Stevie - MOJO - 'The Story Behind Christine McVie's Live Return'

[applebucked]

Originally Posted by WildHearted

I mean, they can still sing (obviously) but neither of them have the voices they once did.

Even Christine, to a certain extent. Relatively intact, but lost some of her top range.

As stated multiple times, I understand Lindsey's point, so I'm not going all out to crucify him or anything like that (if anyone got in the way and I crucified them, I blame it on my impulses and emotions getting in the way).

[bethelblues]

Originally Posted by applebucked

Even Christine, to a certain extent. Relatively intact, but lost some of her top range.

As stated multiple times, I understand Lindsey's point, so I'm not going all out to crucify him or anything like that (if anyone got in the way and I crucified them, I blame it on my impulses and emotions getting in the way).

I'm glad you said this, a few pages back. Christine had lost a little bit of the top of her range back in 1997-8. Recorded footage of "Oh Daddy" from The Dance Tour is a good example and available on YouTube. You can hear most clearly in the refrain: "Everything you do is just alright." I could tell from "Don't Stop" in London that her range has gotten smaller (and she did do a trick or two in there to hide not being able to hit a few notes), but understandably we only have one small verse from one song to look at today, and without several songs to get her voice going and properly warmed up. I know it doesn't get mentioned as much in discussions of why Christine left, but maybe she never wanted to get to the point when she couldn't sing her songs the same and had to fake her way through them. Tina Turner had a really emotional interview with Oprah a few weeks ago and discussed that feeling, how devastating it was when she had to resort to tricks to hit the notes she could once hit effortlessly, how she relied on certain songs to build her stamina for certain hits. It got me thinking a bit, for comparison with Stevie, who also has a legendary voice, which had a peak period much much briefer than Tina's. We've all seen how Stevie has changed "Gypsy" and relies on her background singers to quietly drop out of "Dreams." The natural aging process on the voice is sad. And for some people they mature much earlier than others, certainly the effects of substance abuse and alcohol consumption. I wonder if Christine would be comfortable singing songs like "Songbird" or even "You Make Loving Fun," for the fear that she wouldn't be able to capture what she once could to the songs.

[applebucked]

The bottom part of her range seemed to have expanded since then, though, based on what I've heard on ITM, but that's almost 10 years ago. But knowing Christine's vices (especially since she's probably the most hardened smoker among them), I'm surprised it held up like that. She could've sounded worse.

The good news is that she could probably sing Morning Rain and Spare Me A Little in the original key comfortably now.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by bethelblues

Christine had lost a little bit of the top of her range back in 1997-8...I could tell from "Don't Stop" in London that her range has gotten smaller (and she did do a trick or two in there to hide not being able to hit a few notes), but understandably we only have one small verse from one song to look at today, and without several songs to get her voice going and properly warmed up. I know it doesn't get mentioned as much in discussions of why Christine left, but maybe she never wanted to get to the point when she couldn't sing her songs the same and had to fake her way through them.

"So let's stop before it's too late..."

[applebucked]

I'm interested in hearing what those "tricks" Christine did. Not a singer or a musician so I don't know what those are.

They'll probably have to lower the key for Everywhere, Songbird or YMLF if they'll do the songs so she could sing it, but idk if it would sound right.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by applebucked

I'm interested in hearing what those "tricks" Christine did. Not a singer or a musician so I don't know what those are.

Going more nasal (i.e. Stevie in 1986), lowering the key, and autotune (i.e. some of the higher notes on "Everywhere" on The Dance).

[bethelblues]

Originally Posted by applebucked

I'm interested in hearing what those "tricks" Christine did. Not a singer or a musician so I don't know what those are.

They'll probably have to lower the key for Everywhere, Songbird or YMLF if they'll do the songs so she could sing it, but idk if it would sound right.

I'm not criticizing Christine at all. It just got me thinking of how differently her songs could potentially sound. That was something I naively hadn't considered at all in following her return to the stage. Listen for "about" the next time you listen to the London "Don't Stop" in Chris' verse. Sometimes singers won't pronounce loudly their first sound or sing away from the mic, and then have an easier time reaching the note on a more severe sound, in this case the "bout." I don't know if I'm right, just something I noticed and will listen for tomorrow night.

[applebucked]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Going more nasal (i.e. Stevie in 1986), lowering the key, and autotune (i.e. some of the higher notes on "Everywhere" on The Dance).

The autotune, I figured out a long time ago. There's something different when she holds her notes in the later years, though. Her voice quality's amazing (and quite remarkable for someone of her age and with the vices she has), but it's not as effortless as it used to be. You could tell aging plus the alcohol and the ciggies started to catch up on her. I did know they lowered the key for her performances in Maui as they sound deeper than usual. That said, it helps that Christine's vocal strengths are mainly 1. her distinct tone and 2. the lower part of her range (both of which she retained). What helped in keeping them intact is that she sings properly (if I'm not mistaken, Lindsey has brought this up at one point, saying that she sings from the diaphragm as opposed to her throat like he and Stevie did and how it helped form her vocals), and does not try to oversing. Call it playing safe, but then she isn't known for her adventurous antics unlike her two cohorts.

Meanwhile, her playing looks as sharp and effortless as ever. I think she could still play most of the set with her eyes closed.

Originally Posted by bethelblues

I'm not criticizing Christine at all. It just got me thinking of how differently her songs could potentially sound. That was something I naively hadn't considered at all in following her return to the stage. Listen for "about" the next time you listen to the London "Don't Stop" in Chris' verse. Sometimes singers won't pronounce loudly their first sound or sing away from the mic, and then have an easier time reaching the note on a more severe sound, in this case the "bout." I don't know if I'm right, just something I noticed and will listen for tomorrow night.

That's okay, I didn't take it that way. Just want to know what to look for in the song because again, I have no musical background aside from compulsory music classes in elementary and high school (and a bucketload of music to listen to). I'll take another (of many) listens and look for it.

EDIT: Manage to catch that part you were talking about. She did the same thing on Oh Daddy in the Landover boot from The Dance.

[ejb1969]

My hunch is that they play DS tonight in c. It will sound better for the video.