Re: Screaming! again

[Alan McKendree <amck@eden.com>]

On Thu, 9 Feb 1995, Sherry Nelson wrote:

> Actually, the Happy Jack in the video TKAA is the studio version, 
> while the HJ on the soundtrack CD of TKAA is clearly a different,
> live version.

You're right, and I never explicitly realized this before.  What an
odd (but nice) thing to do, to put a live HJ on the soundtrack CD
rather than just reproduce the studio version used in the film.

While chasing this down, I also discovered that the "Sparks" on the
film (I'm using the relatively recent official "special edition" TKAA
with the "Kids Are Alright" video tacked onto the end) is played a
full half-step higher than the "Sparks" on the CD; the video lasts
2:37 or 2:38 depending on the player I'm using and the CD lasts 2:44.
I don't know what the deal is with the Who and video but I'm getting
pretty sick of it.  I bought the "Who's Better Who's Best" video when
it first came out and it was unwatchable for this very reason.  Do't
know whether they've fixed the problem (hope so) in the more recent
copies, but I had to return mine and don't have a copy to this day.  I
mean, what the f**k?  Is videotape really so expensive they have to
speed up the songs to save 7 seconds here and there?

It's really indefensible to undercut the power of the performance like
this.  It mixes just a hint of comic fast-forward into the movements
and Alvin and the Chipmunks into the vocals.  I don't notice it in the
"Sparks" visuals so much but I do notice it in the audio, and Who's
Better Who's Best -- wow, what a stinker.

Still pissed at Polydor (the ones responsible for WBWB), and not much
happier with BMG Music (TKAA video),

Alan

As a matter of fact, I could have went to any school I wanted -- MIT,
Yale, Harvard.            --Joseph Robert Zipay, on alt.fan.letterman