Hi there, friends!
Now I personally think Freddie has the best voice of all time. I say that, because out of all the artists I listen to, including artists with wonderful, unique, extraordinary voices, such as Elvis, Roy Orbison etc... I still think Freddie has the most powerful, strong and varied voice/vocals I have ever heard.
The thing is, I am also realistic. My opinion is not based on my technical knowledge of singing or vocal range and power etc... It is just my personal opinion regarding what I have heard and can try and establish for myself.
Now my brother loves Freddie and Queen but he is a bigger Elvis fan. Elvis to him is like Queen to me. He has highlighted to me, that although Freddie's voice was excellent, it was also very 'dodgy' at times. A prime example he has given, is near the end of the song 'Time', where Freddie hits and holds the word 'Waits', just before the ' ...For nobody, nobody, nobody... For no-one'.
Now my brother feels that the way he sings that part is very strained and forced out. Now I can see where he is coming from but I am genuinely not in a position to agree or disagree. To me, I could be biased and just say that is the way Freddie wanted to sing that line/note, or I can be of the mind to say that it does sound strained.
So, over to the vocal/singing experts, what are you opinions?
Cheers!
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I'm no singing expert but I have done a lot over the years and recorded a lot of others as well.
I think Freddie had an extensive range, to be honest I suspect it was considerably greater than Elvis's but yes towards the top end he would sound strained, he did like to push the envelope when singing a line and part of his vocal characteristics was to have a rasp at the top end. Elvis never sang in that way, he had a much deeper voice and rarely went for the top notes with the same aggression.
Both are great, You also have to remember in Elvis's day you didn't sing like Freddie it was not acceptable you had to hit the note true and accurately, by the late 70's it was much more acceptable to be allover the place. Look at Bob Dillon a fantastic voice but not pure like that of say Elvis.
Lou Reed is another, a great singer but does he ever hit the note??
I think they are just different styles, could Elvis sing a Queen song, sure, not in the same register though.
I think Freddie had an extensive range, to be honest I suspect it was considerably greater than Elvis's but yes towards the top end he would sound strained, he did like to push the envelope when singing a line and part of his vocal characteristics was to have a rasp at the top end. Elvis never sang in that way, he had a much deeper voice and rarely went for the top notes with the same aggression.
Both are great, You also have to remember in Elvis's day you didn't sing like Freddie it was not acceptable you had to hit the note true and accurately, by the late 70's it was much more acceptable to be allover the place. Look at Bob Dillon a fantastic voice but not pure like that of say Elvis.
Lou Reed is another, a great singer but does he ever hit the note??
I think they are just different styles, could Elvis sing a Queen song, sure, not in the same register though.
Technically Freddie wasn't a very good singer. He had range and a great sounding voice. But he wasn't a trained singer. And you can hear that very well, especially live.
The first few dates from a tour were great, but after the 7th or so show his voice would become worse and worse. He couldn't sing the high notes anymore, shouted more than real singing etc.
The first few dates from a tour were great, but after the 7th or so show his voice would become worse and worse. He couldn't sing the high notes anymore, shouted more than real singing etc.
The best voice of all time? NO! The best voice of all time...if you don't include all the great CLASSICAL MUSIC singers. But the greatest popular voice that we remember, and can hear again, yes, probably.
That's my opinion :-)
That's my opinion :-)
I've always regarded Freddie as a studio singer. His best vocals were on the albums, especially when he did all of the backing choirs himself (e.g. You Take My Breath Away). Live he was a showman, in the studio he was a musician.
Elvis had a great voice indeed, and many tend to put him down because, allegedly, there wasn't much competition, but IMO that's false: there were very good singers in that era, and Elvis somehow made his way to the elite. He deserved the fame he'd got.
Elvis had a great voice indeed, and many tend to put him down because, allegedly, there wasn't much competition, but IMO that's false: there were very good singers in that era, and Elvis somehow made his way to the elite. He deserved the fame he'd got.
[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Localboy80 wrote: [/QUOTENAME]
Now my brother loves Freddie and Queen but he is a bigger Elvis fan. Elvis to him is like Queen to me. He has highlighted to me, that although Freddie's voice was excellent, it was also very 'dodgy' at times. A prime example he has given, is near the end of the song 'Time', where Freddie hits and holds the word 'Waits', just before the ' ...For nobody, nobody, nobody... For no-one'.
Now my brother feels that the way he sings that part is very strained and forced out. Now I can see where he is coming from but I am genuinely not in a position to agree or disagree. To me, I could be biased and just say that is the way Freddie wanted to sing that line/note, or I can be of the mind to say that it does sound strained.
So, over to the vocal/singing experts, what are you opinions?
Cheers!
[/QUOTE]
I happen to agree with the part about Time (and also In My Defence). I find both songs sounding strained and somehow unpleasant vocally. That says very little about Freddie though, just listen to the middle part of Mother Love, sung just months before his death.
Time happens to be a bad example of his singing skills, that's all. He could do much, much better.
Now my brother loves Freddie and Queen but he is a bigger Elvis fan. Elvis to him is like Queen to me. He has highlighted to me, that although Freddie's voice was excellent, it was also very 'dodgy' at times. A prime example he has given, is near the end of the song 'Time', where Freddie hits and holds the word 'Waits', just before the ' ...For nobody, nobody, nobody... For no-one'.
Now my brother feels that the way he sings that part is very strained and forced out. Now I can see where he is coming from but I am genuinely not in a position to agree or disagree. To me, I could be biased and just say that is the way Freddie wanted to sing that line/note, or I can be of the mind to say that it does sound strained.
So, over to the vocal/singing experts, what are you opinions?
Cheers!
[/QUOTE]
I happen to agree with the part about Time (and also In My Defence). I find both songs sounding strained and somehow unpleasant vocally. That says very little about Freddie though, just listen to the middle part of Mother Love, sung just months before his death.
Time happens to be a bad example of his singing skills, that's all. He could do much, much better.
[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Fireplace wrote: [/QUOTENAME][QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Localboy80 wrote: [/QUOTENAME]
Now my brother loves Freddie and Queen but he is a bigger Elvis fan. Elvis to him is like Queen to me. He has highlighted to me, that although Freddie's voice was excellent, it was also very 'dodgy' at times. A prime example he has given, is near the end of the song 'Time', where Freddie hits and holds the word 'Waits', just before the ' ...For nobody, nobody, nobody... For no-one'.
Now my brother feels that the way he sings that part is very strained and forced out. Now I can see where he is coming from but I am genuinely not in a position to agree or disagree. To me, I could be biased and just say that is the way Freddie wanted to sing that line/note, or I can be of the mind to say that it does sound strained.
So, over to the vocal/singing experts, what are you opinions?
Cheers!
[/QUOTE]
I happen to agree with the part about Time (and also In My Defence). I find both songs sounding strained and somehow unpleasant vocally. That says very little about Freddie though, just listen to the middle part of Mother Love, sung just months before his death.
Time happens to be a bad example of his singing skills, that's all. He could do much, much better.
[/QUOTE]I agree , In My defence and Time are strained!! He could do better , even in that period. I think 'One year of love' sounds great!!
Now my brother loves Freddie and Queen but he is a bigger Elvis fan. Elvis to him is like Queen to me. He has highlighted to me, that although Freddie's voice was excellent, it was also very 'dodgy' at times. A prime example he has given, is near the end of the song 'Time', where Freddie hits and holds the word 'Waits', just before the ' ...For nobody, nobody, nobody... For no-one'.
Now my brother feels that the way he sings that part is very strained and forced out. Now I can see where he is coming from but I am genuinely not in a position to agree or disagree. To me, I could be biased and just say that is the way Freddie wanted to sing that line/note, or I can be of the mind to say that it does sound strained.
So, over to the vocal/singing experts, what are you opinions?
Cheers!
[/QUOTE]
I happen to agree with the part about Time (and also In My Defence). I find both songs sounding strained and somehow unpleasant vocally. That says very little about Freddie though, just listen to the middle part of Mother Love, sung just months before his death.
Time happens to be a bad example of his singing skills, that's all. He could do much, much better.
[/QUOTE]I agree , In My defence and Time are strained!! He could do better , even in that period. I think 'One year of love' sounds great!!
I may be alone in here but... "Time" and specially "In My Defence", have superb vocals. Mind you that In my defence was a One-Take vocal, if you don't count the ad-libs.
I think it's useless to point out the best voice of all time. Some people have great voices, but can't quite control it, others do not have that much of a voice, but do wonders with what they have (ex. Paul Simon).
Freddie had a magnificent voice and he knew what he was doing!! Of course he avoided the high notes live and sometimes missed a couple ones, but like sebastian said, live he was mostly a performer.
Finally, I ask you this: How about the vocal "performance"?? Deliverance, diversity, creativity, inteligence while singing, charisma?
Give me (not a good guitar), but a singer who totals all of the above and beats Freddie.
I think it's useless to point out the best voice of all time. Some people have great voices, but can't quite control it, others do not have that much of a voice, but do wonders with what they have (ex. Paul Simon).
Freddie had a magnificent voice and he knew what he was doing!! Of course he avoided the high notes live and sometimes missed a couple ones, but like sebastian said, live he was mostly a performer.
Finally, I ask you this: How about the vocal "performance"?? Deliverance, diversity, creativity, inteligence while singing, charisma?
Give me (not a good guitar), but a singer who totals all of the above and beats Freddie.
[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Togg wrote: [/QUOTENAME] Look at Bob Dillon a fantastic voice but not pure like that of say Elvis.
[/QUOTE]
Bob Dillon? Fantastic voice? I thought you meant Bob Dylan, but the fantastic voice part has me confused...
Freddie pushed his voice hard, and he did it alot. Sometimes the result was sketchy, but other times it was remarkable. I think his vocals on Gimme the Prize is a good example. Not a great song, but his vocal performance is amazing.
As for the best voice, I think even Freddie would agree that it's hard to top Aretha Franklin.
[/QUOTE]
Bob Dillon? Fantastic voice? I thought you meant Bob Dylan, but the fantastic voice part has me confused...
Freddie pushed his voice hard, and he did it alot. Sometimes the result was sketchy, but other times it was remarkable. I think his vocals on Gimme the Prize is a good example. Not a great song, but his vocal performance is amazing.
As for the best voice, I think even Freddie would agree that it's hard to top Aretha Franklin.
I have had several years of vocal training (a work in progress) and I agree that Freddie's voice is THE best recorded voice I've ever encountered. His voice can fit any style of music and it fits. Some artists try different sytles and it just doesn't sound right. I agree that Freddie's voice in the late 80's sounded more strained but I personally think this is a smoking issue. Listen to My Fairy King and then listen to I Want It All. The smoking gave a "gravelly" sound to his voice but he kept, and maybe even, expanded his vocal range (excluding his falsetto). I personally think Freddie's tone was the best in the News of the World - The Game era.
If I were a producer I would have suggested to Freddie that he sing a different word or series of notes to the "Wait" line in Time that you mentioned. I am certainly no expert but because Freddie took no formal vocal training (I think. Please don't murder me if I'm wrong.) he was able to train his own voice and use it in ways no other vocalist has or even can.
If I were a producer I would have suggested to Freddie that he sing a different word or series of notes to the "Wait" line in Time that you mentioned. I am certainly no expert but because Freddie took no formal vocal training (I think. Please don't murder me if I'm wrong.) he was able to train his own voice and use it in ways no other vocalist has or even can.
I have been trained as a vocalist since middle school, and indeed was a vocal music performance major for my first year at University, so I'm pretty familiar with the technical stuff reguarding the voice.
Freddie had an amazing voice for a few reasons: He had a vocal range that is very hard to beat. He also had amazing clarity and warmth of tone within that range. Anyone can expand their range, but to do it in a way that it sounds decent at both extremes is something you can't really train, and Freddie had that. Not to mention the emotion that he could put into his voice for songs. He was a natural singer. He was also able to change the timbre of his voice for different songs...for example he sounds alot different in "Seven Seas of Rhye" than he does in "Bohemian Rhapsody". He had a natural musical ear, and was a good judge of what would fit best with which pieces of music.
That being said, he wasn't the best vocalist in the world. He wasn't properly trained, which isn't neccessarily a bad thing, but you can tell when he sings live that he's forcing out the sounds due to improper breathing techniques and not lifting the soft palate. That explains why his voice was always crap at the end of the shows, he was forcing his vocal chords to work harder than they should have had to. That is also one of the major reasons he got vocal nodules...he was abusing his vocal chords. Some proper techniques of breathing and soft palate lifting would have helped, but it's possible it might have changed his sound as well, and that's probably the reason he never did it. He was also a smoker for a period of time, and you might as well hack your vocal chords with a knife if you are going to do that. However, once he quit smoking, his voice returned in a big way, and I think that a lot of his last stuff was the best vocally.
But his singing was still amazing, and he's one of my favorite singers to this day....the sound he could produce, while not vocally wonderful on a technical scale, was still extemely pleasant to listen to and fit in very well with Queen and the music they did.
Freddie had an amazing voice for a few reasons: He had a vocal range that is very hard to beat. He also had amazing clarity and warmth of tone within that range. Anyone can expand their range, but to do it in a way that it sounds decent at both extremes is something you can't really train, and Freddie had that. Not to mention the emotion that he could put into his voice for songs. He was a natural singer. He was also able to change the timbre of his voice for different songs...for example he sounds alot different in "Seven Seas of Rhye" than he does in "Bohemian Rhapsody". He had a natural musical ear, and was a good judge of what would fit best with which pieces of music.
That being said, he wasn't the best vocalist in the world. He wasn't properly trained, which isn't neccessarily a bad thing, but you can tell when he sings live that he's forcing out the sounds due to improper breathing techniques and not lifting the soft palate. That explains why his voice was always crap at the end of the shows, he was forcing his vocal chords to work harder than they should have had to. That is also one of the major reasons he got vocal nodules...he was abusing his vocal chords. Some proper techniques of breathing and soft palate lifting would have helped, but it's possible it might have changed his sound as well, and that's probably the reason he never did it. He was also a smoker for a period of time, and you might as well hack your vocal chords with a knife if you are going to do that. However, once he quit smoking, his voice returned in a big way, and I think that a lot of his last stuff was the best vocally.
But his singing was still amazing, and he's one of my favorite singers to this day....the sound he could produce, while not vocally wonderful on a technical scale, was still extemely pleasant to listen to and fit in very well with Queen and the music they did.
What made Freddie a great singer was not his vocal range (which spanned an impressive 3 1/2 octaves)but the wit, charisma and uniqueness he somehow managed to project through his voice. He wasn't a well-trained singer (although at school he sang in a choir) he was blessed with that voice naturally. Technically he could have done with some training, he had a tendency to force his voice to reach the higher notes, just as I need to do being stubbornly alto, in the eighties and live. But, much better than I am able to do, he could sing in falsetto beautifully in the seventies. Throughout his career Freddie always knew exactly how wanted his voice to sound. It's a reason for his smoking, he liked his eighties 'husky' voice, but when Freddie needed to tackle songs like 'My Fairy King' he was excellent, in the studio at manipulating his voice to make it sound however he wanted it too. Indeed in the first two albums he sounded very feminine and was able to manipulate even that quality to give a beautiful sound. I think we should feel grateful that Freddie had no real training. If he had been taught to sing then he wouldn'tve had the originality that he did have. Freddie did have a gift. It was Brian who told us how Freddie spent the first 4 albums 'refining his art'. Freddie knew his limits and knew his strengths and used them to their fullest extent. And that's what makes him one of the best ROCK singers. Or popular music singers.
Elvis was a thoroughly mediocre singer who had the luck of having a pretty voice. He didn't use more than 1 1/2 octaves of it, though.
What Elvis had going for him is that no one was doing what he was doing at the time, not his vocal range.
Songs were carefully chosen for him based on how he could perform the song, because no one could do it like Elvis.
Freddie wrote his masterpieces. And they weren't written based on how he'd perform them live.
Tough to compare the two. Totally different context.
Songs were carefully chosen for him based on how he could perform the song, because no one could do it like Elvis.
Freddie wrote his masterpieces. And they weren't written based on how he'd perform them live.
Tough to compare the two. Totally different context.
That's an abosultely excellent analysis BowieQueen. Singers with a bigger range (Mariah Carey, Celine dion) lack the "wit, charisma and uniqueness" that Freddie had. Freddie knew how to deliver a song in all genres, which is not unique to the rock world, but pretty infrequent. Brian has called Love of my Life one of music's finest vocals, and it's a beautiful ballad. Flip things to the heavy end, and his work on It's Late is breathtaking. The power and control and hurt on his voice is amazing on It's Late. Such a shame that outside of the Queen world the song is virtually unknown.