Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Authentic artistry

The biggest debate that runs through the philosophy of art is about authenticity.
edit.20150728.jpg

The biggest debate that runs through the philosophy of art is about authenticity.

A series of hypothetical questions exposes the problem:

If a 12-year-old produces an exact copy of the Mona Lisa, is it mimicry or is it artistry?

If a fake of the Mona Lisa has been hanging in the Louvre for 50 years, how does that ruin the experience for those who saw the fake?

How much preservation work is allowed to a piece of priceless art before it stops being the original work?

These questions flow through all of the artistic disciplines, not just visual art.

For music fans, this can be as toxic a dinner conversation as discussing religion or politics.

The vast majority of John Fogerty's fabulous show Sunday night at CN Centre were Credence Clearwater Revival songs.

He was the songwriter, the lead singer and the guitarist on those classic songs, so does he have artistic licence to perform them or is there something inauthentic about his performance?

Go back to the Journey show two weeks ago. Guitarist Neal Schon founded the band and he is the only one who has played on every Journey album and every Journey live show.

The current lineup features Schon and two others from the classic early 1980s lineup but can the band call itself Journey without lead singer Steve Perry, the voice behind all of the band's most beloved songs?

Has Journey's "Journey-ishness" been lost?

The only member left from Foreigner's heyday is guitarist and songwriter Mick Jones, who founded the band. To make matters even more delicate, Jones doesn't play every night the band does. When he sits out, is it Foreigner or a hand-picked cover band by the man who owns the Foreigner name? Should Jones call his band Foreigner when the lead vocals on the band's best-known work were song by Lou Gramm?

Here's how weird this can get. Both Foreigner and Lou Gramm are touring this summer independently of each other.

According to setlist.fm, an online clearinghouse for the songs performed at each stop on a live tour, both Foreigner and Gramm are consistently opening their lives shows with Double Vision, a rock radio staple.

Which version of Double Vision is authentic or is neither?

Music purists can twist themselves into knots on these issues. Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac is still an incredible guitar player but even the most diehard Mac fan would have to admit his voice is gone (and the voice of Stevie Nicks is only marginally better).

Is it better to see Buckingham and Nicks struggle to sing notes they can't hit nearly 40 years later or to see a tribute band reproduce the songs note perfect, just the way they did it on Rumours?

This is about not just art but business, of course. Fleetwood Mac charged hundreds of dollars per ticket to see the classic Rumours lineup reunited on its recent North American tour. According to Pollstar, those 56 shows brought in gross revenues of $92 million.

Fans have answered with their wallets.

Somehow it's better to hear aging acts struggle to reproduce yesteryear's greatest hits in concert than to hear younger, more capable singers and musicians perform the same material.

Although Journey remains a solid concert draw worldwide and in Prince George, more than a few fans passed on their recent CN Centre show, sniffing that Arnel Pineda is no Steve Perry.

The problem is no live musical act is who they were in the studio, either, where the best takes out of countless demos, rehearsals and takes makes the final record. Buckingham's guitar solo on Go Your Own Way is pieces of three guitar solos, pieced together for Rumours, according to album co-producer Richard Dashut in his book Making Rumours.

In other words, Buckingham never played it the way we hear it.

And that was then. Recording technology has advanced to such a degree that musicians don't have to ever be in the same place to record together, and every part of their performance can be digitally altered and enhanced.

Which then begs the question of why it's so important for so many to see the original artist perform the original songs.

The simple answer is because it's cool and it's fun and it feels authentic.

And, in the case of people like John Fogerty, with both his voice and his guitar work remarkably well-preserved nearly 50 years into his career, it's inspiring and it makes for an incredible night of live music.

-- Managing editor Neil Godbout