Lindsey's Vocal Range
 

Hello!

A few weeks ago I started a Stevie Nicks vocal range thread here, arriving with fairly limited knowledge on the subject (Knowing of notes from D3 to C5, 1 octave and 10 semitones), eventually arriving at Bb2-Eb5, 2 octaves and 5 semitones with help. I'm positive she can go lower and higher, but for now here's a more interesting subject...

Lindsey's lowest, as far as I know, is a D2 from Tusk! This is a very low note. Not even bass singers go this low very often, and I think he can go lower.

As for high notes, Lindsey uses falsetto a lot on higher notes, and reaches some very high notes in the form of ad-libbed screams. The highest I've heard is a B5, which is a semitone away from soprano high C! If we count falsetto, his range is D2-B5, three semitones away from a 4(!!!) octave range.

Highest non-falsetto I can think of at the moment is B4 in Tango In The Night (amazing singing), so D2-B4, 2 octaves and 9 semitones.

I don't have many Fleetwood Mac albums, but if some of you could recommend some great displays of his high and low register, we can more than likely credit him with 3 octaves in full voice and maybe 4 with falsetto! This thread was very fun last time.

Thank you!

Not That Funny is pretty high in the chorus. Empire State, Book Of Love and Can't Go Back might be pretty good to listen to aswell. I'm So Afraid has some amazing singing from both Lindsey and Stevie - not to get off topic, but listen to how high Stevie sings in the harmony on the chorus!

Up to C5 with falsetto on Not That Funny and A4 without it. A4s on Empire State... strange song! C#5s on Book of Love... a bit strained and screamy however, could be falsetto. Love the guitar playing on that one. Lots of C5s on Can't Go Back, full I think! I'm sure he has sung a strong and sustained C5 at one point. Maybe around 1987, the A4s in Tango In The Night (tan-gooo) are very strong, sounds like he has at least half an octave more in full voice on the upper end.

I love I'm So Afraid! Up to Bb4 on the chorus, C5 on my favourite live version (Largo '75). Nicks goes up to C#5. Fantastic harmonies and singing!

How about Crystal from both the Fleetwood Mac and Buckingham Nicks albums?

On the lower end, maybe What Makes You Think You're the One?

What about Come, where he says, "cause nobody else is doing it, doing it."

I like what you said about his D2. It made me feel very proud for some reason:laugh:.

He sounds like he gets pretty low for "come on and" in Hold Me.

This will be fun if you do it for Chris too. She gets really low on her last album.

Michele

What Makes You Think You're The One, down to C3 and up to A4, great song! Short falsetto note around F5. Crystal only goes up to F4, amazing song and singing though...

Down to D3 on "come on and" in Hold Me. That Come section is very strange, doesn't sound much like Lindsey, yet it's obviously not Stevie or Chris. D5 in full voice. That's 3 octaves for Lindsey!

Chris you say? Haven't heard much from her in the ways of lows, and she sings in a very soft voice making it hard to distinguish between full voice and falsetto! I think there's a C#5 in Over My Head, going by memory, but yes I could make a thread for Chris in a few weeks. Thank you!

For reference, here is the Stevie vocal range video.

To be honest, I think the chorus of Come has had the Lindsey varispeed treatment, so it was slowed down and record at a lower pitch and sped back up to the original pitch. It sounds like he could pitching it up a semitone or two. Perhaps even a third. That's why it doesn't sound much like him.

Oh, you mean like on Big Love? That's definitely possible. Has he ever sang it live?

When he sang it live on the Say You Will tour the key was dropped from Am to (I think) Em and then he might have dropped it to Dm on his last solo tour or he kept it in Em. I think he goes into falsetto for it live but I'm not expert. It is pretty screamy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HGs6M9exS4 (in Em)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyr_E...rom=PL&index=2 (in Dm)

The first one isn't loading for me, but in the second he sings up to G5 and A5 instead, in falsetto though as you said.

He even made a joke about not being able (or wanting) to hit the note live in Come during the Destiny Rules video. He said he'd just push a button and have it piped in instead.

Michele

I can't say I can think of many high notes for her. I just know on In the Meantime, she struck me as getting lower than she ever had before. Very rich, aged sound.

Michele

Hm, don't think we'll find much from this decade then! But like I said, around the 80s he definitely could have hit at least a D5 in strong full voice.

I've not heard In The Meantime. I'm not too much of a Chris fan, although I love Wish You Were Here, Say You Love Me and Little Lies.

Rhiannon harmony, is the first one to come to mind. I'd say she's probably got a better range than Stevie though.

Christine is singing the lower harmony on Rhiannon, a G4 while Stevie sings a C5. Personally I do not think Christine has a wider range than Stevie. Although both are fantastic singers who really know how to use their range well. Contraltos typically don't have amazing ranges.

Back on the subject of Lindsey, does anyone know of any live Tusk performances where he hits the D2? (Why don't you ask him if he's going away-ay, ay-ay... ay) Thank you!

On the "Live 1980" version, Christine sings the high harmony. Sorry, I should have clarified. :)

I have a 3-octave range -- & that's at one point in time (now).

Do you write music, David? Can we hear any of your music anywhere? I'd love to hear some if you do.

3 octaves is very good! What is your lowest and highest?

I'm sure Lindsey and Stevie had their 3 and 21/2
octave ranges at one point in time, but from different notes. For example, up until around the 90's, Stevie could definitely handle B2-F5, but most probably didn't like pushing her upper register to its limit. Stevie from the 90's onwards makes better use of her lower register. I'm thinking she could extend it down to G#2. G#2-D5 is 21/2 octaves, and there is a D5 in Smile At You "angry" demo, which I believe is from around Say You Will time?

Back to Lindsey... I'll make a list of songs later that show his range best. I have a feeling Family Man may be one of them however :distress:

No, the demo is from 1982 - the Mirage sessions.

Try a couple of songs from the Go Insane album - the title track, Loving Cup, I Want You.

Oh really? I thought it sounded a bit unlike other recent Stevie. I wonder why it didn't get used until Say You Will...

I Want You: The beginning is fairly low, sadly I am terrible at pitching songspeak like this. B4s in full voice though and a nice song! B Major, one of my favourite keys...
Go Insane: I love this song! This version is infinitely preferable to the live acoustic version with Fleetwood Mac in my opinion. Down to F3 I think. Maybe some whispery F2s. Up to G4.
Loving Cup: Another good song, short A4s, I think I hear D2s but they sound sampled.

I would have loved a 1984 Fleetwood Mac album consisting of the best songs from The Wild Heart, Go Insane, and Christine McVie!

I wrote one short instrumental once, when I was a Fleetwood Mac-nutty teenager. I recorded it on my Stevie Nicks Source Special cassette tape. If I can find that, I'll share it with you. I'm trying to write a 2-part fugue (inspired by the Et vitam venturi saeculi of the Missa Solemnis), but I'm not terribly excited by it. The project is too difficult for me.

the composing bug never really bit me. Did it bite you?

Time for a Tango In The Night post, my first Fleetwood Mac album. I've never really listened through this album as a "notewatcher" before, so I'll have to update this.

Big Love
Up to A4 and down to D3 in the verses and the outro. One of my favourite Lindsey songs!
Tango In The Night
Up to B4, very strong A4s! Down to G3.
Family Man
Up to B4 and down to D3.
Caroline
Up to F4 and down to G3.
Little Lies
I love Lindsey's part on this song, it is a five syllable line that goes C#4-E4-F#4-A4-F#4.
Isn't It Midnight
Great song! Lindsey goes down to A2 on each chorus, very strong! For the Chris fans, she goes up to C5 and down to E3. She definitely has at least 2 octaves.

Probably 1981. Most of Mirage seems to have been tracked in 1981.

We always have to remember that Fleetwood Mac takes a long time to track, mix, & master. Rumours was tracked in 1976. Tango was tracked in 1986. Mask was probably mostly tracked in 1989. The tracking on Say You Will, of course, covers about seven years. (Ridiculous.) Perhaps a few individual exceptions here & there (Stevie's backup vocals on the others' songs, for example, on Tango may have been done early in 1987, which Mick hints at in his book).

Why the delay? Solo touring? Is that why she didn't appear on Big Love? I've heard the 12" remix version and love the vocals she recorded for it.

I don't know what she appears on & doesn't appear on on Tango (except her three songs, naturally). Why the delay? Good question. She was touring & keeping busy with other things, I guess, because she didn't show up much at Fleetwood Mac's sessions at Buckingham's house or elsewhere, according to the other members of the band (who had the same complaints about her during the 1981 Mirage sessions). She even skipped out on sessions in order to dick around with Dylan & Petty in Australia in February/March. That must have put their noses out of joint.

Other than Mick (who hung around with her a lot on her 1986 tour), I don't think she wanted to spend much time with Fleetwood Mac at that point. She may have been ashamed of herself, or she may have been sick of them, or she may have just not felt good.

In 1987, she helped them market their new album (videos, interviews, etc.), but she had to, obviously. And by all accounts, she was totally committed to the fall tour.

Rehab wasn't it?

I was going to write '81 but then thought about Bella Donna and the things relating to it - promotion, short tour, videos etc.

I wonder... I, like others, think the demo was infact recorded by Fleetwood Mac, not session musicians. Could it have been drafted during Stevie's stay in France, whenever that was?

Family Man, Little Lies, nothing else I think...

Just a short video for the time being... bon nuit!

[Blog Post from http://www.landrovervidz.com/land-ro...ham-c2-e5.html]

The Vocal Range of Lindsey Buckingham (C2-E5)

Lindsey is a low tenor who had quite a weak low register until he developed it around 1988, while becoming less clean in the upper register, though he eventually balanced them out around 1996. He doesn’t span a lot of range on individual Fleetwood Mac albums, however on his album Out of the Cradle, he spans more range on both ends than he ever had or has since, and a total range of C2-E5 in full voice, a semitone short of three and a half octaves. With falsetto included he has over four octaves of range. 0:00. First some nice A2s from the 25 Years: The Chain version of “Isn’t It Midnight”. The original is tuned a bit sharp. 0:12. A strong A2 from solo song “Say We’ll Meet Again”. 0:18. Some G#2s from The Dance version of “Go Insane”, great emotional singing here. 0:47. Solid G#2s from “Wrong”. 1:01. A bit quiet, but here are some short G2s and A2s from Fleetwood Mac song “Tango In The Night”. 1:15. A strange-sounding spoken passage from solo song “I Want You”, reaching a few F2s. 1:25. A whispery E2 from a solo live version of “Go Insane”. Notice the key has been lowered from C# minor all the way down to A minor! 1:40. A few Eb2s in the awesome intro to “My Little Demon”! 1:50. The spoken intro to “Surrender The Rain”, bottom note is Eb2. 2:12. A whispery D2 from “Tusk”. 2:22. And a stronger D2 from “Tusk”, in the backing vocal. 2:31. Here we have Lindsey’s lowest ever note, a strong C2 sliding down to a whispered A1. Song is “This Is The Time”. Doesn’t do this live sadly …

I've always been amazed, and impressed with Lindsey's range. I think he was too hard on his upper range early on, and so has a harder time with it today. 60 isn't all that old, and a lot of performers in their 60s still sound great up high, but he's definitely struggling there. Not that I really mind, 'cause his lower range is really, REALLY sexy :D

I think it was you Michelle (?), who posted this a while back, but it's worth another look/listen. Besides Lindsey's incredible singing, it's cool to hear Chris and Stevie come in at about 3:20 ( after a looooong silence ).:

I made this video, it was good fun :wavey:

I agree, he's lowered the key on most of his stuff so that he never goes above a G#4, he did it for Go Insane, Red Rover... in contrast Stevie tries to never go above an A4 anymore, sometimes going up to the B flat. I don't think Lindsey was too hard on his upper range early on though, if anything it kept improving, if you compare the C5s in Tango in the Night to the ones in Go Your Own Way they're a lot better and easier. The Tango album was, to me, his peak vocally.

Nice work on that video :nod:

Just a few years ago, he sounded great on everything, but sometimes, now, he sounds almost like an ex-smoker :eek: which he's not! :sorry: :sorry: :sorry: You know more about it than I do, so, what do you think? Maybe he just needs to spend more time warming up?? :shrug:

I'm not sure... up until '98 he sounded great. Maybe he ruined his voice singing Go Insane and Bleed To Love Her on the Dance tour, or the Say You Will and solo tours put too much strain on his voice. He doesn't have the best technique in the world but his voice isn't completely shot, warming up more and maybe getting a vocal coach if he doesn't already would help. Look at someone like John Farnham for example, he's been touring and recording since 1964 but he still sounds great here. Paul McCartney seems to be doing really well too at almost 70, even though his technique has never been the best and he's been going since 1957! Luck could be a big factor sadly...

Have you heard him squawk & scream through "What Makes You Think You're the One" during the middle & final legs of the Tusk tour? That can't be good for a guy.

I say his vocal peak was the middle & final legs of the aforementioned Tusk tour. Never before & certainly not since has his singing had more pliability & tonally controlled panache, not to mention sizzling energy. I think it's always a precarious bridge to try to cross when we try to judge Lindsey's vocalism on a heavily engineered & tightly controlled studio album.

Yeah, I thought Lindsey sounded pretty darn good even in 2007. When he did Shut Us Down on Ellen and Conan, WOW! But, by 2008 it started changing, and by 2009 it was a lot different to my ears. I think you're right that luck ( well, genetics ) is probably it. I hope his ego allows him to use a coach, or whatever is needed - though, I'd love him to pieces regardless :nod:

I haven't, but I know about all the falsetto yelps and screeches he did all the time live, definitely not good for the voice!

As far as technique and tone go I'd say it's Tango. Not extremely energetic though. He would have sounded amazing had he toured that year.

LOL, but Yep! And like Stevie, I don't think either one had any early voice training, right? They just went out there and gave it everything they had...even if technically not so good for the vocal chords.

I liked it on Destiny Rules when they were rehearsing for the concert and Lindsey joked that his voice would give out and he'd just push a button to hit the note.

Michele