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What About The Voice Of Geddy Lee?

Eel Yddeg

By Eel Yddeg,
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canadianice
canadianice
Lorraine
Lorraine

Eel, if you don't mind me saying, you seem to be obsessed with Geddy and his voice. Why is that?   As for the two reasons you have given, I've read that elsewhere.   What's done is done. Geddy can't

AnEggplant
AnEggplant

Oh boy, Eel and Geddy's voice...   Not trying to be mean or anything but we've had this discussion at least a thousand times before on this board. Let's find something new to discuss. ;)

EagleMoon

EagleMoon

Posted
Posted

:blah: Alex Lifeson, stand by. You're up next.

 

I can't WAIT for the "Alex sucked this tour" threads. :eyeroll:

 

Apparently from what I've heard, those were the periscope threads.

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snowdogged

snowdogged

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Posted (edited)

:facepalm:

What? This is a general discussion thread for anything about his voice! I would think you'd find it a nice alternative to thread after thread about his voice.

Sorry, I was mistaken, I thought this was another thread about Geddy's voice. STUPID ME!!! :banghead: Edited by snowdogged
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AnEggplant

AnEggplant

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Posted

:blah: Alex Lifeson, stand by. You're up next.

 

I can't WAIT for the "Alex sucked this tour" threads. :eyeroll:

 

We talked this all the time when it was happening. Tired of all these Johnny come latelys.

 

Well I'm glad I missed it then.

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malnar

malnar

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:blah: Alex Lifeson, stand by. You're up next.

 

We can talk about how fat Alex is, or how he has such a bad hairpiece.

 

I was hoping we could talk about his guitar, but ....

Let's talk about his backing vocals! How about that "subdivisions" refrain from A Show Of Hands?

 

Alex does great backup vocals. :) Puts all he has into that "subdivisions." Gets as close to the mic as possible too. :)

 

You mean the fake singing? :D

 

Yes, that's right, the fake singing! :)

:blah: Alex Lifeson, stand by. You're up next.

 

I can't WAIT for the "Alex sucked this tour" threads. :eyeroll:

Alex sucked this tour... I could barely hear his vocals ;)

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g under p

g under p

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Posted

Well i'll blanket this and say best is 1976-1987

 

worst 2011-present

 

done, lol

 

Mick

 

Some would say it's the opposite of what you've said there. The first time I heard his voice in the mid 70's that was the thing that drew me to the band.

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EagleMoon

EagleMoon

Posted
Posted

:blah: Alex Lifeson, stand by. You're up next.

 

We can talk about how fat Alex is, or how he has such a bad hairpiece.

 

I was hoping we could talk about his guitar, but ....

Let's talk about his backing vocals! How about that "subdivisions" refrain from A Show Of Hands?

 

Alex does great backup vocals. :) Puts all he has into that "subdivisions." Gets as close to the mic as possible too. :)

 

You mean the fake singing? :D

 

Yes, that's right, the fake singing! :)

:blah: Alex Lifeson, stand by. You're up next.

 

I can't WAIT for the "Alex sucked this tour" threads. :eyeroll:

Alex sucked this tour... I could barely hear his vocals ;)

 

And he does such a touching rendition of "My Way."

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djflex

djflex

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Posted

Well we can all agree that his voice has declined live. However he has done better than other singers his age. He also imo improved greatly since the time machine tour.

 

At the end of the day, consider this:

 

He is still enjoyable live. That is my bottom line opinion.

 

 

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AnEggplant

AnEggplant

Posted
Posted

:blah: Alex Lifeson, stand by. You're up next.

 

We can talk about how fat Alex is, or how he has such a bad hairpiece.

 

I was hoping we could talk about his guitar, but ....

Let's talk about his backing vocals! How about that "subdivisions" refrain from A Show Of Hands?

 

Alex does great backup vocals. :) Puts all he has into that "subdivisions." Gets as close to the mic as possible too. :)

 

You mean the fake singing? :D

 

Yes, that's right, the fake singing! :)

:blah: Alex Lifeson, stand by. You're up next.

 

I can't WAIT for the "Alex sucked this tour" threads. :eyeroll:

Alex sucked this tour... I could barely hear his vocals ;)

 

I know, right? Shameful.

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EagleMoon

EagleMoon

Posted
Posted (edited)

Well we can all agree that his voice has declined live. However he has done better than other singers his age. He also imo improved greatly since the time machine tour.

 

At the end of the day, consider this:

 

He is still enjoyable live. That is my bottom line opinion.

 

Live his vocals are okay because everyone is caught up in the live performance and it's so loud that pretty soon you can't hear much anyway.

Edited by EagleMoon
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EagleMoon

EagleMoon

Posted
Posted

His voice is still great live. In fact, He actually sounds pretty similar to Different Stages Disc 1 and 2, recorded in 1997, only with a bit more yodeling, and a deeper tone.

 

If you replace the word great with the word fair and drop the second sentence I would agree. ;)

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AnEggplant

AnEggplant

Posted
Posted

His voice is still great live. In fact, He actually sounds pretty similar to Different Stages Disc 1 and 2, recorded in 1997, only with a bit more yodeling, and a deeper tone.

 

If you replace the word great with the word fair and drop the second sentence I would agree. ;)

 

He's definitely not what he used to be, but I don't blame him. I just wish he had gotten vocal coaching in the early days to help preserve his voice.

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Eel Yddeg

Eel Yddeg

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Posted (edited)

BUMP!

Personally, I would divide his voice into several Eras.

The "Banshee Wail" Era lasted from 1974-1978. During that time, his voice was extremely high, powerful, and raw. Great demonstrations of his voice then can be found on Rush through Hemispheres, the All The World's A Stage and Different Stages Disc 3 live albums, and bootlegs from the Rush through AFTK tour.

Side Note: I don't see why everyone thinks his voice in the AFTK period (1977-1978) was when he stopped his screeching style. Most recordings from the time show him as screechy as ever.

,
, and Castles In The Distance, as well as Disc 3 of Different Stages are examples.

The "These Changes Are Permanent" era lasted from 1978-1981. During that time, his midrange still sounded the same, but his high range rapidly decayed in power (With

exceptions), going from "Banshee wail", to "Mickey Mouse". Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures, the Exit Stage Left live album, and bootlegs from the Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, and Moving Pictures tours show this.

The "Settling Down" Era started to take shape in 1981-1983. His midrange deepened from helium tenor to regular, as shown on Signals, as well as bootlegs from the Exit Stage Left and Signals tours. By 1984, his voice had fully transitioned. His midrange now had a lower tone, and this, combined with his more restrained singing style, made his voice much more accessible and less of an acquired taste. The side effect, however, was that he couldn't sing the older material as well. From 1984-1994, the only 70s songs (Non-instrumental) played were Closer To The Heart (1984-1994), 2112 (1984-1992), Finding My Way (1984-1985, 1991-1992), In The Mood (1984-1990), The Trees (1986, 1992-1994), Anthem (1991-1992), Xanadu (1991-1994) and Hemispheres (1994). Even then, the melodies were

altered, and performances were
. This can be shown on Signals through Counterparts, the Grace Under Pressure and A Show Of Hands live albums, and bootlegs from the time.

The "Skinny As A Rail" era was from 1996-2004. During this time, his midrange was the same, but his high range got much thinner and more strained. This can be found on Test For Echo and Vapor Trails, the Different Stages, Rush In Rio, and R30 live albums, and bootlegs.

Finally, the "Yodel-odel-ee-oo" era is from 2007-now. His midrange has a deeper tone, though still tenor. His high range has also got much less thin, though "yodeling" has become an occasional issue. He also has become more daring with singing older material,

or for worse.

What do you think? Agree or disagree? What periods do you like best?

Edited by Eel Yddeg
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AnEggplant

AnEggplant

Posted
Posted
Eel, really, no offense intended, but there have been several threads now dedicated to this. There was a good discussion on them and now we've moved on for a while. There's no use bringing up the same topics over and over. :)
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AnEggplant

AnEggplant

Posted
Posted

I'm trying to make this the General Discussion thread for his voice.

 

Do we really need one though? We've already had several threads on the subject. It's not a broad enough topic to warrant an entire general discussion thread. We've already discussed all there really is to discuss, favorite period of his voice, how he handles singing the old stuff, how his voice changed etc. We've already run those topics through the ground.

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Eel Yddeg

Eel Yddeg

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Had never heard this until just now

 

Geddy sounds great circa 1980

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m18NSgAkXHc

 

Sounds great.

Even if his shrieking days were over, that it still a great performance!

Another great post '70s performance is the Different Stages version of 2112. Geddy comes close to his classic shriek at times!

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