Heartland

sometimes i get obsessed by body and soul, especially its ending. yesterday at night i had such an expierience again. listening to various incarnations of the ending, jumping from 84 to 91, from 90 back to 85 and round and round and round. the ending of this track is one of these mystcal moments terminating the difference between the sisters and others - and driving me crazy.

when i get a new gig (which happend quite regularly over the last year) i normally have a short look on it to check it's overall quality, and then i have to listen to the ending of body & soul to see what its all about. still incrdible, althougfh its official release might be the only version i don't like.

your heart your mind..

Funnily enough, I'm checking through* the tape transfer I'm doing for shambeko of Bristol 31/3/85 and it's a stonking version of B&S currently playing.

*Checking through because one of the gigs I transferred had interference from when my mobile rang while I was doing the transfer. Badly shielded cable

I always thought B&S was one of the only truly boring songs....

randdebiel² wrote:I always thought B&S was one of the only truly boring songs....

thats in fact an important point for this track - i always thought its dynamics are much more subtle and by this create the song's special atmosphere

about bristol: have to check that right now....


your heart your mind

Like jost7 says, it's far better live (sometimes) than the studio version.

I wonder if the studio version is poo because Wayne had only been in the band 2 or 3 months when they recorded it?

Gettin a bit deep.... its just an average Sisters song to me

i think its the shocking production that stops me from listening to it. Ive always thought the lyrics were pretty average for a sisters song (more like a m*****n song )

ryan wrote:i think its the shocking production that stops me from listening to it. Ive always thought the lyrics were pretty average for a sisters song (more like a m*****n song )

I agree, B&S is a great song (the 31-10-84 performance shows its potential I think) but the production really lets it down on the record. I feel the same way about Anaconda as well.

Hmmm, I've always thought it sounded a bit Mession-esque in lyrical content too - i.e. it doesn't really mean much whichever way you think about it. I have to confess to skipping it on bootlegs CDs. I may have to give it a further listen - occasionally tracks like Train or On the Wire can suddenly make so much sense live, you rethink them totally.

I never thought I'd be able to tell anyone to get out more.
That song always makes me feel soppy.

the official version has got a strange problem: the tuning of the guitars, maybe even the bass seems to be wrong. the combination of its sound and the wrong tuning turns the whole track into a strange recording. am i the only one hearing detuned guitars?

i like the lyrics. it does not seem to have any m*****n relation. its simply about a heartfelt relation or what one expects to get from his/her partner. expecting the unexpected lyricwise would be the wrong thing concerning such matter.

again i have to recommend oxford 18.5.1984 (soundboard edition) to discover its full beauty

jost 7 wrote:the official version has got a strange problem: the tuning of the guitars, maybe even the bass seems to be wrong. the combination of its sound and the wrong tuning turns the whole track into a strange recording. am i the only one hearing detuned guitars?

Yes I hear detuned guitars. As well in On the Wire and most of the b-sides from that time.


I have to get the Oxford gig.

best version of body & soul: royall albert hall 1985 on "wake"
it's sounds like a reptile in the jungle

TheBoyNextDoor wrote:

jost 7 wrote:the official version has got a strange problem: the tuning of the guitars, maybe even the bass seems to be wrong. the combination of its sound and the wrong tuning turns the whole track into a strange recording. am i the only one hearing detuned guitars?

Yes I hear detuned guitars. As well in On the Wire and most of the b-sides from that time.


I have to get the Oxford gig.

Hmm.. remembring Wayne talking about how they did the recording of some of the songs, something about recording the songs really slow and then pitching it up.. don't remember where he mentioned it though.. maybe that guitar mag who choosed him as a winner in the "best g*th guitarist ever" contest... ?? *mumbling*

Bet that's why the guitars (and bas, and keyboards, and well, the vocals) sound out of tune.

I also find the studio version totally lacking. It has absolutely no punch. Funny though, because there's a good interview at the time of release where AE is talking about how he's very proud of the production, etc, etc. Yet the production...well, the drums sound muted, the guitars detuned, the whole thing a bit lifeless.

The Wake version is thundering...well, so is most of Wake. It's pretty interesting as a live show, the only one Eldo thought it was ever worth releasing. The sound is so different from same-era boots, that low, muddy, rumbling, hammering sound, with the good Doktor producing a big, fat sound.

Electrochrome wrote:I also find the studio version totally lacking. It has absolutely no punch. Funny though, because there's a good interview at the time of release where AE is talking about how he's very proud of the production, etc, etc. Yet the production...well, the drums sound muted, the guitars detuned, the whole thing a bit lifeless.

The Wake version is thundering...well, so is most of Wake. It's pretty interesting as a live show, the only one Eldo thought it was ever worth releasing. The sound is so different from same-era boots, that low, muddy, rumbling, hammering sound, with the good Doktor producing a big, fat sound.

that would be because there was no mr marx and thus wayne's guitar was swathed in chorus and phase in a bid to fill the gap in sound...

i think its a bit overkill on Wake - they get it about right on a couple of others from that period and its quite "interesting" but i must admit that i tend to prefer the boots from just before gary left - i find the overall sound much more interesting when there's 2 ghuitar lines being played

Generally I prefer the boots from before Wayne joined!

Wayne may be a better guitarist technically, but Ben made much more noise.

How many studio versions of Body And Soul are there? The sound quality on Some Boys is better than official CD versions sound. Dunno how or why, but it is.

Black Biscuit wrote:How many studio versions of Body And Soul are there? The sound quality on Some Boys is better than official CD versions sound. Dunno how or why, but it is.

because the version on "some boys..." is not taken from the master tapes like the official cd version but was recorded from the original vinyl 12".

and providing you have good playback & recording equipment, going through that analogue stage gives a much warmer, richer sound that a straight mastertape-to-digital recording does.

Continuing from The Boy next door......
Small clip from Total guitar # 82 April 2001.

That Guitarist Interview.
"We used flangers, chorus, 12 strings...I used to track up a lot of stuff. We would slow down the tape to half speed and then record, so that when you speed it up you'd get that high end. You cant get that now.
There's no way you can do it- I've tried".

And I guess thats how he became the No. 1 Goth guitarist?

Interviewed from his goth home in California! Hmm

I don't know anything about the technical stuff, but I love the song. Perhaps they slowed down the vocals as well, giving that Gregorian effect?