QueenZone discussion #1385877

attaboy_jhb wrote: I finished watching the wembley 86 concert and as a live performance, I don't think he sounds that good. His voice sounds so strained.

Also, one of the songs I was studying was "friends will be friends" and all the live videos have queen playing to a backing track??? Is this common knowledge that Freddie was a lip synching artist?

attaboy_jhb wrote:  Is this common knowledge that Freddie was a lip synching artist?

The Real Wizard wrote:

attaboy_jhb wrote: I finished watching the wembley 86 concert and as a live performance, I don't think he sounds that good. His voice sounds so strained.

Indeed - not one of his best shows. Listen to Budapest 86 instead, where he sounds much stronger. Or Montreal 81. That's where he's at his peak.

Also, one of the songs I was studying was "friends will be friends" and all the live videos have queen playing to a backing track??? Is this common knowledge that Freddie was a lip synching artist?

link ^ it was probably this show that you saw a clip of. Queen played over 700 shows, and only three were mimed.

attaboy_jhb wrote: I am a vocal student and after hearing all the praise of Freddie Mercury as a singer I went and studied some of his songs out of interest even though queen is not really my type of band. That is when I discovered this forum and wanted to add that I finished watching the wembley 86 concert and as a live performance, I don't think he sounds that good. His voice sounds so strained. On recordings I do think he sounds good but I only evaluate a singer by his live singing and so should anybody else really as studios do a lot of amazing things - even in those days. Also, one of the songs I was studying was "friends will be friends" and all the live videos have queen playing to a backing track??? Is this common knowledge that Freddie was a lip synching artist?

on my way up wrote:

attaboy_jhb wrote: I am a vocal student and after hearing all the praise of Freddie Mercury as a singer I went and studied some of his songs out of interest even though queen is not really my type of band. That is when I discovered this forum and wanted to add that I finished watching the wembley 86 concert and as a live performance, I don't think he sounds that good. His voice sounds so strained. On recordings I do think he sounds good but I only evaluate a singer by his live singing and so should anybody else really as studios do a lot of amazing things - even in those days. Also, one of the songs I was studying was "friends will be friends" and all the live videos have queen playing to a backing track??? Is this common knowledge that Freddie was a lip synching artist?

I can't judge your singing but if you're only after hitting the right notes at all times and always being in total control then you'd better start to listen to opera... and then get frustrated like Alfie Boe or - even - to an extent Montserrat ;-)

attaboy_jhb wrote: I am a vocal student and after hearing all the praise of Freddie Mercury as a singer I went and studied some of his songs out of interest even though queen is not really my type of band. That is when I discovered this forum and wanted to add that I finished watching the wembley 86 concert and as a live performance, I don't think he sounds that good. His voice sounds so strained. On recordings I do think he sounds good but I only evaluate a singer by his live singing and so should anybody else really as studios do a lot of amazing things - even in those days. Also, one of the songs I was studying was "friends will be friends" and all the live videos have queen playing to a backing track??? Is this common knowledge that Freddie was a lip synching artist?

musicland munich wrote: btw Don't feed the trolls !

BETA215 wrote: Wasn't both San Remo and both Montreux Festival concerts mimed?

attaboy_jhb wrote: I am a vocal student and after hearing all the praise of Freddie Mercury as a singer I went and

attaboy_jhb wrote: I am a vocal student and after hearing all the praise of Freddie Mercury as a singer I went and studied some of his songs out of interest even though queen is not really my type of band. That is when I discovered this forum and wanted to add that I finished watching the wembley 86 concert and as a live performance, I don't think he sounds that good. His voice sounds so strained. On recordings I do think he sounds good but I only evaluate a singer by his live singing and so should anybody else really as studios do a lot of amazing things - even in those days. Also, one of the songs I was studying was "friends will be friends" and all the live videos have queen playing to a backing track??? Is this common knowledge that Freddie was a lip synching artist?

attaboy_jhb wrote:Also, one of the songs I was studying was "friends will be friends" and all the live videos have queen playing to a backing track??? Is this common knowledge that Freddie was a lip synching artist?

attaboy_jhb wrote: Ok those who are getting mean: no need to get your panties in a knot. Let me clarify AGAIN that I only listened to the wembley concert because that is what seems to come up first on youtube. Don't know why it comes up first if it is the worse performance of his but anyway I will definitely do some more research. Can we be friends now? I must say I do think the albums and recordings sound AMAZING but then again I don't judge a vocalist by his studio work. Does anybody know where a decent live performance of "friends will be friends" can be found as I am studying that now and the only "real" live performance I could find was the wembley one and he sings it a tone lower but it still sounds so strained?

Holly2003 wrote: To be fair to the topic starter, he chorus of Friends Will Be Friends at Wembley does sound like there's a backing track, but it might just be a chorus special effect on the vocals.

LilKing22 wrote: I think the thing to remember is that although he had unbelievable tenor range, he was naturally a baritone. Certain things he did in the studio would blow out his voice if he attempted them live over the course of a 20 song set. That is one reason why Live Aid is so strong, because it was a brief set.

someonewholikesadam wrote: Queen fans, how does it feel to have to defend your idol? To the vocal student, what do you think about Adam Lambert live? queen fans think he sounds "horrible" in this video. I think he is amazing!

Zamidoo wrote:

someonewholikesadam wrote: Queen fans, how does it feel to have to defend your idol? To the vocal student, what do you think about Adam Lambert live? queen fans think he sounds "horrible" in this video. I think he is amazing!

I thought that the OP was about Freddie Mercury? Wouldn't it be better to put that up in an Adam Lambert forum, where you would get more feedback on him as a singer on his own merits? Personally, I'm happy to watch it, but it's a little bit 'off topic'...

ANAGRAMER wrote: Attaboy, as a vocal student, can you let us know what key Bohemian Rhapsody is in?

Excuse me, but what the hell makes you just automatically denounce the studio work? Yes there are tools these days, but there weren't in the 70's or 80's - there were harmonizers and vocoding effects, but nothing like auto-tune was available. As for the Wembley concert; Freddie was sick during that, if you want a short glimpse of his true power, listen to the Live Aid concert: link

Zamidoo wrote: To the OP - I know what you mean about some of the songs at Wembley, and you're probably right - if Freddie Mercury were judged as a singer based on Wembley alone, I doubt he'd make the 'greatest ever' list based only on vocal production (although probably would still make it, albeit possibly further down, on delivery and stage presence alone!), but as others have pointed out, that performance was during a long, exhausting tour. As other have also pointed out, he had problems with vocal nodules that were particularly bad at Wembley for whatever reason. If you listen to many, many other live recordings you'll find a very different story. You also have to remember that a lot of the most well-known Queen hits that Freddie penned himself (as opposed to those written by the other members of Queen, e.g.. 'Radio Gaga' or 'We will rock you' to name two, for example) had fiendishly difficult vocal lines which were very difficult to reproduce live. The fact that he managed to sing some of those songs live at all, during a long tour, is a testament in itself to his singing ability. I agree with what others have said about checking out live performances from around 1980-81 if you want to hear him at his peak. Remember, he was also around 40 years old in the Wembley shows and had been singing with Queen for over 15 years - that's a lot of rock singing. Even at Wembley, though, it was only the top of his voice that was a bit under-par. The middle and lower registers were fine. Re. people 'getting their pants (or knickers or whatever) in a knot', well, you're going to get that on a site full of Queen fans! I don't think that your post is wrong exactly, but you should really check out more live recordings to get a better idea of the whole picture... re. the lip-synching, though, that is just an erroneous assumption. Freddie really didn't lip-synch. As an example, there is a recording which Freddie sang live on television in the early 1980s despite having lost his voice the night before after a lot of shouting. They could have mimed, but chose not to. And his singing is pretty awful (although not the overall performance)! If there were just some backing tracks at Wembley, that isn't really the same thing.

Nitroboy wrote: Wembley wasn't at the end of the tour, it was right in the middle of it. The reason why Freddie sounds odd at Wembley is because he was ill, nothing else, a week later he sounds beastly in Vienna: link

attaboy_jhb wrote: not "his" work just everyones in general. As a rule I ONLY measure singers ability by their live performances. Thats just the way i feel about it...sorry if you don't like that. I did like the live aid gig though as everyone mentioned here and he does sound great there... totally different. so you can all calm down now

Zamidoo wrote:

Nitroboy wrote: Wembley wasn't at the end of the tour, it was right in the middle of it. The reason why Freddie sounds odd at Wembley is because he was ill, nothing else, a week later he sounds beastly in Vienna: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bglu4mAhvOQ

Yes, I see what you mean. That explains the Wembley concert in question as well, then. Singing with vocal nodules and a bad cold isn't pretty... I still think that the nodules were the main problem, though, exacerbated by the cold. That 'crackling' and hoarse sound, and voice breaks on certain notes, are all classic symptoms of vocal nodules. That must have been so painful to sing on...

tomchristie22 wrote: It's a shame Freddie's reputation as a charismatic frontman seems to overshadow his musical ability - he really was an incredibly diverse vocalist and songwriter.

Nitroboy wrote:

Zamidoo wrote:

Nitroboy wrote: Wembley wasn't at the end of the tour, it was right in the middle of it. The reason why Freddie sounds odd at Wembley is because he was ill, nothing else, a week later he sounds beastly in Vienna: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bglu4mAhvOQ

Yes, I see what you mean. That explains the Wembley concert in question as well, then. Singing with vocal nodules and a bad cold isn't pretty... I still think that the nodules were the main problem, though, exacerbated by the cold. That 'crackling' and hoarse sound, and voice breaks on certain notes, are all classic symptoms of vocal nodules. That must have been so painful to sing on...

Well, after he had gotten the nodules he always sang with them, they didn't disappear. Him having a cold just really fucked up his voice

12yrslouetta wrote: Thing is, you can chit and chat all day about how high he could sing, his vocal range, his breath control, but when it came to it he was admired by his peers. Maybe a way to go is to read what other singers say about him.

Nitroboy wrote:

tomchristie22 wrote: It's a shame Freddie's reputation as a charismatic frontman seems to overshadow his musical ability - he really was an incredibly diverse vocalist and songwriter.

That's because people like the OP only listen to the studio work, and then for live stuff only listen to Wembley '86, which has subpar vocals. Then people go on to say Freddie couldn't sing live and was only popular because of his charisma.

thomasquinn 32989 wrote: Judging an artist on the basis of a single performance, choosing said performance on the basis of what comes up first on YouTube, conducting poor/no research on the context of said performance, no comparing/contrasting, dismissing studio recordings offhand and having the gall to say that everyone else should too... I do hope when he says "vocal student" he means he does so in his spare time after school. Because if this constitutes his "research", he'd be chucked out from the conservatory I attended within the first semester.

someonewholikesadam wrote: Queen fans, how does it feel to have to defend your idol?

Typhoon859 wrote:

thomasquinn 32989 wrote: Judging an artist on the basis of a single performance, choosing said performance on the basis of what comes up first on YouTube, conducting poor/no research on the context of said performance, no comparing/contrasting, dismissing studio recordings offhand and having the gall to say that everyone else should too... I do hope when he says "vocal student" he means he does so in his spare time after school. Because if this constitutes his "research", he'd be chucked out from the conservatory I attended within the first semester.

To be fair, he never said he did or was particularly doing research himself, hence why he probably came here to ask. He simply said he "studied" the songs/performances he mentioned. I don't see how the appropriate reaction is condescension rather than trying to educate with what you know (or at least think you know). Sorry, but someone had to come in his defense, as you're not the first one to dish out this kind of remark. It's kind of unpleasant to see or read just sitting on the sidelines.

thomasquinn 32989 wrote:

Typhoon859 wrote:

thomasquinn 32989 wrote: Judging an artist on the basis of a single performance, choosing said performance on the basis of what comes up first on YouTube, conducting poor/no research on the context of said performance, no comparing/contrasting, dismissing studio recordings offhand and having the gall to say that everyone else should too... I do hope when he says "vocal student" he means he does so in his spare time after school. Because if this constitutes his "research", he'd be chucked out from the conservatory I attended within the first semester.

To be fair, he never said he did or was particularly doing research himself, hence why he probably came here to ask. He simply said he "studied" the songs/performances he mentioned. I don't see how the appropriate reaction is condescension rather than trying to educate with what you know (or at least think you know). Sorry, but someone had to come in his defense, as you're not the first one to dish out this kind of remark. It's kind of unpleasant to see or read just sitting on the sidelines.

It is also unpleasant to be told, by someone who did not do any research beforehand, that "I only evaluate a singer by his live singing and so should anybody else". I don't like being told how to do something when the person telling me doesn't know what they're talking about. I am annoyed, not so much by the inaccuracies, but by the unjustified tone of authority assumed and the frank condescension in the original post.