Forums > Queen - General Discussion > I Can't Live With You

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To me It is a great song but I'm surprised that the percussion was done on drum programming. Was the drumming too hard for roger.  

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There's real drums in there, too.

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Busy with The Cross maybe....

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I think it is mostly a drum machine, but there are some live drums in there as well, such as fills and the such. But the main of it is a drum machine. Roger did a WAY better job on the '97 retake, and it actually sounds like a real jam!

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The original definitely Roger's real drums in with the computerised drum track that brian put on top.  I don't know, but I'd guess that Brian sampled Roger's take to create the electronic drums part as they mirror each other exactly in places. 

The 1997 retake has the same Roger real drum parts as the original but with the electronics taken off the track, thereby enabling us to hear what Roger is playing

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Yes but sequencing was not what it was back then.  They didn't really tap on a few keys and do that, did they?  Even more reason to dislike the Innuendo album.

I always hated Days Of Our Lives because the congas sounded so weak.  I have LP Potatos, I know what good congas are.  I just thought Roger didn't know how to tune 'em.  Now I'm thinking those were M-1 congas tapped in by an engineer.  How depressing.

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I don't mean to 'pick on you', but the use of the word 'most' caught my attention. TBH, I'm not sure about whether it's right or wrong, so let's count:

HOT SPACE:

SP - Linn (mostly)
Dancer - Linn (intro and verse), acoustic (choruses and solo)
Back Chat - e-Drums + Linn (mostly)
Body Language - Linn (mostly - compare it with live versions to notice the difference)
Action - Linn + Simmons + acoustic (choruses mostly)
PotF - Acoustic
Life Is Real - Ditto
Calling All Girls - Ditto
Las Palabras - Ditto
Cool Cat - Ditto
Under Pressure - Ditto

As you can see, the first half of the album's got mostly machines and e-drums with little to no acoustic ones. But six songs are done with acoustic drums. So: most songs done on e-drums, machines or programming? No.

THE WORKS:

Radio Ga Ga - Linn + Simmons, mostly.
Tear It Up - Acoustic, mostly (at least)
It's a Hard Life - Acoustic
Man on the Prowl - Acoustic
Machines - Linn + Simmons + acoustic
Break Free - A bit of both, probably
Keep Passing the Open Windows - Acoustic, mostly (at least)
Hammer to Fall - Acoustic

So, eight songs in the album have drums, off which six (75%) are synth-, computer- and machine-free. Most songs done on e-drums, machines or programming? No.

A KIND OF MAGIC:

One Vision - A bit of e- and programming, but mostly acoustic.
A Kind of Magic - Ditto
One Year of Love - Ditto
PisCtP - A bit more programmed than played
FWBF - Acoustic
WwtLF - Mostly acoustic, but Rog didn't play them anyway...
GtP - Acoustic
DLYH - Acoustic
PotU - Acoustic

Nine songs with drums, one played by whoever was the percussionist in the orchestra, four (half) are totally (or mostly) acoustic. Most songs done on e-drums, machines or programming? No.

THE MIRACLE:

Party - Mostly programmed, indeed.
Khashoggi's Ship - Acoustic.
The Miracle - Acoustic.
I Want It All - Acoustic, with a bit of programming in the middle (demo version surviving, I reckon).
Invisible Man - Acoustic, surprisingly enough, but as Fred allegedly said, Rog's better than a machine.
Breakthru - Acoustic, and very well played.
Rain Must Fall - Some programming and some e-drums (which are actually played as well as acoustic so they need skills)
Scandal - Totally acoustic
My Baby Does Me - Mostly programmed
Was It All Worth It - Totally acoustic

Ten songs, seven of which (70%) are entirely or almost entirely acoustic. So: most songs done on e-drums, machines or programming? No.

INNUENDO:

Innuendo - Totally acoustic except perhaps for the orchestral bit (which hasn't got drums per se but percussion).
Slightly Mad - A bit of both, but the pattern's indeed acoustic (most likely looped a la Bites the Dust).
Headlong - Mostly acoustic, though some bits of Brian's programming survive.
I Can't Live With You - Programmed on an Apple Mac and then run through the M1 drum section. Little to no acoustic.
Don't Try So Hard - Totally acoustic.
Ride the Wild Wind - The main part's acoustic, surprisingly enough.
All God's People - A bit of both. I suspect Mike, and not Fred, programmed most of them.
Days of Our Lives - Mostly programmed including the congas (courtesy of the producer, reportedly).
Delilah - Mostly programmed.
Hitman - Acoustic except for some bit in the middle which is programmed (probably a demo thing surviving again).
Show Must Go On - Totally acoustic.

Eleven songs with drums, seven of which (63.64%, rounded from a recurring decimal) are mostly or completely acoustic. So: most songs done on e-drums, machines or programming? No.

MADE IN HEAVEN:

Beautiful Day (including reprise) - Acoustic, mostly (at least)
Made in Heaven - Ditto.
Let Me Live - Acoustic.
Mother Love - A bit of both, mostly programmed at the beginning.
My Life Has Been Saved - Acoustic.
I Was Born to Love You - Acoustic, and very well-played and underrated.
Heaven for Everyone - A bit of both.
Too Much Love - Acoustic, not his best moment IMO but not bad at all.
You Don't Fool Me - The main pattern's acoustic, the shaker and other things are probably sampled and/or programmed.ç
A Winter's Tale - A bit of both.

So: ten compositions, off which seven are mostly acoustic. So: most songs done on e-drums, machines or programming? No.

Conclusion: were most songs done on e-drums, machines or programming?

For Hot Space - No.
For The Works - No.
For Magic - No.
For Miracle - No.
For Innuendo - No.
For Made in Heaven - No.

There you have it.

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Also, I'm pretty damned sure the drums for IWBTLY (1997 Rocks 'Re-take') were completely redone live for that remake. The sound on those drums are more consistent with the NOBY drums than the 1989/1991 acoustic drum sounds.

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Right. That much, I can't disagree with.

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It's not always a matter of difficulty: Staying Power is a hell of a lot more difficult to sing than '39 (lead vocals, that is), and Freddie surely did a way better job on the former than Brian ever could if he tried (even if he hit the same notes); however, on the latter, Fred's voice is good, but not as good as the doctor's. There are also many people who can play guitar way better than Freddie, and who can play way more difficult things than CLTCL but when doing that song, for some reason, they don't quite cut the mustard (IMO, Brian amongst them).

Same case here: AFAIK, Roger's attempts to reproduce what Brian had programmed didn't please the composer as they, allegedly, didn't have the correct 'feeling'. It's not a matter of 'if he could play Brighton Rock et al., then he could also play ICLWY', but a matter of 'every song is different and every case is different.'

Remember that Einstein had problems putting on his socks (or something like that), which is way easier than coming up with relativity.