I visit here often and i am constantly amazed how some of the folks seem to be critical of Freddie live.This was a man who gave it is all every night.I understand there were nights that he didnt have it but consider what he attempted to do each time out.Running around on stage keeping every soul in the hall involved .And the notion that PR is better is absurd.The technology today is to the point where its almost impossible to sound bad.Go and listen to him back in the 80's and then tell me who was better.Sure this is a rant but what the hell.
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Freddie is a great singer, but his greatest work was done in the studio, even the most die-hard Stepford would agree with that.
He just didn't have the same range live that he had in the studio. He had a ton of power, but not the range.
Every live clip I have watched or bootleg I have heard is full of examples of that.
That doesn't mean he wasn't a great live singer, it just means that he was just that much greater in the studio.
Concerning PR, I don't think you'll find many Queen fans who thinks he's sings Queen music better than Freddie did, that's a bit absurd, but I can tell you this; PR is one of the few singers who sings better live then he did on record.
You will never find a live performance of PR where he's less then perfect basically. In the last two years I have heard a bunch of bootlegs from all of his bands and eras and I keep looking out for that bum performance but I haven't come across it yet.
Especially in his Free days, He was so amazing live with Free.
Long before they had technology to make people sound better. *rolls eyes at ridiculous statement*
He just didn't have the same range live that he had in the studio. He had a ton of power, but not the range.
Every live clip I have watched or bootleg I have heard is full of examples of that.
That doesn't mean he wasn't a great live singer, it just means that he was just that much greater in the studio.
Concerning PR, I don't think you'll find many Queen fans who thinks he's sings Queen music better than Freddie did, that's a bit absurd, but I can tell you this; PR is one of the few singers who sings better live then he did on record.
You will never find a live performance of PR where he's less then perfect basically. In the last two years I have heard a bunch of bootlegs from all of his bands and eras and I keep looking out for that bum performance but I haven't come across it yet.
Especially in his Free days, He was so amazing live with Free.
Long before they had technology to make people sound better. *rolls eyes at ridiculous statement*
I don't think the question is "does Paul sing Queen songs better than Freddie?" Freddie originated Queen songs, so it'd be hard to argue that, in most cases. However, while listening to ROTC the other day in my car, it did occur to me that I far prefer Paul's "Tie Your Mother" and "Fat Bottomed Girls" live than just about any live version Freddie ever lended vocals to. Stepfords, back away - this is personal preference. I'm sure someone out there will agree.
One more obsevation that I've personally made that I want to point out.
I have now heard a few singers come amazingly close to how Freddie sounded. One is Gary Mullins, and I saw a clip from a Queen cover band called 'Queen for a Day' doing Dead on Time and I was absolutely blown away by how good the singer was at mimicking Freddie.
He had Freddie's sound and studio range on that tune nailed.
He really almost out-Freddie'd Freddie IMHO.
Check it out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj4PNH_GWwc
I have also listened to several Free/BadCo tribute bands and in every case it's laughingly funny how far short the singers of those bands fell from capturing PR.
Here's two examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJW2tZQAu4Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSbfMrW7mLc
Now here's the real deal on those two tunes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u59eceeqczc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJofqEU0ilA
Rodgers just has this very unique timbre about his voice that makes it incredibly hard or downright impossible to mimic.
They don't call him 'the Voice' for nothing stateside, and I don't know why you are on this mission to constantly slag him off.
I have now heard a few singers come amazingly close to how Freddie sounded. One is Gary Mullins, and I saw a clip from a Queen cover band called 'Queen for a Day' doing Dead on Time and I was absolutely blown away by how good the singer was at mimicking Freddie.
He had Freddie's sound and studio range on that tune nailed.
He really almost out-Freddie'd Freddie IMHO.
Check it out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj4PNH_GWwc
I have also listened to several Free/BadCo tribute bands and in every case it's laughingly funny how far short the singers of those bands fell from capturing PR.
Here's two examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJW2tZQAu4Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSbfMrW7mLc
Now here's the real deal on those two tunes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u59eceeqczc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJofqEU0ilA
Rodgers just has this very unique timbre about his voice that makes it incredibly hard or downright impossible to mimic.
They don't call him 'the Voice' for nothing stateside, and I don't know why you are on this mission to constantly slag him off.
Definitely not always at his best live, but certainly a crowd pleaser. Granted, he was no Tina Turner when it came to audience participation, but he came close.
Freddie was a fantastic liver singer. Queen were a great band live. Not many bands can sound as good as queen when they are live. Look at the chili peppers, anthony has some shocking moments,,freddie,,, always 80 to 100% no errors. look at god know how many others artists dont hold up to there records, queen gave shows, i think this isnt even a worth while argument.
[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]mircal wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Freddie was a fantastic liver singer. Queen were a great band live. Not many bands can sound as good as queen when they are live. Look at the chili peppers, anthony has some shocking moments,,freddie,,, always 80 to 100% no errors. look at god know how many others artists dont hold up to there records, queen gave shows, i think this isnt even a worth while argument. [/QUOTE]
That's just it.
No one's arguing that point.
Who doesn't think Freddie was great live?
It's just the threadstarter trying to stir stuff up.
That's just it.
No one's arguing that point.
Who doesn't think Freddie was great live?
It's just the threadstarter trying to stir stuff up.
[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Knute wrote: [/QUOTENAME][QUOTE][QUOTENAME]mircal wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Freddie was a fantastic liver singer. Queen were a great band live. Not many bands can sound as good as queen when they are live. Look at the chili peppers, anthony has some shocking moments,,freddie,,, always 80 to 100% no errors. look at god know how many others artists dont hold up to there records, queen gave shows, i think this isnt even a worth while argument. [/QUOTE]
That's just it.
No one's arguing that point.
Who doesn't think Freddie was great live?
It's just the threadstarter trying to stir stuff up.[/QUOTE]
true that
That's just it.
No one's arguing that point.
Who doesn't think Freddie was great live?
It's just the threadstarter trying to stir stuff up.[/QUOTE]
true that
Freddie was a brilliant singer live-studio. Have you fans not heard QOF early 80's??? his voice was EXTRAORDINARY during this period, On ROTC a lot of the songs like Hammer to fall have been changed because Rodger's voice could not possibly stand up to the full intensity of the normal arrangement i.e LAW '86 especially over 2hrs his TYMD is extremely poor!! although the recording sound of ROTC is a really good. Congrats to Brian/Roger's Musicianship great!!. if you could have recorded some of Queen's Pre-Paul Rodgers Concerts with the same sound technology of today no one would be talking about Mr Rodgers voice as being superior which it is not even standing up against the old recordings/bootlegs.
I am thankful to Brian/Roger and guest vocalist Paul Rodgers and support musicians + SINGERS for bringing back the Queen Sound back to todays youth, and bringing back fond memories to the loyal fans.
Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert need i say anymore - George Michael excepted every other performer could not compare with Freddie.
I read Queen are in the studio hope you can find some more Freddie recordings on tape somewhere and please involve John Deacon to get the authentic Queen sound if you can.
I am thankful to Brian/Roger and guest vocalist Paul Rodgers and support musicians + SINGERS for bringing back the Queen Sound back to todays youth, and bringing back fond memories to the loyal fans.
Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert need i say anymore - George Michael excepted every other performer could not compare with Freddie.
I read Queen are in the studio hope you can find some more Freddie recordings on tape somewhere and please involve John Deacon to get the authentic Queen sound if you can.
Queen was a great live singer, but not even the shadow of what he was in the studio.
I think Freddie was learning a lot about his voice in the period 71-early '77.He was very carefull during that period.He tried to sings as good as possible.I think he wasn't as energetic as in later years so he focussed more on his vocals(he had to becaue his voice wasn't yet as strong)
For me , his first really great tour was the European 'A day at the races'tour. Shows like Bristol , Copenhagen, Glasgow, ...are really fantastic. I think The 'News of the world'tour was equally impressive.The north-american one aswell as the European tour from'78.
At the end of 1978 , queen did the American jazz-tour and his voice wasn't in the great shape of previous tours(listen to montreal and chicago).By the time they came to Europe the next year , his voice was really tired and it only got worse(altough he still had acceptable shows).You have to listen to the japanese shows because they are great(the other members are on fire) but it were freddie's worst ever.His voice was just worn out!!!
Then the band took a break. They recorded only a few songs(CLTCL and Save me) with their new producer and then they went on tour again. These shows would prove to be freddie's best in terms of range and guts. He did really go for the high notes during that tour.the existing bootlegs prove that.
After this tour he had his golden era:'80-82.HE sang with power , guts , range!
During that period he was really a GREAT LIVE VOCALIST!!
But after that, his voice would never sound as strong again live:The period 84-86 was not good for freddie.His range was very often limited and his voice sounded raspy.
That said, even during those years he had some outstanding moments. I'm totally in love with 5/9/1985.An incredible show by freddie. The first works tour show(brussels) is another example of freddie at his best!
The magic tour was better than the Works tour altough he had some shows whee his voice sounded really tired.The very well-known Wembley show which was released officially is a very well-known example!!!
But I will always defend the Leiden , Stockholm , Budapest and Vienna shows.These were a lot better.
So, if you ask me :was freddie a great live-vocalist?yes , but not always.He had his flaws.
For me , his first really great tour was the European 'A day at the races'tour. Shows like Bristol , Copenhagen, Glasgow, ...are really fantastic. I think The 'News of the world'tour was equally impressive.The north-american one aswell as the European tour from'78.
At the end of 1978 , queen did the American jazz-tour and his voice wasn't in the great shape of previous tours(listen to montreal and chicago).By the time they came to Europe the next year , his voice was really tired and it only got worse(altough he still had acceptable shows).You have to listen to the japanese shows because they are great(the other members are on fire) but it were freddie's worst ever.His voice was just worn out!!!
Then the band took a break. They recorded only a few songs(CLTCL and Save me) with their new producer and then they went on tour again. These shows would prove to be freddie's best in terms of range and guts. He did really go for the high notes during that tour.the existing bootlegs prove that.
After this tour he had his golden era:'80-82.HE sang with power , guts , range!
During that period he was really a GREAT LIVE VOCALIST!!
But after that, his voice would never sound as strong again live:The period 84-86 was not good for freddie.His range was very often limited and his voice sounded raspy.
That said, even during those years he had some outstanding moments. I'm totally in love with 5/9/1985.An incredible show by freddie. The first works tour show(brussels) is another example of freddie at his best!
The magic tour was better than the Works tour altough he had some shows whee his voice sounded really tired.The very well-known Wembley show which was released officially is a very well-known example!!!
But I will always defend the Leiden , Stockholm , Budapest and Vienna shows.These were a lot better.
So, if you ask me :was freddie a great live-vocalist?yes , but not always.He had his flaws.
I am one of a minority who actually likes Freddie's voice on the Magic tour. In a stadium environment you aren't looking for subtlety but raw power and Freddie's vocals in 1986 were terrifyingly powerful. True, the range had gone and he shouted but it sounded great, especially In The Lap Of The Gods (It's so funny etc.) and the falsetto scream on Under Pressure which became a roar at Wembley. His delivery of TYMD never sounded better, espeically at Knebworth where he also gives AOBTD it's definitive reading.
I also am someone that believes that Freddie was really good on the magic tour! I havent heard the entire tour, and as I do not have and cannot get Bittorent, I havent heard the other tours. However, at Wembley, Freddie gave a brilliant live performance at Wembley. He gave it emotion, and power, and raw strenght that came deep from within him, and this gets across on the record. I also think that this is a particularly important show for Queen, as it was almost Freddie's last. A very special show and probably the most listened to CD in my house! :)
I am going to buy Queen, live at the bowl soon, I'm looking forward to seeing what he's like then.
Take care,
B.R
I am going to buy Queen, live at the bowl soon, I'm looking forward to seeing what he's like then.
Take care,
B.R
IWTBF from all shows of Magic Tour isn't the best example of Freddie's live vocal abilities... IMHO.
I think queen songs are hard to sing and when you think of the length of a live set, some singers have to pace themselves. Freddie had to do this because of the characteristics of his voice, whereas singers like Rodgers and Taylor can sing and scream all day without their voices changing, they will have very sore throats though. Also Freddie could sing various types of songs live, whereas Rodgers voice just doesn't suit alot of songs giving him less variation. I mean can you imagine Rodgers singing; save me, don't stop me now, white queen and love of my life and actualy sounding good to anyone? I think not!