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Axl's voice after the Illusions tours


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Yea there was a pretty obvious shift away from the "chainsaw rasp" by the end of the UYI tour. His voice definitely sounded "thinner" on the Skin N' Bones leg. Dead Flowers (1994) and Anxious Disease (1996) he's already kinda introducing the higher CD-style voice... I think even if a UYI follow-up was released in the mid-late '90s, he still would've adopted that cleaner style.

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1 hour ago, Gordon Comstock said:

Yea there was a pretty obvious shift away from the "chainsaw rasp" by the end of the UYI tour. His voice definitely sounded "thinner" on the Skin N' Bones leg. Dead Flowers (1994) and Anxious Disease (1996) he's already kinda introducing the higher CD-style voice... I think even if a UYI follow-up was released in the mid-late '90s, he still would've adopted that cleaner style.

Its definitely noticeable on Dead Flowers. Probably the earliest indication of his later voice. It's a bit of a change compared to the live version just a year before. Otherwise my only guess is he sang like that to blend in the background and not over power the song.

I don't think his singing on the UYI tour was sustainable. He over did things at times even on the non raspy parts of songs. It's why I actually prefer his version of Dead Horse from 2019. Listening to the 93 version is a bit grating

This interview with Chris Vrenna has some great  insight  but this part was really interesting: "The best time I ever had though was when Axl came down and he was just in the mood to play and he was like, "Alright we're going to run "Appetite (for Destruction," GNR's 1987 debut album), top to bottom. Ready. Go." And I was like, "Holy crap." And we played the whole album, top to bottom. One time I got to do that. And I got home in the morning and I couldn't sleep I was so excited I got to do it. He sang half of the words, half voice - he didn't want to blow himself out. He sat and played the grand piano for some of the songs. Axl's talented, man."

https://www.al.com/life-and-culture/erry-2018/10/2b578ecb8a5013/why-is-nine-inch-nails-marilyn.html

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Great points everyone!|
Last time we heard the old Axl?
I think it was with Bruce Springsteen, the sudden live perfomance of "come together".

Or maybe the intriguing "sympathy for the devil"?
It could be the mellow "dead flowers" with the friendly Gilby Clarke?
Finally, the Axl Rose and Slash apart contribute with outpatience, the underground "anxious desease" in 1996.
Even back then, (I agree with the previous posts) I think Axl's voice changed hell a lot somewhere between 1994 and 1996, cause "anxious desease" looks closer to live-era or even CD. I won't say the messy "oh my god", Axl's voice there is hard even to grasp.

your thoughts, or another recording (live or studio) I might missing?

On 12/16/2020 at 5:36 AM, mystery said:

 

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I think every recorded instance of Axl in those years has been covered. AFD 99, the remaining CD tracks, and the Gilby show would be great.

It's a shame there's pictures but no known audio to go with the Gilby show. It could've easily been recorded today with the use of smartphones.

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12 hours ago, mystery said:

I think every recorded instance of Axl in those years has been covered. AFD 99, the remaining CD tracks, and the Gilby show would be great.

It's a shame there's pictures but no known audio to go with the Gilby show. It could've easily been recorded today with the use of smartphones.

Oh, we forgot the sessions with the songs that ended up as the next slash' snakepit album. It is believed that they could be the next illussion album if Axl hadn't turned down slash's creations.
We have a snippet of Axl and Slash in the The Making Of Estranged: Part IV Of The Trilogy. Shame it's only a whistle and some guitar intro of back and forth again... Even the yeah part (the only singing) seems to be sang without helium voice :-P.


Interestingly, the VHS Tape with the snippet was released in April 26, 1994. I consider it the last relic of the old GN'R era.

Edited by Steel
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1 hour ago, chris_1609 said:

I think it's all about his physical shape. Just watch the 2006 concerts on youtube, especially Rock am Ring 2006. Great voice, even on YCBM.

I think scom is the most challenging song. So 2010 perfomance is attributed to his weight as well?

 

15 hours ago, mystery said:

I think every recorded instance of Axl in those years has been covered. AFD 99, the remaining CD tracks, and the Gilby show would be great.

It's a shame there's pictures but no known audio to go with the Gilby show. It could've easily been recorded today with the use of smartphones.

Indeed. The scom bigdaddy version is part of AFD 99, right?

Edited by Steel
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4 hours ago, ChrisMaciel said:

He was thinner in the end of 2001 and 2002 than in 2006.

 

He looked really good in December 2001. The criticism of RIR must have gotten to him. I'd love to know what those shows sounded like. 2006 was a  awesome year. He had a bit of swagger about him and he put on some great  performances. Chinese Democracy really should've come out that year.

I'd presume SCOM was apart of AFD 99 Steel. I've read that part of the motivation for recrecording the album was to replace it over the original and cut the old band out of royalties. It's not unheard of. Ozzy had different musicians (Mike Bordin, Rob Trujillo) rerecord his old albums.

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On 12/15/2020 at 8:14 PM, Gordon Comstock said:

Yea there was a pretty obvious shift away from the "chainsaw rasp" by the end of the UYI tour. His voice definitely sounded "thinner" on the Skin N' Bones leg. Dead Flowers (1994) and Anxious Disease (1996) he's already kinda introducing the higher CD-style voice... I think even if a UYI follow-up was released in the mid-late '90s, he still would've adopted that cleaner style.

That clean style of voice almost ruined CD.

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I was listening to YCBM from the Saskatoon '93 show yesterday, and with the benefit of hindsight, it's really not surprising at all that 8-9 years later the guy was singing that song with a totally clean voice. His voice in the Saskatoon performance still sounded good but he was really straining on some parts - he'd obviously pushed himself beyond his limits at times on the UYI tour and it took a toll.

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2 hours ago, Gordon Comstock said:

I was listening to YCBM from the Saskatoon '93 show yesterday, and with the benefit of hindsight, it's really not surprising at all that 8-9 years later the guy was singing that song with a totally clean voice. His voice in the Saskatoon performance still sounded good but he was really straining on some parts - he'd obviously pushed himself beyond his limits at times on the UYI tour and it took a toll.

Yeah but that doesn't explain why in the last concerts (Argentina 93) his voice was pretty good. We should see a bad transition if the damage was in process of the exhaustion. However his voice looked pretty cool till the end of the illusion tours.

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16 minutes ago, Steel said:

Yeah but that doesn't explain why in the last concerts (Argentina 93) his voice was pretty good. We should see a bad transition if the damage was in process of the exhaustion. However his voice looked pretty cool till the end of the illusion tours.

 

His voice at Saskatoon was still "pretty good" too. And there was a pretty obvious transition over the course of the UYI tour, from the pure chainsaw rasp in '91, to the more controlled (and already damaged) voice in '92. to the thinner, strained voice in '93. With that in mind, the clean voice in the mid-late 90s isn't as surprising or alien as some fans made it out to be.

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10 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

 

His voice at Saskatoon was still "pretty good" too. And there was a pretty obvious transition over the course of the UYI tour, from the pure chainsaw rasp in '91, to the more controlled (and already damaged) voice in '92. to the thinner, strained voice in '93. With that in mind, the clean voice in the mid-late 90s isn't as surprising or alien as some fans made it out to be.

You made a fair point. 91-93 excessive singing explains the transition of his voice. But did he constantly sing after 1993?
No, except some studio sessions I believe. Shouldn't his voice become stable?

Edited by Steel
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50 minutes ago, Steel said:

You made a fair point. 91-93 excessive singing explains the transition of his voice. But did he constantly sing after 1993?
No, except some studio sessions I believe. Shouldn't his voice become stable?

You can probably get by even with some damage to your voice. It probably wasn't bad enough to cancel the tour. But who knows? 

He might've had nodules removed or some kind of work done on his vocal chords in those years. It might be from lack of warm ups or practice or just taking care of his general health.

Rob Halford of Judas Priest for years struggled to hit high notes or have that screech in his voice. He's come back in a big way the past 2 years.

He sounds better now than in 2004 and a lot of years after. He's 11 years older than Axl. If he can do it then I believe there's hope for Axl.

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I’m surprised axl had a singing voice at all after the UYI tour. He sounded at times like he was gargling  bleach during that tour and right next door to hell in 1991 in Indiana was him going peak rasp. The thing is there is no way he could keep that up(and he didn’t) for two years.  I’ve not listened to the 1994 HOF performance in years but from memory it sounded okay that night taking into account the fact it was a spontaneous thing. His voice in the very early years was to the point of being too powerful and uncontrolled(1986 live performances). I honestly think the voice he has now is a compromise because when I saw them at slane, I didn’t think he’d lost any power but maybe some control over his classic voice because given that most of us as huge fans of the band, we possibly are looking for certain things by axl that the casual fan wouldn’t hear or know to listen for in his singing. 

Edited by IrishgunnerII
The state was Indiana but it wasn’t Evansville.
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