Another pointless ELP thread

[GuitarGeek]

OK, I'm listening to Brain Salad Surgery tonight. Been awhile since I've had this album on, and something I had forgotten about was that sort of semi-dropout during Karn Evil 9 First Impression Part One. The entire band drops out except for Greg's vocal for a split second about three quarters of the way in. I'm sure everyone knows the bit I'm talking about. Presumably this was the result of someone hitting the "solo" button on that particular channel on the board just for a half second or whatever.

Now the question is, does anyone know if that was deliberate or just an accident. I can very well see, in the middle of a mixing session, someone accidentally hitting the button, then quickly hitting it again to bring the band back in.

And then the other question would be, once it happened (assuming it wasn't planned) did they intend to use that on the record? Was it one of those things where they were in such a hurry there was no time to go back and do a new mix or what?

[Troopers For Sound]

"We've got thrills and shocks"

...the shock being the sound cutting out. It's meant to be!

Matt.

[Gravedigger]

"We've got thrills and shocks"

...the shock being the sound cutting out. It's meant to be!

Matt.

That was how I interpreted it the very first time I heard it; pretty effective, I think.

[arabicadabra]

It was so effective in my opinion that I was bummed that they didn't attempt it live

[GuitarGeek]

It was so effective in my opinion that I was bummed that they didn't attempt it live

Other than having the sound guy hit the mute button on the FOH board, I'm not sure how you'd do it. And with the size of venues they were playing, natural echo, etc, it'd be tricky to insert the "mute" at exactly the right place. Anyone close to the stage would still hear whatever's audible onstage, ie drums, Greg's bass, etc.

[Sputnik]

...Now the question is, does anyone know if that was deliberate or just an accident.

As others have said, I think it was totally deliberate to highlight the vocal at that moment ("We've got thrills and shocks"). Really no doubt about it in my mind.

Other than having the sound guy hit the mute button on the FOH board, I'm not sure how you'd do it. And with the size of venues they were playing, natural echo, etc, it'd be tricky to insert the "mute" at exactly the right place. Anyone close to the stage would still hear whatever's audible onstage, ie drums, Greg's bass, etc.

Actually it wouldn't be hard at all to put a real time stop in that place. It wouldn't sound exactly like the album, with that full on drop-out, but it wouldn't be difficult to do a full band stop there. You could do a one beat stop on the three where Lake sings "shocks" that would approximate the album's drop out. Pretty easy. There would be "ring out" in a large auditorium, but I think a stop there would still be highly effective. I also was disappointed they didn't do this live, it's a really great moment on the studio album.

Bill