From left, Luciano, Ninja Man, and Sizzla
IT SHOULD be every artiste's dream to do a live performance album. Locally however that dream is yet to become to reality for a large number of acts as these albums are a rarity.
A live performance album is usually done with the artiste on-stage at a venue outside of the studio. It is different from a live studio album and a regular album where live instruments are used to make rhythms.
To some persons the live performance brings an artiste closer to his fans since it is more interactive. There is usually crowd noise, live instruments and other sounds associated with a stage show.
That said, one would think that such live albums would be part of every artiste's repertoire, but not many are done by local acts - especially deejays. The artistes who have live albums in their resume include Beres Hammond, Morgan's Heritage, Everton Blendah, Luciano, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, Sizzla, Toots Hibbert and Yellow Man.
Copeland Forbes, a former manager of Peter Tosh, says there is at least one necessary requirement for a live album. "An artiste can't record a live album with one album. You can't duplicate your work, because you want people to buy your live album that is different. Having a wide repertoire is better than doing over the same thing."
He further commented that the difference between a studio-recorded album and a live one was the audience's interaction at a stage performance. Another difference, he said, was that there was more activity in terms of background noise, and the artiste only had one chance to get it right. He added that if the artiste is exciting on-stage, then the live album is one worth having.
However, for artistes who have done live albums, the idea to create one was arrived at in retrospect. Everton Blendah who is known for songs such as Lift Up Your Head and Blend Dem explains that he did so after he had realised he had received a good reception from the crowd. "It was just an idea because of the support that I was getting from the crowd and also the reaction of the people so I thought I would do one," said Blendah.
Luciano, who has also recorded live albums, explained that his two were done based on the 'vibe' that he had got at the venues. The results are Live In Brixton andLive In Venezuela.
"Actually, after you perform, based on the vibe you get you really want to share it with the people, so you take it to the studio and you put out the album," said 'The Messenger'.
In order to record a live album, an artiste can either tell the promoter of his desire to have a Digital Audio Tape (DAT) Machine plugged into the console board. Or, in the event that he or she is on tour, one is usually available at the venue where the artiste is performing. After that, the artiste can proceed with his performance.
The tape is usually taken to a studio where it is copied to a CD and then the packaging is dealt with.
It is said that the overall cost for producing a live album is cheaper than recording a studio-based version, but this supposedly cheaper cost has not seen more local artistes rushing to create one.
At present, a twelve-track album can average from $350,000 upwards depending on the number of tracks, musicians, studio time, mixing etc, in terms of cost.
The performance album is said to cost less due to the fact that packaging, musicians and other technical aspects are the main overheads and was already dealt with in the original costing. Live albums seem to be the forte of singers since only a few deejays have recorded such.
A possible reason for that is because some of the guys (dancehall acts) are too colloquial. They keep wheeling up and pulling up tunes. Some of them don't have a good presentation to do a live album," said Copeland Forbes.
Blendah adds that the possible reason for singers doing more live albums is that the singers are usually capable of giving longer performances.
However, while Forbes and Blendah share the view that live performance albums are suited for singers, veteran deejay Ninja Man disagrees.
"The live album is your entire performance. The way how you perform on an entire stage show is your performance. So if you pull up and so that's a part of your performance," said the 'Don Gorgon'.
Ninja Man points out that he is desirous of doing one but has never been approached by a producer.
Cobra also said while he has not done any he too wishes to record one since it reflects well on an artiste. The deejay, who is known for hits such as Flex supported Blendah and Forbes by pointing out that some deejays would be unsuccessful in their attempt at a performance album because of their presentation.
"Some artiste can't do it because of their delivery style. They depend too much on 'forwards' and 'wheel up'," he added.
