The Value of Error
Monitor Mix discusses the inherent value of mistakes in rock music and laments the overly produced perfection of contemporary music. They offer up this (accurate) analysis of The Beatles’ Rain:
Want to hear a really sloppy record? It’s a good song, but the recording’s a mess. The drums consistently drag the rhythm; the bass player isn’t quite sure how his part is supposed to go. If you listen carefully to the end of the second verse (around the 48-second mark in this video), the whole band gets lost for a moment and ends up adding an extra beat by accident.
Other paradigm examples: The Sex Pisols (every song), the keyboard solo in James Brown’s Sex Machine, the beginning of the chorus in the Mommas and the Papa’s I Saw Her Again.
I think a turning point here might be Hendrix’s “Vodoo Child (Slight Return).” The song has a rough feel to it, and is essentially a series of errors–Hendrix reportedly recorded 16 takes before ever making it to the solo. I’ve also read that this was the recording session that got bass player Noel Redding to quit the experience (the straw that broke the camel’s back). In an era in which most bands were playing one or two takes, Hendrix was beginning to explore multi-track recording, phasing, and the pursuit of “perfection.”