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What do you think of Peter Gabriel's voice?
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superQuizzie View Drop Down
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    Posted: April 27 2020 at 23:14
Hi, I'll admit I don't listen to a ton of Genesis, and it's mostly for one reason:

I don't like Peter Gabriel's voice.

There are some of his songs that sound quite good (Carpet Crawlers), but take for example Firth of Fifth, the line "the sheep remain inside their pen" it makes me cringe. That's how I hear most of his songs, but am I simply missing something? From what I understand of the Prog community, Peter Gabriel is regarded as the best or the 2nd best Prog singer. For me, I'd give that spot to Jon Anderson, and it really baffles me to compare the two and even have it close.


For the record, I'm not saying this to slander Peter Gabriel, I am genuinely curious to know if I'm just missing something, or maybe I haven't heard his best vocal performance.



Oh, also on the subject on Peter Gabriel, did Phil Collins steal the melody from the middle bit of Mad Man Moon: "Hey man, I'm the Sandman, and boy I've got trouble for you..."? From what I recognize Phil Collins doing the Tarzan soundtrack for Disney did a song: "Strangers like Me" and the Chorus sounds nearly identical to that. I was wondering if my suspicions were well founded.

Thanks for reading!
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I'm pretty sure there's a lot of people who don't like Yes because of Jon Anderson's voice too. The same goes for Geddy Lee and Rush.

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - April 27 2020 at 23:16
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I love his voice, it's been immitated plenty, but no one sings quite like him. He has a great unique style and I don't have much to add that hasn't already been said time and time again. I don't understand what is so bad about that particular line but I'm not a picky listener.
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Points: 19 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote superQuizzie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 27 2020 at 23:20
I know that his vocals are QUITE English. A very strong accent comes through in any song he's doing, where that's just not the case for most singers anyhwere. You know of any examples of peak Peter Gabriel?
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Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

I'm pretty sure there's a lot of people who don't like Yes because of Jon Anderson's voice too. The same goes for Geddy Lee and Rush.

I can understand that, some songs from Rush I'm not a fan of because of his voice, but I think that has more to do with melody. For example, Tom Sawyer "what you say about his company is WHAT you say about society" That bit goes way way high up there. Although I look past those small sections, and I generally like Tom Sawyer, but IDK there's something about Peter Gabriel's voice in particular that I just don't understand.
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Originally posted by superQuizzie superQuizzie wrote:

I know that his vocals are QUITE English. A very strong accent comes through in any song he's doing, where that's just not the case for most singers anyhwere. You know of any examples of peak Peter Gabriel?

His vocals are extremely English. This is strongly related to the truth that he is, in fact, English.

I would recommend that you try the third solo album, Melt as it was named over the pond. There are some gems on that, and it is, perhaps, as accessible as Gabriel got.
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I love Gabriel's voice. It's the tone and soulfulness that cut through. He has a sensitive inner emotional quality mixed with enough darkness for it to remain cool.
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While he could get a bit strident in the earlier days of Genesis, (which may be more of an issue with the recording than his performance) he has quite a remarkable voice. Like most true artists, his voice deepened and mellowed with age, but he has not lost any power or control.
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Points: 28049 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 28 2020 at 00:15
Mad Man Moon is nothing to do with Gabriel as he was already out of the picture.

To be honest I wouldn't worry about not 'getting' Peter Gabriel and concentrate on the post Gabriel albums. So many great tracks even if all the albums are not great. Gabriel era Genesis is also way overrated imo.
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Gabriel era Genesis overrated? Have you been at the carpet cleaner again?
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I understand why many may not dig it, but I love Gabriel's voice. English AF, as I always say. One of a kind lyrical performance.

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Regarding the similar vocals of Gabriel and Collins: if you look at most bands folks that sing tend to end up sounding quite alike so as not to mess with the vocal harmonies..or merely because we’re evolved monkeys and well monkey hears monkey does.
Both Trick and W&W sound like Gabriel on vocal duty to these ears.

As for Peter’s voice? It works for him and when he was in Genesis. I’m not sure it’d suit King Crimson or Funkadelic for that matter
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I like Peter Gabriel's voice very much ... funny question Tongue
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Originally posted by HackettFan HackettFan wrote:

I love Gabriel's voice. It's the tone and soulfulness that cut through. He has a sensitive inner emotional quality mixed with enough darkness for it to remain cool.




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One can talk about abilities, technicality, flexibility, range etc., but ultimately you can emotionally connect to a singer's voice or you can't (at least at a certain point in time), and this is then just how it is. I didn't like Gabriel in the very beginning but now he is one of my favourite singers. Soulfulness, that nails it. I'd want to have Gabriel to sing on my favourite album of all time, Holger Czukay's Movies, which has OK and fun vocals but Gabriel would be another dimension. Of course that's never going to happen (not anyway with Holger now resting in peace), but I'd pick Gabriel above all others for that task. Then I can't stand Geddy Lee as a singer, but that's just how it is, subjective emotions.
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Originally posted by superQuizzie superQuizzie wrote:

Hi, I'll admit I don't listen to a ton of Genesis, and it's mostly for one reason:

I don't like Peter Gabriel's voice.

There are some of his songs that sound quite good (Carpet Crawlers), but take for example Firth of Fifth, the line "the sheep remain inside their pen" it makes me cringe. That's how I hear most of his songs, but am I simply missing something? From what I understand of the Prog community, Peter Gabriel is regarded as the best or the 2nd best Prog singer. For me, I'd give that spot to Jon Anderson, and it really baffles me to compare the two and even have it close.


For the record, I'm not saying this to slander Peter Gabriel, I am genuinely curious to know if I'm just missing something, or maybe I haven't heard his best vocal performance.



Oh, also on the subject on Peter Gabriel, did Phil Collins steal the melody from the middle bit of Mad Man Moon: "Hey man, I'm the Sandman, and boy I've got trouble for you..."? From what I recognize Phil Collins doing the Tarzan soundtrack for Disney did a song: "Strangers like Me" and the Chorus sounds nearly identical to that. I was wondering if my suspicions were well founded.

Thanks for reading!

He used a particular kind of vocal placement that is peculiar to Britain (Jonathan Higgs of Everything Everything stretches it to the absolute, unpalatable extreme). It can be off putting in the beginning but if you take out Gabriel, you pretty much take out the soul of Genesis. Now don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to hear Gabriel singing soul, the music genre, I mean.  But in the context of symphonic prog of a very theatrical persuasion (unlike, say, the lofty spiritualism of Yes), his singing is perfect. Other than Back In the NYC (which was the one time he overreached), I haven't heard too many songs where other singers improved on his renditions for Genesis. 


Edited by rogerthat - April 28 2020 at 03:51
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Points: 4780 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote I prophesy disaster Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 28 2020 at 04:05
When it comes to vocals, I prefer the "other" Peter. Both Gabriel and Hammill are quite theatrical in their singing styles. But the way I see it, the difference between them is that it is more difficult to take Peter Gabriel seriously.
 
 
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I like Gabriel's voice and I think he uses it very well.  He doesn't force it on you, he makes it work with the music.  Now if you want a really bad voice try to listen to Geddy Lee.  The true definition of fingernails on a chalkboard.
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Originally posted by superQuizzie superQuizzie wrote:

I know that his vocals are QUITE English. A very strong accent comes through in any song he's doing, where that's just not the case for most singers anyhwere. You know of any examples of peak Peter Gabriel?

so what Genesis albums have you listened so far? Or his solo career? 
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