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Damned if he did; damned if he didn't...

Posted:
Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:23 pm
by TRAGChick
Hey all...
I was forced upstairs to listen to Music, since Mark was doing drum-practice...
So, I listened to the "Escape Live" CD - the one that was with the "Collector's Edition" DVD - on our "Surround Sound" Radio/CD player in our room...
And it occurred to me:
The Escape Tour happened in 1981: my Freshman Year in High School....I remember a lot of kids thinking "oh, he has such a high voice; that's all he has..." I remember my sister's friends, who were 2 or 3 years older than me, thinking the same thing.
So, flash-forward to 1983: Frontiers:
These same people are saying, "What HAPPENED to him? His voice is so low!!"
By the time ROR came along....keep in mind, this is WITH "Street Talk".....most of my peers thought "oh, his voice is GOING..."
From my point of view - at Front-&-Center Lead Vocalist - all I can say is:
Most Lead Vocalists can "stake their claim" with one sound:
Steve Perry managed to do that - with TWO DISTINCTIVE VOCAL RANGES: Infinity-Escape
Frontiers/Street Talk/ROR and beyond.
Give him Credit where Credit is due....and stop with the THINKING that he lost his Voice.
He didn't "lose" it....he just changed it.

Posted:
Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:24 pm
by Perrydise
Nora you always have good thoughts.

Posted:
Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:28 pm
by Rockindeano
Perrydise wrote:Nora you always have good thoughts.
Oh you two are going to be on suicide watch Friday.

Posted:
Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:30 pm
by Saint John
Great post, Nora. I actually think he had 3 distinctive voices. Pre-Escape, Escape to Frontiers and then post-Frontiers.


Posted:
Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:41 pm
by larryfromnextdoor
i dont remember anyone saying or comparing anything in '83..

except maybe m.jackson vs journey.. low vs high ??? your world was either rocked ..or it wasnt.. some folks listened to the New Shoes band or duran duran .. freaks..


Posted:
Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:43 pm
by Perrydise
Rockindeano wrote:Perrydise wrote:Nora you always have good thoughts.
Oh you two are going to be on suicide watch Friday.
Great! I didnt have anything else planned for Friday anyway.


Posted:
Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:46 pm
by Red13JoePa
Saint John wrote:Great post, Nora. I actually think he had 3 distinctive voices. Pre-Escape, Escape to Frontiers and then post-Frontiers.

Very true.
And busting it down even further, the Captured track The Party's Over (one of the a11-time GREAT Journey tracks) voice seems identica1 to ESC4P3 era (and why not, both recorded in '81) and Frontiers sounds ever so s1ight1y different.
Near1y imperceptib1e is the difference in the 2-year gap but there it is if you 1isten.
But for a11 intents and purposes, to the naked ear there are 3 distinct voices (but a11 the same sti11).

Posted:
Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:22 pm
by SteveForever
Rockindeano wrote:Perrydise wrote:Nora you always have good thoughts.
Oh you two are going to be on suicide watch Friday.
sounds like you have already read the interview, thanks for the warning... bummer~

Posted:
Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:22 pm
by Deb
Saint John wrote:Great post, Nora. I actually think he had 3 distinctive voices. Pre-Escape, Escape to Frontiers and then post-Frontiers.

I agree, my favorite hands down is the Frontiers and forward vocals.


Posted:
Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:58 pm
by mistiejourney
Saint John wrote:Great post, Nora. I actually think he had 3 distinctive voices. Pre-Escape, Escape to Frontiers and then post-Frontiers.

We don't get You Tube on the computer at work, but my co-worker has an iPhone, so I spent half-an-hour watching Perry videos ("Strung Out", "You Better Wait", "I Stand Alone"). Damn - love the voice all over the specturm.
Yeah, for two hours we had no patients. But....I DID run my butt off for six of them!
Don't want you all to think I was slacking!

Posted:
Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:24 pm
by yulog

Posted:
Tue Mar 25, 2008 4:49 pm
by tammy
Yep, all his voices are great...different voices for different moods.

Posted:
Tue Mar 25, 2008 5:22 pm
by Dr Arrival
I am not sure how many voices he had, but it (they) were by far the BEST voice in all of rock and roll.
Did the voice go? Well, he told Neal's mom that if he could DO IT, he would be out there "doing it". However, if he could not achieve the level of perfection that he once did, he wasn't going to try. Either 100% or 0%.
I, for one, wouldn't care if it was perfect or not. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear him, imperfections and all. He doesn't realize that his 75% (or whatever) is still worlds above the rest.

Posted:
Tue Mar 25, 2008 6:58 pm
by StoneCold
Dr Arrival wrote:
Did the voice go? Well, he told Neal's mom that if he could DO IT, he would be out there "doing it". However, if he could not achieve the level of perfection that he once did, he wasn't going to try. Either 100% or 0%.
When was that conversation?

Posted:
Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:23 pm
by Dr Arrival
Hell, I don't know. It would have had to have been sometime after they taped Trial By Fire. He was having dinner with Les and Barb with Neal.
Although I remember the Quest for Camelot soundtrack sounding pretty freakin' perfect and he was injured (hip) at the time. So it must have been AFTER that.
Re: Damned if he did; damned if he didn't...

Posted:
Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:51 am
by Liquid_Drummer
Steve Perry managed to do that - with TWO DISTINCTIVE VOCAL RANGES: Infinity-Escape
Frontiers/Street Talk/ROR and beyond.
Give him Credit where Credit is due....and stop with the THINKING that he lost his Voice.
He didn't "lose" it....he just changed it.[/b][/quote]
I disagree. He didnt change his voice. His voice changed him.

Posted:
Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:55 am
by youkeepmewaiting
Though I agree that Perry had a great voice with every style he had.. But his voice definitly got damaged - surely common knowledge amongst us fans

Posted:
Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:01 am
by ProgRocker53
Perry's voice isn't lost, I'm positive. I wouldn't even call it "damaged." It was still changed and affected by that grueling series of tours though, that much is clear.

Posted:
Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:08 am
by BobbyinTN
I gotta say, his voice changed, and it wasn't on purpose. I'm not saying it was a bad change or really horrible to listen to after it changed, but I am saying it was noticeably rougher and I'd bet loads of money it couldn't be helped. The simply toured too much and he tried too hard to do what he did on the records.
I think he's amazing, but to keep our heads in the sand about his voice is just sad.

Posted:
Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:17 am
by youkeepmewaiting
BobbyinTN wrote:I gotta say, his voice changed, and it wasn't on purpose. I'm not saying it was a bad change or really horrible to listen to after it changed, but I am saying it was noticeably rougher and I'd bet loads of money it couldn't be helped. The simply toured too much and he tried too hard to do what he did on the records.
I think he's amazing, but to keep our heads in the sand about his voice is just sad.
Agreed. I dont think Perrys voice changed that dramitically because thats "what he wanted". Maybe he did want to change the style of his voice and singing.. but I dont believe to the extent that it did.

Posted:
Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:19 am
by brywool
He didn't change his voice. The road changed his voice. Overuse changed his voice.

Posted:
Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:39 am
by Saint John
brywool wrote:He didn't change his voice. The road changed his voice. Overuse changed his voice.
I agree
and disagree. I've heard both. The road (and age) obviously changed his voice. However, I heard one the most remarkable things after Frontiers was recording and they were on tour. He was able to, seemingly at will, put away the "huskier" Frontiers album voice in concert on that tour and sound exactly like he did on Escape while singing songs off of the Escape album. I was floored when I heard this. I think to some extent he
did sing in a different voice on Frontiers, but
after that tour his voice had definitely changed.

Posted:
Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:48 am
by Deb

Posted:
Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:50 am
by Red13JoePa
Saint John wrote: I heard one the most remarkable things after Frontiers was recording and they were on tour. He was able to, seemingly at will, put away the "huskier" Frontiers album voice in concert on that tour and sound exactly like he did on Escape while singing songs off of the Escape album.
Dude, come on.
Now YOU'RE telling whoppers.

Posted:
Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:52 am
by brywool
Saint John wrote:brywool wrote:He didn't change his voice. The road changed his voice. Overuse changed his voice.
I agree
and disagree. I've heard both. The road (and age) obviously changed his voice. However, I heard one the most remarkable things after Frontiers was recording and they were on tour. He was able to, seemingly at will, put away the "huskier" Frontiers album voice in concert on that tour and sound exactly like he did on Escape while singing songs off of the Escape album. I was floored when I heard this. I think to some extent he
did sing in a different voice on Frontiers, but
after that tour his voice had definitely changed.
While he was at first able to go in and out at will, by the end of the Frontiers tour, he was rough. That's why the band played everything super fast, to make it easier on him. Still a great voice, the greatest voice. But I guarantee you the huskiness was from too much road work.

Posted:
Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:40 am
by Saint John
brywool wrote:Saint John wrote:brywool wrote:He didn't change his voice. The road changed his voice. Overuse changed his voice.
I agree
and disagree. I've heard both. The road (and age) obviously changed his voice. However, I heard one the most remarkable things after Frontiers was recording and they were on tour. He was able to, seemingly at will, put away the "huskier" Frontiers album voice in concert on that tour and sound exactly like he did on Escape while singing songs off of the Escape album. I was floored when I heard this. I think to some extent he
did sing in a different voice on Frontiers, but
after that tour his voice had definitely changed.
While he was at first able to go in and out at will, by the end of the Frontiers tour, he was rough. That's why the band played everything super fast, to make it easier on him. Still a great voice, the greatest voice. But I guarantee you the huskiness was from too much road work.
Agreed.
PS Fuck you, 13. You still think Jamison can shatter glass on those cheese puff Survivor ballads. Your ears are about as clear as Randy Johnson's complexion. You could put Jamison's nuts in a vice and he wouldn't sound any better than "Mick" from Rocky. Like the way I made that full circle?

Fag.

Posted:
Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:48 am
by Red13JoePa
Saint John wrote:PS Fuck you, 13. You still think Jamison can shatter glass on those cheese puff Survivor ballads. Your ears are about as clear as Randy Johnson's complexion. You could put Jamison's nuts in a vice and he wouldn't sound any better than "Mick" from Rocky. Like the way I made that full circle?

Fag.
Jamo's voice IS deeper than septum face's.
That's part of the reason I prefer it (while agreeing that perry's deeper, more resonant vox on Frontiers are a sheer thing of awe).

Posted:
Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:21 am
by Saint John
Red13JoePa wrote:Saint John wrote:PS Fuck you, 13. You still think Jamison can shatter glass on those cheese puff Survivor ballads. Your ears are about as clear as Randy Johnson's complexion. You could put Jamison's nuts in a vice and he wouldn't sound any better than "Mick" from Rocky. Like the way I made that full circle?

Fag.
Jamo's voice IS deeper than septum face's.
That's part of the reason I prefer it (while agreeing that perry's deeper, more resonant vox on Frontiers are a sheer thing of awe).
You know more like Perry on Frontiers than you did Bin Laden on 9/11. You hate the guy. Admit it.


Posted:
Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:35 am
by FishinMagician
Red13JoePa wrote:Saint John wrote:PS Fuck you, 13. You still think Jamison can shatter glass on those cheese puff Survivor ballads. Your ears are about as clear as Randy Johnson's complexion. You could put Jamison's nuts in a vice and he wouldn't sound any better than "Mick" from Rocky. Like the way I made that full circle?

Fag.
Jamo's voice IS deeper than septum face's.
That's part of the reason I prefer it (while agreeing that perry's deeper, more resonant vox on Frontiers are a sheer thing of awe).
you found the "l" !!!

Posted:
Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:51 am
by kgdjpubs
brywool wrote:He didn't change his voice. The road changed his voice. Overuse changed his voice.
I think there was a little bit of intentional in there also. As a vocal style, Street Talk and ROR are very different from the pre-Frontiers material. I'm talking about phrasing here, not the notes hit.