do wop babes, andy and stewart or samples for backing vocals

[hollo]

I say samples. I love sting's samples. Please give me your thoughts. Roxanne samples were cool.

[New Zealand Promoter]

LOL!
The Police never used backing vocal samples and never needed to.
Sampled backing vocals are unnecessary and are not in the spirit of a live performance. They will always sound the same, and restrict the band when playing live.

The Police sounded very raw and very immediate back in the late 1970's, without any of those bells and whistles. They don't need 'em. At all. Let's just hear the band playing with complete freedom.

Sting's voice sounds good enough without 'cheating'.

[sockii]

Andy & Stew all the way (and that's what I was down in the pit shouting for on Monday...heck, I think Divemistress and I were both contemplating being cheeky and shouting out "Klark Kent!")

I want as little preprogrammed and prerecorded as possible. Just keep it raw and simple.

It was a bit amusing on Monday...they did seem a bit perplexed (especially Sting) that that was what most people were cheering for.

[Kim]

Three guys and a stage. And me in a seat.

Less is more baby!

[BongoBoy]

I say it should be just the three guys.

and if they had back-up singers it would sound better to me if they were guys voices.

I would rather not have samples or singers.

Just The Police, it's real....bad vocals n all!!!

Cheers.

[hollo]

Stewart can still carry a tune so he should do it not andy if they do decide to do it.
All i am saying is that at at the grammy's the sampled backing vocals worked well.

[WolfHouse]

Andy & Stewart's vocals are part of the charm of the Police sound.
Just to think that we might get the actual core band back again with no overproduced 'bells & whistles' is really too good to be true.

Hello all and special thanks to you Hollo.
I've been monitoring this board for some time.
But it wasn't until this post that I've been compelled enough to jump in.

The Police are a three piece band.
The best power trio on planet earth.
Let them be The Police.

[WolfHouse]

And the let world once again exclaim:

"I can't believe so much music can come out of just three guys"

[blueboy]

I think that samples are ok if they are fairly low in level and they are blended with Stewart's and Andy's real voices.

The main benefit is that it will help preserve Sting's voice over the course of the tour if he doesn't have to overcompensate for the lack of high harmony backing vocals.

People get way too upset about this kind of stuff...It's not like they are Milli Vanilli or anything. And it really isn't a whole lot different than having an extra musician fill in keyboards or extra guitar parts. Not all of the songs were designed to be performed with only one singer and three instruments.

Yes I understand the "purist" attitude, but at the same time that was 30 years ago, and the punk attitude and aggression made up for a lack of backing vocals.

At this point the only thing they could do that would bother me, would be if they used cheesy sequenced keyboard parts and drum machines like on the Synchronicity tour. Technology can sound a lot more "human" these days, so I hope if they do any sequencing that they make it sound "natural" and not "robotic".

[tomkins]

One way to appreciate the samples is to consider how seemless they are with respect to Stewart's performance. The guy doesn't play to a click (at least he doesn't appear to), yet whoever is triggering those samples can always depend on Stewart's fabulous time-keeping skills. It's really pretty damn impressive when you think about it.

[animal]

I would like Stewart & Andy to do the backing vocals, but I have no prolbem if they want to use samples.

There isn't that many drummers that drum & sing at the same time, very hard to do, so I've been told.

Like I've said before I see it as a tool, like an echo box.

Imagine Stewart not using the echo for Regatta de Blanc, or Andy having to have a second guitarist without using an echoplex. These are just tools to be used.

just my 2 cents

[Mister Gradenko]

I always wondered if Synchronicity I on the last 1983-84 tour was actually played live... sometimes it sounds like a backing tape to me...?

So if they used 'samples' and little electric tricks before (Stew's drums on message !) then why not now?

[sockii]

[quote="blueboy"]I think that samples are ok if they are fairly low in level and they are blended with Stewart's and Andy's real voices.[/quote]

That I think would be an okay compromise...I like the sound of Stewart & Andy together with Sting but wouldn't have a big problem with them mixed in with some samples...

[Mister Gradenko]

Well you heard them play at Whisky a GoGO live Socki - so I guess the last word should go with you!

I was wondering - did it sound really obvious to you that they were using samples? Or did it kinda blend in?

[sockii]

[quote="Mister Gradenko"]
I was wondering - did it sound really obvious to you that they were using samples? Or did it kinda blend in?[/quote]

I just watched the vh1 broadcast (at last) - and that actually confirmed to my ears that we were hearing mostly Andy & Stewart on the backup vocals at the Whisky. There might have been some samples on "Roxanne" but it was blended and fairly low in the mix.