Seemingly Intractable Questions In Pop, No.1 in a Series

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

How do you make pop work on TV?

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Usually they're better musicians. They actually get paid a wage for playing (I have no idea if its a decent one or not though) instead of an advance to be flushed away on booze and 'recording albums'.

Also orchestral instruments are designed for playing 'live' instead of being tweaked through an amplifier/mixing desk. Plus orchestras are usually quite big so less amplification required + less obvious if one of them makes a mistake.

This is why the Proms work very well on telly, and live pop music (eg Glastonbury coverage) is mostly terrible.

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

There is something quite terrible about Proms TV at times. Watched last night's concert on BBC4 and there were times when they would focus upon an instrument that wasn't quite the centre of attention for that segment of time. Plus I couldn't hear some of the segments well enough.

BUT, crucially, two out of the three did seem to overcome any of these limitations to give some excellent telly moments. I