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Obvious mistakes on recordings

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  • Beatles: various Paul McCartney backing vocal errors

  • Monkees: Daydream Believer - bum bass note at beginning of final chorus in fadeout

  • Simon & Garfunkel: Sound of Silence - drums speed up just before one of the last verses

    • Dusty Springfield: I Only Want to Be With You - violins miss high note toward the end of the instrumental verse

    ― Jez (Jez), Friday, 30 July 2004 14:28 (8 years ago) Permalink

    Sorry - html typo rendered the last in italic

    ― Jez (Jez), Friday, 30 July 2004 14:29 (8 years ago) Permalink

    Maybe these were more common in the 60s. On the Stones' "The Last Time" there's a very audible momentary tape slowdown just as they go into the fadeout.

    ― briania (briania), Friday, 30 July 2004 14:32 (8 years ago) Permalink

    are they mistakes if they're left in?

    ― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 30 July 2004 14:39 (8 years ago) Permalink

    "At my house, we call them uh-oh's."

    ― briania (briania), Friday, 30 July 2004 14:44 (8 years ago) Permalink

    At the end of "Won't Get Fooled Again," Moon doesn't hit the drums on one of those final beats.

    I'd say, yes, they're mistakes if left in because no one noticed them; if people liked the song better with the mistake, then they're serendipities, I suppose.

    ― JC-L (JC-L), Friday, 30 July 2004 14:45 (8 years ago) Permalink

    yeah I think it's more "this is the best take we got" instead of "we didn't notice."

    ― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 30 July 2004 14:47 (8 years ago) Permalink

    http://www.cabinessence.net/essays/noises.html
    http://www.cabinessence.net/essays/noises2.html

    on various beach boys songs.

    ― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 30 July 2004 14:53 (8 years ago) Permalink

    TS mistakes on recordings vs. mistakes of recording (ie, the recorded output of bands I hate)

    ― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 30 July 2004 14:53 (8 years ago) Permalink

    prince - the cross

    he fluffs one of the drum fills in the intro, but didnt redo it apparently as he wanted to keep the spontaneity of fluffing.

    ― thesplooge (thesplooge), Friday, 30 July 2004 14:54 (8 years ago) Permalink

    guided by voices to thread.

    ― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 30 July 2004 14:54 (8 years ago) Permalink

    I always liked how the drummer comes in a bit late at the end of the vocal breakdown on "I Melt With You" by Modern English. It is a total flub, but I like how it sounds as the drummer speeds through the fill to catch up.


    ― earlnash, Friday, 30 July 2004 15:04 (8 years ago) Permalink

    There's a massive bleep/scronch on one of the bridges in "Independent Women" that bugs the shit out of me every time I hear it. From memory, it's the first one after the breakdown.

    ― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:07 (8 years ago) Permalink

    The last verse of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is slow

    ― dave q, Friday, 30 July 2004 15:09 (8 years ago) Permalink

    The Kingsmen, "Louie Louie" -- singer comes in too early, drummer tries to cover it with a pissed-off sounding fill.

    ― Colin Meeder (Mert), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:29 (8 years ago) Permalink

    The Kingsmen, "Louie Louie" -- singer comes in too early, drummer tries to cover it with a pissed-off sounding fill.

    My favorite mistake!

    ― frankE (frankE), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:35 (8 years ago) Permalink

    On Detention's CD comp. that came out not too long ago there's a really annoying tape glitch right in the middle of Dead Rock and Rollers. That's not on the single, right? It made me very sad.

    ― dlp9001, Friday, 30 July 2004 15:50 (8 years ago) Permalink

    Ha ha, I was going to say the entirety of "Louie, Louie" by the Kingsmen. So incredibly incompetent! Awesome!

    ― St. Nicholas (Nick A.), Friday, 30 July 2004 15:57 (8 years ago) Permalink

    some recent bruce springsteen records are poorly engineered and edited. you can hear splices in the middle of his vocals (sometimes changing the pitch pretty obviously), ambient sounds seem strangely flanged in an unappealing way....

    i've never gotten around to *liking* that fuckup in "louie, louie." i mean, wtf, could they have not just taken it from the top once again?

    ― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:01 (8 years ago) Permalink

    i mean, it wouldn't matter (w/r/t springsteen) if his general professionalism/commitment to his material weren't so high. there are punk records with shit bleeding all over the place, bad splices, etc. and it doesn't much matter because the overall aesthetic tolerates a great deal of hazard and sloppiness.

    ― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:02 (8 years ago) Permalink

    on that "I Know Where You're Going..." song by James Gang, Joe Walsh totally effs up the guitar rhythm at one part. what's that song really called, btw?

    ― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:05 (8 years ago) Permalink

    "Funk #49"

    ― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:08 (8 years ago) Permalink

    am, have you read that "Louie, Louie" book? It's great. I don't remember the details, but I think it was a combination of having very little recording time, trying to rush out their version of the song to beat competing garage bands, and just being technically incompetent in general.

    ― St. Nicholas (Nick A.), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:08 (8 years ago) Permalink

    i own that book, but i haven't looked at it in years.

    ― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:12 (8 years ago) Permalink

    on the kink's "set me free" there is a MAJOR fuckup in the intro. maybe a kingsmen hommage?

    ― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:12 (8 years ago) Permalink

    On Beck's "The Land Beyond", on the backup/harmony vocal track to the lyric "where the spirit comes in disguise", he stumblingly says "where the spirit comes with no eyes".

    ― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:19 (8 years ago) Permalink

    On the 'secret song' on Mr. Bungle's Disco Volante (NOT the end-of-disc hidden track, but the song tucked in between "Carry Stress In the Jaw" and "Desert Search for Techno Allah") they do this one everybody-hit-at-once part that really obviously clips horribly, but they left it. It just sounds so fucking PERFECT in it's wrongness.

    ― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:21 (8 years ago) Permalink

    Now that I listen to CDs on headphones most of the time, I've been frequently noticing what sounds like tape deterioration on older albums, even those by really big artists: there's instability on the left channel throughout Neil Young's "The Needle and the Damage Done," and a second of abrupt muddiness on some '67-era Aretha track whose name escapes me.

    ― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:24 (8 years ago) Permalink

    OK, it's at 3:33 or so of "Drown in My Own Tears."

    ― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:27 (8 years ago) Permalink

    A famous fuckup that works is on side one of Miles' "Jack Johnson." The bass stays in E but McLaughlin goes to A sharp I think it is. But it really works.

    Alex Chilton comes in too early singing the first line of "Boogie Shoes" on his "Like Flies on Sherbert" LP. Which is one big mistake that works, in my opinion.

    ― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:29 (8 years ago) Permalink

    There's this great Deniz Tek song called "RPM," where the chorus is comprised of counting - "1, 2, RPM, 3, 4 RPM..." and on one of the choruses, the doubled vocals CLEARLY say "7,8" while the lead vox say "5,6." It's distracting. Great song though

    Last week on Leno, The Dead played "Touch of Grey" and, despite having played the song regularly for close to 20 years, Phil Lesh sang "I will get by" on the last chorus when the rest of the band sang "WE will get by" (the correct lyric)

    and I know we already did a 'laughing in songs' thread, but Plush, Beck, and Syd Barrett to thread

    I love mistakes in songs

    ― roger adultery (roger adultery), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:37 (8 years ago) Permalink

    Oh yeah, there's also a splice in the Supremes' "Reflections" that causes an entire beat to go missing.

    ― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:39 (8 years ago) Permalink

    that rev. charlie jackson cd, which was mastered from 45s that were themselves recorded in a very, er, spartan manner: there are a few times when, listening on headphones, i could hear phones ringing in the background.

    on the leadoff track of dylan's "nashville skyline," his duet with johnny cash, they occasionally sing different versions of the chorus when they're supposed to be harmonizing. it also sounds like someone came in a bit late at the beginning, and the backing musicians spread out a few more bars than they had expected.

    ― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:49 (8 years ago) Permalink

    The Four Tops, "Standing in the Shadows of Love" -- the conga is off by what seems to be a half-measure on the second bridge.

    And the infamous "Just look over your shoulders, honey!" on the J5's "I'll Be There."

    ― Joseph McCombs, Friday, 30 July 2004 16:51 (8 years ago) Permalink

    "Nowhere Man" sounds like it's slowing down about half way through. It's quite eeire, and as a result I can't really listen to that song.

    ― Wooden (Wooden), Friday, 30 July 2004 16:54 (8 years ago) Permalink

    I've always wanted to ask Momus if the sequencer goes, well, out-of-sync during "Hairstyle of the Devil".

    ― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:00 (8 years ago) Permalink

    oh man, so right. that song has always bugged me (for that reason among others).

    this thread makes me very happy... that people are actually paying attention enough to notice these things.

    ― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:03 (8 years ago) Permalink

    Velvet Underground, "Heroin" - Mo Tucker famously loses the beat a couple of times & eventually quits entirely in frustration. Apparently she couldn't hear the guitars, which were recorded direct.

    I always love hearing singers screw up while double-tracking their vocals. In Motorhead's "Limb From Limb", Lemmy sings "Gonna tear ya" and "Gonna rip ya" simultaneously at one point. Weirder than that is Alice Cooper's "Apple Bush", in which one Alice sings "My house doesn't notice" while the other sings "My house doesn't worry" - nice to have meaningless lyrics that you can alter for no reason. And in the Stones' "Street Fighting Man", Mick and Keith sing the title, and then one of them ad-libs a "Yeah!" while the other does "No!" But those two were always disagreeing anyways, so maybe it's not really a mistake.

    ― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:03 (8 years ago) Permalink

    btw dylan's self-portrait is like really sweet porn for people who like to notice these sort of mistakes.

    ― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:05 (8 years ago) Permalink

    http://www.kempa.com/blog/archives/000344.html

    ― mookieproof (mookieproof), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:08 (8 years ago) Permalink

    oh man, so right. that song has always bugged me (for that reason among others).

    But I actually really like that song - it's just there's this one point where it seems like the sequencer is manually restarted or something.

    ― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:11 (8 years ago) Permalink

    My all-time favorite is the Beatles' "Rain"--listen to the end of the second verse and note that there's an extra beat or so in there--they all screw up and all come out of it together, thanks to a well-placed Ringo fill.

    ― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:25 (8 years ago) Permalink

    My favorite: listen to the beginning of the original version of 'Lady Marmalade' and then fast forward to the end. It seriously speeds up like 20 bpm in the course of the tune, but it doesn't matter because it feels so good!

    ― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:35 (8 years ago) Permalink

    are they mistakes if they're left in?
    -- hstencil (hstenc!...), July 30th, 2004 11:39 AM. (later)

    I'm kinda thinking 'no,' at least most of the time. They might have been mistakes originally, but once they become part of the "official" recording of the song, they're just part of the song. A lot of the best things I've done musically have come out of mistakes.

    ― St. Nicholas (Nick A.), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:35 (8 years ago) Permalink

    there's that Moldy Peaches track where someone's cell phone goes off and they start laughing. then again, some might consider this entire album a mistake that was left in...

    ― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:36 (8 years ago) Permalink

    I was wondering if I was imagining that wity "Lady Marmalade".

    ― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:40 (8 years ago) Permalink

    er, witH

    ― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:40 (8 years ago) Permalink

    taylrr OTM, this is their whole aesthetic. I guess Gary Young is exempt, too, right?

    Favorite vocal blunder: R.E.M.'s "Shaking Through" -- Stipe starts out horribly flat, adjusts the pitch as he goes along.

    I love this thread.

    ― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:41 (8 years ago) Permalink

    I was wondering if I was imagining that whitey "Lady Marmalade".

    ― St. Nicholas (Nick A.), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:43 (8 years ago) Permalink

    Talking about racing in the background of Beach Boys' "Here Today". So unintented they chose to edit it from the 1996 stereo mix.

    ― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 30 July 2004 17:47 (8 years ago) Permalink

    Skipping 54 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.
    There are two crude, dead obvious edits on the Count Five's "They're Gonna Get You" (the B-side of their hit, "Psychotic Reaction").

    Paul Butterfield's harmonica solo on "East West" almost sounds like it's in the wrong key, but redeems itself at some point. It sounds like he was "cross-harping," which is sorta like picking up, say, a D harmonica to play an A song. Butterfield just makes it, but at first his solo sounds really incorrect.

    That is one BOGUS sax solo on Dionne Warwick's "Anyone Who Had A Heart." I expect offkey saxophones on low-budget productions like Ron Holden's "Love You So," or "Angel Baby" by Rosie & the Originals, but not in the middle of some lavish Bacharach production.

    And Michael Jackson's "just look over your shoulders, honey!" in the Jackson Five's "I'll Be There" was NOT a mistake, just a goofy ad-lib.

    ― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Monday, 6 June 2005 12:23 (7 years ago) Permalink

    The first tune on the Arcade Fire album speeds up immensely between the beginning and the end.

    In the beginning of "Brown Sugar," the tempo drags when the drums first come in.

    ― Keith C (kcraw916), Monday, 6 June 2005 13:01 (7 years ago) Permalink

    i just sat down with my ipod and had a listen to some of the mistakes mentioned on this thread. The Jimmy Page one on Black Dog is spectacular!

    Here's another - The Small Faces - 'Get Yourself Together'. There's *something* wrong with the second phrase of the electric piano solo. I used to think that the piano was flat for the whole section, but I wonder if at around 1.26 Ronnie Lane fails to change note on the bass? Or both?

    ― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 6 June 2005 14:53 (7 years ago) Permalink

    That song on the first half of Spoon's "Girls Can Tell", where the keys and guitar play an arpeggio in the intro, but don't quite nail it. It's really sloppy, but sort of endearing in a homemade recording fashion.

    ― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Monday, 6 June 2005 14:58 (7 years ago) Permalink

    There's also the track on Miles Davis "Workin'" where he's trading fours with Philly Joe Jones. Philly extends it into eights, and in the fifth bar Miles comes in with the first couple notes of a phrase and then stops.

    ― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 6 June 2005 15:04 (7 years ago) Permalink

    There's another trading-fours mishap on Sonny Rollins' Volume 2, I think it's on either "You Stepped Out of a Dream" or "Why Don't I." He comes in too early but then totally makes up for it by repeating it and making it into a riff.

    ― Keith C (kcraw916), Monday, 6 June 2005 15:15 (7 years ago) Permalink

    There's an obvious recording error at the end of "Impossible" by Wu-Tang Clan. It's the part where Raekwon is talking about how "when you play with guns, son, that creates the problem of you going against your own..." There's an editing problem there where it sounds like the CD skips. It always stuck out like a sore thumb to me.

    ― Vestigial Appendages, Esq. (King Kobra), Monday, 6 June 2005 15:36 (7 years ago) Permalink

    I know Dylan's been mentioned before, but on "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream", there's a really obvious screw-up that occurs when the producer (Tom Wilson?) starts laughing loudly 20 seconds into the song. It cracks me up every time. Dylan starts the songs again after that.

    ― Vestigial Appendages, Esq. (King Kobra), Monday, 6 June 2005 15:39 (7 years ago) Permalink

    I've always wondered if it was intentional or just a mistake when Malkmus sang "Nature kids / I - they don't have no function" on "Range Life".

    ― Garrett Martin (Garrett Martin), Monday, 6 June 2005 16:08 (7 years ago) Permalink

    Check out the fade-out to "Fire" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience -- Noel Redding goes back to the main riff for a second, nobody joins, so he abashedly returns to the verse riff.

    ― Colin Meeder (Mert), Monday, 6 June 2005 16:16 (7 years ago) Permalink

    Nick Drake forgetting that he hasn't written an ending for a song and fumbling around for a few beats

    ― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 6 June 2005 16:34 (7 years ago) Permalink

    Joy Division's "The Eternal" had more beats to it but something went awry in the recording of it.

    Julian Cope's "Las Vegas Basement" features him half-mumbling lyrics he can't remember -- it was recorded on the first take, as he wrote in the liner notes.

    ― Ian Riese-Moraine. Sweeter than a lorry load of white Toblerones. (Eastern Mantr, Monday, 6 June 2005 17:24 (7 years ago) Permalink

    On Nirvana Unplugged, on "Pennyroyal Tea", after the solo, I think Kurt started offkey and just "slides" his way back to the right key. Everyone slows down and pretty much waits for him.

    He did say the song was in a different key, though.

    ― Viz (Viz), Monday, 6 June 2005 17:43 (7 years ago) Permalink

    Silver Jews "Have You Ever Rented a Room" has the most obvious edit I can think of. The part in the first verse where he sings "Who married one but loved another" is so obviously recorded in a different time and place. I think it even pans to the other speaker.

    ― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 6 June 2005 18:08 (7 years ago) Permalink

    Keith Richards misses one of the notes at the end of the Rolling Stones' "Sitting on a Fence". It's too bad, because it's otherwise a perfect track. But it has its value in contributing rawness.

    ― Vestigial Appendages, Esq. (King Kobra), Monday, 6 June 2005 18:20 (7 years ago) Permalink

    The Fall's Winter 1 & 2 PWNS THIS THREAD.

    ― ddb (ddb), Monday, 6 June 2005 18:59 (7 years ago) Permalink

    Olivia Tremor Control - "NYC-25"

    ― sleep (sleep), Monday, 6 June 2005 19:01 (7 years ago) Permalink

    i was told (in junior high) that if you listen carefully during the climactic guitar solo at the end of "Freebird", you can faintly hear someone say "hey don't touch that doughnut" or something like that, which was picked up by a room mic. and they kept it in because the take was so super sweet. does this ring a bell w/ anyone? it'd be great to have this settled.

    ― joey b, Monday, 6 June 2005 19:01 (7 years ago) Permalink

    On "Zoot Suit" from The Who's Quadrophenia you can clearly here someone say "Go on" just before a verse. The vinly and original CD's have it but it was mixed out for the 96 cd

    ― Marcus Daley, Sunday, 12 June 2005 21:42 (7 years ago) Permalink

    On Nirvana Unplugged, on "Pennyroyal Tea", after the solo, I think Kurt started offkey and just "slides" his way back to the right key. Everyone slows down and pretty much waits for him.

    Wait: either I'm insane, or Kurt sings "Pennyroyal Tea" solo. He actually asks the band to sit that one out, no?

    ― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Sunday, 12 June 2005 21:47 (7 years ago) Permalink

    I've been frequently noticing what sounds like tape deterioration on older albums, even those by really big artists: there's instability on the left channel throughout Neil Young's "The Needle and the Damage Done,"

    I'm glad it's not just my copy, then. Yes, that annoys the hell out of me. Also happens on my copy of "Like a Rolling Stone".

    ― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Monday, 13 June 2005 12:07 (7 years ago) Permalink

    I know it's live (which doesn't really count), but halfway through Jimi Hendrix's performance of "Like a Rollign Stone" at Monterey he yells out to the band "yeah, I know I missed a verse" and keeps going.

    ― simon french, Wednesday, 15 June 2005 01:48 (7 years ago) Permalink

    Jewel, Sheryl Crow, Gillian Welch, and her from Evanescance "Lady Marmalade".
    -- nickalicious (nickaliciou...), July 30th, 2004.
    where is this version ? is it in video ?

    ― jeweller, Wednesday, 15 June 2005 06:12 (7 years ago) Permalink

    There's a massive bleep/scronch on one of the bridges in "Independent Women" that bugs the shit out of me every time I hear it. From memory, it's the first one after the breakdown.

    this is actually my favourite bit in 'Independent Women'! I don't think it was a mistake.

    ― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 06:45 (7 years ago) Permalink

    On "Get Up Offa That Thing," someone (I believe it's one of the backup singers, not JB) continues the chant one time too many and stops in the middle. "Get up off -" JB and some other folks try to cover it up with some Good Gods and some Yeahs, but it's still pretty obvious. Not worth stopping a good take, though.

    ― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 13:13 (7 years ago) Permalink

    the most famous example being the beginning of "I'm Looking Through You."

    I miss this! I wish they'd hurry up and put out the rest of the Capitol versions on CD.

    ― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 16:43 (7 years ago) Permalink

    Bass player fucks up quite a few times in "Maggie May." One part where I'm sure there's a mistake in the bass is after "But I feel I'm being used."

    Several flawed punch-ins/edits in the guitar of "Dream On," one of the most notable being after the line "Half my life's in books written pages."

    A lot of the drum fills in "Time Of The Season" sound like he's trying to do some crazy or creative drumming, but instead it winds up sounding messy and awesome.

    I don't have an especially great ear for picking up mistakes - I'm pretty sure my dad informed me of all of these at some point or another.

    Oh wait, one that I did pick up myself which is pretty obvious, and possible on purpose and not a mistake, is the beginning of "Roxanne" when the tape is definitely being sped up slowly.

    ― billstevejim (billstevejim), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 17:04 (7 years ago) Permalink

    The phone rings during a silent 2-beat pause in Ben Folds Five's "Steven's Last Night In Town."

    ― billstevejim (billstevejim), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 17:09 (7 years ago) Permalink

    The Who-Whiskey Man (Entwistle couldn't sing the word "Friend" well, so when he double-tracked his vocal, he sang "Fwend" and "Flend" hoping to get "Friend" when mixed)
    Dusty Springfield-I think Just a Little Lovin' (after one of the verses, you can barely hear Dusty ask somebody in the studio something)
    Led Zep-Tangerine and Black Country Woman (false starts)

    ― Marxism Goes Better With Coke (Charles McCain), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 17:10 (7 years ago) Permalink

    i read somewhere that in radiohead's "creep", the guitar chugs before the chorus were originally just jonny making sure his guitar sound was right. the producer pulled the age-old trick of telling the band to run through the song as a warm up and that they weren't being recorded.

    ― Fetchboy (Felcher), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 17:31 (7 years ago) Permalink

    The Replacements, and Paul Westerberg solo have their share of fluffed notes.

    Off the top of my head, "I Don't Know" has The 'Mats messing up the line 'One foot in the door', although Westerberg bounces back with an angry 'The other one in the gutter!'. It doesn't detract from a great song, even.

    ― Garfield Odie (garfield), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 17:46 (7 years ago) Permalink

    [Prince] wanted to keep the spontaneity of fluffing.

    As he did on 'Dirty Mind', 'Head', 'Sister', 'Horny Pony', 'Gett Off', 'Erotic City', countless others and the sex scenes in Purple Rain.

    ― BARMS, Wednesday, 15 June 2005 17:53 (7 years ago) Permalink

    Richard Thompson, astonishingly, hits a false note during a long solo on "Night Comes In" (from Pour Down Like Silver)

    ― These Robust Cookies (Robust Cookies), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 17:55 (7 years ago) Permalink

    On The Magnetic Fields "With Whom To Dance?" the strummed guitar distorts at about 1:55. It's minor, but it kills me every time I hear it because all the other weird audio/production quirks about them are so process driven rather than just mistakes.

    ― Brian Miller (Brian Miller), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 17:59 (7 years ago) Permalink

    Entwistle couldn't sing the word "Friend" well, so when he double-tracked his vocal, he sang "Fwend" and "Flend" hoping to get "Friend" when mixed

    How the hell does W + L = R?

    ― Taste the Blood of Scrovula (noodle vague), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 18:03 (7 years ago) Permalink

    OH FOR SHAME, RICHARD THOMPSON!

    ― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 18:04 (7 years ago) Permalink

    "How the hell does W + L = R?"

    I don't know, but it probably had to do with layering the tracks in Mono.

    ― Marxism Goes Better With Coke (Charles McCain), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 18:39 (7 years ago) Permalink

    7 years pass...

    In the last verse of the 13th Floor Elevators' "Slip Inside this House" one of the guitars noticeably misses the first chord change.

    In Todd Rundgren's "Hello It's Me", also in the last verse, he flubs a lyric.

    ― Johnny Hotcox, Saturday, 23 June 2012 19:38 (11 months ago) Permalink

    antony and the johnsons' 'i am a bird now' where he or someone hits the wrong piano note and audibly goes 'uhh..' very briefly.
    ace it is too.

    This was immediately what came to my mind... best 2 seconds of the record.

    ― Call me Ishmael (Ówen P.), Saturday, 23 June 2012 20:25 (11 months ago) Permalink

    Maybe not an obvious mistake, but in Springsteen's "Prove It All Night," after the line "Baby, tie your hair back in a long white bow," the bass drum comes in just a hair late. It feels like when you come to the top of a flight of stairs and you think there's an extra step, but there isn't, and you do a big awkward stomp.

    ― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Saturday, 23 June 2012 21:48 (11 months ago) Permalink

    I don't think of anything here really as a 'mistake' - they are in most cases final versions and therefore come off as part of the glorious imperfections of life - perfection is a shit concept. Also most of these 'mistakes' make the songs better I would imagine because they are unexpected and add some kind of minor dissonance to the song. Or something.

    ― Hinklepicker, Monday, 25 June 2012 03:40 (11 months ago) Permalink

    There is the strange case of the Rolling Stones' "I'm Free" from December's Children. Drums get off beat in the refrain part after the guitar solo (starts at around 1:29). Strange case because this comes after Jagger had been singing "I'm free to sing my song though it gets out of time" earlier in the song (!).

    One of my favorites is "Ain't You" by Kleenex where the drum pattern seems to get mixed up really early and stays that way for the rest of the song.

    ― timellison, Monday, 25 June 2012 04:09 (11 months ago) Permalink

    Dennis Doherty comes in early in "I Saw Her Again" by the Mamas and the Papas. But it sounds great!

    ― banjoboy, Monday, 25 June 2012 09:44 (11 months ago) Permalink

    "We-bulubber-Wilde is on mine. Sugar."

    ― Manfred Mann meets Man Parrish (ithappens), Monday, 25 June 2012 11:37 (11 months ago) Permalink

    Which REM song is it on Automatic where Stipe audibly laughs? Man On The Moon?

    ― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 25 June 2012 11:45 (11 months ago) Permalink

    The "Dr Seuss" line on "CallOnMeTryToWakeItUp" or whatever?

    ― Mark G, Monday, 25 June 2012 11:45 (11 months ago) Permalink

    Yeah, I think that's it.

    ― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 25 June 2012 11:55 (11 months ago) Permalink

    1 month passes...

    An unbelievably bad bass flub is at the start of the 3rd verse of the Byrds' cover of "Spanish Harlem Incident"

    ― Johnny Hotcox, Saturday, 28 July 2012 23:56 (9 months ago) Permalink

    On the 'Guitar Theives' version of '22 Blue' by the Nectarine No. 9, Davey Henderson briefly comes in with the verse vocal over the guitar break, such an audible mistake and a good song to close the album with!

    ― Supper's Burnt (PaulTMA), Sunday, 29 July 2012 00:11 (9 months ago) Permalink

    All the odd stuff heard on the late 60s Beach Boys records only serves to improve them..... the "Good!" on 'With you tonight', static on 'Country Air', talking on 'Here Today'... Unsettling and brilliant.

    ― Supper's Burnt (PaulTMA), Sunday, 29 July 2012 00:12 (9 months ago) Permalink


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