Vancouver Show vs. Recorded Versions: Tempo and Key Changes

[Wait and See]

OK, this is definitely going too far with music geek-osity, but just to satisfy my curiosity I checked the tempo (BPM) and key of the songs from the 5/28 show vs. the recorded versions. I did it as quickly as possible, so this may not be 1000% accurate, but it's close. I didn't check Murder by Numbers or Walking in Your Footsteps, because I didn't have the originals at hand. The comment refers to the new version, compared to the old, and only to tempo and key changes:

Message - no change

Synch II - no change

Spirits - changed key

World Running Down - much faster

Don't Stand - changed key

Driven - no change

Walking/Moon - changed key

Truth Hits - changed key, slower

Magic - changed key

Wrapped - changed key, slower

Bed's Too Big - no change

De Do Do Do - no change (except at the end)

Invisible - changed key, slower

Can't Stand - faster

Roxanne - faster

King of Pain - no change

So Lonely - changed key, faster

EBYT - no change

Next to You - slower


A lot of them were much closer to the original tempos than I thought, so much so that you'd think maybe they're playing to a click to sync up the BG vox...

They also changed the key on more than I thought...I guess because Sting thinks he needs to sing in a lower range. My observation is that he can still do most of what he used to, but maybe he doesn't think so. There is no other reason to change the key of a song.

Not surprisingly, the ones that seem the best to me are the ones where they didn't change the key, and either kept the tempo the same or played it faster. I think on "Wrapped" they probably slowed it down to facilitate Stew's percussion section, which is cool.

For the heck of it, I also checked the tempo of a random live recording of "Next to You" from 1979. It topped out at about 260 BPM.

[feralkid]

I sure Spirits is recorded in A but live, even during ghost tour, they played it in D. Not sure about this but Driven sounded to be in E rather than A. Anyway, its hard to tell in poor sound quality clips on you tube

[DirtyMartini]

[quote="Wait and See"]For the heck of it, I also checked the tempo of a random live recording of "Next to You" from 1979. It topped out at about 260 BPM. [/quote]

BURN, BABY, BURN!


It's interesting to see the breakdown. Lots of people kept talking about all the slow-downs, but I seemed to remember some were slower but some were faster or the same. Nice to see that I hadn't blacked out or something.

Key-change-wise, you got me. The three reasons for a key change are vocal limitations, dramatic effect, and for the shits and giggles. Only The Boys can really say for sure on this one.

Although Stewart did say that they changed -- or at least tried to change pre-disaster show -- keys for ELTSDIM and DSSCTM. Hopefully someone will be attending the Edmonton show and report back.

[Wait and See]

>>>The three reasons for a key change are vocal limitations, dramatic effect, and for the shits and giggles. Only The Boys can really say for sure on this one. <<<

"Dramatic effect" only works if they do it in the middle of the song.

[Laz]

[quote="feralkid"]I sure Spirits is recorded in A but live, even during ghost tour, they played it in D. Not sure about this but Driven sounded to be in E rather than A. Anyway, its hard to tell in poor sound quality clips on you tube[/quote]

On Driven To Tears, they kinda switched back and forth between E and A, though they did do most of the song in A like on Zenyatta. Again, amazing live version!

Laz

[New Zealand Promoter]

what would be more interesting would be to see the tempo changes and key alterations compared to those of the original live versions. considering the pacing / key of most tracks didn't change much at all from 79-83, comparatively, this shouldn't be too hard.

basically it would appear so far that most of the tempos of the 2007 live set are slower than they were from 79-83, and far more key changes to lower registers..... but this is pretty obvious.

[Wait and See]

>>>what would be more interesting would be to see the tempo changes and key alterations compared to those of the original live versions. considering the pacing / key of most tracks didn't change much at all from 79-83, comparatively, this shouldn't be too hard.

basically it would appear so far that most of the tempos of the 2007 live set are slower than they were from 79-83, and far more key changes to lower registers..... but this is pretty obvious.<<<

Yeah, when they played live in the old days they played everything a lot faster than the record. I may check it out later out of curiosity.

The tempo on a lot of the songs in this show is almost identical to what it is on the record, down to a level of accuracy that makes it seem very likely they're using a click timed from the recordings. That means the major culprit in the songs that don't sound quite right is the key changes. Maybe what they could do is adjust the keys up until right at the point where Sting starts to strain to hit it. As it is, I think maybe they've gone to far to make it easy on him.

Then there is the new arrangement of Don't Stand...they really need to scrap that one altogether and play it like the original.

[georgygirl]

[quote]World Running Down - much faster
[/quote]

I like it, specially jump between songs.

[Wait and See]

>>>I like it, specially jump between songs.<<<

That is one of the best ones they're doing, without a doubt.

[Wait and See]

This short video of "Magic" showed up from the 30th show-- true to Stewart's word, they changed it back to the original key. See if it doesn't make a world of difference to your ears:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ueo4Kj8aHPQ

They changed Don't Stand around some too, but it still has issues...

[New Zealand Promoter]

thank god they can go back up!

[Wait and See]

Yeah...would be good to hear the whole thing, because I'm sure the part Sting's scared of is the end where he starts going "Magic Magic Magic...eyo-o eyo-o"

For maybe an unfair comparison, check out this version from '82 (ignore the out of tune horn section). Sting and Stewart were insane as a rhythm section back then. They're cranking by the end, and still maintaining total precision (with Sting singing as well). Not sure they've quite got that back yet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsUKYtkW4Bs

[blueboy]

It is impossible to ignore the out of tune horns on this one unfortunately!

It also looks like that had a "little help from their friends".

Anyway, I think it is a little unrealistic to think that they will ever be able to recreate exactly what they were doing at their peak. That's like asking an 50 year old athlete to perform at the same level they did in their mid 20's.

They will probably come close though, with a few more shows under their belt.

[Wait and See]

I don't know, they looked pretty sober in that one. There are some other videos though where Sting is clearly on another planet.

[New Zealand Promoter]

well, copeland, being the ever-wonderful spokes-guy he is, has stated clearly that the band are a different beast now. in one respect this is a euphemistic way of acknowledging the above sentiment that they can't be expected to perform like the freight train of musical precision and kinetic energy they were when younger men.

some of the changes seem a little extreme, though, and the restored key 'ELTSDIM' as noted above indicates that they can actually get much closer to former glories than some of the plodding tempos and lower keys has thus far indicated. i reckon this early upgrade to 'magic' shows that they really are gonna hit their stride on this tour, and sting can afford to push his voice a little more because he hasn't lot so much of his range that he's got to down-tune everything.

Good on them - open to exploring the potential of their set, and really working hard at it.