Videos: Opening Night *spoilers*

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by drzubritsky

This is not just a problem in concert but on studio recordings as well. The only vocal variation of any significance that I can recall since The Dance was that rare moment of semi-falsetto on "Sorcerer".

And don't forget the 2005 dance version of "Dreams." Granted, I am still not entirely how much of that song was Stevie vs. Robo-Stevie.

Listening to the live "Storms," I can't help but wonder whether her vocal coach is encouraging her to project from the diaphragm for every song, which is supposedly considered "proper form." But I suspect this is something you would do only in an un-mic'd setting, e.g., Broadway musical or cabaret, where singers are taught to project to the last row of the venue. Her phrasing of "Storms" strikes me as being a bit cabaret-ish- where she sustains notes that really should have been clipped, and oversinging/over-enunciating passages that should have been whispered or slurred a little bit.

But then again, maybe she is rendering a new interpretation of "Storms." The original is more of a quiet, introspective cry-yourself-to-sleep soliloquy. The live version sounds more anguished, more angry and self-flagellating, especially where she screams "...so I searched to find an answer there..." Sure one can argue that she phoned in her Pittsburgh performance for the most part, but this is the one song where she really connected with the emotion of the song.

Vocals aside, I lurv, lurv, lurv the live arrangement of "Storms." I was wondering how they would have been able to pull off such a production-specific arrangement live, and I think it was done incredibly well. In fact, I would love to hear a new FM album of nothing but stripped down arrangements- a single guitar, percussion, bass and Fender Rhodes...