Just like Jonny Cash, I got to know BB through U2. There was something on about the blue's on TV a few weeks ago and I never realized he was such a well respected musician. I love the rawness and the honesty and the lack of any attempt to 'beautify' the voice. Most of them (including BB, Ma Rainey, Dinah Washington, etc) did not have a beautiful timbre (in the aesthetic sense) so they used a to create a lot of interesting sounds in order to convince us of their honesty. But that is the blues it's not rock music.
I was listening to something about Little Richard on the radio today. He was one of the first rockers who never sang 'correctly' and I'm sure many vocal coaches wouldn't tolerate with his style. But many artists from Elvis to the Beatles have all said how much a debt they owe to him. Elvis said himself that Little Richard was the real king of Rock'n'roll. I just feel that the fact he was black in segregated America prevented him from gaining the true recognition he deserved. I know that rock music did take a lot of it's rawness from the Blues and in the early days it was known as the 'jump blues'. But rock has evolved and developed it's own style since then.
I think Bono has a prettier voice than BB but that doesn't mean I don't think he isn't a great singer, just different. He will never sound like he did in 84 or ZooTv? Great because I
COULD NOT STAND HIS VOICE live around this time. Have you watched Angel Of Harlem on the Sydney DVD of the ZooTv tour? How comes he never sang the "angeeeel' part properly? I much prefered the 2001 Slane version. And there were many other examples from that show. All Along The Watchtower on R&H, I cannot even listen to it all the way through that's how much I hate his singing on it. The grunting during 84
The same for Bullet The Blue Sky on JT. That type of singing does not suit his voice any more than BB King trying to sing like Whitney Houstan would suit his voice. I like the Afican group called Ladysmith Blackmambazo, that doesn't mean I want to hear Bono trying to sing like them.
Anyway, isn't belting supposed to be really bad for your voice? If he sang Pride every night exactly like he did in the studio he'd lose his voice. Is that what you want?
Bono's voice in 84-ish was his 'prime' in the sense that he never match that raw power. The Unforgettable Fire was probably his best album in that sense. By the time the JT tour came around, he basically fried his voice, and I consider that his second worst era, after attyclub (worse than PopMart). There were a lot of really raw vocal cuts on JT (see: Streets, One Tree Hill) that sound really cool, but he didn't have his 1984 range, or falsetto, or much else beyond a pretty-sounding voice in the lower register. It was all screaming and "kermitting".
Lovetown, I think Bono just stopped even trying to restrain himself. He screamed the whole time. And he damn near killed hiimself doing it... his voice sounded really good some nights, again, more in lower registers than higher ones (see: the Point Depot nights). I've heard rumours that the reason soundboard boots of those four nights leaked out in the first place is because they circulated to a doctor (or more than one doctor) for vocal advice, and the doctor told Bono to stop singing that way.
During Achtung and Zoo TV, Bono tried and succeeded in conserving his vocal energy. I personally think his voice sounded amazing, on most material. 90s material was, of course, great, as it was made for that voice. Some 80s material made the transition well (Streets has never sounded bad, RTSS and BTBS were amazing, NYD was fine, the 'new version' of Desire was pretty good, et cetera)... a lot sounded like crap (Angel of Harlem is, as you mentioned, probably the most glaring example). His uber-falsetto-skillz helped a bit, and he did have some nice unrestrained vocal moments (there were some really good Zoo TV Bad performances... most notably, IMO, the last RDS night), but a lot of 80s material suffered from not being sung the way Bono sang them in the 80s.
However, he blew his voice out again. Overuse (I think) and smoking (WHY, Bono?) made his voice go downhill each year... PopMart Bono was totally unrecognizable compared to Zoo Bono. Elevation was more of the same, but he had good vocal control, was starting to learn some good vocal techniques, and there were some really cool moments (most notably, Streets at Slane).
The 2003 recording sessions showcased some nice Bono work... Electrical Storm was nice. Hutdab was an improvement over attyclub, but not as good as the 2003 sessions. Vertigo was basically up and up the entire time, with highlights being at the beginning of the third and end of the fifth legs. Opera lessons helped a lot, and Bono's practicing much better vocal techniques now. He can hit high notes with 1984-esque-ease, and sound great in the lower registers... hopefully it'll be a treat for us in years to come.
that would be way cool.
