Live vs Album

So that big long post about Tegan and Sara last week wasn't just to express my undying love for them (although, until now, I always thought that the expression 'the good ones are always either gay or married' only applied to single women lamenting the lack of quality men out there...)  The whole mindset came about because they recently released a new album.  And, much like every album they've released since my sister got me hooked way back in 2002 by playing 'If It Was You' on a never ending loop in the car, I was very excited for this one.  So much so that I ripped the audio from a live performance they did in Victoria of all their new material, just so that I wouldn't get too antsy waiting for the actual album to be released.  This audio was taken from a camera in the crowd, off of a YouTube video no less.  And all things considered, the quality wasn't that bad.  So, the new stuff went into heavy rotation on my iPod, and all was right in the world again.

Or was it?

You see, I absolutely fell in love with the song Alligator from that performance.  Which, should be a good thing, right?  Well, unfortunately... the album version kind of let me down.  It's still good, don't get me wrong.  But it's not epic like I was hoping. 

And despite the poor audio quality, I still prefer the live version.

Have you ever had someone quote you a joke or something from a TV show that you've never seen, and it sounds absolutely hilarious, and then you go watch that scene, and it wasn't nearly as funny as the way the person had told it to you earlier?  That's happened to me a few times.  And, staying on the topic of music, it's happened to me many other times as well - not just on the new Tegan and Sara album.  I remember enjoying a local band live many times before I finally bought their album, only to discover that my favorite song was not only no where near as good on the album, but they also had different lyrics that were way worse too.  Same with seeing a band I sort of liked on a late night talk show one evening.  They played a song I'd never heard before, I thought it sounded awesome, so I went out and got it, only to discover that the album version wasn't as good.

I only bring this up, because historically I'm very much the other way around.  I'll have heard the album version so much that when I see the band live, the songs aren't always as good.  Is this a product of over-producing the album in the studio such that it's so polished that it could never be that good live?  Or are some bands just not as talented when they're out of the studio?  Because a lot of bands have bowled me over at live shows.  So does that mean the ones that don't, maybe aren't as talented?

I think the best and probably most famous example of this is Dream On by Aerosmith.  Since it's inception, the question has always been: 'did Steven Tyler actually sing it?'  And although he vehemently stands by his assertion that he did, the fact remains that it's probably one of the most debated recordings in the history of music for that reason alone.  And the reason it's even up for debate (besides the fact that it doesn't sound like any of their other songs...) is because they can't recreate it live.  It just doesn't stack up to the album version that won the hearts of so many fans back in the 70's.  Regardless of what side of the arguement you stand on - I lean towards thinking that he actually did record it - it does serve as the embodiment of the entire point that I'm trying to make.

Anyways, I just thought I would throw that out there.  Maybe it's just me.  Regardless, thus ends my random musing for the day.