Apples and Oranges

One thing I never quite understood was when someone would justify their lack of interest or inability to compare two things that are difficult - or not so difficult - to compare with the expression, "That's like comparing apples and oranges." Really, now?

Because oranges are orange. Apples are not.
There are more varieties of orange juice than apple juice at the grocery store.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away. An orange a day does not (at least according to legend).
Apples are firmer than oranges.
The skin of an apple tastes better than the peel of an orange.
They are grown on different trees in different climates...and THIS is the kicker.

Because THAT is how I feel about live recording versus studio recording. They are completely different animals grown out of different environments and intentions. Somebody might tell you comparing them is like comparing apples and oranges.

Let's suppose you go to a concert put on by your favorite band. Unless something goes abysmally wrong with the power, lights, or sound, I would say it is almost guaranteed you will enjoy yourself. IT'S YOUR FAVORITE BAND! You bought their album a few months ago and have been playing it in the car over and over on repeat. It's on your iPod running playlist. You listen to it in the shower sometimes. Okay, I might be talking about myself and not you here. So when they play track 7 off the new album, everyone goes nuts and starts dancing or jumping up or down (or running into each other and throwing elbows and fists, depending on the concert). Everyone sings along to all the words, even you, the guy/girl who doesn't like to sing in public. Your brain releases oxytocin, which is what happens when people sing and dance together. Oxytocin also happens to be associated with orgasm, sexual bonding, and is released during childbirth and enables mothers to breast-feed, which is all to say that oxytocin is a pretty serious chemical. So you had no chance when the downbeat of track 7 started. Even if the rest of the songs are mediocre AND the sound guy sucks AND the acoustics in the arena suck ass, you will come away from the concert with a positive experience, feeling like it was fifty bucks well spent (not counting the beer you drank at the venue...that shit was WAY overpriced). And unless you went to music school or have been playing an instrument your whole life, you probably didn't notice or care when the guitar player missed a note or when the singer was a little flat on that high note that he can't actually hit anymore or when the drummer started that one song a little fast or when the bassist stopped for a second to take a sip of whiskey.

Now let's say all of those things happened on the album. Everything was recorded live in a gymnasium with terrible acoustics. All the players are exhausted because they've been on the road for 200 days straight. The singer can't hit all the notes. Oh, and they're drunk and/or high (because that's what a lot of musicians seem to be when they're on stage). Are you going to buy that album, plagued with wrong notes and less-than-stellar sounds? There is such a thing as sonic quality. When we go to a live show, we forgive imperfections in that area. With an album, listeners are less forgiving. So yeah, the timing should be pretty damn close to perfect on everything. Everything should be in tune. Everything should sound more or less like what everything sounds like on similar albums being released by similar artists.

In art, there is a concept known as "canon," or a set of rules. For instance, in Ancient Egyptian art, there was a canon of proportions. All figures were drawn to the same scale (more on that here). Well, pop music has a sort of canon as well. Songs are "supposed" to take on a predictable form, be a certain length, have a particular sound. Recordings that don't fit the mold either go unnoticed or they become the "next big thing" or at least influence bands that go on to become the "next big thing." Just like in any medium of art, or in philosophy or psychology or cultural norms and societal standards. Every now and then something breaks through the status quo and becomes the NEW status quo. Exciting shit. I still can't believe women get paid less than men or that gay marriage is illegal for the most part OR that alcohol and tobacco are legal while marijuana is not. Sometimes the status quo remains stagnant for a looooong time. But it never remains unchanged. But I digress...

Side note: It's interesting that the art form of recorded music is extremely young (the wax cylinder was first used in the late 19th century) compared to writing, painting, sculpture, philosophizing (philosophy is an art as far as I'm concerned), drama, or live music. Now it seems in the world of pop music that the art of live performance is being adapted to be as close to recorded music as possible. In my opinion, that's a tragedy.

Earlier, I made it sound as though out-of-tune notes and other mistakes are a negative thing. For the most part, that is true...ish. But that theory doesn't account for the success of people like Bob Dylan. He's an easy, well-known example of someone who lacks what we might traditionally call a "good" singing voice. However, something about his tone and delivery works for his songs. Dylan will remain one of the great songwriters in history books for a very long time. The Beatles weren't always perfectly in tune either. By modern production standards, these would be considered mistakes. But I don't think anyone could argue that The Beatles are one of the most significant musical artists of all time. Certainly, no one can argue that those records sold a few copies. And they're still selling (thanks, iTunes).

So back to my initial point about apples vs. oranges. studio vs. live. Beatles vs. Nickleback. Yes, they are very different things. Sometimes I'm in the mood for an apple. Sometimes I'm in the mood for an orange. I never put an orange in my mouth and expect it to be an apple, but that doesn't mean there aren't parallels to be drawn or characteristics to contrast. The two actually go quite well together in a blender if you're in to the whole smoothie thing. For some people it's a texture thing, though. I get it. But anyhow, in the case of Beatles vs. Nickleback...well, let's just say it wouldn't be the end of the world if I gave up oranges for the rest of my life and only ate apples.