Freddie's voice change

Epic bump, but okay.

Freddie's voice is intriguing. For instance:

78-79 - Not so great range
(end of 79) 80 - 82 - Great range
84-86 - Not so great range (with Live Aid being the exception)

In the studio he pretty much nailed everything, I just find it interesting how he can hits the notes he could whilst recording 'Let's Turn It On', then a few months later struggle on tour.

Another old topic gets bumped.

Thanks for the laugh on 'Epic bump'.

That truly was.

I'm more a fan of the sweeter voice , the falsetto's etc.70's voice. But the 80's voice is a whole new story and I like that. It's good to change. He really had the voice of an angel

I prefer the 80's voice becouse together with the image it provided a top athlete quality without sacrificing too much of the artistic sensibility.
However the 90's Innuendo voice in a lot of ways combined the best aspects of his 70's and 80's voice.
I remember reading a review saying that during Innuendo his voice was a sapphire of its "old shelf". A wonderfull metaphor i think!

I am no singing expert, but I would think that Freddie's singing skills increased as he went on. But overall,I think the best vocal instrument would have to have been when he was younger.

When you're young you have the gift that hasn't been subject to the wear and tear that goes along with ageing and misuse. Your voice also deepens as a person gets older, which usually restricts range to some extent, That note at the end of "Hang On In There" that has obviously been altered presumably because of range limitations is a case in point.

Nevertheless older voices do tend to have a rich timbre to them that younger voices don't have .And as I said, the range of skills that Freddie had towards the end was even more awesome I think, whatever terms you use to describe them..

Supersonic_Man89 wrote:

Epic bump, but okay.

Freddie's voice is intriguing. For instance:

78-79 - Not so great range
(end of 79) 80 - 82 - Great range
84-86 - Not so great range (with Live Aid being the exception)

In the studio he pretty much nailed everything, I just find it interesting how he can hits the notes he could whilst recording 'Let's Turn It On', then a few months later struggle on tour.

90% of what you just wrote is bullshit.
His studio vocals in the 80's feature most of his high notes.
His live vocals were far more consistent, powerful and with a greater range than the overall 70's.
If you actually took some time to listen to some shows from '84 to '86 (especially The Magic Tour), you'd discover he very oftens beltss A4s and B4s with ease.

Well, his live range wasn't too hot on most Works Tour shows but most of the Magic Tour shows have him hitting some pretty good notes throughout the shows (plus his tone sounds better).

Freddie was recording a lot between 1983-1985 (Solo album, The Works, guest appearances, etc) and I'm guessing that he wasn't giving himself enough time to rest his voice (which can partly explain why he was inconsistent with his voice on the Works Tour).

Heavenite wrote:

That note at the end of "Hang On In There" that has obviously been altered presumably because of range limitations is a case in point.

Obviously been altered? Not to me.

That note isn't altered. It's the same exact head voiced kind of note that Freddie hits throughout the Miracle and Innuendo.

90% of what you just wrote is bullshit.
His studio vocals in the 80's feature most of his high notes.
His live vocals were far more consistent, powerful and with a greater range than the overall 70's.
If you actually took some time to listen to some shows from '84 to '86 (especially The Magic Tour), you'd discover he very oftens beltss A4s and B4s with ease.

If you read what i wrote, i state that he could hit the notes whilst recording but just not live. He did this throughout his entire career, like most artists but i think the biggest difference was in the mid eighties.

I didn't say his vocals were not more powerful or consistent. However, I would disagree with the range. Like I said I felt his range was fantastic from late 79 to 82, however it's clear that 84 to 86 Freddie struggled to hit the higher notes during live performances with the major exception being Live Aid. I've took the time to listen to numerous shows and performances from that era and I often wish I could hear his 1981 self sing Who Wants To Live Forever or It's A Hard Life.

Depends on the gig or tour during the mid 80s: The Works tour has a few gigs here and there where Fred sings well and hits his notes but he wasn't consistent (partying being a big problem). The Magic Tour has him singing well on most shows and many performances do match his prime live era (like the performances I just embedded).

Supersonic_Man89 wrote:

90% of what you just wrote is bullshit.
His studio vocals in the 80's feature most of his high notes.
His live vocals were far more consistent, powerful and with a greater range than the overall 70's.
If you actually took some time to listen to some shows from '84 to '86 (especially The Magic Tour), you'd discover he very oftens beltss A4s and B4s with ease.

If you read what i wrote, i state that he could hit the notes whilst recording but just not live. He did this throughout his entire career, like most artists but i think the biggest difference was in the mid eighties.

I didn't say his vocals were not more powerful or consistent. However, I would disagree with the range. Like I said I felt his range was fantastic from late 79 to 82, however it's clear that 84 to 86 Freddie struggled to hit the higher notes during live performances with the major exception being Live Aid. I've took the time to listen to numerous shows and performances from that era and I often wish I could hear his 1981 self sing Who Wants To Live Forever or It's A Hard Life.

If you read what I wrote, I stated that he could and certainly did hit a lot of high notes live - throughout his career.

Those are some good performances, I'd heard the AKOM before but not the others. (I usually avoid gigs like Lieden which are poor quality/can't hear the band over the crowd)

Okay, maybe i'm basing my overall opinions of the years on the 5/6 performances i have heard from each tour. However, i'd still say on the whole that the majority of Works/Magic tour, Freddie has to change the way he songs a lot of the songs to be able to perform them. Which is something he's always done, but i think he does it more on these tours. Sometimes it's not bad, and it's quite nice to hear the songs in different keys, as it makes it a bit different (the ending of 'Is This The World We Created?' for example).

It's not something that he has always done. 99% of the songs performed live were done in their original key.