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The Cure => Music and Lyrics => Topic started by: cooky on June 05, 2008, 17:39:45

Title: fire in cairo (tempo changes in live performances)
Post by: cooky on June 05, 2008, 17:39:45
been listening to old live recordings of the song and the pace of the old school encore has slowed down this year,81 and earliar so much faster i was lucky enough to get on board with the cure in the punk days ,and still love them to the present day

wondering if anybody feels the same about the old songs ?(we all slow down as we get older tho lol)

the older you get the more foolish and wiser you get at the same time as said on mood swings  :smth020

grinding halt,forest,do the hansa we used to pogo dance to these  :smth023

so all the oldies justed wondering what you think

robert smith and simon gallup and all the other members of the band that have come and gone are all legends   
Title: Re: fire in cairo
Post by: japanesebaby on June 05, 2008, 20:26:16
yes it's been noticed for sure. 'jumping..', 'primary', 'fire in cairo'... they are old and slow these days. ;) the differences in tempo are really huge!
in my opinion 'fire in cairo' seems to suffer the most... i don't see anything wrong in moving on and changing things as time goes by (tempos too), but sometimes i do miss it that they don't do really fast numbers anymore.
Title: Re: fire in cairo
Post by: Bloodflower on June 05, 2008, 20:47:13
Honestly, I think performances of FiC from the early eighties are too fast. The way Robert used to sing it at that speed.... I don't know. And Other Voices definitely works as a slower song. It sounded pretty good last week. ;)
Title: Re: fire in cairo
Post by: max on June 05, 2008, 20:57:30
I think 10:15 saturday night and killing an arab
are played faster live than on the cd...
Title: Re: fire in cairo
Post by: mint car on June 05, 2008, 22:13:14
Fire In Cairo from Werchter Fest. 1981 is excellent. I love this one  :smth020
Title: Re: fire in cairo
Post by: KingOfSomeIsland on June 06, 2008, 03:58:55
I actually think Primary sounds better slowed down. The alternate take on the Deluxe Edition of Faith actually had it played much slower. And all the live versions ive heard are slower than the studio take.
Title: Re: fire in cairo
Post by: maluflower on June 06, 2008, 08:55:54
Quote from: mint car on June 05, 2008, 22:13:14
Fire In Cairo from Werchter Fest. 1981 is excellent. I love this one  :smth020

I think this is my favorite as well.  :-D
A little bit faster than the studio version, but it definitely works!
The older songs do sound better at a faster tempo me thinks, even though it does sound as if they've sped up Killing an Arab for this tour... I think that one works better at the regular tempo.

Title: Re: fire in cairo (tempo changes in live performances)
Post by: japanesebaby on June 08, 2008, 11:58:14
Quote from: KingOfSomeIsland on June 06, 2008, 03:58:55
I actually think Primary sounds better slowed down.

actually i was only talking about tempo of the live versions and different era performances compared to each other, not compared to the studio version. the studio version is fast.

anyway, concerning 'primary' here's a little composite test version i just made:

primary 1981-1985-1989-1996-2008 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zOQd4pgnZE)

just note how all the previous performances tend to stick to pretty similar tempo. compared to that the change of speed lately IS quite huge. :!:


the sources used are:

0'00 - 0'44:  1981-07-27 los angeles (JC version)
0'44 - 1'17:  1985-12-04 offenbach (AO)  **)
1'17 - 1'58:  1989-07-24 london (DJ)  **)
1'58 - 2'32:  1996-10-14 orleans (GP)
2'32 - 3'30:  2008-03-12 paris (MH)

**) the circulating copies run in the wrong speed. some samples here have been speed-corrected to match the correct pitch, speed correction made based on the spectral analysis so it's as reliable as it can be.





Title: Re: fire in cairo (tempo changes in live performances)
Post by: japanesebaby on June 08, 2008, 17:17:48
here's another one, '10:15 saturday night' from amsterdam '79 compared to a couple of later performances (1982 > 2008):

10:15 saturday night 1979 vs. 1982-2008 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QCBvNAE-uc)

by the way they didn't play it a lot in 1992 and that performance included here (london 1992-11-27) must be the sloppiest that i came across(!). i wonder if they had even rehearsed it back then(?).

(being sliced like this inbetween all these slower performances the 1979 version starts to sound almost hysterical at times. :-P)

Title: Re: fire in cairo (tempo changes in live performances)
Post by: Freakshow on June 11, 2008, 07:46:57
I have to admit that I really like the way they are playing the old songs nowadays - in my opinion they have improved them a lot. It has nothing to do with getting older and slower!!! It is the music which just works out better if played in a way that Robert really can sing it. When you do it to fast there's no chance of singing properly and that would be a waste of his beautiful voice.
Title: Re: fire in cairo (tempo changes in live performances)
Post by: japanesebaby on June 14, 2008, 11:09:39
by the way, after listening to the tempo comparisons in 'primary' (the link i posted above)  and how they slowed it down lately: i was just reminded that after all 'primary' used to be a slow song in the very beginning. just listen to 'cold colors' on the 'faith' deluxe edition.
just an observation.