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Just watched the Rats on Youtube doing Diamond Smiles in Toyko, May 1980and can't help thinking if wasn't that great.
Talk about overdoing the na na nas, and the concise dynamic of the original is ruined with a lazy ending/last verse.
I've always had a thing that I generally prefer the recorded versions of the songs- of course there are great live versions but on more than one occasion I've thought some of the live versions are a bit tame. The version of Nothing Happened Today on the reissue of Surfacing misses the climax at the end the "It happened today " denouement and just ends with a damp squib.
Of course if the band has been playing the same songs over and over again on tour maybe that explains some of it
It would be interesting to compile a live album with definitive live versions from various concerts over the years.
Generally I feel the opposite and prefer live versions. I think I had heard most of the Rats first four albums live (at gigs, on radio/tv) before I heard the studio versions, and likewise with Pulp from Intro to Different Class. With the Rats, I didn't know that Joey/Kicks/Rat Trap were three different songs until Rat Trap was released as a single, and the studio version of She's Gonna Do You In makes little/no sense. Though the studio albums end up been the definitive versions, it's a shame the Rats never released a proper live LP. Stranglers Live X-Cert and Thin Lizzy's Live & Dangerous are probably better albums than their studio albums.
I think the most definitive live album would be the Hammersmith Odeon DVD. For me that was their peak. I think the worst live versions were around the V Deep days when Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Band were at every gig. [Please do not take that bit about Herb literally]
Generally I feel the opposite and prefer live versions. I think I had heard most of the Rats first four albums live (at gigs, on radio/tv) before I heard the studio versions, and likewise with Pulp from Intro to Different Class. With the Rats, I didn't know that Joey/Kicks/Rat Trap were three different songs until Rat Trap was released as a single, and the studio version of She's Gonna Do You In makes little/no sense. Though the studio albums end up been the definitive versions, it's a shame the Rats never released a proper live LP. Stranglers Live X-Cert and Thin Lizzy's Live & Dangerous are probably better albums than their studio albums.
I think the most definitive live album would be the Hammersmith Odeon DVD. For me that was their peak. I think the worst live versions were around the V Deep days when Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Band were at every gig. [Please do not take that bit about Herb literally]
Any good band should sound good both live and on record. I understand that if one sees a band live in their early days then the live sound will seem how they should sound and people may feel a bit let down with the records.
With so many bootlegs available it should be possible to get loads of good live versions of even the same song. Its just a matter of picking through the bootlegs, if one was so inclined, to find live versions one really likes so one can have the best of both worlds- both live and recorded.
In the version of Diamond Smiles I talk about the Rats mistakenly play the intro to Go Man Go before realising their mistake. At least the never had a miniature of Stonehenge on stage!
In the version of Diamond Smiles I talk about the Rats mistakenly play the intro to Go Man Go before realising their mistake. At least the never had a miniature of Stonehenge on stage!
I've seen that one. I genuinely though it was a deliberate mashup!
