Which version of Third Eye do you like more - the studio or Salival one? Does the live version remind you of hearing it at a show, and the euphoria you undoubtedly felt? =)
If I had to choose, I'd definitely pick the studio version. I'm of the opinion that when a song is put on an album and released, something special happens to it - regardless of how many variations there were before it was recorded and regardless of how many variations there are after, the EXACT version that's on the album is special - it's THE master.
I disagree. I think that songs are in essence and by definition a fluid medium -- constantly changing and revealing themselves in new ways. Whatever day that Tool finalized the Ænima version was how Third Eye existed at that moment. And on the day that the version of Third Eye that appears on Salival was recorded, it appeared in another light. My point is that one version of a song is not more definitive or better than another. I enjoy both versions of the song at different times and for different reasons.
The live version has the Timothy Leary intro which I love. Not to knock Bill Hicks (I mean my username is RandyPan) but with the Hicks intro the song seems to be more drug oriented, while Leary's intro suggests an opening of consciousness that doesn't necessarily preclude the use of drugs. The studio version, on the other hand, is the first version I heard and therefore it has sentimental value. It may sound sappy to think of a song having sentimental value but Ænima changed the way I approached my life and the lives of those around me just as Nirvana's In Utero did 3 or 4 years earlier.
I really like both versions of the song. I think all songs not just Tool songs should be considered in an evolutionary light. That's the fun of music.
Unfortunately I must respect your opinion, Cracker, but if you're "enduring" any part of a song to get to the cool part, you're going about it all the wrong way. The beauty of TOOL is the experience, not just rocking out at certain parts of the songs or having it on in the background. For me, every album is one long song, especially Lateralus.
Anyway, I'd have to say I prefer the Salival version, mostly because of the great Timothy Leary intro (Bill Hicks is great, too) and Maynard's raw emotion during the second "Came out to watch you play..." verse.
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I agree with you Andy, but I don't agree that every tool song should be listened to like that. For instance, Opiate and Undertow, although great for what they are, aren't really feats of genius, with each song seperate from the next.
Salival version does it for me. I feel the salival version more, I think because it is live and obviously it has been shared with many people at that time. The studio version, which I still love, doesn't have the same energy, it isn't being projected out to an audience, its being projected into a wall of a studio. I can put myself there, at the concert, there is no better feeling than being at a tool concert, the love, the energy, the emotion, the enlightenment.
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I enjoy the Salival Third Eye and Pushit much more (which says alot, considering how they're my two favorite songs)
The emotion is grand, they both finish with that final burst of energy and then a relaxing post climax breath.
My favorite part of third eye is how in the Salival version you can hear better and with more feeling the lines about blue 2nd sons, memory holes, crows, peoty, darkness, and sand, the real core of the song, which is less understandable and emotional in Aenima.
I'm afraid I have to go with the live version. The first time I popped in Salival, (having never been to a Tool concert at that point) Third Eye just completely blew me away. I couldn't figure out whether the song was live or studio until I heard the crowd screaming with euphoria in the middle of the song.
Even now, the live version on the record just holds so much more emotion and raw energy. The dynamics between the bass and guitar during the "Open my eyes... open my eyes... open my eyes... open them..." and the surrounding interludes is just so incredibly awe inspiring, and it quite simply isn't captured in the same way on the record.
i love the salival version... it's so complex, twisting in and out and around itself. you can't just take it to a certain point, or stop it at a certain point... it just isn't third eye unless you listen to it in its entirety. that's what i love about Tool. any other band, i'd be bored after 2 minutes into a 15 minute song. but with tool, i can't stop listening. it takes my mind into this alternate reality where i feel creative and meaningful and everything seems to fit together. a few weeks ago i wrote what i was feeling while i listened to third eye... when i looked at it later on, it was this weirdly twisted description of falling through an unending abyss, with blackness all around... pulsating colors in tune with this music that was like a salvation. maynard's voice weaving in and out of it all...
it's an awesome experience, and i saw it live a few weeks ago in Knoxville... i'll never forget it.
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I see a lot of people think that the song is more emotional live. I agree to a point.
The last part of the song (prying open my third eye) doesn't seem to have the power that the studio version has. The whole build-up doesn't seem to be as effective either. Someone said that each song is fluid, and that's something I agree with. All of my songs that I've written are basically improvisations of a couple riffs. A lot of songs that I've written are fairly long (7-9 minutes), but that's because I had to cycle through the ideas and make sure I said everything what I wanted to say.
With that in mind, I think Tool says everything in the live version that was said in the studio version, but there still seems to be something missing at the end.
The live version of Pushit kicks the studio version right in the ass, though.
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the climax is not at the end, the climax is in the middle. 'so good to see you....' i interpret to be the high peak in the song, with everything previous building up to it, and everything afterwards calming down.
that's what the beauty is--it defies formulaic construction.
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The first time i heard third eye was an mp3 that only went up to like four or five mins long, so when i bought the cd i was blown away! that song is my favorite by far. I honestly can't decide which one is better though. basically it all depends on what you like about the song. For me its kind of rotational, week by week ill like one more than the other... yeah
I feel that it must be noted here that musically, the two versions are not really that different. The intros of course are different, but they're almost exactly the same otherwise.
However, there is definitely a very different feeling that I get from each of them. Because I have never seen third eye live, when I listen to that song I start imagining what it must be like to have that experience, and I feel that same sort of energy that I felt when I saw them live this summer.
The studio version fits in so nicely with the rest of aenima that I have a very different experience from the live version. It's more like a push into some other realm as aenima (the cd) comes to a close, while the live version I appreciate more by itself.
Personally, I enjoy the feeling from the live version more, because I love that kind of energy. laters
they are both excellent but i have to go with the salival version. i love the energy,the emotion and the sound of mjk's voice on the live one. it gives me chills every time. it also evokes images of the show at the spectrum when i finally got to hear it live. what an awesome song!
to just listen to the live version and then the studio version, live is deffinatly far superior, but i think that when you listen to the whole album before hand aenima is the best because the build up of the the songs before hand and the build up again of third eye to the end of the song always leaves me wanting so much more, like a 20 min third eye.
I enjoy the Salival version more. It's probably my favourite piece of music I've ever heard along with Forty Six & 2. I love how the song twists and turns and how the structure while inconsistent to the usual for rock songs fits perfectly for this track. Unbelievable, I would give anything to have been there at the time.
Cheers
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I like the Salival version better because Adam's guitar work sounds a lot better to me, you can hear more of the subtle licks clearer. I also think Danny's drumming sounds better too. The one negative is the shortened ending on the Salival version, but I bet that would kill the vocal cords after awhile.
I'm definitely going with the studio version. The live one sounds good and has a raw edge but the studio version DEFINES the song with its crisp sound and clockwork timing. Also, I would rather hear it live in person than listen to it live on a recording.
They both have their pros: the studio version with the second guitar playing the crazy whatever scale that is and all the little background subtlties that they put in all of their songs make it a much more textural, headphone song, while the dynamics of Adams playing and especially the full use of his wah during the close of the song make you just toss your arms up in applaud "Yeeeaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!"
having heard this song live (indy 9/21/02), and taking nothing away from the studio version, i feel that the salival cut of this song is the superior version...i can feel the song flow through me...it's very powerful...
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The funny thing for me is that I never really dug the Aenima version of Third Eye, but once I heard it on Salival it quickly became one of my favorite Tool songs. I think I have to agree with what somebody said above - that you can hear a lot of things more clearly in the live version. I think the Aenima version has more of a raw sound, and on Salival a lot of the parts just seem a little "cleaner", which lets you hear how beautiful the song really is. I do go back and listen to the Aenima version a lot more often than I used to, so I think this is a case where hearing an incredible live version can enhance the experience of going back and listening to the studio version.
For about the last two months I had been listening to Salival because i had lost Aenima. And third eye was such an experience on salival that when i put in the studio version it seamed a little flat and not as intense. Of course i had always loved the studio version and the live version but the live seems to have allot of emotion that isn't on the album version. So my opinion would be the live version.
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Depends
I think it all depends on if you've heard the Salival version at an actual concert. The best live version i saw was in Beaumont Texas. (Yee Haa) They put on the Timothy Leary intro and then followed with the Bill Hicks quotes. The crowd went nuts when the "I Think Drugs Have Done Some Good Things" line came on. I just started to laugh my ass off. I love those two quotes.
as in the salival version of "pushit," the passion of maynard's voice pushes the live version over the edge. the entire song drips with emotion, as he were pleading to be raised to the higher level that comes with the opening of the third eye. i personally find myself longing to hear some of the live effects when im listening to "thid eye" on Ænima and am almost disappointed when i dont hear them.
The live versions of both Third Eye and Pushit have more those little soundeffects which maybe makes them better. It's hard to compare Third Eyes because only thing that really differs is the intro, but live version of Pushit is almost compeletely a new song. "...so we could hopefully kind of see it almost for the first time..."
However, I think the Salival versions are better..
Hate to keep repeating what everyone said already, but I definitely like this song version better. It reminds me of when I saw them just recently and they actually played the song. I almost shit myself when Maynard goes:
"And now a word from our sponsor"
"Think for yourself, question authority...."
As a TOOL fan, I love that song, and it was so amazing. The two visual screens had some crazy visuals, most realistic trip-like visuals i've ever seen (other than tripping... :)
There are little differences that make me like Salival's version more, namely Adam's guitar at the following the "chasing the trail of smoke and reason" line.
I also like the fact that I can make out Maynard saying "...and there we were."
Also, am I the only one who noticed the child's voice when Maynard first starts the child's rhyme in the Salival version.
I think they are both equally good. In the Salival version, it has the energy of a live show, but the studio version has a more professional sound to it, and it has the multi-layered guitar and bass parts, adding to its complexity. I would have to say that I listen to the Salival version more, but I think that the extended ending of the Aenima version is better.
Both are awesome, each track has its own perks. What always struck me in the Salival version was the quiet groan/moan and slightly dissonant version of the "Prying open my third eye!" music (between 9:06 and 9:14) right before the loud "So good to see you..." verse.
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Re: Which Version? =)
If you're looking at it in terms of a lyrical experience, the studio album wins. However, if you want to hear some of Adam's and Danny's best work on their instruments, check out the live version.
the timothy leary sample really makes sense. i want to read more about his views...
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Re: Which Version? =)
Quote:
Originally Posted by mjkajdcjc
If you're looking at it in terms of a lyrical experience, the studio album wins. However, if you want to hear some of Adam's and Danny's best work on their instruments, check out the live version.
Indeed, if I had live versions of tunes like the Grudge, Lateralus and Rosetta Stoned I would in all likelyhood never leave my room ever again. Anyway, I'm going with hte salival version for now but to be fair I haven't listened to the studio version all that much. ANd by th way, to the person who talks about the "child" voice--it's not. Maynard overdubs a falsetto on the studio version, so to mimmic that effect on the live version they put an effect on his voice to push it up an octave. So Maynard is actually singing harmony with.. himself. YOu can tell because of how tinny the voice sounds. If you care about such things, they do a similar effect on Schism, only it's half an octive down rather than a full one up. I dont' think they do this for any other songs, though.
Third Eye -Salival version came up on my iPod shuffle today, so I'm partial to that right now...Bill Hicks is cool, but Tim Leary's words have more significance to the song, I think...
And Maynard's vocals are raw, if he fucked up in the studio, they could do another take, or overdub vocals...
and I'm not ruling out that they overdubbed in the live lyrics a little bit, but you can tell his lyrics are R-A-W and in your face
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