Bono vocals: An Objective Stance.


rob okorn ([email protected])
Sat, 18 Jul 1998 00:59:54 PDT


I'm glad another objective wireleg reiterated the obvious. It's
'baffling' in terms of the difference in vocal prowess, then and now.
I respect lilith's freedom to express herself but since when is
looseness determined by the number of different songs from one show to
the next. It's not even implict, it's explicitly the performance of THE
SONG. since you were at the Tampa show i'm sure you'd acknowlege that
it was an excellent show and alot less tame than what everyone saw in
Rattle and Hum in Denver and Tempe.
Vocal chords: Fact, vocal chords calcify with age. Double whammy is
Bono's vocal straining and the mileage on his vocal chords has an
impact. Also relevant is proper breathing during singing which in the
early years was not part of his repertoire. You're also supposed to
rest your vocal chords right before and after a concert, something Bono
took for granted.
Result: Awesome vocals during peak live years, good example of vocal
prowess in studio that period is 'Sweet fire of love' from '87.
As far as being more of a singer with more attention to detail and
emotion, people forget that The Joshua Tree showed a huge leap in Bono's
maturity as a singer, ample poise, nuance, and atttention to subtlety.
That attention to detail carried over to the first month of the JT tour,
very evident on early versions of Running..Still and WOWY and one can't
discount the magnification of that airy timelessness given the smaller
indoor venues. My May and into the summer and fall, U2 ditched the
timeless nuance and played those tracks for example in a more pedestrian
way, the fall versions of those tracks became more an exercise in vocal
gymnastics than the raw emotion and subtlety of the April JT shows and
the JT studio version. Maybe people should pay closer attention to
detail before making sweping inaccurate statements.
Well other than myself, I'm glad the other 3 wirelegs stated how there's
no comparison in vocals then and now, not surprsing all of us posted the
peak years were 'FAR' superior. We're not talking lukewarm grey area
territory, pretty cut and dry.
I guess we're all 'baffled' how the 'obvious' isn't discernible to some
wirelegs, perhaps it's the implicit fact that most people are still very
much on the bandwagon, most of the jumpers have retreated into oblivion.
For those you still want to use the 'what he's lost in range he's made
up for with maturity, poise, subtlety, attention to detail' I guess your
opinion would have a semblance of credibility if you've actually heard
the shows. For subtlety listen to WOWY and Running...Still from some of
the April 87 shows, 4/24/87, 4/4/87, 4/25/87. The next show on Rock's
Hottest Ticket has superb vocal chops in all facets, probably best
exemplified on Streets, Bad, and UF the most.
Even my harshest critic acknowledged my 'many valid points', I guess
he's the fourth.
It seems all the other points out of context like lilith's definition of
looseness as the difference in the set list from one night to another or
po4ever's strict definition of looseness as Bono jumping around waving a
flag. The looseness of the musical performance, THE SONG itself,
rudimentarily implicit by anyone standards. I guess that's indicative
of what I have to contend with.
Bono's between song banter hardly qualifies as spontaneity, I think j
put those words in my mouth, bono's intros are more akin to him
paradoxically adlibbing premediated contrived notions.
I hope lilith will excuse any of my typoes, I guess the actual point is
more important than spelling.

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