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When did Geddy's voice change? When did he begin to sing in a deeper register and get away from the "shrieking" of the early days?


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When did Geddy's voice change? When did he begin to sing in a deeper register and get away from the "shrieking" of the early days?  

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  1. 1. When did Geddy's voice get deeper, and put an end to the banshee screams?

    • RUSH - I remember back in 1970 when he REALLY had a high voice
    • Fly By Night - his vocals are tuned down to owl from tweetie bird
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    • Caress of Steel - Neil's voice was deep but he needed crap tape effects, Lee had the real deep voice
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    • 2112 - You can see that Geddy's balls had dropped in that gay disco outfit he wore on the cover
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    • A Farewell to Kings - Clearly his singing is deeper on this record he cracked less than a thousand wine glasses making it
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    • Hemispheres - No listen...his voice is really deep on this one, so deep it made Alex's hair curl
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    • Permanent Waves - Yes this is the album, he was pretty much crooning on a couple of these tracks
    • Moving Pictures - He sounds like Barry White on this one, I can't believe it's the same band
    • Signals - Ever see the Adams Family? Think of Lurch, Geddy makes him sound like a little girl on this album
    • Grace Under Pressure - By now Geddy's voice cannot be heard by the human ear, it's SO low!
    • Power Windows - You need Power Windows to shut out the low sound waves that shudder through your body from Geddy's 1985 warbling
    • Hold Your Fire - He caused an earthquake in New Zealand while recording this one
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    • Presto - I never listened to this one so I have no idea what he did on it
    • Roll the Bones - Geddy did the rap on this for obvious reasons, his voice had finally broken
    • Counterparts - Geddy created grunge with his low tones on this one
    • Test For Echo - They thought it was a Geddy robot at first
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    • Vapor Trails - Are there vocals on this one?
    • Snakes & Arrows - Finally Geddy sounds like a man! Unfortunately though a man with no balls!
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    • Clockwork Angels - Clockwork Lee was the original title, all you can hear is ticking when he sings because of the low register
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Well he certainly had changed his singing style many times, but both his singing and voice tone have been changing slowly over the years, as a part of an ongoing progress. These things don't change that fast, so it's funny to state that in X album his voice has suddenly become deep, while actually the change doesn't stop there. It's a process rather than a sudden change. Yes, you can obviously say that Ged's voice had become deeper in PeW, but actually it has gotten even deeper in MP, and even more in Signals. Then you have P/G and PW and HYF and the rest of the albums, and all of them get deeper and different as far as vocals. It wasn't a particular time that has changed his voice.

 

It's all relative, so I wouldn't say his vocal tone changed in only one particular album. As far as singing, the most notable change is how he had slowly went from screaming to actually singing during the 2112 - PeW period.

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It began with PeW (though his screams on Hems are not half as "banshee" like as those on 2112, and similarly Finding My Way is the absolute peak of this characteristic of his voice), but I don't think his voice had really changed (in the way we perceive it) until MP. By MP it was a rarity to hear that signature wail, on PeW it was a very recent memory, and one still preserved by the likes of the middle section of Freewill. When we first hear Ged in Tom Sawyer, something has very obviously changed. The band is playing more more subtly, but the power seems to have doubled. The synths are now a centerpiece more than a feature, and Ged sounds more like a prophetic monk than a helium wasted Robert Plant. The effect is awesome, but it's definitely different.

 

This sums it up well for me. For me, the most dramatic change was Permanent Waves to MP.

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For me his amazing shrieking voice started to change like Peter Brady's after "Permanent Waves." I picked this album because Geddy (in my opinion) rips it in the middle of "Freewill." I love that vocal part! KILLER!

 

Then after that he changed.

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Agree with that, but felt that during MP the power to do it was still there.. Signals.. different story!

 

You're probably right...there was most likely a time period where he could still do it, but hesitated on recordings because he didn't want to attempt the stuff live. I think the argument that he could still do it, but it just didn't fit in with the changing nature of their music holds merit also.

 

I think I remember Ged saying as much in some interview once. It just wasn't necessary by the time they got to MP/Signals. Although there is still a hint of it in The Camera Eye.

And Tom Sawyer. "...is what you say about society..." and "...the river!", for example.
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I went back and reviewed the some of the albums and Hemispheres seems to be the last real shriek.Red Barchetta gets high but no glass shattering stuff. By Signals there is none. He hits some highs on at the end of Marathon.I definitely noticed a drop in register on Presto. By now the music had become more reflective and less frantic,The Pass,Avaidable Light,Presto.
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He pushes vocals a little here. If anyone has seen the making of this song, Geddy was the only artist that only had to do one take for his line. Anne Murray was asked to do a second take but they ended up using her first take.

"Ohhh you knoOOOOw that we'll be theeeeeeere..."

 

:notworthy:

David Foster jokingly asked him "Do you think you can put a little more feeling into it?".

My quote wasn't exactly what was said but I was going on memory from over 30 years ago. You can see the actual footage if you watch this.

Nice comments around the 2-minute mark where Ged talks about how fortunate we are in North America.

 

That was a fun watch. Thanks for the link!

Yeah, we tend to feel sorry for ourselves for little trivial things here in North America.

 

Some more fortunate than others

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He pushes vocals a little here. If anyone has seen the making of this song, Geddy was the only artist that only had to do one take for his line. Anne Murray was asked to do a second take but they ended up using her first take.

"Ohhh you knoOOOOw that we'll be theeeeeeere..."

 

:notworthy:

David Foster jokingly asked him "Do you think you can put a little more feeling into it?".

My quote wasn't exactly what was said but I was going on memory from over 30 years ago. You can see the actual footage if you watch this.

Nice comments around the 2-minute mark where Ged talks about how fortunate we are in North America.

 

That was a fun watch. Thanks for the link!

Yeah, we tend to feel sorry for ourselves for little trivial things here in North America.

 

Some more fortunate than others

debbie-downer.jpg?w=300&h=208
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For me his amazing shrieking voice started to change like Peter Brady's after "Permanent Waves." I picked this album because Geddy (in my opinion) rips it in the middle of "Freewill." I love that vocal part! KILLER!

 

Then after that he changed.

Pork chops & applesauce lol...
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For me his amazing shrieking voice started to change like Peter Brady's after "Permanent Waves." I picked this album because Geddy (in my opinion) rips it in the middle of "Freewill." I love that vocal part! KILLER!

 

Then after that he changed.

Pork chops & applesauce lol...

:musicnote: "Autumn turn to winter, then winter turns to spring..." :musicnote:

 

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For me his amazing shrieking voice started to change like Peter Brady's after "Permanent Waves." I picked this album because Geddy (in my opinion) rips it in the middle of "Freewill." I love that vocal part! KILLER!

 

Then after that he changed.

Pork chops & applesauce lol...

:musicnote: "Autumn turn to winter, then winter turns to spring..." :musicnote:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKEQm10-n84

Love that fringed suede top of Greg's, and the little one's lace-up white boots are the cat's meow.

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For me his amazing shrieking voice started to change like Peter Brady's after "Permanent Waves." I picked this album because Geddy (in my opinion) rips it in the middle of "Freewill." I love that vocal part! KILLER!

 

Then after that he changed.

Pork chops & applesauce lol...

:musicnote: "Autumn turn to winter, then winter turns to spring..." :musicnote:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKEQm10-n84

Love that fringed suede top of Greg's, and the little one's lace-up white boots are the cat's meow.

You belong in that world Lorraine, the Lorraine Bunch!

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Definitely Moving Pictures.

 

His last classic screeching was the "each of us, a cell of awareness" etc bit in Freewill on PeW.

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Do you think your Iron Maiden poll is better than this one?

:no:

 

What do you think about JEDDIE LEE? :smoke:

When the seventies were over, he stopped screeching.

 

Has anyone ever asked him why he stopped singing so high? Or what made him sing so high to begin with? Was that his natural singing voice, or did he choose to sing that high?

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Do you think your Iron Maiden poll is better than this one?

:no:

 

What do you think about JEDDIE LEE? :smoke:

When the seventies were over, he stopped screeching.

 

Has anyone ever asked him why he stopped singing so high? Or what made him sing so high to begin with? Was that his natural singing voice, or did he choose to sing that high?

 

 

I seem to remember reading that Ged sang in a less high voice until Led Zep came along and then he went into Robert Plant mode.

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Gotta agree with everyone and say PeW/Moving Pictures, though I contend that you can easily hear his voice shifting during the later part of the AFTK tour. Geddy's vocal peak, in terms of nuance and ability, was certainly between 1980 and 1985.
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Gotta agree with everyone and say PeW/Moving Pictures, though I contend that you can easily hear his voice shifting during the later part of the AFTK tour. Geddy's vocal peak, in terms of nuance and ability, was certainly between 1980 and 1985.

 

Very late reply but I don't think it did. He had a cold during the February 1978 dates which affected his vocals, which is why the London 1978 live album was shelved for so long.

 

He sounds excellent on the Montreal 1978 show (3/31/1978, erroneously listed as 12/12/1977 but they played in Atlanta that night):

Edited by Eel Yddeg
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