VideoHere Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 i decided to take jen's idea for a dedicated lou gramm thread, so i started one here. please use this specifically for anything pertaining to lou gramm. thanks folks. and thanks in advance for putting up with all my frequent posts about him.......lol!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDEW Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 What is your most favorite Lou Gramm song? I am partial to Hot Blooded. It first showed up when I was in my teens. One of the songs that made me want to be a musician. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jco5055 Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 For me, it depends if we are talking Lou Gramm solo or anything he's been on. I like a whole bunch of Foreigner songs, favorites being "I Want to Know What Love Is", "Urgent", and "Juke Box Hero". Solo stuff, I like "Just Between You and Me" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VideoHere Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 i have those i simply like the song and those where the vocals just amaze me. but the ones that truly amaze me because of where he takes his voice or the intensity he develops.... i'm gonna win heaven on our side just between you and me prisoner of love break it up juke box hero (live) i'll come running (live) hot blooded there are more, but these come right to mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronws Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Even though I have the 3-cd set of Foreigner's greatest hits (yes, they had so many popular songs it takes up 3 cds and not a crappy song in them,) I still think my favorite is "Dirty White Boy." Not the highest song they have done. It just has that right "attitude." Maybe I identify with it because I am, by golly, a dirty white boy. I don't know. Some songs just capture your fancy. And, without yet reading his bio, which I plan to read soon, he has always seemed so humble. And I mean true humility. Not, "oh, I am crap" and then he breaks hearts with "I've Been Waiting." I mean, he knows he sings well and that is okay but he sings what he can do and does not view himself above the rest of humanity, even though his talent obviously shows his dedication to consistent work. I have seen interviews and he has never come across with the attitude of say, Don Dokken. Though he obviously seems elusive to capture on the street, even for townie neighbor and fellow forum member Keith, he still seems like an ordinary guy you would meet on the street. Like King Diamond. A singer, yeah, but a guy who would most likely be your neighbor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VideoHere Posted October 16, 2013 Author Share Posted October 16, 2013 from the book i got the distinct impression he knows exactly how good he is without coming across like he does. he also talked about how he would beg their manager to give them more days off to help him recover between shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danielformica Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 I'm gonna have fun with you bob.. Lou Gramm was a great singer but extremely inconsistent... And discuss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronws Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 I'll bite, Daniel. When you say inconsistent, was that before or after his stroke? Or both? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danielformica Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Both Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronws Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Well, I have to admit that I have not seen him perform live and in person so I don't know where he was inconsistent. I'll have to leave that to the experts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jco5055 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I'm gonna have fun with you bob.. Lou Gramm was a great singer but extremely inconsistent... And discuss there a definitely a few vids I've seen of him that are a bit ugly. For one, this one that is often applauded: On the high notes he often seems to strain and be a little flat, kind of like he's reaching while pulling chest. And this one: I personally think he sounds pretty unimpressive here. My favorite stuff from Lou is studio stuff, I think pre-tumor he may have not really had any training or knew what he was doing, which led to quite a few off nights and burnouts, which i think Farm Aid may have been for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonpall Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 there a definitely a few vids I've seen of him that are a bit ugly. For one, this one that is often applauded: On the high notes he often seems to strain and be a little flat, kind of like he's reaching while pulling chest. And this one: I personally think he sounds pretty unimpressive here. My favorite stuff from Lou is studio stuff, I think pre-tumor he may have not really had any training or knew what he was doing, which led to quite a few off nights and burnouts, which i think Farm Aid may have been for him. Man, I don't know what to say. I COMPLETELY disagree! He's MOSTLY on pitch, which is simply the nature of live singing - you're not going to sing EVERY note on pitch, but almost EVERY note is totally on pitch. I guess what's bugging you is the fact that he's raspier than on the records and therefore you call it "pulling chest". Well - this is called live rock and roll singing folks. Some people just don't like it. But being able to sing those MONSTROUSLY difficult Foreigner songs with that type of skill is just amazing. Now, there ARE singers who have done a very poor job live, like Axl Rose in recent years, f.ex. I'll have you know that I personally set VERY high standards on singing and live singing as well - so I'm not giving Lou Gramm any free tickets here. But I'll state again that's he's great here. He HAS sung better but this is nothing to shout at. It's freaking great. The second clip is slightly worse sung, but not by a big margin. I regularly record my own vocals and I'm very picky, especially with pitch, so I can hear well if a singer is off. But I must say that I can recall some youtube clips of Lou Gramm ACTUALLY singing a bit badly. But those clips are not them. This is of course my opinion and anyone else can totally disagree if they want. Sorry if I come across a bit harsh, but I just believe that rock and roll singing SHOULD be very edgy - not pitchy - but edgy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonpall Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Another thing - if you sing in this type of rock and roll style, it's a fact that the higher you go in pitch, the more distorted the sound will be. And that's just amazingly cool (unless you're flat or sharp, which isn't the case in these clips). Some people would prefer it if the highest notes were very clean. That's great for other types of music, but for songs like these, if you can do it rock and roll all the way, there ain't no better music in my ears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danielformica Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Another thing - if you sing in this type of rock and roll style, it's a fact that the higher you go in pitch, the more distorted the sound will be. And that's just amazingly cool (unless you're flat or sharp, which isn't the case in these clips). Some people would prefer it if the highest notes were very clean. That's great for other types of music, but for songs like these, if you can do it rock and roll all the way, there ain't no better music in my ears. I love Lou but listen closely on most clips and he is pretty flat on I wanna know what love is and a bunch of other live clips and then listen to Sam who sounds raspier and singing hard and high and is pretty pitch perfect. Lou sounds great dont get me wrong I just wanted to stir it up a little and show how if you hold on to to much weight you hit ceilings throughout range. Kinda like Arnel trying to sound bigger than he is and like Steve perry to the end of his career trying to sound bigger. If you wanna sing up in the high ranges you have to thin out and that's why I recommend the live Sam Cooke performances cause he stay thin and keeps enough to add the rasp. I can't do this shit as good as Lou but I'm just pointing out different things technically without making up a new term;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jco5055 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Man, I don't know what to say. I COMPLETELY disagree! He's MOSTLY on pitch, which is simply the nature of live singing - you're not going to sing EVERY note on pitch, but almost EVERY note is totally on pitch. I guess what's bugging you is the fact that he's raspier than on the records and therefore you call it "pulling chest". Well - this is called live rock and roll singing folks. Some people just don't like it. But being able to sing those MONSTROUSLY difficult Foreigner songs with that type of skill is just amazing. Now, there ARE singers who have done a very poor job live, like Axl Rose in recent years, f.ex. I'll have you know that I personally set VERY high standards on singing and live singing as well - so I'm not giving Lou Gramm any free tickets here. But I'll state again that's he's great here. He HAS sung better but this is nothing to shout at. It's freaking great. The second clip is slightly worse sung, but not by a big margin. I regularly record my own vocals and I'm very picky, especially with pitch, so I can hear well if a singer is off. But I must say that I can recall some youtube clips of Lou Gramm ACTUALLY singing a bit badly. But those clips are not them. This is of course my opinion and anyone else can totally disagree if they want. Sorry if I come across a bit harsh, but I just believe that rock and roll singing SHOULD be very edgy - not pitchy - but edgy. I don't necessarily think the pitch is horrible (like you said, it is live singing so it's not going to be 100% on pitch) but yeah I think for me the main thing is the added rasp on the higher notes. He almost sounds like a different singer to me. Especially on the farm aid clip- If you listen to the studio version of Urgent, he gets into a more raspy sound on the highest notes of the song, but it seems like in the clip he starts adding that rasp on high notes that aren't the select highest he does in the studio version. I don't know if it's a similar thing to myself, where a year ago when I sung live at a tailgate (like in my avatar) I still had trouble not singing too loud and basically bridging too late, so I would often have to flip into head voice on the highest notes, and it always sounded too compressed and disconnected to me. I have no idea if Lou is doing something similar live here but that's kind of what it makes me think of, that added rasp is kind of like a pure/easier head voice thing since obviously live is harder than studio. Lou's still great, and I'm not saying I can do any better, but I can't remember the last time I listened to another singer I love that was so pitchy live. Though to be fair, most of me watching live vids from my favorite singers comes from the Magic Moments thread (so it is probably that top 1% of performances) and pro-shot vids, which would not surprise me if there are overdubs for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VideoHere Posted October 17, 2013 Author Share Posted October 17, 2013 lou did have a bad coke and alcohol habit, not sure which years. but there are vocal performances of him that are just incredible... what i was always impressed with is where he took his voice during a song. there would always some tough interval, very high beginning, another series of high notes, higher than the ones you were still impacted by. he has this punchy intensity that is so hard to come close to...... you see a ton of steve perry covers, but not 1/3 as many foreigner covers. he broke his ass up on stage, every single time, and if he missed a note here or there he has admitted in interviews his love is live singing and being off from time to time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jco5055 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 lou did have a bad coke and alcohol habit, not sure which years. but there are vocal performances of him that are just incredible... what i was always impressed with is where he took his voice during a song. there would always some tough interval, very high beginning, another series of high notes, higher than the ones you were still impacted by. he has this punchy intensity that is so hard to come close to...... you see a ton of steve perry covers, but not 1/3 as many foreigner covers. he broke his ass up on stage, every single time, and if he missed a note here or there he has admitted in interviews his love is live singing and being off from time to time. That is true, one thing I love is that he is always intense and gave it all no matter how his voice was that night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronws Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 Lou sounds great don't get me wrong I just wanted to stir it up a little Alrighty, then. Best response, so far, Jonpall, who has been finding these things out, on the road. I don't think Sam Cooke was filmed as often as Foreigner. And, on a number of those old tv shows, they required the singer to lip-synch to a recorded track. Not saying that Sam did, but it happened a lot. And here's a funny thing. Bob did a cover of Sam Cooke doing "Change is Gonna Come." And sounded a LOT like Sam Cooke. Anyway, as far as I can tell, there is always a difference between live performance singing and what you hear on a produced album which doesn't go for duplication until every note and nuance is in its last place. But I am not an expert, just stuff I have read. Oh, Lou, surely doest thou rock. I like to kid Bob because he is always bringing up Lou. But hey, for a singing role model, he could a lot worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonpall Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 How about someone post a clip of Lou where he's pitchy? :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VideoHere Posted October 18, 2013 Author Share Posted October 18, 2013 yes, i'd like to hear it too. i must have watched every single yt vid on him....lol!!!! when you sing with a slightly darker sound, (which he did at times) there's always the risk of sounding a little flat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danielformica Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 Farm aid.. And many others that bob has shown me Lou is pitchy. Excuses excuses:P Darker than him, Donny Hathaway flat? Never.. Michael Bolton flat? Probably not... Paul Rodgers nope.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VideoHere Posted October 18, 2013 Author Share Posted October 18, 2013 dan, can you select a video or videos and specifically point out where lou is pitchy in more than once instance? time marks will help. i'm not hearing it..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danielformica Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 I wanna know what love is farm aid for starters you just showed me that. How about you post a not pitchy performance? :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonpall Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 I just checked out two Farm aid clips and there were only a couple of notes here that were slightly pitchy, which I find very forgiving for that type of live singing. I checked out Urgent and I wanna know what love is. Btw. here's a great Foreigner cover done by a woman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVztGk13hM0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danielformica Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 The urgent clip in this thread shows him flat a whole bunch. Again don't get me wrong I love him and I can't do better but flat is flat. It's like math :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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