Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2014 12:00:15 GMT -5
It has nothing to with the inability to play, it's just not possible for 1 person to play everything live. Most songs are so complex, they would need 3 or 4 musicians to play it all 100% live.
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Post by andre005 on Nov 11, 2014 12:13:06 GMT -5
I would like to see Nick play classical piano--you would think after all this time he would know how to play piano--I knew something was up when Simon lost his voice and came back during Unplugged MTV--they had another classic piano player and it wasn't Nick! lol
I missed it when MTV actually played music!!!
Creating that recording sound is good..don't get me wrong..but come on sometimes I love the raw live playing!!
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Post by autodidact97 on Nov 11, 2014 19:06:25 GMT -5
I think Nick just got lucky to have met a bunch of dedicated musicians but also his inability to play instruments might have caused the delay for the production of the albums.
The Bathroom Flush sound at "Take a Dice"
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ShutterHaze
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Post by ShutterHaze on Nov 12, 2014 8:37:31 GMT -5
They needed john jones during the unplugged session, live piano.. And all the piano on Electric Theatre Palomino etc live (c. 1989) is Spike Edney, and then Andy Hamilton plays the piano intro for 1982s Make Me Smile. I only discovered that when I watched the video. Took me from age 5 to age 14 to get to Grade 6 piano, so in the 35 years since the band started, surely NR could have learnt? But I am left asking, would it have been so much effort in the past 35 years or so for Nick and John to actually learn to read music, and for Nick to learn to play more of his synth parts live? The more tools you have at your finger-tips the more versatile the music you play and create is likely to be. I would be frankly embarrassed if I was in the company of other musicians, after 35 years, and I was proudly declaring that I couldnt read music, and that (by implication) that somehow made me more authentic. The musicians I was talking to would just laugh and not take me seriously. The quavers (US translation: "eighth-notes") in the Chauffeur are perfectly playable, but Nick sequences them. Mark Ronson plays the riff in "Bang Bang Bang" live when he is performing that song. There's some fluff-ups and so on, but it's live, and that's what I would expect as an audience member. Obv the fast "pop corn" sequences in Hungry and Rio are not playable, but the keyboard riffs in, for example, the Reflex, are perfectly playable. Yet all we get in the Reflex, live, are the two-chords-a-bar pad sounds instead and possibly the one-finger lead line in the chorus. So, in summary, I feel that more effort could be put into the "practicing difficult keyboard parts and learning to play them live" side of things. I feel I should probably run for cover now, as I am fully expecting to be shot down for suggesting that being a musician ought to involve musicianship. And yes, I know, it's all so great that Nick is just "there", and that there would be no band without him etc, but, come on, is a bit more live playing too much to ask for? ShutterHaze
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Post by More Play Time on Nov 12, 2014 10:32:03 GMT -5
Well, he seems to be able to play piano in this song from Big Live Thing:
I think he really needs to loosen up like this and just learn to play around live. I know I said making mistakes may be embarracing for him, but at the same time, I dont think every song needs to have the backing tape playing in the background to make it sound 100% like the album in each case.
edit: just noticed the title, Nich Rhodes.
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Post by Dr Of The Revolution on Nov 12, 2014 11:07:48 GMT -5
Well, he seems to be able to play piano in this song from Big Live Thing: I think he really needs to loosen up like this and just learn to play around live. I know I said making mistakes may be embarracing for him, but at the same time, I dont think every song needs to have the backing tape playing in the background to make it sound 100% like the album in each case. edit: just noticed the title, Nich Rhodes. Second keyboard player (Spike Edney) visible at 1.49 in the video....
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trevgreg
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Post by trevgreg on Nov 12, 2014 11:51:26 GMT -5
But I am left asking, would it have been so much effort in the past 35 years or so for Nick and John to actually learn to read music, and for Nick to learn to play more of his synth parts live? The more tools you have at your finger-tips the more versatile the music you play and create is likely to be. I would be frankly embarrassed if I was in the company of other musicians, after 35 years, and I was proudly declaring that I couldnt read music, and that (by implication) that somehow made me more authentic. The musicians I was talking to would just laugh and not take me seriously. In the rock/pop band world, I think there's a good portion of musicians that are not being able to read music (i.e., what an a# note is on a music scale, etc.). So unless they were playing with some pretentious jazz band or something, I doubt that many other musicians would raise an eyebrow to someone not being able to read something off of paper. Nick and DD obviously have an idea what chords are, how they change, and how to play those on their respective instruments. For someone like John, I'm not sure if he would need to learn anything like that to play a solid bass line. In many respects, playing and listening is all you need there. Heck, a tweet from Nile in August said the following: "In writing a Duran today I said, "Let's change one chord to a G-7b6" and Nick played it instantly! *proud*" For a guy as accomplished as Nile, he wasn't saying "ugh, he can't read music," haha. Like him as a musician or not, Nick obviously has some idea what's going on after 35 years. In terms of his playing ability live, I can't say much there. It doesn't bother me as much as it does for some people, but I can see why at the same time.
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Post by andre005 on Nov 12, 2014 12:33:55 GMT -5
Which brings me to my point--when Nick got sick couldn't they have gotten a musician to fill in for Nick live so those dates didn't have to be canceled? I know Nick has the sounds and bells and whistles but when Andy's dad was sick...Dom came to the rescue...maybe a keyboardist who knows how to read music would have at least winged it...
Nick is important don't get wrong but they were not able to reschedule those last group of shows toward the end...
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trevgreg
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Post by trevgreg on Nov 12, 2014 13:55:43 GMT -5
Which brings me to my point--when Nick got sick couldn't they have gotten a musician to fill in for Nick live so those dates didn't have to be canceled? I know Nick has the sounds and bells and whistles but when Andy's dad was sick...Dom came to the rescue...maybe a keyboardist who knows how to read music would have at least winged it... Nick is important don't get wrong but they were not able to reschedule those last group of shows toward the end... That was a big point of debate back when it happened in 2008/2012, with a fan or two even suggesting that the shows could have gone in with the spontaneity of not having a keyboardist and being a bit 'different' that way (and perhaps in a manner that was fun for a lot of people). Unless a keyboard tech had a way to program all the synth parts during the show (which some have argued is possible), I guess the only explanation is that it wouldn't be considered a DD show without Nick. I can see the argument in this, as he's literally been the one person that's participated in every DD show since the late 70's. Yet again, the same standard seems to have been applied to other members too as of late. The Japan shows in 2005 were delayed due to a problem with Roger's foot (which some later questioned, actually). The 2012 shows during Simon's vocal problems were delayed as well. John had a bass tech replace him during a show after a night of partying in the early 80's, but that was way back in the day. With regards to Andy, my guess there is that the difference came due to the promo shows he missed in the fall of 2004. The album had just come out, they had promo dates for it that in their mind probably could have helped out with sales and publicity... i.e., they weren't shows that could be easily cancelled or delayed like tour dates could have been. So they had a few days and brought on a guitar player that could fill in for them, thinking not much else about it at the time. But what happened, of course, is that they now had a guy that could fill in on short notice from then on out (assuming he was available). So rather than tour dates being delayed or what not, they could now just go to that person for that particular instrument. Obviously, that came to play in a big way in 2005-2006.
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Post by sergejames on Nov 12, 2014 17:14:47 GMT -5
Well,The Beatles never read music. I don't believe The Rolling Stones do either. No big deal.
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