I love old recordings. Stuff from the 50's, 60's, and 70's, before producers started to care more about the finished product than they did about capturing a mood or feeling.
I was listening to Aretha Franklin today, and got caught up in the awesomeness. It was like I was in the booth with her for a minute. I could picture her standing in front of the mic, singing her heart out and making it look so damned easy.
I love in (Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone when the horns are every so slightly off. Leave the mistakes. I'll take mistakes and mood over technical perfection any day of the week.
Some new recordings, I get bored and annoyed listening to because of overproduction. I want to feel something when I listen to music. I know with technology, it's easy to clean everything up and put it into a nice little package, but I sometimes feel like the emotion gets lost in there somewhere. A computer can't give me a feeling. I want to hear the keys of the piano as they're pressed. I want to hear the singer pull back from the microphone, straining themselves with emotion.
Music, to me, is an experience. And come to think of it, all my favourite music - the stuff I can listen to over and over again, has little nuances that are hard to find. I don't doubt that these musicians worked hard to create something 'perfect'. I just think that what some would call mistakes, is part of that perfection.
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