I’ve been listening to the songs a lot, obviously, as they are playing into the gallery. I’ve also been reflecting on live performance of the same songs.
The differences in process fascinate me, and I’ve come up with an analogy that helps the visualisation of this process. Imagine sculpture… For a recorded song you have a lump of rock containing everything. It’s got trumpets all the way through, vocals and backing all the way through, guitars…. You name it. Then in the production process you pare it back until you have what you want. You can often go quite a long way… Less is more…(the analogy stops here because in the recording studio you can always stick the legs back on again if you change your mind).
In a live performance it’s the other way around… You can only put up what you want, and can’t take it back. The thinking process is hot and fast. For most of the songs I did, Dan and I rehearsed so we knew what we were going to put in. One of the songs- Reputation- we decided to be a little more playful… We rehearsed the process, I have to say Dan did all the clever stuff with the looper (I neeeed one) and we both sang. It was really good fun in a seat of your pants kind of a way… Well…. My pants… Dan’s pants, I’m sure (we didn’t discuss it) were fine!
I really like both versions, and enjoyed them for very different reasons. I put both up for you to hear the differences.
