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singers then and now

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i though it would be interesting to compare the live performance voices of singers how they sounded in their heyday (live), and how they sound now.

i'll start it off with the great paul rodgers:

then and now.

boy, it's pretty clear you don't have to lose it as you age. awesome!!

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Don't have the time to find clips but both Steven Tyler and David Coverdale couldn't bridge well early in their career but later learned how to do it extremely well. Then later, David lost it a bit but Steven Tyler is pretty much the same. So he's a BETTER singer than when he was starting out.

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One thing I noticed was a major change in Chris Cornell's abilities, specifically his head voice.

Check this clip of 'Beyond the Wheel' from 1990.

at about 2:13 he comes in with that head voice part and it sounds... well, pretty fantastic. Cornell has never been terrible. But for me, the head voice is maybe a bit pushed at times, kinda pitchy...

But check out this performance from 2010...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crILNt7-kj8

His head voice has improved remarkably! As I say, the other clip from 1990 was alright... But this clip, taken 20 years later, absolutely owns it.

Like wine, some singers continue to mature with age...

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One thing I noticed was a major change in Chris Cornell's abilities, specifically his head voice.

Check this clip of 'Beyond the Wheel' from 1990.

at about 2:13 he comes in with that head voice part and it sounds... well, pretty fantastic. Cornell has never been terrible. But for me, the head voice is maybe a bit pushed at times, kinda pitchy...

But check out this performance from 2010...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crILNt7-kj8

His head voice has improved remarkably! As I say, the other clip from 1990 was alright... But this clip, taken 20 years later, absolutely owns it.

Like wine, some singers continue to mature with age...

yeah, great post!.... in the newer clip you can hear less push, and he got more ring in the voice.

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Cornell's a funny one.. He definitely sounds better now, but he did go though a funny stage with Audioslave. Although I still loved his voice when he was with them, it just sounded shot compared to Soundgarden. Then I remember hearing the new Soundgarden track when they reformed and he was right back on it! I wonder if he made any significant changes to his technique during that period...

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cornell was interviewed in a rock magazine where he said he realized he was beginning to ruin his voice and knew it was time to get technical and more structured. he also went on to say that he wanted to tone things down a bit and move on to other ways of singing.

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I had mention that movie recently of Iron Maiden. I thought it was Columbia but it was Chile. I do remember the elevation meant some thinner air and Bruce was taking oxygen back stage between songs. That's why his notes are little more staccato. However, he is singing more high notes than the earlier video.

His ability and range has not diminished with age. Not bad for a guy who taught himself with books from Lilli Lehmann and Graham Hewitt.

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I kind of suspect that the Audioslave phase was kind of a stylistic choice, both because he snapped back from it so quickly and because the apparent philosophy behind it (beefier and simpler) seems to reflect the differences between Audioslave and Soundgarden. I personally like his Audioslave vocals better than anything else he's done... it's definitely less showy and progressive, but with that tone he could sing the phone book as far as I'm concerned.

Could be stylistic, certainly suits Audioslave more than Soundgarden style vocals (in my opinion). I think it's worth noting that in Soundgarden, his voice was quite polarized. In that example he goes from hitting D2's to D5's and beyond without really touching much in-between. Phil Anselmo is another example of a singer who tended to do this. In Audioslave, I don't think he went higher than a B5; his high notes tended to be in the F#4 - C5 region, smack bang in the middle of the passagio (possibly even more difficult given the fact he is a baritone?)

I've seen it said countless times by Rob and others on the forum and it's so true.. non singers tend to believe that the really high notes are the most impressive and challenging, when really the passagio notes are a much more technically demanding feat.

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Oh yeah, the stuff that always impressed me more in higher singing is smooth sailing through the passagio. I haven't heard Chris break even once there; having said that, I'd like to ask some of you guys what happened to him above C5? Just listen to this pants-shittingly awesome clip from 1993:

and this from some weeks ago:

There's much more bark and very little voice above C5. Is it a stylistic choice? In the 2011 clip that Nathan linked he sounds much better on the ultra-highs than in the last couple of months. Strange.

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I've seen it said countless times by Rob and others on the forum and it's so true.. non singers tend to believe that the really high notes are the most impressive and challenging, when really the passagio notes are a much more technically demanding feat.

but it really helps to understand why. a lot of folks don't bother to understand why that is.

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A notable example of someone who lost his high range : Ian Gillan.

Before:

After:

Sad story... One of my favorite singers. A friend of mine saw them back in France two years ago, and told me Gillan has almost lost one full octave.

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The Iron Maiden videos was a little bit of a surprise to me, actually. Why he skipped the high notes when he sang the chorus in the 1982 video? Anyone knows?

Well - Bruce always sang on "the edge" - I think that at the beginning of his career was not yet have his own "security code". And secondly they were probebly crazy drunks :D

check this one ->

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