# Fake Live Recordings **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/21 "2016-09-17T10:40:05Z")
At 1:55 in [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB_ROOEG-ts), there is a fake audience cheer from a fake revival-style barker. It really works since the ending of his announcement is drowned out by the enthusiasm of the “crowd”, even though I can’t tell how it relates to the rest of the song. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/22 "2016-09-17T12:06:49Z")
What about Tom Waits’ “Nighthawks at the Diner”? A live album recorded in a studio with a small audience. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/23 "2016-09-17T12:42:24Z")
I had thought we’ve done this one before. I semi-recall posting about Big Brother and the Holding Company’s _Turtle Blues_ crediting vibes by Barney’s Beanery. But searching turns up nothing. The background isn’t the usual audience claps and woos. It’s restaurant noise and people talking. ---
**Author:** ![scruffycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scruffycat/32/200_2.png) [@scruffycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scruffycat)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/24 "2016-09-17T13:14:03Z")
Cannonball Adderley’s - Mercy Mercy Mercy! Live at ‘The Club’ is a bit of an oddity in that it’s technically live, just not at ‘The Club’ . [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercy,\_Mercy,\_Mercy!_Live\_at_%27The\_Club%27](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercy,_Mercy,_Mercy!_Live_at_%27The_Club%27) ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/25 "2016-09-17T13:51:46Z")
Peggy Lee’s _Beauty and the Beat!_ (1959)) was intended to be a live recording from Miami Beach but due to technical glitches the results were unsatisfactory and so the songs were re-recorded in a studio and these recordings presented as a live album with overdubbed audience noise etc. Also a couple of James Brown’s singles from the 1960s are like this, though I don’t know off-hand which ones. It happened after he had a big hit with his _Live at the Apollo_ album, so presumably someone thought the “live” aspect had commercial appeal. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/26 "2016-09-17T14:21:10Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I had thought we’ve done this one before. I semi-recall posting about Big Brother and the Holding Company’s _Turtle Blues_ crediting vibes by Barney’s Beanery. But searching turns up nothing. > > The background isn’t the usual audience claps and woos. It’s restaurant noise and people talking. Like Zappa and the Mothers’ “America Drinks (And Gets Wet)” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/27 "2016-09-17T15:45:56Z")
Wilderness Road’s “[The Authentic British Blues](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu3jqvn9o0U)” starts out sounding like it’s a live event, with the audience cheering and someone shouting “Play the blues. I want to boogie.” ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/28 "2016-09-17T16:07:19Z")
Aerosmith’s Lick and a Promise and Train Kept a Rollin use audience noise as a studio effect. ---
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/29 "2016-09-17T17:40:17Z")
XTC’s The Loving has crowd cheering sounds - as they hadn’t toured for years I don’t think they were trying to fool anyone. Inversely, aren’t Weather Report’s Birdland and Prince’s Purple Rain meant to have been one-take live in the studio recordings - said to be without overdubs? MiM ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/30 "2016-09-17T18:39:15Z")
At the Roger Waters performance of The Wall Live in Berlin, Marianne Faithfull’s performance didn’t happen live. She was onstage (or rather above) the stage and her microphone didn’t work. She just kind of smiled and waved to the crowd. On the album and video she was there singing. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/31 "2016-09-17T18:55:57Z")
Rush’s The Spirit of Radio has one small section of crowd noise inserted for effect. Ditto The Pretenders My Baby. In neither case is there any attempt to deceive. It’s just what the song needed. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/32 "2016-09-17T21:33:48Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Rush’s The Spirit of Radio has one small section of crowd noise inserted for effect. > > Ditto The Pretenders My Baby. > > In neither case is there any attempt to deceive. It’s just what the song needed. Also Buffalo Springfield’s Neil Young-composed “Broken Arrow.” The live snippets are from a performance of their “Mr. Soul.” I think it’s supposed to evoke a sort of melancholy reflection on the vapidness of pop music hype. Something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/33 "2016-09-17T22:15:44Z")
Not exactly what the OP mentions, but worth mentioning…the [Peter, Paul & Mary - Live in Concert](https://www.amazon.com/Peter-Paul-Mary-Concert/dp/B000002KA7) that my parents used to play: it is quite obviously recorded live, but it is also glaringly evident that whenever the audience applauded, the sound recorder cranked the microphones up to 11 to make it sound like they were receiving thunderous applause after each and every song. It’s not totally bogus, but always struck me as just a teensy bit dishonest. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/34 "2016-09-17T23:09:43Z")
I’m going to be really bummed if that wasn’t a woman actually being murdered on _Love Rollercoaster._ ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/35 "2016-09-18T00:03:34Z")
Group laughter with smatterings of applause: “[Bored In The USA](https://youtu.be/JODshFyKHuA)” by Father John Misty Live in concert with the applause removed: “The Wake-Up Bomb,” “Undertow,” “Departure,” and “Binky the Doormat” by R.E.M. on _[New Adventures in Hi-Fi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Adventures_in_Hi-Fi)_ (5 other songs on the album were from soundchecks, 1 from a dressing room, and 4 from a studio) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/36 "2016-09-18T00:14:59Z")
> [@Kimble](#): > > Live in concert with the applause removed: “The Wake-Up Bomb,” “Undertow,” “Departure,” and “Binky the Doormat” by R.E.M. on _[New Adventures in Hi-Fi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Adventures_in_Hi-Fi)_ (5 other songs on the album were from soundchecks, 1 from a dressing room, and 4 from a studio) Yeah, a similar “on the road” album like Jackson Brownes’s _Running On Empty_, which was recorded in the same vein as far as I know. Both are great albums, I think it’s R.E.M.'s last great album. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/37 "2016-09-18T01:57:48Z")
Is Cheap Trick’s “I want you to want me” actually live? The only version you ever hear sounds like it is recorded live but I don’t know if it really is. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/38 "2016-09-18T03:19:14Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Is Cheap Trick’s “I want you to want me” actually live? The only version you ever hear sounds like it is recorded live but I don’t know if it really is. That is probably from Live at the Budokan which was recorded over two nights in Japan. It is also Cheap Tricks best selling album. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/39 "2016-09-18T03:41:10Z")
There’s also Dio’s “[King of Rock ‘n’ Roll](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZnP1-5lSI8)”, the opening track on the _Sacred Heart_ album. > [@Junior\_Spaceman](#): > > - Metallica - Garage Days Revisited (b-sides to Jump In The Fire) was also studio demos. “Garage Days Revisited” was the name for the B-sides to the “Creeping Death” EP - their covers of Diamond Head’s “Am I Evil?” and Blitzkrieg’s “Blitzkrieg”. I believe the fake-live songs on the B-side to “Jump in the Fire” had no special title. ---
**Author:** ![akrako1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@akrako1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akrako1)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121/40 "2016-09-19T21:25:39Z")
[13th Floor Elevators - Live!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_(13th_Floor_Elevators_album)) …at least if you’re going to dub in fake crowd noise, don’t dub it in WAAAY louder than the music. Maybe they were trying to simulate an ‘audience’ recording… ugh… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fake-live-recordings/766121.md?page=3)