Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Concert Report
Went last night with former brother-in-law to be Mark to Keane and forgettable opening act at the Ogden. What a pleasant surprise. I had sampled the songs from the first album on Amazon and found them a little feckless but the singer has a very beautiful voice. And there was a mystery. But first, a memory. Probably in the very early 70s, I read a long short story about a rock and roll singer in the near future and the arc of the story was that the guy, top of the charts, a million album seller, was absolutely talentless. He could neither sing nor play and it took a near army of hidden technicians to put on his live show. Good story. I have no idea of its name or author.
OK, so Keane is three people. The very young looking singer, a keyboardist of no small talent and a drummer. That is supposed to be it. There was no guest guitarist or bassist. OK, but every song had a bland but distinct bass line. No reason to panic; Ray Manzarek did the bass with his left hand for The Doors. But as we watched Keane's keyboardist's left hand, it was clear that it wasn't doing the bass line. We looked at his feet--no, no bass pedals there. Where the heck was the bass line coming from?
OK, so Keane is three people. The very young looking singer, a keyboardist of no small talent and a drummer. That is supposed to be it. There was no guest guitarist or bassist. OK, but every song had a bland but distinct bass line. No reason to panic; Ray Manzarek did the bass with his left hand for The Doors. But as we watched Keane's keyboardist's left hand, it was clear that it wasn't doing the bass line. We looked at his feet--no, no bass pedals there. Where the heck was the bass line coming from?
Here is a good song but not great music video. Here is another good song, a live version, a lot more like the show last night. Hear the bass line? Do you know where it's coming from? Computer? Purists hated the pre-recorded parts to The Who songs like Baba O'Reilly et al. I was never that much a purist--if it works, I say use it, but the unacceptable limit is the Milli Vanilli fraud (kind of like the science fiction story).
I don't mind the mystery bass line in Keane concerts, I just want to know how they do it.
Labels: Keane
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 5:34 PM 
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It's a sequencer.....basically a digital pre recording of the bass line. Commonly used, however, disallowing for any deviance from the arrangement of the song, that the pre recorded line is "sequenced" to.
Thank you so much, stranger. It was driving me nuts. I suspected a computer like recording. Is there any 'play' at all or once you start the song live, you have to play it exactly like when the bass line was recorded? What's a concert then? Thanks, again, Mark.
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