Korgscrew
Group: Super Admins
Posts: 3511
Joined: Dec. 1999 |
 |
Posted: Nov. 09 2005, 21:01 |
 |
Some of those parts on Incantations were recorded at half speed, just like he did with Blue Peter (perhaps you've even seen the feature the BBC did of him recording that tune, where he explains that).
Away from that, it's difficult to tell really. When he recorded Tubular Bells, Tom Newman had quite a bit of difficulty getting Mike to play the piano in time, and of course on Hergest Ridge there's a pretty stuttery part in Part 2 (just before the thunderstorm section), which might suggest he was still having trouble (though there's been some discussion about whether it's deliberate or not).
His piano playing does really come to the fore on Top Of The Morning, and I'd say it's nicely played (some have accused him of having sampled it, but I hear no evidence to suggest that). It's not hugely complex, but I'd say it's a nice piece of playing. I do think he can make a piano sound musical, when he wants (which is what it's about, isn't it?).
Whether his not recording more complex things is because he doesn't want to take the time, I'm not sure. When I play live shows as guitarist with rock groups, it can be great fun to just play flat-out and go as fast as I can. Everyone enjoys it, because of the spirit of the whole performance. When someone's sat listening to a studio recording in his/her living room, the spirit of both performer and listener is rather different. I can think of one track in particular that I did with a group, which had basically been written to give me a bit of space to play something wild at the end of the show - a very excessive solo all over the place type thing. When I came to make a recording of that, the same approach just didn't work - there was something missing. I ended up simplifying it a lot, and I think it worked better because of that. That tends to be my approach with recording in general, and may well be Mike's too - to play something that fits the recording, rather than just to show I can play complex things.
|
, how interesting it would have been to be an observer that night:cool: , Saying that if there's any merriment/frivolity to be had I'm willing to join in. 
and my other sister is excellent on the clarinet. I've always wanted to play the saxophone. We did try to get lessons for the saxophone when the opprtunity arose, but for some reason, the teacher we were supposed to have never came. My dream to be musical disappeared in seconds...
