[nickbatz]

On Wednesday, April 10, 2019 at 9:33:58 AM UTC-7, Bob Olhsson wrote:

interestingly, she was recorded live while just the BG singers were an overdub.

From a performance standpoint, recording everybody at once always works better musically in my experience.

I agree with the point you're making 100%, Bob. Great musicians interact with one another, while recordings don't during overdubs. And I'm guessing that Aretha didn't rely on comping a whole lot.

But for example every Steely Dan record was overdubbed to the nines. Maybe that's a bad example, because they always have a high gloss. So let's say Sgt. Pepper's.

Moreover, most people's ears have changed since sequencers came along, or even before that with click tracks. Nobody ever noticed that "Gone" (Miles/Gil Evans Porgy and Bess) has a couple of clams and speeds up. Or "Chameleon" (Herbie Hancock of course) speeding up like crazy.

No question those are both still records for the ages, but I for one hear them very differently today from how I did 40+ years ago.