've found a great bootlegger. Even my ALCATRAZZ 83 album sounds suspect...I'm just not sure whether its because there is canned applause and the show is straight from a mixer..or if its been retooled excessively. I'm thankful for the bootlegging community that keeps a lot of this alive. Especially the ones that aren't trying to make a cheap buck.

[QUOTE] [b]the dude 1366 wrote:[/b]
If yo usee Kiss, they were so amateur in the 70's that they often moved their mouths away from the mic to watch their own guitar playing. Pathetic.[/QUOTE]

George Harrison did that all the time

I for one don't mind some cosmetic overdubbs. Mistakes are bound to happen in live performances but during an actual concert they're just a breif snippet of time and they're gone. I wouldn't like to listen to mistakes from records over and over again though. Anyway, another approsach is just to use best performances from different show of a tour, or (if it's supposed to be a live album from a particular show) use tiny bits from other live performances to fix mistakes (which with today's technology is easier than ever). I'm rambling. Bottomline, it's all a matter of opinion but I really don't mind overdubs.

Pink Floyd's PULSE came from 20 shows. Some solos came in from other shows as David Gilmour was at home with wife Polly Samson having their first child together Joseph. David would hear what was played then told James Guthrie to take best solos and put them over any badly played solos. Gilmour's Live in Gdansk was what was recorded on the spot except for the last verse of "Time" which came from another show as the band goofed on the last verse.

Deep Purple's Made in Japan wasn't overdubbed.

Genesis' live albums varied (Live Over Europe had "I Know What I Like" shortened with the tambourine jig mixed out whereas it was left intact on Seconds Out and The Way We Walk). Seconds Out had some fixes (not many). Three Sides Live used performances from three different shows.

Rush admitted to lifting an altered vocal from another performance of "Presto" for Time Machine Live. All The World's a Stage was raw and dry. Exit Stage and Show of Hands were overdubbed. Different Stages and Rush in Rio were warts and all (just mixed). Snakes and Arrows Live was from two shows.

Frampton Comes Alive was all live sans the first verse to "Something's Happening", the rhythm guitar on "Show Me the Way" (the talkbox came out but the rhythm electric was lost) and the piano on "Wanna Go to the Sun".

What about getting back to the topic ? Did anybody compile a list of the overdubs on the Wembley 86 releases ?

I've not checked out my VHS version of We Will Rock You since I Was a teen....

But as I recall, Play the game sounded different to the other tracks (It might've been Save me - but I'm sure it was Play the Game) ...

Does that ring any bells with anyone?

From memory you're right in that the WWRY video has different cuts on Play The Game and/or Save Me (definitely a drum fill on Play The Game under the guitar solo), but I think that's cos the original VHS was a compilation of both nights, whereas the Montreal DVD release tries to keep to one night's performance for each song where possible.

Not that that has anything to do with Wembley 86 overdubs, which is the topic, but I don't really have anything comprehensive to list there as I don't have a bootleg (as it was' recording' to compare to the 'touched up' official releases.