The Infamous Chat Room Thread
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peddlerwhospoke — 15 years ago(January 12, 2011 08:56 AM)
This shouldn't 2000even be discussedwe should just listen to the music.
However, if we must, the changes to his voices are intentionalif you don't believe me listen to the following links.
This is an unused take of Tell Ol' Bill. This is 2005towards the end of the take he sounds like he did in 1975, albeit a little older
http://www.fileden.com/files/2010/3/11/2790731//11 Tell o Bill Take 11.mp3
This is from 1997a Time Out of Mind Outtake.
http://www.fileden.com/files/2010/3/11/2790731//08 - Cant Wait (Alternate Version Time Out Of Mind).mp3 -
Red_Barn — 15 years ago(January 12, 2011 01:14 PM)
"This shouldn't even be discussed"
What utter nonsense. If people want to discuss things they will, whatever you think about it. Limit yourself if you must, others may choose to not follow your bad suggestion. -
peddlerwhospoke — 15 years ago(January 13, 2011 09:37 PM)
I don't know man. You can take my advice literally or the way I intended. Don't dwell on the inner workings of something, unless you want to drive yourself mad. Sure, I think aboutdoesn't anyone else notice this voice? If any respected person cared he wouldn't be playing sold out shows a$$wipe.
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streetlegal — 15 years ago(January 14, 2011 11:51 AM)
You're right peddler. Dylan's voice has sounded different at various stages of his career and he can sound very different even on recordings made around the same time. I suppose another example would be the two Rolling Thunder tours of 1975 and 1976, he uses two very different voices.
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peddlerwhospoke — 15 years ago(January 15, 2011 09:10 PM)
Yes. By 1976 he created such a growl in his voice that is heard again in the Oh Mercy period. However, around Street Legal, Budokan, and then Slow Train Cominghe reached high into his register to perform some of the best singing he has ever done.
He evolves to what is required of the material. Sometimes he changes the material to fit what is required of the time. -
MrBook_ — 14 years ago(July 12, 2011 07:00 PM)
LOL, you went on the Bob Dylan board and said Bob Dylan is a crackhead? Gee, what went wrong? "Hey, what's wrong, why is everybody so mad?"
I can't believe in this whole thread nobody said the obvious answer to Bob's voice change: Smoking cigarettes. Doi.
Get on up. -
MrBook_ — 14 years ago(July 16, 2011 08:23 AM)
I think a lot of it may be a put-on, too. You hear him in interviews the last few years, like the 60 Minutes interview, and his speaking voice sounds like he's always sounded, with no more change than you would expect from age. Assuming he is putting on a voice for affect, it wouldn't be the first time. In fact, you could say his voice has always been a put-on or an affectation, with constant changes being made to it, sometimes subtle and sometimes drastic.
Get on up. -
tgrdavid — 14 years ago(July 19, 2011 07:00 AM)
I am surprised no one here has attributed his voice to chain smoking cigarettes I don't know if he quit or cut back but he did chain smoke throughout the entire 60's and 70's. Seriously is there a video of him not smoking from that time period? My guess is that he exaggerates his voice as well. I think he want's to sound Like Louis Armstrong singing what a wonderful world! I have to admit though the raspy voice does sound good in some of his songs. I think he sounds much better now than he did in the late 80's through the 90's.
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ChairmanOfTheBored — 14 years ago(July 22, 2011 10:15 PM)
Dylan has played with his voice possibly more than any other singer in pop music. The nasal whine of
Another Side of Bob Dylan
has nothing in common with the smoky drawl of
Blonde on Blonde
which has nothing in common with deep croon of
Nashville Skyline
, and so and so forth.
However, it's pretty clear where Dylan's voice actually became damaged and he was no longer just adapting his voice to whatever style he was trying on at the time. There are two pivotal periods in his career that are necessary when discussing the drastic change in Dylan's voice over the years.
The first is the period from after
The Last Waltz
(the last time he ever had his full bodied belting voice from the Rolling Thunder Revue era) through
Street Legal
and its subsequent tour. This would be from late 1976 through 1978. Dylan got heavily into cocaine in this period, combined with the excessively shouty style he had been singing with since the 1974 comeback tour. The singing style would probably not have done much damage in the long run considering the period of rest it had, but combined with the cocaine (as well as the chain smoking), it had a shattering effect on what many consider to be the peak of Dylan as a singer.
The singing on
Street Legal
is harsh, nasal and bereft of timing or emotion (though that could be down to the fact that the material, with a few exceptions, just wasn't that great). The smooth, rich, emotive and controlled voice of
Blood on the Tracks
and
Desire
has vanished.
It should be noted, however, that this period really only changed the sound and tone of Dylan's voice, but ultimately did little to effect his range or flexibility. His songs are still, with some minor musical alterations, sung in the confines of their original arrangements and melodies, and Dylan's still able to hit a comfortable range of notes. His Gospel era singing is some of his finest, perhaps attributed to clean living. He hit yet another peak in 1981, with the most tuneful voice of his career. There's still some nasal sound, but he's capable again of singing in a full throated style.
He still has this voice on most of the
Infidels
recordings, but beginning in 1984, Dylan returns to the nasal sound and completely relies on it for the next three years. The three records from these years (
Empire Burlesque
,
Knocked Out Loaded
, and
Down in the Groove
) are three of his worst, partially due to this flaccid, unemotional style.
1988 has him switching back to a more full throated approach, and he gives some fairly strong vocal performances this year, occasionally achieving the full throated belt he had in 1974. Listen to the final show from Radio City Musical Hall from that year, it's almost like Dylan entered a time machine. It was also the last year Dylan was able to sing a lot of his songs - mainly his acoustic numbers - in a manner similar to their recorded forms.
1989 is the year where Dylan did some irreparable damage to his singing voice. His phrasing and range is all over the place, the arrangements become gradually less similar to their original forms to accomodate the slipping vocal prowess. His phrasing is sloppy and slurred. He sounds somewhat better in the studio, achieving a crisp, warm, albeit weakened tone on
Oh Mercy
, but his live performances, while still exciting and involved, showcase his fading power. His voice has taken a buzzy quality, similar to a mosquito.
1991 has Dylan falling back into substance abuse, this time alcohol. His voice continues to deteriorate, and his live performances suffer for it. Fall 1991 has him getting back on his feet, and he puts on some astounding shows in Australia in Spring of 1992, but he goes down hard throughout late Spring and early summer of 1992. Fall 1992 has him in much better form, the voice is still shot sounding, but he's making up for it by putting energy into his phrasing and playing.
Still the damage has been, for the most part, done, with some moments of exception. 1994 and 1995 is probably the most serviceable he's sounded since 1989, he still has a strained tone but his flexibility is markedly improved and he occasionally achieves a successful full throat sound. From 1997-2002, he rides the crest of his comeback; the voice is fading but the performances are still bursting with enthusiasm; what he lacked in technical precision he still makes up for with animated phrasing, carefully chosen arrangements that fit the limitations of his voice, and the employment of backup singers when needed. It was around 2002 that he employed the infamous 'upsinging' into his vocal repertoire.
2003-2004 has him completely blowing out what's left of his voice, to the point where he sounds like a demonic Scooby Doo, but 2005 has him gradually recovering, and throughout 2006 he's able to keep a consistently smooth sound and even hit some of the higher notes he wasn't able to in previous years. Late 2007 up through 2010 are pretty much disastrous vocally: raspy, slurred and sometimes indecipherable. -
forthesafetyofpuppies — 13 years ago(July 10, 2012 10:07 PM)
I don't know as much as my learned friend above, but I'd attribute the majority of Dylan's vocal damage to his heavy smoking. There's no doubt he's dabbled with all kinds drugs in his time, in one interview he even claimed he'd kicked heroin.
Smoking can have a huge impact though, look at Al Pacino's voice, drastically different in the 90s than it was in the 70s. He used to smoke two packs per day.
edit: I am learned enough to know how to spell learned, however.
"People who live in glass houses have to answer the door" -
streetlegal — 13 years ago(July 11, 2012 11:17 AM)
35 years of relentless touring also bound to take its toll-he toured with Petty in 86 and 87 and in 88 started the 'neverending tour' Loud rock and roll band and no backing vocalists to help take the strain(I know there have been occasional periods where his guitarists provided the occasional background vocals on a couple of songs.)
His vocals on the latest shows have been imo very strong and I also have a feeling he sometimes deliberately exaggerates the 'bark' in his voice. He certainly still can sing melodically and expressively. -
StevePiriczki — 10 years ago(July 03, 2015 01:44 AM)
That was the same claim made against Whitney Houston - her voice was ruined by crack cocaine. With Dylan age had a lot to do with his decline in singing. It's quite possible crack may have been involved but there hasn't been a lot said about it.