She's Not There

[GY]

I just heard the Santana version again this morning. The last solo (with the breaks near the end of the song)... the guitar is way sharp! Listen to it and compare pitch with the organ. The first solo is not as bad. Makes me think they OD the end solo after retuning. This has always bugged me. It's just bad. Carlos should be embarrassed. And, it's a horrible cover.

[Tedster]

I actually liked the cover...but then, I never really listened closely to it...and I usually heard it on a car radio with someone else yammering in my ear.

[theblue1]

Depending on the tone in the scale -- comparing the pitch to an organ for 'correctness' is problematic, since the equal tempered scale involves a number of, at times, troublesome compromises. (One of the reasons that sophisticated singing ensembles do not tend to use hold chords on equal tempered instruments, particularly organs.)

 

Now, I haven't heard the cover that you're talking about, so I can't weigh in on this particular, but proper pitch is a lot more complex -- and arguable -- than many musicians may realize.

 

Of course, the guitar is more or less fretted in equal temperament. But many players intuitively adjust their bends...

 

There are a few threads around here on these issues. Here's one in the Keyboard Mag forum I started about a dynamic intonation system for synthesizers that attempts to address some of these concerns:

 

http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/ubb/get_topic/f/18/t/013936.html

[Dylan]

I'm sad to say that I've lost a lot of respect for Santana over the years. His studio cuts from back in the day were great, but just about every live performance that I've seen from him have been really bad overall.

[Bill Roberts]

Dude, Carlos is just doing what the mookies tell him. He can still put on a nice show..given the right vibe and not having people control him so!

 

 

CS is still the real deal.

[Blue Strat]

I think that is one of Santana's best songs. Great cover. The original didn't have it goin' on like Carlos did!

[theblue1]

Originally posted by Blue Strat:

I think that is one of Santana's best songs. Great cover. The original didn't have it goin' on like Carlos did!

 

Kids today... yeesh. It sounds like a freakin' Holiday Inn band.

 

 

Now the Vanilla Fudge version...

 

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On the tuning/pitch thing. It's clearly in slightly different tune than the early solo... but most of the pitch provocation as I hear it comes from Carlos' signature off-note bends... but he's been doin' that for 35+ years.

 

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To get the taste of Santana's cover of "She's Not There" out of my ears (whatever) I put on "Evil Ways"... ah now that's better. From the pan-twist tom roll that ends with the [mono] drums over on the left [where God clearly intended them] to that huge, fat B3 and the ragged ensemble singing and Carlos's Gabor-Szabo-meets-Peter-Green playing... now this is the Santana I once loved.

[KB Gunn]

Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone do it best. They wrote it and they did it first. I am sure that Rod loves Santana's cover. He has been paid mucho dinero in royalties thanks to Carlos.

 

When the Zombies split up, Colin went by the name of Neil MacArthur and released his own version of She's Not There. It is amazing. I am listening to it right now on iTunes. If someone could tell me how to post an mp3 on the forum, I would be glad to share it with you.

[theblue1]

I only have to close my eyes to hear it. (The 60's... you know...)

 

 

But, anyhow, thanks for your genorous offer but it would violate the rules here to trade unauthorized copies.

 

I'm sure we can all find our own ways of listening, whether subscription, purchase or, well, you know... uh, just listening to the robo-oldies stations. I actually have it on vinyl and, I think, a legit mp3 on my other machine. And my subscription service doesn't have SNT, but it does have "Time of the Season."

 

Still, it's best to listen to them both and just sit there in stunned silence afterward thinking, man, now that's pop music...

 

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PS... I probably overslagged the Santana version earlier. While I found most of the backup to be on the phone-it-in side of things, I did sort of enjoy the sheer, unapologetic, that's-what-they-pay-me-for energy of Carlos' solo(s). Nothing we haven't heard from him hundreds of times. Far, far from his best work -- which really can be sublime in its genuineness, it's primal rightness. But enjoyable somehow, nonetheless. Once, anyhow.