OT- When Singers Can't Sing Their Songs Anymore

[TheEqualizer]

Wow. This is harsh:

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/getbac ... s-anymore/

However, I am sad to say that I think this is true. Frankly, I think the Who are playing better now than they ever had in the post-Moon era. Except for Roger.

For those too lazy to click a link, this pretty much summarizes the article:

QUOTE

I love The Who. "Quadrophenia" saved my life. Literally saved my life. Daltrey's wail was one of the most gut-wrenching, soul busting sounds in rock.

Was.

I'm sad to say that Daltrey has already lost it. Give the guys props for sticking with it but he ain't the Daltrey of days past. He's old and that youthful wail has turned into a croak. It's painful to hear. It's painful for me to say it out loud. I love the man. I owe him and his bandmates for rescuing my childhood. Still, I can't hide behind the romanticism of my classic rock past.

END QUOTE

So now here's the question: to what extent, if any, does Sting fall into this category? Tourzilla's "Don't Stand" is exhibit 1 for the prosecution. I'm not sure I need to present further exhibits, but you know I can.

Side note: This should not be misinterpreted. There were songs, if not most, during Tourzilla that I though Sting sang very well. Good as ever. No complaints from me, for instance, with Can't Stand Losing You. Or ELTSDIM. I'm just talking about the song requiring very high notes that Sting founded his reputation on.

[thedaner]

I haven't seen video of Sting's solo shows he's done lately, but I suspect that because he had to do this "Welcome To The Voice" and also record this (probable) snoozer of an album he probably saved his voice during Tourzilla for that. That being said, while he can still sing I think his range or the ability to sustain much higher notes has changed. Why have we not heard--on previous solo tours--that he had to do a macrobiotic diet, eschew alcohol and caffeine and not do many spoken interviews (plus take it easy during soundchecks)? If he didn't have other projects in the wings I think he could've gone a little more balls out.

[TheEqualizer]

[quote="thedaner"] If he didn't have other projects in the wings I think he could've gone a little more balls out.[/quote]

Not buying this for a second. He wasn't going to give a half effort with The Police in front of an eleventy billion fans just to save himself for Welcome to the Voice, which would be seen/heard by a handful of fans. I think he wasn't going to be saving himself at the first show in Vancouver. Or at the Last Goodbye at MSG. Or the last UK show at Hyde Park.

[thedaner]

Well, I don't buy that he had to save his voice for Tourzilla. He's never had to for solo projects.

[TheEqualizer]

[quote="thedaner"]Well, I don't buy that he had to save his voice for Tourzilla. He's never had to for solo projects.[/quote]

Me either. I'm saying that Tourzilla was his best effort at the time, which, for certain songs, was well below his performances in the past.

[smax]

i dont think there's any (medical/methodological) reason why a singer would lose some of their range.. that article about Daltry is mostly about his power or the resonance of his voice....

that said some of the barely audible squeeks which gordo produces on the eberhard stuff or on Outlandos: i think just think he'd look a bit stupid making them now!

i love the "back again" scene from "Around the World"... and the coughing that starts the next tune over the PA as it cuts back to the doctor saying "no more banging together of the vocal chords"... and back to gordo on stage saying "i've done enough singing tonight, now it's your turn..."

[Throb]

From I saw of the Oprah interview with Whitney Houston(Mrs. Throb was watching it on TiVo)locking yourself in your mansion for months at a time and smoking marijuana cigarettes sprinkled with cocaine is apparently not good for the vocal cords as Whitney now sounds like Aunt Esther from Sanford and Son.

[Police Boy]

I agree with the Roger Daltrey comments. Another singer that this is very applicable to is Bono. All you have to do is compare the Under A Blood Red Sky dvd to anything recent and it will be obvious. Is it the years of wailing away that has caused Bono's, Sting's voices to go or is it just aging? These guys learn to deal with it by "altering" how they sing certain lines because they know their own limitations. While both U2 and The Police are still obviously great live, they are not as good (from a vocal standpoint) as they once were. We spot these alterations right away because we know their songs well.

Ian McCulloch from Echo and The Bunnymen is another example, but in his case smoking has changed his vocals, yet he seems to have embraced it well and sees himself as a crooner. Leonard Cohen is another example.