There was an article the other day on NPR.org about Taylor Swift and her lackluster performance at this year’s Grammys. It goes on to say that it is perfectly fine to criticize a performer (especially a singer) that can’t really sing in a live setting. The evidence of this (in Swift’s case) wasn’t just the Grammys, but a large number of videos on YouTube and other comments about concert performances. I agree with the judgement above, and would go even further to say that this should be the case not just in live performance but also in regard to recordings. Recordings have really reached the point of being more production then a ‘record’ of anything that actually occurred. I know the medium itself allows for this, and this can certainly be traced back to The Beatles and other bands of that time that started to realize the benefits of multi-tracking and over-dubbing. And it is to the credit of The Beatles that they recognized this. They knew the sound that they wanted to create was no longer performance, but a patient crafting of a sonic result similar to the ‘music concrete’ and electronic music that was happening in the European avant-garde at the time. So, they stopped touring. And personally, I tend to look at a ‘recording’ of a piece as a different object then I do a live performance. Both have aspects that are exciting… but do most of the pop music industry’s stars realize this? Do they not know where there talents end and auto-tune begins?

So when I saw the video of The Who at last weeks SuperBowl, I was quite struck at how much performing was going on for a half-time show. Lip-syncing is much more the norm in those situations, but you could see that what we were hearing (flubs and all, and there were only a couple) were coming from the guys on the stage. Granted – The Who have been performing for a very long time – they have more experience then Taylor Swift will probably ever have the chance of having… but here is a link to a clip from an earlier time:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3099526434105125496#

Aren’t these guys amazing? I mean… damn, they could sing, play AND put on an amazing stage presence.

Then there is the other side of the coin – there are some that may never have the best voice or even performance style. And I tend to put Hank Williams (along with Bob Dylan and Tom Waits) into this category. Yet their music is compelling all the same because of the depth in the words and music. While I would probably prefer to hear Peter, Paul and Mary sing ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, hearing it straight from Dylan’s mouth is amazing in its roughness. Patsy Cline’s version of ‘Your Cheating Heart’ has the same relationship to Hank Williams’. She brings such a grace and elegance to the song… but when Hank Williams sings it, his voice brings a feeling that this is a guy who is a bit of a mess at the moment. The falsetto breaks are not graceful at all, but they have so much emotion in them!

So – maybe Taylor Swift needs to find those vocal quirks that are hers and try to turn them into a strength? Maybe the music industry itself needs to start looking into a clean mirror rather then a funhouse mirror filled with distortion? Or – perhaps the changes in the recording industry in general away from albums (as CDs start to phase out) will start to bring about a different change … perhaps live performance will once again come to the forefront as it was before ‘Sgt. Pepper’ came out? The last thought is wishful thinking on one hand, but also a little ironic since this whole project/blog is about my attempt to re-capture thousands of recordings… I certainly can’t have TOO much of a problem with recordings since I obviously have been in the habit of collecting as many as I can.