Al's Voice

[Song Dust]

I went to see Al on Sunday too. His voice was incredible and he nailed some of the harder notes to reach. I was impressed with his live singing!

[Yankomaniac]

Yeah, from any of the videos I have seen in Europe, he sounds bang on. Not that he sounded all that bad before, he's sounding flawless now.

[KatrinatheGood]

Yeah, from any of the videos I have seen in Europe, he sounds bang on. Not that he sounded all that bad before, he's sounding flawless now.

I've been watching a lot of YouTubes videos of Al from the early 80s. One can tell that his voice is not fully matured yet and I'm sure that had a lot to do with how he sang. Not to mention he was still getting use to singing professionally. As he fully matured his voice did as well. As did his confidence. I know it seems obvious to say, but I don't believe I have seen others make that connection before. He always seemed to have a good voice, but t was not nurtured. Fast forward 30 years and the product now is a fully grown, fully confident man head banging while playing an accordion we have today. His ability to high various notes and play is various genres is a well developed skill. I also feel that his success is his desire to be better at what he does than he was the year before. Where other singer got comfortable, (and dare I say lazy) Al works hard in making his work the best it can be.

[mellow weasel]

He always seemed to have a good voice, but it was not nurtured. Fast forward 30 years and the product now is a fully grown, fully confident man head banging while playing an accordion we have today.

It's especially obvious when he sings his old songs and sounds so much better than in records

[Orthography Enthusiast]

I was at his show in London tonight. I also went to an Al show in London 5 years ago, and I can say his voice seemed in better shape today than it did 5 years ago. Al sounded great tonight.

I'm not surprised Al sounded better this year than 5 years ago... 5 years ago Al was sick, as were most of the band members. I'm amazed he could sing at all with the bronchial crud.

[Bridger987]

This thread got me thinking about how Al's voice has matured over the years. In my opinion, his voice is better in the '00s-'10s than it was in the '80s and early to mid '90s. Just for fun, here's a comparison that I put together:


Youtube


The second version of "Mr. Frump in the Iron Lung" isn't studio quality, so one has to take that into account while listening to it. :-)

[yankochick38]

Oh man!! That made me jump out of my seat!!

[Yankomaniac]

He should really pull that out live once in a while by surprise right before doing Yoda, he'd put a lot of smiles on those of us who have seen him multiple times.

[louietheweaselfaceddogboy]

He should really pull that out live once in a while by surprise right before doing Yoda, he'd put a lot of smiles on those of us who have seen him multiple times.

Maybe he could make it the next addition to "the Yoda chant!"

[TenPoundHammer]

I noticed that he was flawless on the two Mandatory shows I saw (Traverse City in July 2015, Bay City in June 2016).

I'm 99% sure that "Gump" is the only song he sings in a lower key now. That song has a lot of high notes and shouting, so I'd imagine that he dropped it to make it easier to sing. Every live recording of that song I've found, he sounds really rough.

Also, on a semi-related note -- it looked like Ruben was doing the "Because I'm tackyyyyyyy" under the chorus of "Tacky". Is he really singing that part, or just lipping it?