Jump to content

Do we think Axl is consciously preserving his voice?


Recommended Posts

I just thought I'd make this thread so we could all discuss this. At a recent AC/DC show Axl did something with his voice that sounded exactly like he sounded in the 90's, not similar, exactly the same. Do we think it's a case of "Ok, I could use rasp™ all the time, but that will definitely ruin my voice, I've got advice from a vocal coach and this is just how things are". Or do we think it's just that he doesn't have that voice at all anymore? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my opinion it looks like a mixture of really wanting to impress Angus, shutting the AC/DC fans up, and staying true to the style of AC/DC songs, and on the flipside preserving his voice with GNR, the fact that a lot of studio GNR recordings actually feature very little rasp, and it seems like people are impressed/happy with what he's giving them with GNR - why try any harder? 

I think the acca dacca shows are definitely evidence that he still has that voice, and always has, it's just up to him how and when he utilises it. Sounds like it fucking hurts a lot of the time tbh i.e Hell's Bells, Back in Black etc.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The way you worded this contradicts itself. You say he achieved the same vocal nadir as in the 90s, then pose the question whether he still has that or not, so it's confusing.

We know he can still pull out the chainsaw rasp and solid mid range that we thought was unthinkable in 2011-14 (w/ very few exceptions). He sounds to be in more control than in years past, except for the really high parts in the DC set where his voice sometimes cracks. Basically, we have the best Axl vocals this year in at least 10 years, and on par w/ his all-time performances for sure. And I'm only talking about his stuff w/ AC/DC.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, GNR 1991 said:

The way you worded this contradicts itself. You say he achieved the same vocal nadir as in the 90s, then pose the question whether he still has that or not, so it's confusing.

We know he can still pull out the chainsaw rasp and solid mid range that we thought was unthinkable in 2011-14 (w/ very few exceptions). He sounds to be in more control than in years past, except for the really high parts in the DC set where his voice sometimes cracks. Basically, we have the best Axl vocals this year in at least 10 years, and on par w/ his all-time performances for sure. And I'm only talking about his stuff w/ AC/DC.

Yeah I could have worded it better :D I guess I should have said do we think it's just these little moments and he isn't actually able to this consistently. It's only a few times I've noticed he sounds exactly like he used to. 

Edited by Jw224
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, cremefraiche said:

In my opinion it looks like a mixture of really wanting to impress Angus, shutting the AC/DC fans up, and staying true to the style of AC/DC songs, and on the flipside preserving his voice with GNR, the fact that a lot of studio GNR recordings actually feature very little rasp, and it seems like people are impressed/happy with what he's giving them with GNR - why try any harder? 

I think the acca dacca shows are definitely evidence that he still has that voice, and always has, it's just up to him how and when he utilises it. Sounds like it fucking hurts a lot of the time tbh i.e Hell's Bells, Back in Black etc.

Yeah I was thinking it must hurt too, but he's been doing it show after show with AC/DC without letting up. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure what he would be holding back for now, a year or two back maybe but this year and next is literally his second coming. If he isn't giving his all now (which I really think he is) then there isn't really anything left to save it for. 

No doubt he is using some sort of training and technique to ensure he can make it through an 18 month plus tour but other than that I do think he is pushing himself as far as he can. Full rasp probably is a voice killer, his vocals on NITL and AC/DC do seem more consistent overall than the UYI era ( I imagine there are loads of reasons for this :lol:).

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

He still have the voice, but when you look at the ACDC shows, it looks like he is doing double the effort he used to do in the 80-90s. He is doing to please Angus and the fans, but it looks like it hurts to do it, maybe not really hurts with pain, but it's a very big effort.

The way he sings with GnR it's much more heathly to him, even if 'weaker', but he still have a world tour to do, maybe he will get excited and give to us some epic vintage Axl voice performances, he shoudn't to preserve his health, but would be ''dope af''.

I just wanted to hear once again a full song with vintage Axl, not with the overuse of rasp, but just something like 4:12 of this video, his vocals with ACDC are amazing, but not quite there yet, but if this hurts his voice, he shouldn't do.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Slash787 said:

This is a good example, look at how his good voice comes in Twat after 1 min or so

 

I think the only good part apart from the outro is from 2:05 to 2:22. Everything else is weak. If he sang like this every time he sings clean, for example in the second half of estranged as well, it would be great. It sounds really strong. I'm sorry, I'm a big Axl supporter and I really enjoy this reunion, but I can't fool myself into thinking that his voice is very good in the first half of TWAT.

He has no problem singing those high notes with a lot of power, like the outro of TWAT. This is also what most ACDC songs are like, where he could basically just scream it out, which is why he sounds so good on them. But even on some ACDC songs or parts of ACDC songs, that are more in the mid range, he sounds weak. Listen closely and you can hear it. You can hardly hear it in the ACDC vids because of audience noice etc. but it's there. He really has trouble singing in the mid-range with power. 

2:05 to 2:22 in this video he sings powerful in his mid-range and it sounds really good. But you can hear that it's really hard for him and I don't think he could sing like that for a longer time, which is why he is singing with this weak voice most of the time.

Unfortunately

Edited by Harry Sunrise
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

axls voice has been incredbly damaged

but, like you said, he still can get very close to that animalesque screams from the GNR days

hes been showing that on every ACDC show this year

so is it only a "voice" issue?

i suspect that there is more

what looks really clear to me is that axl is tired of singing appetite songs since the early 90s

it shows

he should be smart and sing 1-2 appetite songs per show, changing them every night

but he keeps singing 7-8 appetite songs every fucking night

by doing that, he has basically turned that entire album (and also some more songs he does every show like you could be mine, knocking on heavens door etc) into his very own "satisfaction"

if you wanna know more about this subject just try and watch some interview where mick jagger talks about how he feels when he sings "satisfaction"

or look at the dictionary for the definition of "auto-pilot"

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Harry Sunrise said:

I think the only good part apart from the outro is from 2:05 to 2:22. Everything else is weak. If he sang like this every time he sings clean, for example in the second half of estranged as well, it would be great. It sounds really strong. I'm sorry, I'm a big Axl supporter and I really enjoy this reunion, but I can't fool myself into thinking that his voice is very good in the first half of TWAT.

He has no problem singing those high notes with a lot of power, like the outro of TWAT. This is also what most ACDC songs are like, where he could basically just scream it out, which is why he sounds so good on them. But even on some ACDC songs or parts of ACDC songs, that are more in the mid range, he sounds weak. Listen closely and you can hear it. You can hardly hear it in the ACDC vids because of audience noice etc. but it's there. He really has trouble singing in the mid-range with power. 

2:05 to 2:22 in this video he sings powerful in his mid-range and it sounds really good. But you can hear that it's really hard for him and I don't think he could sing like that for a longer time, which is why he is singing with this weak voice most of the time.

Unfortunately

his mid range sounds fine on rock and roll thunder

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, ludurigan said:

axls voice has been incredbly damaged

but, like you said, he still can get very close to that animalesque screams from the GNR days

hes been showing that on every ACDC show this year

so is it only a "voice" issue?

i suspect that there is more

what looks really clear to me is that axl is tired of singing appetite songs since the early 90s

it shows

he should be smart and sing 1-2 appetite songs per show, changing them every night

but he keeps singing 7-8 appetite songs every fucking night

by doing that, he has basically turned that entire album (and also some more songs he does every show like you could be mine, knocking on heavens door etc) into his very own "satisfaction"

if you wanna know more about this subject just try and watch some interview where mick jagger talks about how he feels when he sings "satisfaction"

or look at the dictionary for the definition of "auto-pilot"

He sounded consistently great on most of Appetite material though (Jungle, Nightrain, Out Ta Get Me, Brownstone, Michelle, It's So Easy) during the NITL tour. Rocket Queen ranged from so so to good, depending on the night. Paradise City was his weakest (probably due to the very fast tempo of the current live version), but there was significant improvement in the last 5-6 shows. The only song from AFD that he seems tired and sick of singing is SCOM.

Edited by Blackstar
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When will you people understand that he is destroying any song that need rasp, but he is not really impressive on ballads because he somehow lost his mid-range voice we all loved and that mid-range turned in what people here call Mickey voice. 

And because AC/DC has just hard rock rasp songs you think he is giving more effort for them than when he is singing for GNR.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, DexAxl said:

When will you people understand that he is destroying any song that need rasp, but he is not really impressive on ballads because he somehow lost his mid-range voice we all loved and that mid-range turned in what people here call Mickey voice. 

And because AC/DC has just hard rock rasp songs you think he is giving more effort for them than when he is singing for GNR.

Oh yeah? Then why is YCBM consistently one of the weakest songs in a GN'R show? If he can belt out Thunderstruck and Hells Bells the way he does, YCBM should be a piece of cake. 

 

I I think with GN'R it's more of a complacency thing, for lack of a better word. He's been singing these songs this way for years, it's basically how he's used to singing them. AC/DC was all new material, he basically had to learn how to sing it all this year. His performances on Coma support this theory too; it's one of the most challenging songs vocally in the set, but he kills it every time and it's also a recent addition, a song he hasn't done in several decades. I suspect if they added more deep cuts not played since the 90's, they would follow this trend. Hell, even in 2014 he gave his best vocals in years when they brought back Yesterdays and Prostitute. 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Harry Sunrise said:

I think the only good part apart from the outro is from 2:05 to 2:22. Everything else is weak. If he sang like this every time he sings clean, for example in the second half of estranged as well, it would be great. It sounds really strong. I'm sorry, I'm a big Axl supporter and I really enjoy this reunion, but I can't fool myself into thinking that his voice is very good in the first half of TWAT.

He has no problem singing those high notes with a lot of power, like the outro of TWAT. This is also what most ACDC songs are like, where he could basically just scream it out, which is why he sounds so good on them. But even on some ACDC songs or parts of ACDC songs, that are more in the mid range, he sounds weak. Listen closely and you can hear it. You can hardly hear it in the ACDC vids because of audience noice etc. but it's there. He really has trouble singing in the mid-range with power. 

2:05 to 2:22 in this video he sings powerful in his mid-range and it sounds really good. But you can hear that it's really hard for him and I don't think he could sing like that for a longer time, which is why he is singing with this weak voice most of the time.

Unfortunately

Yeah TWAT here is awful from everyone actually. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, Powerage5 said:

Oh yeah? Then why is YCBM consistently one of the weakest songs in a GN'R show? If he can belt out Thunderstruck and Hells Bells the way he does, YCBM should be a piece of cake. 

 

I I think with GN'R it's more of a complacency thing, for lack of a better word. He's been singing these songs this way for years, it's basically how he's used to singing them. AC/DC was all new material, he basically had to learn how to sing it all this year. His performances on Coma support this theory too; it's one of the most challenging songs vocally in the set, but he kills it every time and it's also a recent addition, a song he hasn't done in several decades. I suspect if they added more deep cuts not played since the 90's, they would follow this trend. Hell, even in 2014 he gave his best vocals in years when they brought back Yesterdays and Prostitute. 

Well pretty sure he has biggest impact on setlist so if he is bored of the songs it's his fault.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, DexAxl said:

Well pretty sure he has biggest impact on setlist so if he is bored of the songs it's his fault.

I think you missed my point. You're saying totally revamp the setlist, which might be a way to bring more energy to his voice. You're talking about a solution, I'm talking about a cause. And I never said he's bored, his stage performances prove otherwise. I'm simply saying that maybe he's become accustomed to singing a lot of those songs a certain way, so in his head that's how they should sound. It's basically conditioning, not boredom. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm really impressed with his voice here

i use to think the big difference in ACDC songs and gnr songs is gnr has a lot of words in a faster tempo but here he has a lot of words to navigate at a faster time and does brilliant.

ACDC has a lot of songs with short sentences and more breathing points. 

But as Powerage pointed out, Axl is just use to singing songs a certain way. He hasn't had to relearn gnr songs bc he has done em so long. Key example is looking at what Axl said, he mentioned bringing his vocal coach back after 20 years for the ACDC tour to prep his voice...he didn't bring back his vocal coach for gnr he did it for ACDC. 

Songs like YCBM, SCOM, and NR rain are just going to sound weak unless he makes a conscious effort to revamp his singing style on these particular songs. He can do it but he chooses not to 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...