Comments on: Didn't Todd Rundgren try this?

Didn't Todd Rundgren try this?

shadow vector — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:59:51 -0800

Audio gold: David Lee Roth's vocal track from Runnin' With the Devil, without benefit of, you know, music.

By: boubelium

boubelium — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:06:38 -0800

This was recently linked to in a comment of a deleted thread, but I had lost it. Thanks for resurrecting it. Oh, and a little Van Halen from 2007.

By: gottabefunky

gottabefunky — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:07:04 -0800

Awesome. No one could wail like old split-jumpin' Dave.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:13:46 -0800

I never realized how mannered his performances are. It's ridiculous. Also, he has no skills at semi-improvised verbalization, I say goddamn baby oh yeah.

By: Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America

Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:13:55 -0800

Between this and the loris, I'm dying here.

By: Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America

Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:16:30 -0800

Can someone please combine a cappella DLR with THX loris? I don't have the skills, but I can see in my mind the magic that is possible.

By: jouke

jouke — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:18:54 -0800

To me high-pitched yelling like that still spells Rock God.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:24:00 -0800

he may be runnin' with the devil, but he sounds like he's been drinkin' with jack daniels

By: piratebowling

piratebowling — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:24:41 -0800

MY. MIND. IS. BLOWN. THANK. YOU. MEGA. FILTER.

By: revmitcz

revmitcz — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:33:34 -0800

That was.... something I'll never forget. I give it about a week before this becomes the new background track for a series of weird YouTube mashups. Perhaps more interesting was the link to "The CIA", NWA's early rap attempts which really does sound exactly as the link says - a black beastie boys trio. Crazy business. MY. MIND. IS. BLOWN. +1

By: Tube

Tube — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:46:24 -0800

The timing of this is kind of funny for me, as I just happened to finish Roth's autobiography Crazy From the Heat. He writes on page 113 "But the very finest Van Halen material was performed absolutely live in the studio, all of those first albums" And again on page 114: "Go back and listen to these songs with that in mind. Most of the vocals were recorded at the same time that the band played the music. I went into a vocal booth and we would look at each other through glass windows, and I would sing the song, directly." Van Halen was my first concert, shortly after their first album was released. Until Diamond Dave advised everyone in attendance, I had no idea that Missoula Montana was in fact the rock and roll capital of the world...

By: wfrgms

wfrgms — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:47:30 -0800

Of further interest on the WFMU page is the link to, "The C.I.A 12" over at BAF in the event that you want to hear sketchy quality recordings of NWA back when they were RUN-DMC-loving high school students." Indeed. It's unfortunate that the BAF (stands for it seems "Blog As Fuck") site describes these as, "trill ass recordings," and says, "This shit is so money," but it's still worth a listen none the less.

By: damehex

damehex — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:47:58 -0800

This is composited and has FX.

By: wfrgms

wfrgms — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:50:29 -0800

"Go back and listen to these songs with that in mind. Most of the vocals were recorded at the same time that the band played the music. I went into a vocal booth and we would look at each other through glass windows, and I would sing the song, directly." Just because the vocal is isolated doesn't mean that Roth wasn't singing with the rest of the band. At one point about half way through you can hear the rest of the audio sort of fade in. I don't doubt that Roth was in a booth on his own, but it isn't inconceivable that the rest of the band was there making music.

By: dirigibleman

dirigibleman — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:05:48 -0800

Now I know how I sound to my neighbors at 3 AM, only way less awesome. Why haven't I been evicted, yet?

By: sleepy pete

sleepy pete — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:07:47 -0800

I don't doubt that Roth was in a booth on his own, but it isn't inconceivable that the rest of the band was there making music. It was the female body builder coming into the booth to help "inspire" him. "Oh God, I'm running... Woah, yeah-uh!" Ugh. <--- that one's mine, not his.

By: Justinian

Justinian — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:25:59 -0800

Woo. Yeaa--aaah. Woo. Woo woo. (shoots self in head)

By: krinklyfig

krinklyfig — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:00:45 -0800

Well, he does manage to hit the note more often than I thought he would. Sorta like the truism that you can't treat lyrics as poetry. When you pull this out of the rest of the audio, it sounds a bit goofy, but it's just one element in the mix. For the market they appealed to, they were not that bad, even Dave. I mean, sure, cheesy as all get out, cock rock extreme, but talented. At least they weren't Poison. But this sort of thing doesn't age too well. What appealed to teenagers in the late '70s and '80s looks very dated now, and Dave's and Eddie's ego and the resulting fallout from such get pretty old pretty fast. Plus, they make all their infighting very public and try to pit the fans against one another. Really petulant stuff. Has Eddie managed to stay sober since rehab? Is he out? Are they really touring as the original band again? I can't bother to keep up, but that managed to make its way in. At least Sammy Hagar was smart enough to put all his eggs in his bar/tequila venture in Mexico, providing him with a permanent venue, even past his prime.

By: chillmost

chillmost — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:01:27 -0800

I have found the new ring for my cell phone.

By: asavage

asavage — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:24:05 -0800

Have you ever played an instrument and had it change the way you listened to music? I've been playing with Garage Band and vocal tracks and such, and it's refreshing to me that listening to the unadorned DLR track is properly excruciating without the other components. VH were great for what they were. His pitch control is very good, even if his improvising isn't. Thanks for this link. It's awesome.

By: chillmost

chillmost — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:24:14 -0800

I love this video

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:42:20 -0800

This link's been all over the weblosphereplex lately, and I still haven't listened to it, but I have had Runnin' With The Devil running through my head for days now thanks to all the mentions. My mental DJ is highly suggestible. Next time I've had a few, I will definitely play the song very loud, and the musico-mental foreplay all week will make my brain explode with nostalgic butt-rock joy. Wooo-oooo yeah! (anticipated applying whiskey to head)

By: hellbient

hellbient — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:47:00 -0800

The St. Sandersized video.

By: Wolof

Wolof — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 02:20:07 -0800

Bleh. It doesn't matter a crap how bad a track is if it integrates with the others to form something great. Or even mildly good.* *please disregard this comment if you want a career in a symphony orchestra.

By: 2or3whiskeysodas

2or3whiskeysodas — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 03:31:17 -0800

i do cocaine.

By: SteveInMaine

SteveInMaine — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 03:35:50 -0800

I laughed until I cried. I have found the new ring for my cell phone. Same here, except I can picture myself driving off the road when the phone rings.

By: msconduct

msconduct — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 03:46:04 -0800

i've never forgiven him for this.

By: uncleozzy

uncleozzy — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 04:29:24 -0800

This is composited and has FX. It's composited (a lot), but I don't think there aren't any effects (well, probably a little compression on the way in). Dave really does scream like that. He is, as jouke says, a Rock God. The weird echoing in there is probably print-through.

By: kittens for breakfast

kittens for breakfast — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 04:36:43 -0800

You guys! Also, if you play the isolated drum track, it's just pum-pum-pum-pum-pum! For like, five whole minutes! WHAT. IS THE DEAL. WITH THAT??

By: davidmsc

davidmsc — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 04:49:51 -0800

DAMN. Just damn. Awesome. Proof - as if we needed more - that DLR was the heart & soul of VH.

By: uncleozzy

uncleozzy — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:14:31 -0800

A friend also tells me the multitracks for Killer Queen are also making the rounds. They are allegedly mind-blowing.

By: salvomix

salvomix — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:14:13 -0800

Sounds Great! In an era before Autotune..

By: unixrat

unixrat — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:26:46 -0800

Why just the other day I was thinking about how good fettuccine Alfredo was when I a kid. Since I didn't have any on hand, I figured that I'd just drink a cup of heavy cream with some pepper in it. I blew chunks all over the kitchen, permanently violating my childhood. Or something like that. It's too cold today to make metaphors.

By: Cat Pie Hurts

Cat Pie Hurts — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:08:40 -0800

Considering that all I can see are images from this post from yesterday while listening to this, I'm feeling slightly nauseated and extremely broken. Thanks.

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:25:11 -0800

"...Opie and Anthony are heavy lifters, and they've been in town quite awhile-" "Do you like them? I mean, do you listen to them?" "I'm not familiar with-" "Or are you kinda like boycotting the station?" "..no no not at all. Frankly if I'm not working morning radio, then five o'clock in the morning is usually when I'm making cab fare for the stripper." Thank you for sharing, David.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:59:50 -0800

I sent this to a friend the other day. His response: "Oooooh, yeah! Oooo-hooo! Awwwww-yeah! Ah-ha! Whooooo!" The way this thing consistently inspires people to mime David Lee Roth pleases me just immensely. I want to play this for gradeschoolers and record their reactions. The St. Sandersized video. Oh, gorgeous. A friend also tells me the multitracks for Killer Queen are also making the rounds. They are allegedly mind-blowing. I certainly hope your friend can locate a link to same at some point.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:03:30 -0800

The St. Sandersized video. Does anyone have a link to the video/audio of Van Halen live (w/o Dave?) where their backup audio track is off by a half key or something? I'd love to find that again.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:09:24 -0800

Most of the vocals were recorded at the same time that the band played the music. I went into a vocal booth and we would look at each other through glass windows, and I would sing the song, directly I'm not sure what was considered so revolutionary about this. Bands have been doing scratch track vocals since the dawn of multi-tracking. If that was the only vocal take they did, then that would be a little surprising (and impressive, the take is not bad at all by itself) but not in any way unusual.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:09:33 -0800

First comment has the goods, mrgrimm.

By: BrianBoyko

BrianBoyko — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:46:04 -0800

New Ringtone!

By: Hugonaut

Hugonaut — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:53:43 -0800

I liked the long pauses. I kept thinking it was over and then bam! back with the crazy. Piratebowling! You stole MegaFilter from me! And no, I don't care if no one believes me.

By: krinklyfig

krinklyfig — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:53:55 -0800

uncleozzy writes "A friend also tells me the multitracks for Killer Queen are also making the rounds. They are allegedly mind-blowing." Well, yeah, if you're the Beach Boys or Queen, then a cappella vocals of your songs don't sound bad at all. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" is a great example of this, from the Pet Sounds Sessions.

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:03:58 -0800

mrgrimm, it's here. The first comment of this thread links to yet another post.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:25:13 -0800

Ow, my eyes. Ow. Ow. Oooh. Ah. Ah. David Lee Roth was and remains a rock and roll joke.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:26:12 -0800

I very nearly FPPed this, so I should know: you're going to want to hear this caterwaul. That poor, poor woman.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:26:15 -0800

But boy could Eddie pick that thing.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:29:04 -0800

Check your sources, cortex. Check your goddam sources.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:31:38 -0800

Also, I once knew a girl who thought VH's song "Panama" was called "Padded Bra." For years, she thought that. It would have improved the song, actually.

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:31:45 -0800

Dear shmegegge, No more playing Rock Band with headphones on. Sincerely, Yourself

By: quin

quin — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:40:05 -0800

We have a piece of software where I work that acts as an alert system; whenever there is some sort of customer affecting outage, a little scrolling bar rolls across the top of the screen flashing a warning about the area that is currently down. I have it disabled, because it comes with an incredibly irritating beep that echoes across the entire floor. And since everyone else is running it, whenever something goes wrong, there is just a chorus of beep .. beep beep... beep .. beep ... beep that bounces around. It can last for minutes and is slowly driving me mad. Now, I will pull bits of Diamond Dave's fantastic work, and replace the beep, so the next time node 1L takes a header, the rest of the floor will be treated to: beep .. beep ... Oh Yeah! ... beep beep ... Wahhhaaah At the very least, I won't be the only one going crazy any more.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:54:14 -0800

Also, I once knew a girl who thought VH's song "Panama" was called "Padded Bra." For years, she thought that... It would have improved the song, actually. Blasphemy! I never cared all that much for any of the various flavors of VH over the years, but that's a great rock 'n' roll song.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:57:49 -0800

Great find, Ambrosia. I had hear about Linda McCartney's horrendous singing some years ago from a guy that had worked as a roadie for Wings. Despite the claims in the YouTube comments (yeah... I went there), I'm reasonably sure that's the genuine article and not an overdub.

By: krinklyfig

krinklyfig — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:08:37 -0800

NO AUTHOR FOUND NO BACKLINK FOUND " Great find, Ambrosia. I had hear about Linda McCartney's horrendous singing some years ago from a guy that had worked as a roadie for Wings. Despite the claims in the YouTube comments (yeah... I went there), I'm reasonably sure that's the genuine article and not an overdub." She wasn't a great singer, but at least she wasn't Heather Mills.

By: krinklyfig

krinklyfig — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:08:50 -0800

Eh ... damn metafilthy.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:18:07 -0800

Eh ... damn metafilthy. Ha!

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:59:28 -0800

Blasphemy! I never cared all that much for any of the various flavors of VH over the years, but that's a great rock 'n' roll song. posted by psmealey at 9:54 AM on January 30 The hell you say. It was a blatant ripoff of Deep Purple's "Highway Star," and it had lyrics like: Ain't nothin' like it, her shiny machine Got the feel for the wheel, keep the movin' parts clean Hot shoe, burnin' down the avenue Got an on-ramp comin' through my bedroom Just giving you shit. But come on, "Padded Bra?" You have to admit that rocks pretty hard.

By: EarBucket

EarBucket — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:51:11 -0800

For your listening pleasure: David Lee Roth, pianist.

By: itchylick

itchylick — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:54:44 -0800

Sounds exactly the way I remember ... but without the music. The amount of leak from his headphones was pretty amazing, but I guess they can clean that up later. I did think it was funny that he actually played his little whistle while laying down vocals.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:00:16 -0800

EarBucket, that actually makes the vocal-only track seem desirable. Now, if someone were to sit down and knock out a nice in-time piano arrangment for Runnin' with the Devil and splice that in, they could push it as a DLR Open Mic Tour solo thing.

By: First Post

First Post — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:54:45 -0800

Again I'm amazed at the amazement all over the net about this, but it's nice to see. So, I'mma blow your mind with this site. You have to register to get to the real goods, but it's well worth it; this is the largest collection of acapellas lifted from popular songs that I've ever seen, a real treasure trove.

By: First Post

First Post — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:00:13 -0800

And, how to make your own, with the original and an instrumental version. Often there will still be a little bleed from the song (which sounds much like the level of background music in this Roth pella), but usually not enough to interfere with your overall mix. I'd post an example to MeMu but apparently remixes don't count as music here :P

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:39:15 -0800

Why do we think this is the actual vocal track and not an isolated track done after the fact, which is pretty easy to do nowadays? The level of "bleed" I hear sounds like it's too loud to be from headphones. Just sayin.

By: RobotVoodooPower

RobotVoodooPower — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:41:14 -0800

fourcheesemac, why do you hate christmas? Can't you hear the tape bleed of the fun trick noise maker in the background?

By: whozyerdaddy

whozyerdaddy — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:09:41 -0800

The weird echoing in there is probably print-through.
Probably not; though it's an analog recording it's more likely bleed-through from his headphones. This is one of X number of overdubs/takes for the lead vocal track; only the mixdown engineer (Don Landee?) knows for sure.
All that being said, for as much of a dick Dave's known to be to work with, he sounds on the money here.

By: hellbient

hellbient — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:12:05 -0800

DLR love song duets

By: davejay

davejay — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:47:42 -0800

For your listening pleasure: David Lee Roth, pianist. NOT PIANIST

By: flod logic

flod logic — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:59:42 -0800

A friend also tells me the multitracks for Killer Queen are also making the rounds. They are allegedly mind-blowing. I certainly hope your friend can locate a link to same at some point. posted by cortex at 9:59 AM on January 30 [+] [!] *cough*

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 05:12:14 -0800

Yeah I hear it. I hear clicking that sounds like Roth snapping too. But all those sounds are in the final mix, just not audible. The isolation algorithms now available to isolate tracks ex post facto are pretty amazing. It does sound to me like the original master track. I'm just wondering if there's a chance it isn't. Finally, the debt white rockers owe to James Brown and Little Richard cannot be demonstrated more elegantly than they are in this track. Except LR and JB had a sense of meter.

By: toastchee

toastchee — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 07:19:09 -0800

>>The isolation algorithms now available to isolate tracks ex post facto are pretty amazing I call BS. Name one. IAAE (I am an audio engineer)

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 07:47:36 -0800

What toastchee said. I am not aware of anything more sophisticated than simple phase-cancelling methods, perhaps combined with a high pass filter of sorts, and this wouldn't render anything nearly as clean as this (i.e., anything else in the centre tends to remain, such as snare, kick, bass, etc.). If what you're describing has actually been invented please tell me, because it will make me very rich. Until then I call bullshit.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:21:49 -0800

OK, call bullshit. I've seen forensic blind source separation algorithms do amazing things, but then I am not an audio engineer. They just work for me. I was merely asking if this might be possible here with more than M-S canceling in play.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:56:51 -0800

Wait... that wasn't Janis Joplin? *ducks* Nice 1^st FPP, too!

By: humannaire

humannaire — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:57:17 -0800

This is the real 100% pure uncut Spicolli.

By: Capt Jingo

Capt Jingo — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:24:37 -0800

While everyone here no doubt agrees that DLR is brilliant in 'running with the devil', he unfortunately is overshadowed by Marvin Gaye in this timeless duet.

By: bwg

bwg — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:23:01 -0800

See, the real reason Roth was such a star was he had the cajones to sing regardless of how bad it sounded in the shower.