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 Post subject: Re: His voice....what's left of it.....
PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 11:46 am 
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Posts: 5
Yes, I thought it may be 75 - my Preston74 moniker is actually originally based on my name on a Mick Ronson forum, which refers to a Ronno gig at the Guildhall in 1974. I wasn't sure if the Roxy show was the same year.
It was the first gig of the Siren tour though, basically the same set as the much bootlegged "Why D'Ya think I'm a Funky Chick" show - I was knocked out by the "Sentimental Fool" opening and by the "solo" spots when Bryan, Phil and Andy did In-Crowd, Diamond Head and Wild Weekend respectively.
Preston Guildhall was great for top bands then - Bowie and the Spiders twice in 73 (he had earlier played the now-defunct public hall which became disused when the Guildhall was built in 72) even Led Zeppelin unbelievably played there and left the structure intact.
Michael Jackson trod the boards there when he was a mere fifth of the Jackson Five just before Off The Wall and subsequent solo madness.
I also saw Queen at the Guildhall in 75 during Bohemian Rhapsody's run at number one.
Bryan has actually played here a few times solo but for various reasons never caught one of those shows, usually taken in Manchester gigs.


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 Post subject: Re: His voice....what's left of it.....
PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 12:42 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2009 11:19 am
Posts: 87
Wow! Any Bowie "Spiders" 1973 gig is the stuff of legends. It's like seeing the Doors at LA's Troubadour in 1971 - and you witnessed Queen at their peak too.

Mick Ronson had the best riffs ever. Watch That Man and Cracked Actor are unsurpassed examples of Bowie and Ronson absolutely blazing hot! Dare I say it, but even better than Manzo, although Prairie Rose is my all-time fave guitar coda and song.

Ah, it's great to talk about music, other Roxy forums dwell on dreams and tabloid goss, but that's what you get when middle-aged ladies get togther...

Thanks for starting this one, JOB!


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 Post subject: Re: His voice....what's left of it.....
PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 12:55 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jun 12, 2009 11:39 am
Posts: 41
Although his voice has clearly changed over the years and been impacted by age, I think part of it is also due to stylistic moves in his singing. For me some of the live performances can still deliver faily faithful renditions of the early recordings even if with slightly less power. I was also suprised by the delivery of Its All Over Now baby Blue from Frantic which to me was more reminiscent of his earlier singing and not typical of the reminder of the album.

I do however echo the earlier comments, that even with a voice not as it was in their prime, artists can still produce significant work - the Johnny Cash Rick Rubin albums come to mind.

Vinny


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 Post subject: Re: His voice....what's left of it.....
PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 1:14 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 06, 2009 8:15 pm
Posts: 1025
Location: Inverness, Scotland
Like all of us, our voices change as part of the aging process, this becomes more apparent for singers.

Any musician worth his salt should always play to their strengths and Bryan does this to effect with the voice he has now on songs like 'Make You Feel My Love' and a lot of the 'As Time Goes By' album. He coudn't cover for example 'Pride (In The Name Of Love)' by U2 so why should he. He has the sense to now choose what sounds good with what he has. He also uses the 'close miking' technique where you are so close to the mike that you don't need to belt out a song and the almost whispered effect with the breathy sound can sound great on some songs. Kate Bush is the master (mistress??) of this technique.

I think one big difference now live with BF is that he seems to pace his voice more than the early days. The structure of the set list is such a way that he has a song with a long outro followed by an instrumental followed by a song with a long intro in the middle of the gig. This can give him 8-10 minutes during a show when he doesn't sing. Some would say but you pay to hear BF sing rather than an intrumental with some sessions musicians in the middle of the show. I would prefer to have BF fit to perform at a pace and level for a good few years yet rather than he belts out and burns out his voice in one or two tours.

J.O'B.


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 Post subject: Re: His voice....what's left of it.....
PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 3:05 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:12 pm
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No voice in rock has deteriorated as much as Bryan`s, maybe with the exception of Keith Richards. Neil Young can still belt. Bruce Springsteen can still belt. Mick Jagger can still belt, and those guys are crowd pullers too. I hate the "close to the mike" whispering of Bryan. I think Bryan was at his best 35 years old, (1980).


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 Post subject: Re: His voice....what's left of it.....
PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 3:14 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 06, 2009 8:15 pm
Posts: 1025
Location: Inverness, Scotland
I agree with Bryan's voice being at its best 1979-87, it was not as mannered as the early albums and the timbre to his voice had more depth than the later voice.

I loved his voice in In Every Dreamhome on that Bete Noire tour DVD that has just been released. An early song with his mid to late period voice sounding better than the original. I think Chance Meeting too benifited from his later voice during the As Time Goes By Tour. I was trying to think what original track from late period would have suited his early voice but he has only released an album and a half of originals since 1987 so I don't have much to choose from, maybe 'Gemini Moon' & 'Cruel'


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 Post subject: Re: His voice....what's left of it.....
PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:33 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jun 12, 2009 10:49 pm
Posts: 50
Zarathustra wrote:
Ah, it's great to talk about music, other Roxy forums dwell on dreams and tabloid goss, but that's what you get when middle-aged ladies get togther...


That's a bit of a generalisation, isn't it? :x


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 Post subject: Re: His voice....what's left of it.....
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 10:31 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 9:58 pm
Posts: 1029
His voice is pretty dicey these days - based on the clip from Cannes (where he sang "She") that I saw a couple of weeks ago.

The first album where his troubles are really apparent is ATGB. Really weak IMHO. But the 2001 tour seemed fine and the 2cd live recording of the tour was quite good (although a few tracks were a bit iffy...)

Then he had the long Frantic tour where, at the end, he had to cancel a few gigs because his voice disappeared. Since that time he has been struggling to keep his voice in decent shape; or at least that's how it seems from out here in the peanut gallery...

Recently I saw some reference to the long delayed Roxy album as being like GnR's Chinese Democracy - long awaited but by the time it showed up nobody really cared anymore. I don't think that the Roxy project is quite at that point yet, but everyday it slips closer to irrelevancy...

DCJ


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 Post subject: Re: His voice....what's left of it.....
PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 7:03 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:12 pm
Posts: 837
Speaking of the Roxy album, someone on the net has said that the album is "ready and dusted", whatever that means.

-And who are those insiders?

"Don`t believe what you read on the net", -there`s a lot of truth in that. On the other side, having been Roxy, I would have done the same myself, that is, when the album was finished, I would let it rest for a while in case of second thoughts.


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 Post subject: Re: His voice....what's left of it.....
PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 5:04 am 
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Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2009 12:27 am
Posts: 55
Ferry on the 1988 Bete Noir tour - his voice was powerful even though that tour was a bit disappointing - no sax and less than stellar arrangements.


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