I think “Video Games” works quite well as a multimedia experience when you hear the recording with the video. But on SNL, many of its limitations were foregrounded. The song has its virtues, but I don’t think it’s as a good as you might conclude from hearing the recording.
If you listen to Lana Del Rey singing on the show, it’s off in some ways, but it’s clear she’s got a multi-octave voice. It’s often much harder for a woman to sing down low in the range she was in than to sing high. I also think it’s hard to pull off live the quality of voice they captured on the recording. But that’s different than saying she has no talent. Was there auto-tuner on the recording? Perhaps. But it doesn’t sound egregious. So provided that she is the one who sang on the recording, she is probably a reasonably good singer.
Apparently, somebody thought that she was pretty enough to just pull it off mostly on that alone. Or they didn’t have enough leverage to demand room for pyrotechnics.
More experience is really what would have helped her. Even if she’s been performing for a while (which I think she has), she’s only like 25 years old. So she hasn’t been performing that long. And I’d be surprised if she’s played that many shows in venues over 200 capacity, or outside of the NE.
Neko Case had 4+ albums out as a solo artist and had played 1000s of shows in all kinds of venues by the time she hit the Leno show when Fox Confessor came out. Against this backdrop, it’s not surprising that she and her band nailed it. That’s what experience gets you as a performer: the ability to handle adverse circumstances and be good anyway.
You see this all the time at SXSW. People have to roll into a venue, play on rented and borrowed equipment, and usually with no sound check. I can tell you from experience that it’s a nerve racking exercise. I didn’t handle it very well the one time I did it. The more seasoned people typically handle this situation better, because they know how to make the necessary adjustments. Chuck Prophet will often play like 6 times down there in 6 different venues, with no sound check and sound great each time.
I saw the Tripwires play at the Comet a while back on a bill with a bunch of younger bands (the Tripwires feature John Ramberg from the Minus 5, Jim Sangster from the Young Fresh Fellows, Jim’s brother Johnny, and Mark Pickerel from the Screaming Trees).
The sound was kind of this loud blurry mush the entire night. Then, the Tripwires got up to play. All of a sudden, it was like somebody turned the lens on the camera a half turn and it was in crystal clear focus. I could see some of the guys in the other bands kind of staring into space and shaking their heads, then looking at the sound guy, like they couldn’t quite figure out what had happened. But the sound guy wasn’t doing anything. He didn’t put them in focus. The Tripwires put themselves in focus right up on the stage.
– Jacob London has a blog which may be found at www.jawjawjaw.com
