Voyager wrote:steveo777 wrote:Voyager wrote:Onestepper wrote:I think some of you are missing the point as to why people think the guy should find his own identity. So re-read the thread, close your eyes, and think really really hard. Then go eat a bagel. You'll feel better.
It's basically the same reason people think Arnel should find his own identity. Different faces, same argument. You may as well tell Jeremey to do some soul-searching to find himself while you're at it.
Sigh....some people will never get it. Here is a clue.........Arnel works for the real band, penis hole. Arnel has his own identity and dose not dress, move or act like SP. He channels the familiar sound of SP on the classics because that is what people come to hear. Listen to the Revelation material. AP doesn't sound like SP, except a hint of legacy sound. So, I guess Journey actually plays a tribute to themselves...oh wait...key word alert...
themselves Who is themselves? Oh, Journey...almost forgot.
Get a clue and wake up to reality. Arnel emulates Steve Perry's voice note-for-note, syllable-for-syllable, and reflects even the most detailed vocal nuance that Steve Perry sang. So what if he doesn't look and act like Perry? It's still an impersonation of Steve Perry any way you look at it. Arnel and Hugo are in the same league.
If you are talking pure vocal style and not stage presence (which is a whole other can of worms), I'd say Arnel's vocal has very little in common with Perry. Put ANY singer in charge of the Journey catalogue, and unless you totally change the vocal melodies, you are going to be emulating Perry. The only differences will be the vocal tone, which will be different from person to person.
Out of all the singers, I'd say JSS was BY FAR the closest to sounding like Perry. Having a bunch of the same influences on the vocal style (namely Sam Cooke) is the main reason. You hear Sam Cooke quite frequently in his original material. The vocal tone is quite different, but the phrasing and style is much the same. Augeri has quite a bit of the Robert Plant sound in his vocal style and delivery, and on the subject of Arnel....I don't think he has done enough recording of original material to develop a distinctive vocal style, or maybe he's just a chameleon, or a combination of both.
If you take the Hugo solo material and take the "high tenor Journey sound" out of it, there is very little Perry in there. I don't hear much--if ANY--Cooke in Hugo's style, and it's all over the Perry vocal melodies. I don't hear any Cooke whatsoever in Arnel either. Sure, they both sound somewhat like Perry on the Journey material, but any high-tenor is going to have that "Perry-sound" (ie high soaring vocals) on Journey material.
Voyager wrote:Some people seem to live and die by whatever Neal Schon says. When Neal says, "Oh no, that would be too weird having Hugo in Journey. He looks and acts too much like Steve Perry. That would be freaky." Then he goes on YouTube and finds someone who is a Steve Perry soundalike - and even goes as far as re-recording the classic Journey/Perry songs to show the world how great of a Steve Perry impersonator is. Huh????
Let's face it folks... Elvis has left the building, and he ain't coming back. Regardless of who tries to fill his shoes, they will all be labelled impersonators.
I think the comment has MUCH more to do with Hugo's physical resemblance, and his VERY Perry-inspired--if not downright copied--stage presence. That might work in a tribute band where you are intentionally trying to suggest that singer X is onstage. It doesn't work so well in the actual band that is now minus singer X. Just for that, I wouldn't pick him for Journey either. It has NOTHING to do with his voice--it's the other stuff.
Give Arnel his due. Vocal qualities aside, he doesn't look--or act--like Perry onstage.
