# Fake Live Recordings
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 16, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121 "2016-09-16T23:44:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/1 "2016-09-16T23:44:38Z")
It’s always the same: Friday night, listening to music, and getting inspired to post a thread about what I hear. This time it’s Gram Parson’s wonderful swansong album _Grievous Angel_, and it has the [“Medley Live From Northern Quebec, Cash On The Barrelhead and Hickory Wind”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDlBwf-CJPw). This is quite obviously faked, with mixed-in applause and audience noise (much bottle smashing, too ;)), but it’s fun (I love Gram’s and Emmylou’s yodel at the end of _Barrelhead_). Of course that’s a common style, the pseudo-live recording on a studio album. What comes to mind is _Stg Pepper’s Hearts Club Band_, the blending into _With A Little Help…_ If I’d dig deeper in my mental musical archive, I could come up with more examples, but I decided to let the Dopers do the hard work. So, what else is there? I can’t think at the moment of a whole fake live album, but I bet they exist (the Beach Boys’ _Party_ album comes close, but that’s not quite the same thing).
---
### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2016, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/2 "2016-09-16T23:49:38Z")
_Bennie and the Jets_ by Elton John has audience sounds and reverb mixed into it to give it a live feel.
---
### Author:  [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/3 "2016-09-16T23:52:05Z")
Some say that **[Kiss: Alive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alive!_(Kiss_album))** is not as live as we once thought.
---
### Author:  [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/4 "2016-09-16T23:55:44Z")
^ Typo just beat me to it. I knew it would be one of the first to be mentioned- it’s a popular live album that gets a lot of criticism for overdubbing and more.
---
### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/5 "2016-09-17T00:06:49Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#):
>
> Some say that **[Kiss: Alive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alive!_(Kiss_album))** is not as live as we once thought.
> [@x-ray\_vision](#):
>
> ^ Typo just beat me to it. I knew it would be one of the first to be mentioned- it’s a popular live album that gets a lot of criticism for overdubbing and more.
Well, that’s not quite what I was going for, I think the “prettied up” live album is even more common (notable examples: _Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out_ and _If You Want Blood_), but what I had in mind were tracks completely and obviously recorded in a studio, prepped up by audience tracks. But I guess there’s somehow a continuum between those examples.
ETA: just thought about the fact that Frank Zappa’s way of recording maybe represents the best example for this continuum.
---
### Author:  [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/6 "2016-09-17T00:35:29Z")
The Butthole Surfers’ [John E. Smoke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvnWxiy41HM) does what you’re asking about.
---
### Author:  [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/7 "2016-09-17T01:24:14Z")
Rolling Stones Got Live if you want it has two fake live songs. They have disowned it.
---
### Author:  [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/8 "2016-09-17T01:25:55Z")
[Eagles Live](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagles_Live) has the distinction of being named the “most overdubbed live album in history” by the _Rolling Stone Record Guide_.
---
### Author:  [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/9 "2016-09-17T01:46:47Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#):
>
> just thought about the fact that Frank Zappa’s way of recording maybe represents the best example for this continuum.
Zappa has done the opposite of the OP’s question quite a few times, cannibalising live recordings for tracks to use on ‘Studio’ records. His openness about pulling together actual ‘live albums’ from multiple shows is another permutation, but it seems that a number of artists have done this quietly, as seen by websites like [this one](http://www.thegardentapes.co.uk/), which painstakingly goes through the bootleg tapes to work out exactly which recordings comprise the Led Zeppelin live records.
Glancing through my collection, a few ‘fake’ live records:
- Thirteenth Floor Elevators LIVE: I understand this is entirely studio demos with fake cheering overdubbed.
- Slayer - Live Undead; I think this is also entirely studio recordings, and the audience response is hilarious to track.
- Metallica - Garage Days Revisited (b-sides to Jump In The Fire) was also studio demos.
- Iron Maiden - Remember Tomorrow (live) - a weird one - it was always explained as being from an Italian show which was the first show that new singer Bruce Dickinson performed - when the original tape of the show surfaced, it turned out it wasn’t that at all, and it seems it’s an overdubbed version from the earlier EP ‘Maiden Japan’.
---
### Author:  [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/10 "2016-09-17T01:46:50Z")
Ray Stevens had plenty of songs with obvious, fake audience noise mixed in, particularly canned laughter.
---
### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/11 "2016-09-17T01:54:22Z")
Jackson Browne’s **Running on Empty**.
---
### Author:  [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/12 "2016-09-17T02:00:17Z")
The anti-example would be _[Through the Fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_the_Fire_(album))_ by Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve; recorded completely live (with some minor overdubs) but the audience noise was mixed out.
[Def Leppard’s “Stagefright”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAQVGoGfjpY) is a studio recording with added audience cheers for effect.
---
### Author:  [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/13 "2016-09-17T02:05:57Z")
> [@Junior\_Spaceman](#):
>
> Zappa has done the opposite of the OP’s question quite a few times, cannibalising live recordings for tracks to use on ‘Studio’ records. His openness about pulling together actual ‘live albums’ from multiple shows is another permutation, but it seems that a number of artists have done this quietly, as seen by websites like [this one](http://www.thegardentapes.co.uk/), which painstakingly goes through the bootleg tapes to work out exactly which recordings comprise the Led Zeppelin live records.
>
> Glancing through my collection, a few ‘fake’ live records:
>
> - Thirteenth Floor Elevators LIVE: I understand this is entirely studio demos with fake cheering overdubbed.
> - Slayer - Live Undead; I think this is also entirely studio recordings, and the audience response is hilarious to track.
> - Metallica - Garage Days Revisited (b-sides to Jump In The Fire) was also studio demos.
> - Iron Maiden - Remember Tomorrow (live) - a weird one - it was always explained as being from an Italian show which was the first show that new singer Bruce Dickinson performed - when the original tape of the show surfaced, it turned out it wasn’t that at all, and it seems it’s an overdubbed version from the earlier EP ‘Maiden Japan’.
Johnny Rivers didn’t even make a studio LP until his third one out. He was the house band at the Whisky au go go.
---
### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/14 "2016-09-17T02:21:25Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#):
>
> Jackson Browne’s **Running on Empty**.
Is it? I’ve always thought this album was an amalgam of studio tracks, backstage recordings and live snippets, mixed together. For example, isn’t the second half of “The Road” a real live recording, edited in after the studio part?
---
### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/15 "2016-09-17T02:26:58Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#):
>
> The anti-example would be _[Through the Fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_the_Fire_(album))_ by Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve; recorded completely live (with some minor overdubs) but the audience noise was mixed out.
Joe Jackson’s _[Big World](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_World)_ is another example for that. The audience was specially requested to hold back with noise and applause.
---
### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/16 "2016-09-17T02:28:54Z")
> [@JKilez](#):
>
> [Eagles Live](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagles_Live) has the distinction of being named the “most overdubbed live album in history” by the _Rolling Stone Record Guide_.
More than _Stop Making Sense_? I find that hard to believe.
---
### Author:  [@Cell\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cell_Guy)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/17 "2016-09-17T02:47:52Z")
According to Sammy Hagar Van Halen’s _Live:Right Here Right Now_ was completely rerecorded in the studio over the audience track.
---
### Author:  [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/18 "2016-09-17T08:30:59Z")
On the Charles Mingus album “Presents Charles Mingus”, he makes a big point of introducing all of the songs and telling the audience to please keep quiet and to not even clink the ice in their drinks because they need absolute silence. Of course there was no audience present, but I thought it was an interesting concept.
---
### Author:  [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/19 "2016-09-17T09:39:07Z")
From memory, the Residents _Live in Japan_ apparently had audience reaction added by their using the applause, etc. from recordings made at previous Residents gigs.
I’d have to check the sleeve notes to see if the applause was for the same songs or not, but my Residents vinyl is buried deep in a cupboard…
---
### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/20 "2016-09-17T09:44:34Z")
Please don’t mock me… 😉
At the end of Ricky Martin’s studio-recorded song “María,” a few seconds of cheering-crowd noise are edited in. It l’s a really stupid way to end an otherwise great song.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121.md?page=2)