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Recording cockups that made the cut


Nicko

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I guess the most obvious is Roxanne by the Police, where Sting allegedly sits on a piano and then laughs.  I always thought it was the bum note at the beginning. (Cue argument - a lead in note not a bum note etc etc.)

Others that spring to mind - The lead singer of Jet clearing his throat during the intro to Are You Gonna Be My Girl, and Dave Gilmour doing the same at the start of Wish You Were Here.

 

 

Edited by Nicko
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35 minutes ago, seashell said:

Also..(I'm on a roll now), the most famous bass related one is supposedly a bum note in Born to Be Wild by Steppenwolf. But I've never been able to spot it 🙂

That's the only one I can think of. It's very obvious once you have heard it. From memory it comes on the 'Wild' of the interlude, something like that anyway, a true nowhere to hide clanger.

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1 hour ago, Nicko said:

...Dave Gilmour doing the same at the start of Wish You Were Here.

 

 

I think that's half deliberate. It's supposed to be a bloke sitting down and playing along with the radio.

Don't know if this counts 'cos it was post-recording, but there's an absolutely terrible edit in Eric Claption's Blues Power, just after 1:25.

 

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The Stranglers - "Do Ya Wanna - Death and Night and Blood (Yukio)"

I read an interview with drummer Jet Black, who says a fan asked him about a mistake on this.  Jet's response was along the lines of "Well spotted, I thought I'd got away with that."

It's basically two songs medleyed together. When It switches from the first song into the second song (about 2min30s) the drums are kind of 'out of phase' with rest of the band, but goes back into phase (snare on the 2 and 4) at about 3mins.

 

Given the extremely off kilter drum pattern in the first half of the song, it would be reasonable to assume that the 'mistake' was deliberate. So hats off to Jet for owning up!

 

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The 4th "7th 8ve" of the "root, 7th, 8ve" pattern Verdine (1st name terms) plays in the intro stutters. Once heard, never missed. @ 16 seconds ish. Sorry Verdine. I wish my career was such that a bassist from sticksville could discuss my mistakes and lay them bare for everyone to see.

 

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The Fall - "Paintwork"

 

I think it's some kind of home recording, especially as it has a crude drum machine instead of drummer Karl Burns.

At about 38 seconds Mark E Smith accidentally taped over some of the tracks for a few seconds.

Not sure if the voices heard are what he accidentally taped, or added afterwards to fill the silence.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Nail Soup said:

The Stranglers - "Do Ya Wanna - Death and Night and Blood (Yukio)"

I read an interview with drummer Jet Black, who says a fan asked him about a mistake on this.  Jet's response was along the lines of "Well spotted, I thought I'd got away with that."

It's basically two songs medleyed together. When It switches from the first song into the second song (about 2min30s) the drums are kind of 'out of phase' with rest of the band, but goes back into phase (snare on the 2 and 4) at about 3mins.

Given the extremely off kilter drum pattern in the first half of the song, it would be reasonable to assume that the 'mistake' was deliberate. So hats off to Jet for owning up!

 

Listened to this just the other day and I can admit I did not spot it! Just as you mentioned, it wouldn't be hard to argue it's supposed to be that way. That era of the Stranglers has some bizarre arrangements. Baroque Bordello off The Raven has Hugh in a different time signature to the rest of the band. They were really playing at the limits of their abilities on those two albums, maybe sometimes a bit ahead of them, so to speak. 

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1 hour ago, owen said:

The 4th "7th 8ve" of the "root, 7th, 8ve" pattern Verdine (1st name terms) plays in the intro stutters. Once heard, never missed. @ 16 seconds ish.

I always assumed that was a deliberate variation, but maybe the mark of a great bassist is that even their mistakes sound intentional!

The Kingsmen's version of Louie Louie is well known for the vocalist coming in too early after the solo (~1:56), which the drummer then covers with a fill.

But less obvious is the drummer yelling "F**k!" as he drops a stick, around 0:54 :laugh1:

Edited by MartinB
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