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What do you think of Peter Gabriel's voice?
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rogerthat View Drop Down
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Originally posted by cstack3 cstack3 wrote:

True story....I was living and working in Tulsa, Oklahoma USA, in the mid to late 1980s, playing bass and guitar in various bands and art projects, and bumped into late guitarist Michael Hedges at the Tulsa Center for Contemporary Arts (which hosted shows by Adrian Belew, Guitar Craft, Chick Corea Electrik Band etc.).

Michael (a native of Oklahoma) was holding court, and opined about Peter's voice.  "You should hear it in the studio without any processing or delay," he said, "F-ing horrible!" 




I have no difficulty believing that assessment. A good experiment to bring this out even in a studio context would be to listen to his cover of Radiohead's Street Spirit.  Transpires that he doesn't even have the power of Thom Yorke...and that's still another goat-bleat singer.  Not one with a smooth production like messrs Hayward and Sinclair. 

 Peter is brilliant in the specific Genesis/solo context and not very good outside it.  Said another way, he's like an oboe or clarinet.  His voice is interesting in a specific context and maybe more compelling than other versatile instruments in that context.  But it's not a guitar/violin/saxophone that could fit just about anything. He runs up into limitations pretty quickly, limitations made worse by rock's high note tyranny.  He had a nice baritone and didn't get to use it often enough.
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Originally posted by moshkito moshkito wrote:

Originally posted by cstack3 cstack3 wrote:

...
Michael (a native of Oklahoma) was holding court, and opined about Peter's voice.  "You should hear it in the studio without any processing or delay," he said, "F-ing horrible!" 

LOL  I kid you not. 
...

Hi,

I would almost think that this explains his not being able to do a lot of work in the past few years ... I think his voice has likely given out and he feels useless without being able to do his words and comments.

It's a sad way to go, for someone that got that well known, but it might also suggest that he could/should have taken some voice lessons, or singing work, in order to improve that, or make adjustments so that he could get away with some of those moments ... but if he "hid" all that ... eventually he will get caught, and I don't know if there is an answer or recipe for fixing it.

My guess, is that he is not capable of actually singing, and holding a note. And while that can be taught, there are times when the person's inner side can not adjust to that outside ... however, the difference, or contrast does not make him a bad singer, since in a studio everyone has a bad day, SPECIALLY when they can burn the money on it! Your band or mine would never even get the chance!

But it reminds me of a comment in the George Martin special ... and one artist that was not happy with the recording because her voice did this or that and GM said it was fine ... and he had something else in mind ... well, for the record it became a hit and she had her days in the shine! That kinda tells me that PG had an issue but no one tried to improve on it, and kept on hiding it.


Thanks, M, great post! 

I've read a bit about hypothetical Genesis reunions, and somewhere Peter said what you said = "My voice has changed since then."  Let's face it, he won't be singing "Supper's Ready" anymore.  I doubt that vocal lessons would help, but one never knows. 

The Genesis tribute "Musical Box" really nails the classic Genesis period, I'm glad they do their craft with precision and artistic integrity!  
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Originally posted by cstack3 cstack3 wrote:

Thanks, M, great post! 

I've read a bit about hypothetical Genesis reunions, and somewhere Peter said what you said = "My voice has changed since then."  Let's face it, he won't be singing "Supper's Ready" anymore.  I doubt that vocal lessons would help, but one never knows. 

The Genesis tribute "Musical Box" really nails the classic Genesis period, I'm glad they do their craft with precision and artistic integrity!  

He was straining mightily to sing the Suppers Ready climax (or the "Captain leads his dance right on through the night" verse in Dancing With The Moonlit Knight) going back to Shepperton Studios.  



Both times, he isn't really able to properly hit that note, in fact, sort of nearly gets there and moves away lightly touching it.  One of those singers who knew more about music (as in, composition) than about singing (the mechanical aspect of it) which is true for quite a few prog rock singers from that era.  I think the open mindedness to sing over odd time sigs/changes and over weird soundscapes was more important than how well, technically, the singer could sing. 
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Originally posted by rogerthat rogerthat wrote:

...
One of those singers who knew more about music (as in, composition) than about singing (the mechanical aspect of it) which is true for quite a few prog rock singers from that era.  I think the open mindedness to sing over odd time sigs/changes and over weird soundscapes was more important than how well, technically, the singer could sing. 

Hi,

Absolutely, and this is the part that I'm calling "acting" the words, instead of "singing" them. In many ways, Peter Hammill is like this for quite some time, but he head really good way of voicing his words and many times just seemed like speaking them, which fits a lot of music, probably better/easier than having to stay on the right note.

I, personally, do not think that at 18, 19 or 20 when a lot of this music came out that we all were that much on top of music and "knew" the music like some college folks might, but when all this is looked at through today's glasses and ideas, I would imagine that we think that many of them are not good singers ... but it didn't hurt them or the music a whole lot ... and is remembered far better than a lot of music that was note perfect and had so much bleach in it, that it stunk! The "color" was gone for ideas about "notes" .... but I have a feeling that the whole thing was literally because most folks that came into the studio had their songs, but not their "music".  In those days, I think it was more about the music, than the song, and it made a huge difference. As soon as we started on "singing", "music" and a lot of other musical details and "laws" (as I call it), a lot of this stuff lost its taste ... and some folks have said that progressive music has died since.

I like the idea of us throwing away the "book", and go free trying anything again. It worked then, and should work now, but we have to let go of commercial instincts and the fear that one comment on PA ends up killing the band ... kind of thing ... and this is where I find too many bands/musicians not ready for prime time ... I imagine that PG was already having many comments about his voice then (time to dig up those MM articles!) ... but it would not explain his doing well on at least 4 or 5 solo albums.

Something is missing here!


Edited by moshkito - May 02 2020 at 08:19
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I think Phil Collins sounds like Peter Gabriel
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Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

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.

 



Overrated are you having a LOL you must smoke so weird stuff! Gabriel era Genesis is far superior than the pop-spat of later Collins era! 
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Originally posted by geekfreak geekfreak wrote:

Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

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.

 



Overrated are you having a LOL you must smoke so weird stuff! Gabriel era Genesis is far superior than the pop-spat of later Collins era! 
 

I wasn't saying Collins era is better than Gabriel ,that would be stupid. For me though , Genesis is strong right through the seventies and getting hung up on the Gabriel era is not necessary. Genesis didn't turn into a pop group overnight. Even Invisible Touch has some good tracks.
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Invisible touch? I presume you meam Domino? Not heard that myself, its like putting your wifes knickers on...what if you enjoy it?
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I love Peter's voice. I wouldn't call him a great singer per se because being a sing songy vocalist isn't really his style. But he has a really nice texture to his voice and it's dynamic in its own right. 

I don't dislike Phil, but his voice is very thin and tinny, and he has a pretty limited range which he rarely attempts to leave.
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Peter Gabriel is one of my favorite vocalists.  He has a good range.  I prefer his contributions to Genesis over Phil Collins. 
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Found this online, highly recommended for all of us reading this thread! 
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Originally posted by cstack3 cstack3 wrote:

Found this online, highly recommended for all of us reading this thread! 



Very interesting.  Not sure many other singers would try such an approach.  Technically proficient singers would probably decide they don't need a guide track once they have learned the song well; they would just attack the vocals freely without it anyway. 

Interestingly, a version of what Gabriel was doing was done for a long, long time in Indian film music.  They would record a guide track with a different singer (called the track singer in local parlance) and the one who was to record the final take to be committed to film would use the guide track to learn and sing the song. On some occasions, the established singer in question was gracious enough to say the version recorded by the track singer was good enough and should be retained. I don't think that practice exists anymore with revenues off music dwindling like everywhere else.  Songs are now recorded mainly to promote and create a buzz about the film so it's often done under lot of time and cost pressure and the luxury of having a separate track singer is most likely gone for good. Of course, it's easier now for composers to create a cheap dummy track showing what they expect of the singer.
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Having a lead singer with a contorversial voice is a pre-requisit for prog greatness. 
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Originally posted by M27Barney M27Barney wrote:

Invisible touch? I presume you meam Domino? Not heard that myself, its like putting your wifes knickers on...what if you enjoy it?
 

I actually knew a Marillion fan who did exactly that. His wife left him after he kept walking around the local town dressed as a woman.

Anyway Domino - the live version from The Way We Walk - The Longs kicks serious ass. Put it on loud with the bass turned up and the house will literally shake LOL
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Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

Originally posted by M27Barney M27Barney wrote:

Invisible touch? I presume you meam Domino? Not heard that myself, its like putting your wifes knickers on...what if you enjoy it?
 

I actually knew a Marillion fan who did exactly that. His wife left him after he kept walking around the local town dressed as a woman.

Anyway Domino - the live version from The Way We Walk - The Longs kicks serious ass. Put it on loud with the bass turned up and the house will literally shake LOL

I do have that genesis live cd...coz it had long in the title...enough to reel me in 😎 However, I have just purchased a considerable batch of prog due to lockdown retail therapy...
So i have about 50 new cds to get thru...😎
On the issue of transvestism...my wife is a size 10 and I am 194cm and 95kg....Her lacy thongs wouldn't go round my thighs....you will have to take my word that I dont have empirical evidence for that..😁
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