I don't know if anyone else noticed this but.. crispian live in Venice...singing Be Merciful..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...woxk&feature=related

This message has been edited. Last edited by: K ॐ,

Nice, always good to hear Be Merciful again.

Cheers! Good to know the song hasn;t been dumped into the Songs That Fell Into Oblivion afterlife. I wonder if this means they finalyl recorded the damn thing.

quote:

Originally posted by Pitry, Queen of Shrooms:
Cheers! Good to know the song hasn;t been dumped into the Songs That Fell Into Oblivion afterlife. I wonder if this means they finalyl recorded the damn thing.

Well he's played it at previous Krishna-related things before, so I don't think one extra airing in itself proves anything. Personally I think the fact that Crispian keeps returning to this song shows it means a lot to him, so I'd be pretty amazed if he didn't record a proper version (although you could argue that the download version they stuck up a while back was a proper version.) As long as they record a version with the instrumental coda still in place then I'll be happy, anyway

This video is great though, so thanks for the link.

Thanks for posting the link K.

Did anyone else wonder if the red haired lady filming (standing up) was Jo?
And,if the little toddler near her on left could be Mills Junior?

Thanks for the video link!

Funnily enough I was thinking about Be Merciful the other day, I was going to post a topic along the lines of 'Be Merciful - the ten year itch that you just can't fucking scratch' (lol)

The problem is there is no definitively satisfying version of the song available, after all these years!!

Thinking of the versions we have:-

1) 'solo' version.
Released as a streaming audio clip during the Crispian Mills/Pi days. Low key production, guitar and flute.
Pros: Studio production (although could be a demo), nice arrangement even though not full band
Cons: Feels curtailed (possibly this could even be an edit of a fuller track, as were some of the other contemporaneous clips), arguably a stripped down version whilst nice doesn't do full justice to the song compared to a full band arrangement. also, not so great quality audio.

2)Faith And Music version
Played on the Faith And Music documentary.
Full band version, preserving the low-key start but building to a full band finish that does justice to the epic sentiments of the song. This arrangement, premiered on the documentary, became the arrangement Kula would play in their live sets.
Pros: Full band version, pretty high quality recording in a tv studio
Cons: biggest con is Crispian talking over quite a bit of it, apart from that this version would come close to being definitive. Also, even though the recording quality is high, it's still semi-live and not quite studio

3) Live recording of the song from a Kula live set
(e.g. the one from Cargo London is the one I have and listen to)
Pros: Unlike the above, doesn't have talking over it, and is the full arrangement
Cons: Audio quality is very murky for the Cargo show, and i've not heard a very good live recording of this song. Even if there was an excellent bootleg or recording from a live show that still might suffer from the objection that it's live and not studio.

4) Acoustic version (as performed for more than one radio session, etc)
Pros: Pretty good quality recordings
Cons: Not the full arrangement, just acoustic. Also not fully studio recordings.


I seem to recall one band member (alonza?) saying to some fan that it was in contention for album 2. Maybe just my overactive imagination

I'm not sure where the download version from Aug '07 (guitar + keyboards) fits into your list; since it's not the full band version, but neither would I consider it acoustic either. Also I assume it's a full studio recording due to how it was made available and in the absence of evidence to the contrary.

I thought the sound on the Cargo boot was pretty good, though I realise you're slightly biased :P

Ehm...

Venice=VENEZIA

Heh good point; I didn't notice K's mistake even after watching the video. Maybe he was listening to Ultravox at the time...

Actually I always mix up Vienna and Venice too. Athough I can't explain why; there's no logical reason to confuse the two except for the fact that they both begin with 'V'.

Woops, my bad!

Changed...ahem.

nice find!
thanks for sharing.

Shame no one talked about this before,i wonder why we don't have more info about Crispian & Co.

Thanks for posting this, K!

quote:

Originally posted by Domino:
i wonder why we don't have more info about Crispian & Co.

We may need an excellent spy!

quote:

Originally posted by drykid:
I'm not sure where the download version from Aug '07 (guitar + keyboards) fits into your list; since it's not the full band version, but neither would I consider it acoustic either. Also I assume it's a full studio recording due to how it was made available and in the absence of evidence to the contrary.

I thought the sound on the Cargo boot was pretty good, though I realise you're slightly biased :P

Do you think you could upload the 2007 version? (it was a freebie so hopefully that's cool) Would be much obliged, maybe I had it and lost it, but I haven't played it for a while that's for sure..

I'm sure it will be on the new album. It has to be, it's a chooon. I prefer the solo version myself but the sound is a bit grainy. I think the guy I got it off recorded it onto video tape or something from his PC so that must be why. Apart from that the production is incredible - even if it is missing a verse.