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It's pretty self explanatory that he'd learn from his mistakes from earlier years and his voice would have aged just like most male's at his age around 1978. My voice certainly got better the older I got (I'm 31), but I've learned from experience the way to sing a song a certain way (for me ) and I know my limits (and how to hide them). Now think of Freddie with his naturally phenomenal voice. His career would have allowed him to learn far quicker the techniques which he prefered, which when added to his natural voice... UNBELIEVABLE!!! The smoking then contributed massively... that's when rest, proximity of gigs etc would defintely contribute to how good he sounded.

Nice thread.

Again, another thing not mention would have been Freddie's coke use. Cocaine really messes up the sinuses if overdone. It's relatively obvious Freddie had quite a fondness of the stuff in the early to mid 80s.

Not denying that Freddie indulged in cocaine for a time, but I don't think that did anything to his voice. He was a recreational user (not a hardcore abuser like Elton John), and kept the partying off the stage until after the gig (he wasn't wasted on stage). Elton John completly fucked his voice up: By using alcohol, marijuana, and mostly cocaine. He would be so wasted, that he would just oversing/trash his voice live, which in turn--caused nodules to develop.

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[b]beautifulsoup wrote: [/b]

Smoking is drying to the vocal cords.  And not good for you, besides.  You've gotta hydrate like crazy if you're going to smoke.  And I don't mean alcohol, because that also is a "drying" agent.

And sorry to put in my two cents (or pence) about Freddie's vocal type, but a baritone trying to push up to tenor will do just that; [i]push[/i].  Registration is wacked, and you end up shouting.  Even if you're not in the baritone camp regarding Freddie's voice, I will say that his actual singing technique could have been improved upon.

Nodes are basically callouses on the vocal cords.  Often they form from misuse (excessive coughing) or incorrect singing technique.   Singing as much as Freddie did; it's just a lot of singing!  Heck -  opera singers sing full operas and have a day or two off in between.  So, smoking, drugs, tired, whatever else.

We know that Freddie did not get surgery to remove the nodes.  So, there you go - the pressure on the cords continues, the nodes are still there, and they will not get better.  Even if he had opted for surgery, he would have had to make sure to take care of himself and learn a bit about technique.  If one doesn't re-think their singing and vocal health, and learn good habits after surgery, one will get nodes all over again.

(Sorry, I talked way too much.  And now I'm done).

JMO, YMMV, etc.

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Absolutely perfect post. It covers all grounds and, despite your worry about being prolix, quite succintly at that.

Congrats.

Double post.

Want to restart this topic? LOL

I was listening to Saarbrucken 1979, and I can hear some "Crazy Freddie" starting to take shape!

mike hunt wrote:
I disagree 100%.....Brian does have a stronger voice now then he did back in the day,  but on his solo albums to the present he oversings, and that makes him sound like a dying cat....meow!....Now listen to songs like "sail away sweet sister" and 39, doesn't oversing and sounds much better.
I totally agree with this post - Brian isn't a lead vocalist that can carry a whole album, and although he puts his heart and soul into trying to deliver emotion, he doesn't really do it for me (unlike the example of Sail Away Sweet Sister which is a fantastic vocal delivered within his limits).  Roger on the other hand can tackle different types of delivery such rasping lead vocals, or subtely delivered lower register stuff (such as the verses of 'Pressure On') and still sound good to me.

Altjough veering away from the topic of Freddie's live vocal improvements, I'm often taken with how he did the same thing in the studio (before regressing again from The Works).  The debut album shows his voice at it's weakest, with less power and some uncontrollable vibrato (Roger admits that he did sound like a sheep at times!).  This improved across Queen II, and again was even better on SHA and ANATO.  The biggest leap for me however was on ADATR - full power (White Man), breathy, perfectly controlled delivery (You Take My Breath Away, Millionaire's Waltz), and everything ranging in between, with no 'warbling', but also still smooth and without the straining of later years.

I'm guessing picking up tips and hints along the way, alongside extensive gigging to find out what suited him and worked (together with the guys being more attuned to writing for his voice), really helped Freddie to perfect his vocals by ADATR.

Plus, look at the difference between 10 years:

1976 = Smooth, gentle, sweet
1986 = Harsh, Powerful, Strong

I think Freddie would like to sing as well as during the Crazy Tour for the rest of his career, only having to worry about changing his approach to the songs here and there, something which the shape of his voice would make way easier.

It does seem to me, though, that at least during the time range spanning The Works and The Magic tours, as well as the period between late 1978 and most of 1979, he was physically unable to sing comfortably - he'd be able to only after he had rested enough, or even in the studio, but not throughout the tour - his voice would start to crumble by the third or fourth concerts, and he'd have to make up for his poorer condition either by changing the lines or singing more forcefully.

A wonderful and extraordinarily gifted singer anyway, not only for his range - mine is 2 octaves and I think it is too much already! - but also for his creativity, musicality and control of tone quality and dynamic range.

The final section of SBTL from Rock Montreal ("Loooooooooooove...) has him gradually distancing himself from, and then aproaching, the mic in order to give depth to the verse while changing his tone into a gorgeous descending vibrato.

Here's another observation I found, while listening to The Works Tour and Magic Tour gigs.

Freddie was far better on the Magic Tour!

Do you know I disagree. A year or two ago I would have agreed but the more I listen to the Magic tour the more I think it was his worst tour of all. 
Alot of the songs he struggles with on the Works were dropped for the Magic tour. Take STL, pretty bad for alot of the Works show's, but I cant imagine any Magic tour show where he would have put in a performance even as good as the first night in Rio. Could you imagine a Magic tour version of that! 
I know he hit the odd C5 on the Magic tour but even in those shows he struggles and bark's his way through almost everything.
When he was good on the Works he was very good (even sounding '82ish at times), when he was bad it was dreadful.
To me, he was pretty dreadful throughout the Magic tour.
And lets not forget that the Works was a significantly longer and more demanding tour.

Bad Seed wrote: Do you know I disagree. A year or two ago I would have agreed but the more I listen to the Magic tour the more I think it was his worst tour of all. 
Alot of the songs he struggles with on the Works were dropped for the Magic tour. Take STL, pretty bad for alot of the Works show's, but I cant imagine any Magic tour show where he would have put in a performance even as good as the first night in Rio. Could you imagine a Magic tour version of that! 
I know he hit the odd C5 on the Magic tour but even in those shows he struggles and bark's his way through almost everything.
When he was good on the Works he was very good (even sounding '82ish at times), when he was bad it was dreadful.
To me, he was pretty dreadful throughout the Magic tour.
And lets not forget that the Works was a significantly longer and more demanding tour.
Another factor possibly to affect his voice on this tour would perhaps be the weather in Europe - the weather was extremely hot at times and for some dates that I remember on the tour. In particular Zurich (two shows together) was very hot and an indoor stadium. No air conditioning..... :-(

I think that I've found the bridge between his "old" voice and his "new" voice (as in his "Prime Live" voice)...it's not Saarbrucken. It's Sapporo (5-5-1979). I've posted a video syncing the Killer Queen from the first Sapporo night to the official 4-25 footage. On this version, he NAILS the song in a lot of spots, with phrasing at times BETTER than the Crazy and Game tours (I'm not kidding, take a look for yourself).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiB4cWNWgME

This version is easily the best on this tour (he doesn't crack and he's very aggressive with using all of his range). If you listen closely, he's starting to develop his trademark vibrato on this gig.

Another note: He sounds horrible on this song on the gig before this (Yamaguchi 5-2) and he doesn't sound nearly as good on the next night.

Bad Seed wrote: Do you know I disagree. A year or two ago I would have agreed but the more I listen to the Magic tour the more I think it was his worst tour of all. 
Alot of the songs he struggles with on the Works were dropped for the Magic tour. Take STL, pretty bad for alot of the Works show's, but I cant imagine any Magic tour show where he would have put in a performance even as good as the first night in Rio. Could you imagine a Magic tour version of that! 
I know he hit the odd C5 on the Magic tour but even in those shows he struggles and bark's his way through almost everything.
When he was good on the Works he was very good (even sounding '82ish at times), when he was bad it was dreadful.
To me, he was pretty dreadful throughout the Magic tour.
And lets not forget that the Works was a significantly longer and more demanding tour.

That's not true at all. Magic tour had FAR better vocals--Here's some examples:

1. Listen to Tear It Up: On The Magic Tour, Freddie gets every A4 in almost every show, while on the Works Tour, there's only like 3 shows when he does that.

2. For every "good" gig for Freddie on the Works Tour, I can find 3 Magic gigs that are good.

3. Freddie actually sings the HIGH B4s on AOBTD during the 1986 tour.

4. No, doesn't STRUGGLE or BARK on every Magic Tour show

5. Freddie's voice started weakening 7 shows into the Magic Tour, while on the Works Tour his voice was completely shot by the 7th show.

6. Freddie actually sings Bo Rhap a million times better on the Magic Tour than the Works Tour

If anything was better on the Works Tour, it was I Want To Break Free, and the Seven Seas Of Rhye.

Listen to some of those Early shows on the Magic Tour, then get back to me on Freddie sounding "dreadful."