Dolly Parton-Open Arms ft. Steve Perry

[jrnyman28]

This should lay to waste any lingering thoughts that Perry could return to Journey and sing this catalog in any form. He just sounds tired and sad (emotionally). Where his voice sits today just is not pleasing to me. And Journey songs have an identity, once synonymous with Perry’s voice, that simply would not feel good with Perry’s voice today.

https://youtu.be/itL07zbZKh8?si=tFCz-et-SUZBNTYn

[NoMoreTails]

And how! ...and it can barely be called a duet, if that was the intent.

[Art Vandelay]

What exactly were you expecting from their duet? How is this any different than any of the other duets on the album?

She was on Stern the other day, talking about the album. Stern took another cheap shot at Perry for his Big Bird comment from over 40 years ago. I was listening to it in the background, but it sounded like she intended to record these songs on her own. It was decided to bring in the original artists afterwards. So maybe the most that could have been done here were some harmonies.

[Onestepper]

Not taking anything away from Parton, that was just very cringe for me. Perry is what he is today as a singer. Not sure why anyone would expect anything more.

[Onestepper]

What exactly were you expecting from their duet? How is this any different than any of the other duets on the album?

She was on Stern the other day, talking about the album. Stern took another cheap shot at Perry for his Big Bird comment from over 40 years ago. I was listening to it in the background, but it sounded like she intended to record these songs on her own. It was decided to bring in the original artists afterwards. So maybe the most that could have been done here were some harmonies.

Stern is nothing more than a recycled tape loop at this point. Does decent interviews, but that grudge he holds against Perry for him not kissing his ass back stage at one show so long ago is just pure Stern bitterness. So bizarre that he can't let that go.

[NoMoreTails]

I had just had the impression that this was to be a duet, and it seems to be mostly background vocals from Perry. I haven't listened to any of the others yet. And no, I certainly didn't expect any more from Perry than he was able to deliver on Traces and the Christmas stuff. As J28 said, he just sounds sad, and it makes me sad, what little I have listened to of it. I don't think its just that he is sad emotionally, which I can understand, but his voice is withered and a sad sort of tone. I was able to deal with where his voice was on TBF enough to be able to enjoy what the band was doing, but he was already headed in that direction, he certainly didn't sound strong enough to take it on the road, as he was aware.

[Art Vandelay]

I had just had the impression that this was to be a duet, and it seems to be mostly background vocals from Perry. I haven't listened to any of the others yet. And no, I certainly didn't expect any more from Perry than he was able to deliver on Traces and the Christmas stuff. As J28 said, he just sounds sad, and it makes me sad, what little I have listened to of it. I don't think its just that he is sad emotionally, which I can understand, but his voice is withered and a sad sort of tone. I was able to deal with where his voice was on TBF enough to be able to enjoy what the band was doing, but he was already headed in that direction, he certainly didn't sound strong enough to take it on the road, as he was aware.

A good number of the songs have the same duet treatment. Background harmonies. Perry's voice is more present than some of the others. I wouldn't know Sting was even on Every Breath You Take.
I agree with Perry's voice...there is a sad tone to it. Not sure if it's the state of his vocals, the interpretation of this version of the song, or a combination of both.

[The_Noble_Cause]

I like the pained anguish in Perry's voice. Obvious he's going for low harmony here and letting Dolly soar. I wouldn't view it as a reflection of his current vocal capabilities. Eeels proved he could do OA in his own mature way if he wanted to.

[The_Noble_Cause]

This should lay to waste any lingering thoughts that Perry could return to Journey and sing this catalog in any form. He just sounds tired and sad (emotionally). Where his voice sits today just is not pleasing to me. And Journey songs have an identity, once synonymous with Perry’s voice, that simply would not feel good with Perry’s voice today.

https://youtu.be/itL07zbZKh8?si=tFCz-et-SUZBNTYn

I would take a tired and sad sounding Steve Perry over Arnel lipsyncing.

[Monker]

I like the pained anguish in Perry's voice. Obvious he's going for low harmony here and letting Dolly soar. I wouldn't view it as a reflection of his current vocal capabilities. Eeels proved he could do OA in his own mature way if he wanted to.

The Eels performance was about 10yrs ago....I would suspect his voice has changed since then. I would even suspect his voice has changed since Traces.

[jrnyman28]

This should lay to waste any lingering thoughts that Perry could return to Journey and sing this catalog in any form. He just sounds tired and sad (emotionally). Where his voice sits today just is not pleasing to me. And Journey songs have an identity, once synonymous with Perry’s voice, that simply would not feel good with Perry’s voice today.

https://youtu.be/itL07zbZKh8?si=tFCz-et-SUZBNTYn

I would take a tired and sad sounding Steve Perry over Arnel lipsyncing.

Really?! A tired, weak, lifeless, sad performance on record compared to one lip-synched (and therefore unironically on record as well) televised performance?

[The_Noble_Cause]

Really?! A tired, weak, lifeless, sad performance on record compared to one lip-synched (and therefore unironically on record as well) televised performance?

Just one instance that we know of (for now). Arnel could be in some serious deep vocal shit. If this continues, he's going to become known as the Manila Milli Vanilli.

As for Perry's vocals..... it's authentic. He's not going for the bombast of hitting high notes at his age and I don't expect to hear them. Do I think it mostly sucks? Yes. Still nice to hear him.

[Journey/Survivor]

I had just had the impression that this was to be a duet, and it seems to be mostly background vocals from Perry. I haven't listened to any of the others yet. And no, I certainly didn't expect any more from Perry than he was able to deliver on Traces and the Christmas stuff. As J28 said, he just sounds sad, and it makes me sad, what little I have listened to of it. I don't think its just that he is sad emotionally, which I can understand, but his voice is withered and a sad sort of tone. I was able to deal with where his voice was on TBF enough to be able to enjoy what the band was doing, but he was already headed in that direction, he certainly didn't sound strong enough to take it on the road, as he was aware.

Years back when I heard the "Duet" between Perry and David Pack, I thought to myself that it was hard to call it a duet, and that Perry sounded very weak and sad.

Perry didn't have much left around the time that he recorded "I Stand Alone," but he was still worth listening to. He should have recorded another solo album back then and called it quits after that.

These days Perry reminds me of what Kenny Rogers sounded like when he did a cover of "I Will Always Love You."

[Marabelle]

Good Lord, you all sound surprised he's a man past 65 years of age singing with a woman known for her country hits along with big breast ad tiny waist and gigantic hair...and wonder why his voice sounds sad?

[Deb]

I like the pained anguish in Perry's voice. Obvious he's going for low harmony here and letting Dolly soar. I wouldn't view it as a reflection of his current vocal capabilities. Eeels proved he could do OA in his own mature way if he wanted to.

Ditto. I've been lmao at some of the comments. It's a sad song, so sad emotive vocals from him, suit the performance. I love Dolly, but to me it's her high chipper vocals that don't. For me, I wish she would have picked almost any other Journey song.

[OlHoag]

I need to listen on something better than my iPad, but the production on most of the songs sounds like a poor vocal mix by a cheap karaoke dj on big beer Thursday.

[brywool]

Just one instance that we know of (for now). Arnel could be in some serious deep vocal shit. If this continues, he's going to become known as the Manila Milli Vanilli.

TNC, what deep vocal shit? He lip synced a TV performance. That was most likely NOT at Journey's request but is what so many tv things do. Superbowl for instance. After Tapegate, I would bet Journey wouldn't step into that box unless they have to (if say, a network asked them to). I doubt Arnel is any 'deep vocal shit'. The guy knows how to take care of his voice and is constantly training/exercising it. Are you speaking of other stuff here?

He has good, great, and not so great nights on tour. That goes for any live singer. With all the drama inside the Journey camp (not sure how it is lately as I've kind of quit paying attention...), it's been clear that Arnel has been getting stress from those goings on. That ain't gonna help him vocally. Especially if some of the stuff is thrown at him. His twitter posts also seem to point to something going on with him emotionally. But hopefully not, but it's easy to look at things that way. I jumped off of Twitter cuz I got tired of the insurrectionist wacknuts, so not sure what's happening these days. The stuff I've heard from earlier in the year had some great recordings.

On the Dolly thing, the one she did with Ann Wilson was decent. The tune on there that's not a duet - World on Fire, was pretty good too. Dolly seems pretty hard to not like- just seems a class act.

As for Open Arms... sounds like Steve is still in his Christmas Album voice/mood. I just can't get into that, try as I might. That being said 'Sun Shines Grey' from Traces was a great tune that was pretty upbeat. I wish he'd either do more like that, or lean into the old school R&B more. But the sad stuff... I just can't keep listening to that.

[The_Noble_Cause]

TNC, what deep vocal shit? He lip synced a TV performance. That was most likely NOT at Journey's request but is what so many tv things do. Superbowl for instance. After Tapegate, I would bet Journey wouldn't step into that box unless they have to (if say, a network asked them to). I doubt Arnel is any 'deep vocal shit'. The guy knows how to take care of his voice and is constantly training/exercising it. Are you speaking of other stuff here?

Footage from his recent solo tour wasn't so hot either. The idea that Journey had no choice is total crap. The drums were live, the guitar was live etc. Lip syncing, especially with a band of this vocal pedigree, is just not cool.

[Loneman1]

I love Dolly, but to me it's her high chipper vocals that don't. For me, I wish she would have picked almost any other Journey song.

Yeah after listening a few times the first few lines she delivers made me think someone used "Open Arms" in a Disney movie as I'm suddenly seeing an animation of a Princess singing this to birds or something in a magical forest in my head. Perry's part was also kind of jarring, though I'm not sure what I was expecting of the 74 year old version of the man. After a few listens it got better to my ears, but age and wear and tear on his voice is definitely showing in this song and its pretty apparent why he has a hesitation to sing the old hits nowadays.

As mentioned above this had to have been seen by all the guests on the album as a once in a lifetime collaboration with Dolly they didn't even know they had on their respective bucket lists. Its a cool novelty for sure, and Journey history will probably just remember it as such.

[NoMoreTails]

The drums were live, the guitar was live etc. Lip syncing, especially with a band of this vocal pedigree, is just not cool.

The drums and guitar were likely recorded live performances as the vocal may have been (rather than an in studio version). I don't believe they'd use canned vocals without the music being canned as well. As I and others said previously, this was likely dictated by tv.

[Art Vandelay]

I love Dolly, but to me it's her high chipper vocals that don't. For me, I wish she would have picked almost any other Journey song.

Yeah after listening a few times the first few lines she delivers made me think someone used "Open Arms" in a Disney movie as I'm suddenly seeing an animation of a Princess singing this to birds or something in a magical forest in my head. Perry's part was also kind of jarring, though I'm not sure what I was expecting of the 74 year old version of the man. After a few listens it got better to my ears, but age and wear and tear on his voice is definitely showing in this song and its pretty apparent why he has a hesitation to sing the old hits nowadays.

As mentioned above this had to have been seen by all the guests on the album as a once in a lifetime collaboration with Dolly they didn't even know they had on their respective bucket lists. Its a cool novelty for sure, and Journey history will probably just remember it as such.

I gave it another listen this weekend. It's a different beast all together from the original. It takes on a different meaning with two voices, so I get the intentional sadness in Steve's tone. And yeah I believe that tone was intentional. It fits in this version. It is a cool novelty and I can appreciate it the more I listen to it.

[The_Noble_Cause]

I don't believe they'd use canned vocals without the music being canned as well.

Why not? They did it for several tours. It ultimately resulted in Augeri's firing.

[Gideon]

Idk if this was a failure of ability or judgment, but either way? SP sounds bad here. The unrelenting melancholy in his voice is tiresome.

[NoMoreTails]

I don't believe they'd use canned vocals without the music being canned as well.

Why not? They did it for several tours. It ultimately resulted in Augeri's firing.

For one, I don't think they would likely be running their own sound and too much chance something could go wrong. It would make much more sense to use a track of the entire band, not just the vocal. Judging from all the other performances, I doubt any of them were live.

[Eric]

I don't believe they'd use canned vocals without the music being canned as well.

Why not? They did it for several tours. It ultimately resulted in Augeri's firing.

For one, I don't think they would likely be running their own sound and too much chance something could go wrong. It would make much more sense to use a track of the entire band, not just the vocal. Judging from all the other performances, I doubt any of them were live.

I just assumed with that setup that nobody was live.

[Eric]

I think this version is brutal, but if you like it then that's great for you. Perry gave you guys another something to listen to. To each their own.

[Monker]

I don't believe they'd use canned vocals without the music being canned as well.

Why not? They did it for several tours. It ultimately resulted in Augeri's firing.

I've been suspicious about this since Arnel went from mediocre performance to sounding brand new...and saying it was because of his monitor not working right. I've always felt the end of Separate Ways is mostly taped vocals that the sound engineer turns up, and turns down Arnel...it sounds the same every time. I don't have the patience or interest to examine beyond that. But, it would not surprise me if they are doing the same with Arnel as they did with Augeri...have whoever is doing the sound turn up the "background" and turn down Arnel...as that person feels it is needed.

[Journey/Survivor]

I remember years ago watching one particular episode of Saturday Night Live when Ashley Simpson was the music guest. In between commercials they will show a quick 5 or 10 second shot of the music performers on stage just before they are ready to perform.

On that particular night when they showed Ashley Simpson during that little 5 to 10 second shot on stage, I noticed that she wasn't holding a microphone. But I thought to myself that it didn't matter that she didn't have a microphone because she will be lip synching anyway, just like all of the other music guests.

So they come back from a commercial break and she starts her performance. I don't remember exactly what it was that happened, but it became obvious to everyone who was watching that she was lip synching. So it made it on to newscasts that she had been lip synching that night, and again I was thinking "Well, everyone does it on that show anyway."

I wouldn't be surprised if the SNL "scandal" was just a publicity stunt. Anyway, everyone lip synchs on SNL, even if it's famous Rock singers.

Everyone always lip synched on Solid Gold too.

[Art Vandelay]

I remember years ago watching one particular episode of Saturday Night Live when Ashley Simpson was the music guest. In between commercials they will show a quick 5 or 10 second shot of the music performers on stage just before they are ready to perform.

On that particular night when they showed Ashley Simpson during that little 5 to 10 second shot on stage, I noticed that she wasn't holding a microphone. But I thought to myself that it didn't matter that she didn't have a microphone because she will be lip synching anyway, just like all of the other music guests.

So they come back from a commercial break and she starts her performance. I don't remember exactly what it was that happened, but it became obvious to everyone who was watching that she was lip synching. So it made it on to newscasts that she had been lip synching that night, and again I was thinking "Well, everyone does it on that show anyway."

I wouldn't be surprised if the SNL "scandal" was just a publicity stunt. Anyway, everyone lip synchs on SNL, even if it's famous Rock singers.

Everyone always lip synched on Solid Gold too.

You must have caught some bad SNL performances. There have been some tremendous performances on that show, none of which I thought were lipped.

Although I will agree that a lot of the pop singers who are more about dancing and energetic performances rely on pre-recorded vocals. That goes for all of their televised performances, I would think.

Ashley Simpson did lip synch, she most likely lipped all of her performances. Her biggest claim to fame was being Jessica's sister. At the SNL performance, they played the wrong vocal track. The band was playing live, but the vocals were obviously from another song. She had no idea what to do, so she did this goofy dance and shuffled off stage. If it was a publicity stunt, it backfired because she pretty much disappeared after that.

[danielb]

Yep, something's fishy about Arnel's sudden switch from sounding really ragged to sounding like he did in 2008. Almost overnight too.