Based purely on video evidence:
As much as I was really sceptical, and Lambert's vibrato is still uncalled for in places, I am pleasantly surprised and impressed. Yes, his voice is quite thin in tone compared to a lot of rock singers, but at least he seems to have learned the words, and as importantly the melodies, in a couple of weeks' rehearsal, which is more than Paul Rodgers could be bothered to do over three years.
Brian in particular has really upped his game too in the last few years - when he wasn't very active he appeared on occasional guest spots and seemed ill at ease and lacking practice and unable to jam without simple mistakes. Recent tours as Queen and alone with Kerry Ellis, along with a new found comfort and relaxation on stage, has improved his playing no end - I was dubious about Jamie not being there this time but am glad to be proved wrong.
Marcos Napier · Member since
My humble comments:
If you are too bothered to read, here's a short resume: he's much better than Paul in some (most?) moments, but still not *the* man. It might be fine tuned, though.
The guy definitely has some technique, but... this is not a voice contest, FFS. Try to control that vibrato, kid! Maybe it will happen someday, with a little more stage experience? Who knows. It seems that he's trying to compensate his non-existant stage presence with the technique. But it doesn't work like that. I'm not an expert in voice techniques and all that stuff, but I think that he might even waste his voice too soon if he keeps overusing it like that.
He fits perfectly with songs like WWTLF, which was a nice surprise at the start but then it was annoying at the end. When it needs to be a little more powerful, this is when the "strangled sheep" sounds come in, it sounds like he's about to explode in a cloud of feathers and glitter. I can compare it to that perfectly distorted and powerful guitar, but turn it up a notch and it will become a mass/mess of feedback and will sound like a killer bee attack instead.
With Adam, I think we would have the chance to listen to a couple classics that were left behind (IMHO White Queen, YTMBA and even Killer Queen can sound quite interesting with him, and why not LOML?), and it's good to hear these high notes again. But when the songs have a little more drama... things are out of control, and the guy really overdoes it. Save me for example... it can be a mess, same for it's a hard life. I'd rather not have these in the setlist. Oh, the same applies for TSMGO. OK, it's sort of an important song in Queen's history, but it's enough, it's time for it to rest, live at least.
On the other hand, we will probably never get a good version of some rock songs, this is why stuff like TYMD was given to Brian, for example. Adam seems to be missing the (for the lack of a better word) "macho" part of the rock songs*. I can't even imagine him singing stuff like Son and Daughter, Stone Cold Crazy or even Liar or in the newest songs One Vision. Some songs that are almost pop like Hammer to Fall for example, might work, but heavier songs, I'm afraid that they will never will be perfect. At least, like some said, they won't sound like mumbling, the new guy at least know the words.
As for the slower tempos, this is an obvious consequence of time, and by bringing Rufus they probably are already thinking about a way to fix it.
* OK, don't you ever think it was a homophobic comment. The most stupid thing ("I'm gay as a daffodil, darling!"... remember?) is to think any Queen fan is homophobic.
Edit: and something I forgot to mention: it seems that we have seen many "Freddie replacements" that are quite good... in just one song/style. It's not easy to find someone that can cover all the variety of Queen's catalog, I think this will never happen. There can be only one Freddie.
Daniel Nester · Member since
What's exciting for me about this super-long forum topic is the prospect that maybe all the hysterical anti-Lambert posts can remain in one place.
Daniel Nester · Member since
Jesus Christ, Marcos, Adam lacks "macho" to sing some Tie Your Mother Down and Son and Daughter. Ooook. And Paul Rogers lacks "femme" to do "Killer Queen" and "Don't Stop Me Now."
*There are plenty of homophobic Queen fans, Marcos. Maybe not you, or maybe you doth protest too much, but plenty of 'em show their face here.
ptr · Member since
1.) My opinion:
FM >> PR >> Martel >> average level of singers on Tribute 92 >> Lambert. This was the worst concert with Queen songs I have EVER heard.
2.) Simply said - he cant sing! He has range, but he cant use it... His vibrato is totally unlistenable and he is not able to control it. All songs were butchered with this. Other than that he has awful tone in high notes. BTW would you recognize beginning of Dont Stop Me Now without knowledge of lyrics? Awful awful awful!
3.) He was completely lost in some songs. He simply didnt know how to sing them and sadly - he can not improvise, he is not able to "cover" it.
4.) During the whole concert, there was not even one track that I would say "ok pretty good, this type of stuff fits him"... nothing. Badly sung songs were followed by terribly sung songs. Best tracks were songs without him.
5.) His stage performance is embarrasing and insulting.... What was that foolery in the Another One Bites The Dust???
Paul, all forgiven, please come back!
notimeforlosers · Member since
I've just noticed that during Dragon Attack performance, the bass player attempted a quick snippet
of Fairy Feller's bass line and then he played
Son and Daughter bass riff.
pittrek · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]ptr wrote:[/b]
1.) My opinion:
FM >> PR >> Martel >> average level of singers on Tribute 92 >> Lambert. This was the worst concert with Queen songs I have EVER heard.
[/QUOTE]
ABSOLUTELY agree. This was simply the worst concert which included both Brian and Roger.
[QUOTE]
2.) Simply said - he cant sing! He has range, but he cant use it... His vibrato is totally unlistenable and he is not able to control it. All songs were butchered with this. Other than that he has awful tone in high notes. BTW would you recognize beginning of Dont Stop Me Now without knowledge of lyrics? Awful awful awful![/QUOTE]
I ABSOLUTELY agree with the first part. But I am able to forgive him that he forgot the lyrics, it was his first time with Brian and Roger.
[QUOTE]
3.) He was completely lost in some songs. He simply didnt know how to sing them and sadly - he can not improvise, he is not able to "cover" it.
[/QUOTE]
Of course he CAN'T improvise - he's not a musician, but a kid from some stupid reality show. Give him 20 years and he WILL be good. But not now.
[QUOTE]
4.) During the whole concert, there was not even one track that I would say "ok pretty good, this type of stuff fits him"... nothing. Badly sung songs were followed by terribly sung songs. Best tracks were songs without him.
[/QUOTE]
The only songs I liked were the songs sung by Roger, then Brian and then the taped Flash intro.
[QUOTE]
5.) His stage performance is embarrasing and insulting.... What was that foolery in the Another One Bites The Dust???
[/QUOTE]
He looked like a scared and lost child during many songs. Well he COULD get better at least with this
[QUOTE]
Paul, all forgiven, please come back![/QUOTE]
Lol, yes :-)
Marcos Napier · Member since
People need some more lessons on text interpretation it seems, but oh well it's not my job to do so.
After watching it almost entirely (skipping 70% of it though), some interesting (get a thesaurus now. Does "interesting" mean "good", "awesome", "incredible", "fantastic" or something similar? NO!) bits with Adam were Dragon Attack (the bass solo was a response to all these Deacon widows I suppose) and FBG. The rest, it's pretty much disposable as it is. AOBTD was truly awful. When it was annoying, it was as annoying as with Paul. Or more. Just in a different way, but still very annoying, to the point that I couldn't watch it live. And it won't get any better with any of these QE singers or anyone else. Just different.
The best part of the whole thing to me still was that double neck RS. And the drum duet was pretty nice as well.
ptr · Member since
pittrek:
About that Dont Stop Me Now, I tried to say different thing than you probably understood. :) Would you recognize the song as he sung it, without the lyrics? Just from the melody and key?
dysan · Member since
'After watching it almost entirely (skipping 70% of it though)'
Erm?
e-man · Member since
to mention lambert in the same breath as paul rodgers is an insult to paul rodgers.
we're talking about a superb singer with an impressive catalouge of self composed music which has held up very well over 4 decades.
on the other hand, there's a guy who can reach some impressive high notes, but has no control over his vibrato which in many cases makes him sound like a sheep. he also cannot sing a rock song to save his life, when he tries to, it sounds like the "broadway tries to rock" album.
furthermore; he has no stage presence and is awkward on stage, to say the least. he tries to make up for this by wearing lots of make up and camp / outrageous outfits. This turns into another backfire though, considering who created the role as lead singer of Queen.
this Kiev thing was almost as bad as Amsterdam 2002.
PLEASE brian and roger; leave the Queen name alone and go out as "may & taylor". it's obvious they enjoy playing together, and they still sound damn good actually!!
but this lambert thing pisses all over a good name.
and by the way; is there a small print on the contract signed by x factor contestants which says "the winner gets to sing with Queen at some point" ??????? for f*** sake!!!
Daniel Nester · Member since
ptr wrote: 1.) My opinion: FM >> PR >> Martel >> average level of singers on Tribute 92 >> Lambert. This was the worst concert with Queen songs I have EVER heard.
ABSOLUTELY agree. This was simply the worst concert which included both Brian and Roger.
[i]I don't see how this even compares with the Queen's Day gig in Netherlands. Or the first 46664. [/i]
2.) Simply said - he cant sing! He has range, but he cant use it... His vibrato is totally unlistenable and he is not able to control it. All songs were butchered with this. Other than that he has awful tone in high notes. BTW would you recognize beginning of Dont Stop Me Now without knowledge of lyrics? Awful awful awful!
I ABSOLUTELY agree with the first part. But I am able to forgive him that he forgot the lyrics, it was his first time with Brian and Roger.
[i]Paul forgot lots of lyrics on the first gigs. And let's not forget Freddie, let alone Anastacia. These tone and vibrato opinions aren't scientific facts. We have heard of Shirley Bassey, haven't we? [/i]
3.) He was completely lost in some songs. He simply didnt know how to sing them and sadly - he can not improvise, he is not able to "cover" it.
Of course he CAN'T improvise - he's not a musician, but a kid from some stupid reality show. Give him 20 years and he WILL be good. But not now.
[i]I don't get how we're just dismissing this guy's talent entirely. Scorched earth criticism doesn't really get us anywhere. [/i] 4.) During the whole concert, there was not even one track that I would say "ok pretty good, this type of stuff fits him"... nothing. Badly sung songs were followed by terribly sung songs. Best tracks were songs without him.
The only songs I liked were the songs sung by Roger, then Brian and then the taped Flash intro.
[i]Christ, are we really going to say Roger singing in front of 100,000 Ukrainians WORKS? That his whispering "ooh yeah" at the end of TWTDOL is in any way adding to the song? Or he doesn't look like a deer in headlights sometimes? Giving Roger a turn or three at lead vocals is awesome. It's super to give him props as a singer and a songwriter. But to say this is his proper lead vocal context is kind of ridiculous. If Brian and Roger were to do their-vocals-only deep catalogue shows, they would be in small- or mid-sized theaters, full of Queen fanclub faithful. And it would be great, we can all agree. But that will never happen. Get over it! It also doesn't work for thousands of Ukrainians who want to hear WWRY for the millionth time. Seems a lot of us are projecting what we WANT to happen and WANT to work, rather than what does or did. WWTLF with Lambert, for example, was probably the best I'd seen/heard since Freddie. Easily. In AOBTD, he did the second verse better than Freddie, technically-speaking. The list could go on, but of course we want to focus on his femme-y ways, and how he wouldn't be able to sing Son and Daughter. [/i] 5.) His stage performance is embarrasing and insulting.... What was that foolery in the Another One Bites The Dust???
He looked like a scared and lost child during many songs. Well he COULD get better at least with this.
[i]Oh, it's called call-and-response. Freddie did for 20 years. It's a common stadium rock technique pioneered by Queen. [/i]
GratefulFan · Member since
Adam Lambert was a polarizing performer long before his name was ever linked with Queen and will continue to be long after everybody has moved on. Nobody has an obligation to search around for a few nice things to throw in with their broad and general distaste. It's not Grade 3 where everybody at least gets a little trophy. One man's 'scorched earth criticism' is another's frank assessment of somebody whose sound and artistic choices leave virtually nothing to like or appreciate to the ears of many. It's not complicated. And rejection of any "femme-y ways" is not necessarily synonymous with homophobia either, any more than rejection of Lady GaGa on stage in her underwear or something is a backlash against heterosexuality. Sometimes artists make image choices that get in the way of communicating their music for some and leverage it's message for others. No big deal and a calculated risk they take.
Bad Seed · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]Daniel Nester wrote:[/b]
ptr wrote:1.) My opinion:FM >> PR >> Martel >> average level of singers on Tribute 92 >> Lambert. This was the worst concert with Queen songs I have EVER heard.ABSOLUTELY agree. This was simply the worst concert which included both Brian and Roger.[i]I don't see how this even compares with the Queen's Day gig in Netherlands. Or the first 46664. [/i]2.) Simply said - he cant sing! He has range, but he cant use it... His vibrato is totally unlistenable and he is not able to control it. All songs were butchered with this. Other than that he has awful tone in high notes. BTW would you recognize beginning of Dont Stop Me Now without knowledge of lyrics? Awful awful awful!I ABSOLUTELY agree with the first part. But I am able to forgive him that he forgot the lyrics, it was his first time with Brian and Roger.[i]Paul forgot lots of lyrics on the first gigs. And let's not forget Freddie, let alone Anastacia. These tone and vibrato opinions aren't scientific facts. We have heard of Shirley Bassey, haven't we?[/i]3.) He was completely lost in some songs. He simply didnt know how to sing them and sadly - he can not improvise, he is not able to "cover" it.Of course he CAN'T improvise - he's not a musician, but a kid from some stupid reality show. Give him 20 years and he WILL be good. But not now.[i]I don't get how we're just dismissing this guy's talent entirely. Scorched earth criticism doesn't really get us anywhere. [/i]4.) During the whole concert, there was not even one track that I would say "ok pretty good, this type of stuff fits him"... nothing. Badly sung songs were followed by terribly sung songs. Best tracks were songs without him.The only songs I liked were the songs sung by Roger, then Brian and then the taped Flash intro.[i]Christ, are we really going to say Roger singing in front of 100,000 Ukrainians WORKS? That his whispering "ooh yeah" at the end of TWTDOL is in any way adding to the song? Or he doesn't look like a deer in headlights sometimes? Giving Roger a turn or three at lead vocals is awesome. It's super to give him props as a singer and a songwriter. But to say this is his proper lead vocal context is kind of ridiculous. If Brian and Roger were to do their-vocals-only deep catalogue shows, they would be in small- or mid-sized theaters, full of Queen fanclub faithful. And it would be great, we can all agree. But that will never happen. Get over it! It also doesn't work for thousands of Ukrainians who want to hear WWRY for the millionth time. Seems a lot of us are projecting what we WANT to happen and WANT to work, rather than what does or did. WWTLF with Lambert, for example, was probably the best I'd seen/heard since Freddie. Easily. In AOBTD, he did the second verse better than Freddie, technically-speaking. The list could go on, but of course we want to focus on his femme-y ways, and how he wouldn't be able to sing Son and Daughter.[/i]5.) His stage performance is embarrasing and insulting.... What was that foolery in the Another One Bites The Dust???He looked like a scared and lost child during many songs. Well he COULD get better at least with this.[i]Oh, it's called call-and-response. Freddie did for 20 years. It's a common stadium rock technique pioneered by Queen.[/i][/QUOTE]
^Agree 100%^
Bad Seed · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]Daniel Nester wrote:[/b]
ptr wrote:1.) My opinion:FM >> PR >> Martel >> average level of singers on Tribute 92 >> Lambert. This was the worst concert with Queen songs I have EVER heard.ABSOLUTELY agree. This was simply the worst concert which included both Brian and Roger.[i]I don't see how this even compares with the Queen's Day gig in Netherlands. Or the first 46664. [/i]2.) Simply said - he cant sing! He has range, but he cant use it... His vibrato is totally unlistenable and he is not able to control it. All songs were butchered with this. Other than that he has awful tone in high notes. BTW would you recognize beginning of Dont Stop Me Now without knowledge of lyrics? Awful awful awful!I ABSOLUTELY agree with the first part. But I am able to forgive him that he forgot the lyrics, it was his first time with Brian and Roger.[i]Paul forgot lots of lyrics on the first gigs. And let's not forget Freddie, let alone Anastacia. These tone and vibrato opinions aren't scientific facts. We have heard of Shirley Bassey, haven't we?[/i]3.) He was completely lost in some songs. He simply didnt know how to sing them and sadly - he can not improvise, he is not able to "cover" it.Of course he CAN'T improvise - he's not a musician, but a kid from some stupid reality show. Give him 20 years and he WILL be good. But not now.[i]I don't get how we're just dismissing this guy's talent entirely. Scorched earth criticism doesn't really get us anywhere. [/i]4.) During the whole concert, there was not even one track that I would say "ok pretty good, this type of stuff fits him"... nothing. Badly sung songs were followed by terribly sung songs. Best tracks were songs without him.The only songs I liked were the songs sung by Roger, then Brian and then the taped Flash intro.[i]Christ, are we really going to say Roger singing in front of 100,000 Ukrainians WORKS? That his whispering "ooh yeah" at the end of TWTDOL is in any way adding to the song? Or he doesn't look like a deer in headlights sometimes? Giving Roger a turn or three at lead vocals is awesome. It's super to give him props as a singer and a songwriter. But to say this is his proper lead vocal context is kind of ridiculous. If Brian and Roger were to do their-vocals-only deep catalogue shows, they would be in small- or mid-sized theaters, full of Queen fanclub faithful. And it would be great, we can all agree. But that will never happen. Get over it! It also doesn't work for thousands of Ukrainians who want to hear WWRY for the millionth time. Seems a lot of us are projecting what we WANT to happen and WANT to work, rather than what does or did. WWTLF with Lambert, for example, was probably the best I'd seen/heard since Freddie. Easily. In AOBTD, he did the second verse better than Freddie, technically-speaking. The list could go on, but of course we want to focus on his femme-y ways, and how he wouldn't be able to sing Son and Daughter.[/i]5.) His stage performance is embarrasing and insulting.... What was that foolery in the Another One Bites The Dust???He looked like a scared and lost child during many songs. Well he COULD get better at least with this.[i]Oh, it's called call-and-response. Freddie did for 20 years. It's a common stadium rock technique pioneered by Queen.[/i][/QUOTE]
