Robert Baird

Recorded Live

Robert Baird  |  Dec 19, 2014

His last record came out in 1974 so when a musical recluse like Shuggie Otis releases a new record, it’s an event. And while Live in Williamsburg, released on cheapie, left-of-center Los Angeles reissue label Cleopatra Records isn’t particularly well-recorded or intelligently packaged—there’s no recording date, engineer or producer listed— it’s still Shuggie, on the road in 2013, with a new band, The Rite, that includes his son Eric on guitar and his brother Nick on drums.

Shuggie, born Johnny Veliotes, is of course, the guitar virtuoso son of the great R&B bandleader Johnny Otis, who began playing in clubs as a teenager before letting his quirky personality and a number of personal demons derail his career in the mid-Seventies after the 1974 release of Inspirational Information. Otis is best known as the writer of “Strawberry Letter 23,” a tune he recorded on his second album Freedom Flight (1971) and which later became a huge hit for The Brothers Johnson in 1977 when they included it, enlivened by their funkified arrangement, on their album Right On Time.

Engineeringwise, this recording is an example of just because you can doesn’t mean you should. The editing here is graceless and amateurish: a song ends, the applause starts only to be abruptly cut off and the next tune begins. Between song patter is cut to a minimum and after “Strawberry Letter 23” and a few goodbyes, the recording just stops. No fading or effort to smooth the transitions is ever attempted. Also, the bass is entirely too prominent here, but the saxophones of Michael Turre (baritone) and Albert Wing (tenor) though are decently recorded. Again, any Shuggie is worth a listen and perhaps just making and releasing this album—he was notorious for being glacial in the studio— will inspire him, at 61, to finally make a followup to Inspirational Information?

Another new live record for the music collector who already has everything easily obtainable, is the two CD Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band, Live From Paris 1977 released by something called Gonzo Multimedia. Obviously timed to coincide with the release of Rhino’s Sun, Zoom, Spark 1970 to 1972 boxed set (reviewed in February 2015 Stereophile) this is an audience tape which captures Beefheart and his young Magic Band running through suitably unhinged versions of tunes from Trout Mask Replica like “Dali’s Car,” “Moonlight on Vermont” and “Pachuco Cadaver” as well as material from Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)” like the title track and crazed blues stomp, “Suction Prints.” Led by Don Van Vliet’s acid growl, the recording quality here is very thin with frequent drop outs in both channels and really ugly, sharp transitions between songs, but then as Beefheart fans all know, rough, ramshackle lo-fi sonics suit this deliberately difficult, at times assaultive music like a fitted chain mail glove. Massively influential and (not surprisingly) invisible and a non-starter commercially, Beefheart records, when listened to with the benefit of time and perspective, are obviously where certain schools of punk and noise rock drew crucial inspiration. If you wait long enough, almost everything becomes influential. And in light of the disposability of much of today’s music, the mass of ideas here, cracked or not, successful or more likely just annoying, is impressive.

COMMENTS
jimtavegia's picture
Submitted by jimtavegia on December 20, 2014 - 1:52am

It sure doesn't take much effort, money, or smarts to make a decent recording these days. Too bad that someone could not care to do that. I would have loved to have done it for free.

jporter's picture
Submitted by jporter on December 20, 2014 - 11:50am

"but then as Beefheart fans all know, rough, ramshackle lo-fi sonics suit this deliberately difficult, at times assaultive music like a fitted chain mail glove. Massively influential and (not surprisingly) invisible and a non-starter commercially, Beefheart records, when listened to with the benefit of time and perspective, are obviously where certain schools of punk and noise rock drew crucial inspiration. If you wait long enough, almost everything becomes influential. And in light of the disposability of much of today’s music, the mass of ideas here, cracked or not, successful or more likely just annoying, is impressive.

I am very much a fan Captain Beefheart. I find your dismissive comments incredibly annoying. Let me guess...you voted for Green Day to get in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame...You also love listening to Steely Dan on your Hi-Fi. When you really want to get crazy, you throw in Daft Punk and asphyxiate yourself with your ironic silk tie, while wearing your ugly christmas sweater . I don't think I can wait long enough for you to become a relevant writer.

Thanks...

xyzip's picture
Submitted by xyzip on December 21, 2014 - 12:17pm

I don't think there is a great case to be made for 'live' recordings. Overall. And that is because "live" sounds .. strange.

In my several thousand titles or so, you may find the occasional live recording, the "Ella In Berlin" or the "Village Vanguard" recording from the Bill Evans Trio. But not the usual got-the-artist/got-the-live-one pairing, wherein every represented artist's grouping includes the live outing.

It sounds "strange" for two reasons. First, all the crap is in there, the dropped glasses, the fidgeting, coughing, squeaky seats and that classic fumbled drumstick that rolls along a hard stage .. The whole art of recording has generally come down to us as a Studio effort, where the very best of the sound is what gets put down. You'd not expect to see a recent, brown coffee-cup ring on your room service tablecloth .. and you'd not order a filet of something and expect to see eyes or a tail attached.

Part of what you buy with a real recording is what, say, George Martin and Geoff Emerick conspire to do; in their element, the studio. All that is off on a big location recording in a live venue. The protocol and practice of the Studio is not ritual, it's based on excellence and quality presentation. Not a bad principle.

Secondly, the live record very often presents the artist or collective in a strange venue; not always, but often enough to produce some strangely unfamiliar results, even with artists that are familiar. Examples are Super-Benefit shows, where perhaps it is disconcerting to pass Dylan and a couple of Beatles on your way up to the stage; the 'festival' settings, where jazz cats are expected to do in the bright sun of Newport what they do in dark, often underground rooms; last and I think most often, the very fact that the artist or band knows they're doing that Live record at the same time as the show for the paying audience-- produces stage nerves, wobblies, or encourages showing off. None of which is really representative of the musician who might be very different -- in the Studio.

Last, I'll just say I learned tons about playing electric guitar from about a million listens to "Get Yer Ya-Yas Out" and a certain gifted musician named Keith Richard. Because it's not perfect, a live record can open up entire new vistas on musicianship and technique.

That said, live records in general are usually pretty awful.
J.

X