Music Appreciation
Related: About this forumrog
(647 posts)... the MOST ANNOYING camera work and video editing I have ever seen on a music video. Bar none.
Also, I think it's obvious, from what little you can see of Clapton's guitar playing, that the video and audio are from different performances.
Thanks for the post, though.
♫rog♫
appalachiablue
(41,055 posts)appalachiablue
(41,055 posts)rog
(647 posts)... really, nothing against you, and certainly nothing against Cream (although Clapton has been a pain in the butt recently). I was lucky enough to see Cream during their heyday ... long before their farewell concert ... in relatively small venues, also Hendrix at Monterey Pop, The Fillmore, and locally.
But as to the video above, the audio seems better in sync ... at least it's not the studio version ... but the video editing is the exact same annoying editing. Maybe not so annoying if a person enjoys looking up Jack Bruce's nostrils for half the video. And it's also obvious that the video is a composite of different performances ... unless Clapton switches from a Gibson Firebird guitar to an SG in the middle of the tune. [Edit: Actually, I apologize for that last sentence ... I watched another video, and it seems that J Bruce is playing an SG bass, which I took to be a 6-string guitar in that fast cut. On the other hand, I looked at a BBC video of this tune, purportedly from the farewell concert, and Clapton looks to be playing a 335. Definitely a closeup of a Firebird in the clip above, though.]
But honestly, I didn't mean to be so picky ... I just hate video editing like this, regardless of who does it. And this may well be from some 'official DVD' of the farewell concert ... I just don't think all those very extreme closeups and rapid cuts add anything to the music, and in fact, are very distracting for me personally.
Sorry to be a Negative Nancy ... this is a great tune.
.rog.
highplainsdem
(48,731 posts)The band had performed two sets at the Albert Hall, but it is believed only the second set was filmed in its entirety. Several times during the performance, it is apparent that the on-screen shot is not in sync with the audio. In fact, in several songs, including during Ginger Baker's drum solo, he seems to change clothes at lightning speed due to careless post-editing, as well as Eric Clapton playing two different guitars. This is because footage from both sets, with the band wearing different clothes and Clapton using a Gibson Firebird for the first set, a Gibson 335 for the second, were edited together. The BBC used four static cameras and two hand held cams, all recording onto video tape, whilst Palmer himself filmed footage at the front of the stage, utilising a 16mm film camera. The difference in quality can be detected easily during the broadcast. However, the BBC "Pete Drummond" version was better quality overall, and is the only version that has these 16mm film clips removed the remastered release on the 2005 DVD presents both audio and video in excellent quality.[citation needed]
Ginger Baker himself has lashed out in an interview against the Farewell Concert video, stating: "Cream was so much better than that." Nonetheless, most Cream fans regard the actual performance with great enthusiasm, disregarding the poor quality of the video.
ProfessorGAC
(64,425 posts)The audio is dreadful.
By contrast, the entire second disc of Wheels of Fire is live. The audio is WAY, WAY better than this video.
This was common in those days as audio engineers for film & TV had a very different skill set that recording or sound reinforcement engineers.
The TV & film guys knew everybody & were held in higher esteem, so they got those gigs even though they weren't right for the job.
One of the reasons the Woodstock movie sounds as good as it does is because the producers hired actual studio engineers to run separate film audio. They were set up in an old school bus with mattresses on the walls, behind the stage. It's why the audio is cleaner sounding than in the Monterey Pop movie.
This clip is essentially the archetype of that problem.
It's still an issue almost every year at the R&R HoF show. The audio is routinely poor, because they still use TV broadcast engineers instead of musical engineers.
jalan48
(13,798 posts)Cream - Sitting On Top Of The World (Farewell Concert -
appalachiablue
(41,055 posts)When young I played the music of the Doors, Hendrix, Cream and others to no end. My dad, a music fan and open minded was exceptionally tolerant. He even enjoyed it, lucky for me. In school it was violin lessons, piano at home and older brother taught me some guitar when little. ~ AB.
jalan48
(13,798 posts)highplainsdem
(48,731 posts)is a third video of that song from the two-set concert, this one in black and white, from the second set that was filmed (according to the YouTube description):
highplainsdem
(48,731 posts)and although this starts with "I Feel Free" most of the video is about "White Room."
And here's a link to the Wikipedia article on Pete Brown and his songwriting with Cream:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Brown
ProfessorGAC
(64,425 posts)...of the band that lasted 21 years, we covered this.
Easy to get down tight, and with the break in the middle & the solo at the end, it was a good way to burn 5 minutes, playing a song most acts didn't.
In those sections, like the opening, I used a choir & tympani samples, and during the verses I did a funky clavinet thing countering the guitar.
I have to say, we made it sound big.
highplainsdem
(48,731 posts)ProfessorGAC
(64,425 posts)I'll try to motivate myself to render some audio to MP3 & put them on my SoundCloud page.
I've probably got 40 something hours on DVD.