Mistakes on cast albums

[AntV]

In I Love Betsy on honeymoon in vegas, at 1:43 when he says "like her around" an echoed version of it repeats and quickly cuts off. Sounds weird everytime and like its an error. Anyone know?

[Pippin]

Of course the best will always be Elaine Stritch’s horribly flat caterwauling on the last held out “we loooooooove”. The engineer finally fades out her mic and it makes me laugh every time.


Close second- on the OBC of “Anyone Can Whistle” during “me and town”, The men are doing backups of “doo doo waaaaah, doo doo wadda wah” near the end of the song and one guy forgets to cut off, so you hear one final plosive “D”. It makes me smile.

[bk]

Pippin said: "Of course the best will always be Elaine Stritch’s horribly flat caterwauling on the last held out “we loooooooove”. The engineer finally fades out her mic and it makes me laugh every time.


Close second- on the OBC of “Anyone Can Whistle” during “me and town”, The men are doing backups of “doo doo waaaaah, doo doo wadda wah” near the end of the song and one guy forgets to cut off, so you hear one final plosive “D”. It makes me smile."

The engineer didn't "fade out" her mic - she was on the group mic - if he'd faded that the entire group would have gone, not to mention that they're in the band mics, too.

Very amusing thread.  Half the stuff in this thread aren't "mistakes."  For example, there was no wrong trumpet note in Rose's Turn.  Mr. Thomas Z. Shepard decided that the trumpet "cracked" a note in the overture - but it was good enough for Mr. Lieberson and Mr. Styne (and it's VERY exciting) and therefore it's a whole lot of special chutzpah to "fix" something that wasn't broken.  He also replaced a phrase of Merman's because HE found it more emotional.  Well, no, sorry  - the cast album of Gypsy was and is, in its original version, one of the greatest cast albums ever made.  It would be one thing to fix something that WAS broken,, that was badly done, but you don't fix Gypsy.  One does wonder how Mr. Shepard would feel if some other producer listened to the masters of Sweeney or Sunday in the Park and decided to "fix" some stuff because HE/SHE thought it was better.  Methinks he would not be happy at all.

Again, much of what's in this thread are not mistakes.  People hear things differently.  Someone posted that silly thing about The Color Purple.  But that's why the cast albums of old have an excitement and energy that is sorely lacking in the cast albums of today.  

[MattieIce2018]

Norbert Leo Butz sings “we can dance ‘til it lights” instead of “‘til it’s light” in Dancing Through Life on the Wicked OBCR

[joevitus]

bk said: "Pippin said: "Of course the best will always be Elaine Stritch’s horribly flat caterwauling on the last held out “we loooooooove”. The engineer finally fades out her mic and it makes me laugh every time.


Close second- on the OBC of “Anyone Can Whistle” during “me and town”, The men are doing backups of “doo doo waaaaah, doo doo wadda wah” near the end of the song and one guy forgets to cut off, so you hear one final plosive “D”. It makes me smile."

The engineer didn't "fade out" her mic - she was on the group mic - if he'd faded that the entire group would have gone, not to mention that they're in the band mics, too.

Very amusing thread. Half the stuff in this thread aren't "mistakes." For example, there was no wrong trumpet note in Rose's Turn. Mr. Thomas Z. Shepard decided that the trumpet "cracked" a note in the overture - but it was good enough for Mr. Lieberson and Mr. Styne (and it's VERY exciting) and therefore it's a whole lot of special chutzpah to "fix" something that wasn't broken. He also replaced a phrase of Merman's because HE found it more emotional. Well, no, sorry - the cast album of Gypsy was and is, in its original version, one of the greatest cast albums ever made. It would be one thing to fix something that WAS broken,, that was badly done, but you don't fix Gypsy. One does wonder how Mr. Shepard would feel if some other producer listened to the masters of Sweeney or Sunday in the Park and decided to "fix" some stuff because HE/SHE thought it was better. Methinks he would not be happy at all.

Again, much of what's in this thread are not mistakes. People hear things differently. Someone posted that silly thing about The Color Purple. But that's why the cast albums of old have an excitement and energy that is sorely lacking in the cast albums of today."

Well put. The only actual "mistake" I can think of on a cast recording is the (generally great) studio recording of Porgy and Bess by Goddard Lieberson where Lawrence Winters (an excellent Porgy) flubs his final line. Instead "But you'll be there to take my hand" he sings "But I'll be there to take my hand." I've tried to listen really close and convince myself he's re-phrasing the line as "But I'll be there to take thy hand," which would not be the correct lyric, but at least would make sense. He doesn't. He says "my hand." I guess with the sound quality of vinyl and the sound reproduction systems of the time, it was assumed this would not be heard clearly enough to be noticed.

[youwillbefound2]

I don’t think this really bothers anyone except for people like me who have a sensitive ear but in Wait for Me Reprise during Eva’s solo at the end when she’s singing “The falling of OUR feet”, she’s sharp on “Our”.

[benfox2]

Lol I just listened to the Company cast album for the first time earlier this week and heard Elaine’s horrible wrong note on one of my first listens to the song. I’m relieved others heard it too and just as glad that it’s as iconic as I’d hoped.

[Fredrich Yeager]

Eva Noblezada's final "I'm coming" on Wait For Me II is like an octave up from how she normally sings it on the cast recording and they seem to have mixed her voice to be higher on various parts of the rest of the song too. It's odd because it must be a deliberate choice but for the life of me I don't know why they'd chose that.

[joevitus]

Kinda baffled by all the dissing of Elaine Stritch's "wrong" note, here. I've been listening to that recording since I was in my early 20's. I'm 50 now. Have never felt anything but love for her performance which is, to put it succinctly, definitive. 

[CedricOates]

Andre Dè Shields in “Road to Hell” in Hadestown OBCR sings some flat notes, and when he sings “It’s where you’ll find the King of the Mine” he gobbles the “it’s where you’ll”. Also a sour note in “Way Down Hadestown” when he sings “Everybody tryna get a ticket to go”

[ljay889]

I don’t think anyone is dissing Stritch’s sour note. I enjoy it every time I listen to that number.
I think she loses the power to hold the note so she naturally stops singing it.

[joevitus]

It think it's weird to call it "sour." Or to lay the blame at a faulty voice. The character she's playing is very in-your-face and unpleasant--in a very funny way. The whole show is very bluntly comic in its approach. So she sings to that. It's in character. A Joanne with a pure sounding voice...well, wouldn't be Joanne.

[morosco]

I always thought there was a weird take used for the Overture delle Donne on the remastered NINE Original Cast Recording. Listen to this clip and it seems like someone's voice gives out at exactly 26 seconds in.

Overture delle Donne.

 

[ljay889]

I love Stritch beyond belief, but she’s singing the note out of tune.
You’re not going to hear Patti sing a note out of tune in an intricate choral number because it suits the character.

[benfox2]

joevitus said: "It think it's weird to call it "sour." Or to lay the blame at a faulty voice. The character she's playing is very in-your-face and unpleasant--in a very funny way. The whole show is very bluntly comicin its approach.So she sings to that. It's in character. A Joanne with a pure sounding voice...well, wouldn't be Joanne."

ljay889 said: "" I love Stritch beyond belief, but she’s singing the note out of tune.
You’re not going to hear Patti sing a note out of tune in an intricate choral number because it suits the character.

Exactly, don't get me wrong she's a legend but it's just objectively the wrong note.

That said I'm glad it's on their because I appreciate it more every time I hear it.

[cougarnewtin]

Not a cast recording per se, but in the proshot of Jekyll and Hyde, during “Alive (Reprise)”, Hasselhoff sings the words “What a feeling of be so alive” as he pours Holy Water (?) on the Bishop.
Honestly, Hasselhoffs performance in that song is so bad that it might as well be considered a mistake in itself.

[GeorgeandDot]

If you listen closely to a lot of older cast albums, you'll hear a lot of chair squeaks. I'm also pretty sure that someone drops what sounds like an entire file of sheet music during the finale on the original West Side Story cast album.

[joevitus]

GeorgeandDot said: "If you listen closely to a lot of older cast albums, you'll hear a lot of chair squeaks. I'm also pretty sure that someone drops what sounds like an entire file of sheet music during the finale on the original West Side Story cast album."

Can you give an example? I'm sure you're right (who knew what was making to the mike back in those days or more limited sound reproduction), but I've never encountered it that I'm aware of and would love to hear it.

[joevitus]

ljay889 said: "I love Stritch beyond belief, but she’s singing the note out of tune.
You’re not going to hear Patti sing a note out of tune in an intricate choral number because it suits the character."

I'm quite sure, but that doesn't really say much, does it, other than they are different kinds of performers? I still don't get how any of this counts a "mistake" on a cast album. If you watch the documentary on the making of this album, you'll hear how particular Sondheim is about singers hitting the notes. And even when they give up on Stritch getting "Ladies Who Lunch" right, they don't fault her for being flat.

[Smaxie]

Here's one I've puzzled over: the xylophone player at 2:43 in the Funny Girl Overture during the solo on the OBCR seems to be playing in the wrong key. There are a few seconds of discord, and at 2:48, the player is suddenly in the same key with the rest of the orchestra. 

Funny Girl Overture 

As far as a cast recording, there are mistakes all over the place in the OBCR of The Producers. Almost too many to name. 

[Playbill_Trash]

On the Young Frankenstein cast recording, during the overture if you turn the volume all the way up during the staccato end section of the “Roll in the Hay” instrumental, you can hear someone turning their page in the sheet music. It’s glorious.

[DMsquared2]

On the Rent OBCR Wilson Jermaine Heredia sings: 

Food of love, emotion, mathematics
Isolation
Rhythm, feeling, power, harmony
And heavy competition

It should be power, feeling. It was corrected for the film soundtrack. 

[inception]

I was listening to the City of Angels cast album for the first time, and in one song someone says "There wasn't a dry seat in the house," when I think the proper phrase would be "dry eye." It isn't a show I ever saw, so don't know if the line was a mistake or on purpose, but it sounds like instead of saying everyone was crying, that everyone was urinating.

[joevitus]

Okay, that mistake made me laugh out loud at work.

[Sethwp2]

CedricOates said: "Andre Dè Shields in “Road to Hell” in Hadestown OBCR sings some flat notes, and when he sings “It’s where you’ll find the King of the Mine” he gobbles the “it’s where you’ll”. Also a sour note in “Way Down Hadestown” when he sings “Everybody tryna get a ticket to go”"

Obsessed with Andre on this recording (and in the show)... yes, he does gobble some words and not every note is pitch perfect... but that's what makes his voice so magical and unique. It's hard to imagine what Hermes will sound like with a replacement after he's out.

My favorite Andre delivery here is in Road to Hell when he sings "...there was a railroad car, and a myaaan schtepped out..." So sassy.