What a fake! What a ripoff!

[Glen Derksen]

Today I bought an old LP at a thrift store. The record is 'Johnny Horton On Stage'. What this album is, is a collection of some of Horton's studio cuts with applause in between the songs and Johnny Horton himself introducing them. The recordings themselves are dead-ringers to the original studio versions. It's a good collection, but what browns me off is how the record producers pulled the wool over the eyes of the record buying public, making fake live albums and passing them off as "live".

[Eddie Cunningham]

Be glad you got the "real deal" original songs !! I bought a C.D. of all the old hits by Slim Whitman and was very disappointed to find they were all rerecorded and not the original steel sounds by Hoot Rains that I was looking for !! Eddie "C" = the olde geezer

[Doug Beaumier]

There were quite a few albums back in the 1970s that had "canned audience" noise to create a "fake" live album. The audience noise never quite matched the music the band was playing. It really makes the record sound phony and 'unbelievable'.

Check out the link below. It's Gram Parsons from his Grevious Angel album, 1974. Check out the audience sounds from 2:08 to about 2:40. Sounds 'out of sync' with the performance and separated from what the band is doing. And Gram "Thanks" the audience... Back in the day I thought the record producer did it as a joke, but now I'm not so sure.

-----> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqf9p9MpZBU

[Glen Derksen]

Be glad you got the "real deal" original songs !! I bought a C.D. of all the old hits by Slim Whitman and was very disappointed to find they were all rerecorded and not the original steel sounds by Hoot Rains that I was looking for !! Eddie "C" = the olde geezer

Pretty much the same way some of Hank William's recordings got watered down by strings. You're right, at least I got the real deal.

[Glen Derksen]

There were quite a few albums back in the 1970s that had "canned audience" noise to create a "fake" live album. The audience noise never quite matched the music the band was playing. It really makes the record sound phony and 'unbelievable'.

Check out the link below. It's Gram Parsons from his Grevious Angel album, 1974. Check out the audience sounds from 2:08 to about 2:40. Sounds 'out of sync' with the performance and separated from what the band is doing. And Gram "Thanks" the audience... Back in the day I thought the record producer did it as a joke, but now I'm not so sure.

I've been having problems with my flash player playing videos and music clips on Youtube, but I'll check it out when I get it fixed.

-----> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqf9p9MpZBU

[Pete Finney]

I bought that Gram Parsons album when it came out and always thought they made it pretty obvious that the "medley" wasn't really live - almost like it was a conscious parody of fake live records like this thread talks about? Grams's "thank yous" sound overdone to me, as if they were meant to be tongue-in-cheek, and there's even a credit for various people making the crowd noises on the track. I always figured maybe it was an excuse for Gram to re-record "Hickory Wind" with Emmylou singing harmony. Al Perkins shines on all of it for sure...

FWIW here's a link to an earlier thread that ends up talking a lot about the 'fake" live albums of the 60s:

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=133167

[Doug Beaumier]

Yes, I too bought that album when it came out. The added audience noise seemed to be pretty annoying at the time. Evidently it was a parody, as you said, or like I said, a joke. I had forgotten about the credits on the album. It's been a long time!

I checked out that link to an earlier thread and I just discovered that E. Tubb and the Texas Troubadours album "Midnight Jamboree" was a fake live album (recorded in the studio). That record has a fabulous version of "Rose City Chimes", Buddy Emmons and Leon Rhodes, with the audience cheering and ET introducing the band. I listened to that record hundreds of times back in the 70s and I always marveled at the great "live" sounds they got.

[Joachim Kettner]

Not yet mentioned is this album, where I think the applause is also added later.
Judge for yourselves:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeEVqP_DGvI

On the "Live From The Quebec Medley", when the fiddle and piano plays, I always hear a muted voice from a woman shouting "Al Perkins" and then "Glen Hardin".

[Jeff Garden]

and then we have the fake "duets" where one of the duo has already passed on. I'm picturing sort of a "Weekend at Bernie's" live show to promote the album.

[Donny Hinson]

Back in the '60s, there were a whole series of "Saturday Night At The Grand Ole Opry" albums. They were made by Decca, and done the same way, but it was a very professional job. I'd imagine they were made that way because they could not obtain a license for a "real" Opry show, so they just whipped a few together, using stars they could license.

The end result, IMHO, turned out better than a real Opry show.

[Clyde Mattocks]

Any info on Merle's "Live at Billy Bob's"? One of my favorites.

[Doug Beaumier]

The end result, IMHO, turned out better than a real Opry show.

That's how I feel about the Texas Troubadours faux live albums. I used to wonder... how do they get such a perfect MIX on stage? such a well balanced live sound? Fooled me!

[Billy Tonnesen]

i wasn't there but I heard that at the taping of Meerle Haggard's live Album at the Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Ca. the Crowd became so enthused they had to ask them to quit stomping their reet in fear that the vibraions could bring down the second tier. I always liked hearing "Rainbow Stew" on the Album.

[Alvin Blaine]

Any info on Merle's "Live at Billy Bob's"? One of my favorites.

The faked live albums were a thing in the late '60s and '70s. The Haggard "Live at Billy Bob's" was a live show, about 12 or 13 years ago, at Billy Bob's. I think there is even a DVD of it you can buy.

[robert kramer]

Here are a couple of LP's both recorded "live" at "Carnegie Hall."

From 1961:



From 1966:

[Jerry Hayes R.I.P.]

The last time I was in Nashville I went to Ernest Tubb's record shop to see what I could find of Warner Mack. They had a "best of" CD which I took home. I wanted this to get some of Lloyd Green's classic stuff like on "The Bridge Washed Out" etc and they were all on there. On the way back to Va. I slipped in in the car player and was totally torked off. There was hardly no steel at all on the record, some strings here and there and on TBWO cut there was a piano taking the lead where Lloyd should have been. There was a little chicken pickin' guitar here and there but not enough to make the CD palletable (sp) ....... Oh well, some day I'll find 'em... I'd really like to have "Drifting Apart" too............JH in Va.

[Graham]

Jerry:
If you want it in vinyl:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Clean-In-Shrink ... 3f070098e2