More Stevie voice questions!

[ViscountViktor]

1) Does anyone have a specific concert/date when Stevie last did the high part on Dreams and/or Rhiannon?

2) How come Stevie's range seems to increase around the Wild Heart album, her highest recorded note - a high Eb- is on Wild Heart? Wasn't her range decreasing and thats why she couldn't hit the notes in the songs above?

[SisterNightroad]

I think I heard the last Dreams high note on the Osaka 1977 bootleg, but it's not on "It's only right", it's "it's only me".
I knew that the highest note she sang it's the vocalism of Sisters of the moon on Tusk.

[welcomechris]

In a 1994 Street Angel tour rehearsal (which the whole tour she sounded Great on!) she hit all the high notes on Dreams.

[SpyNote]

Originally Posted by ViscountViktor

1) Does anyone have a specific concert/date when Stevie last did the high part on Dreams and/or Rhiannon?

2) How come Stevie's range seems to increase around the Wild Heart album, her highest recorded note - a high Eb- is on Wild Heart? Wasn't her range decreasing and thats why she couldn't hit the notes in the songs above?

A specific concert/date is hard to nail down because not every show was recorded. In general, she stopped singing those high parts when her voice changed after the Tusk tour. But she's had trouble with her touring voice for most of her career. Singing Dreams and Rhiannon as they were recorded in the studio is not sustainable when you're performing night after night for months. She was also drinking and doing a lot of drugs. All that is going to affect vocal range.

[KarmaContestant]

I think Stevie has maintained much of her range, and we do get to hear it on recorded material from time to time, but I believe she merely *chooses* not to use it in a live setting.

One might wonder why she doesn't use her full range on her albums more frequently, and with that I am reminded of something Concrete Blonde always tried to do, and that was not record something they weren't going to be able to reproduce live on a regular basis.

Thus, I wonder if Stevie is just choosing to avoid a wider vocal range, so that she can sound the same on stage as she does on her albums, by and large.

[SpyNote]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

I think Stevie has maintained much of her range, and we do get to hear it on recorded material from time to time, but I believe she merely *chooses* not to use it in a live setting.

One might wonder why she doesn't use her full range on her albums more frequently, and with that I am reminded of something Concrete Blonde always tried to do, and that was not record something they weren't going to be able to reproduce live on a regular basis.

Thus, I wonder if Stevie is just choosing to avoid a wider vocal range, so that she can sound the same on stage as she does on her albums, by and large.

I would say she started avoiding the wider vocal range after the Enchanted tour, and maybe she's been influenced by vocal coach Steve Real to sing more efficiently. To her credit, she's sounded pretty much the same on record and onstage since then.

I think the last time she really pushed her voice to the higher limits was during the Street Angel tour.

[iamnotafraid]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

I believe she merely *chooses* not to use it in a live setting.

If by chooses you mean that she's afraid to attempt
high notes live, then we agree.

[BlueLight]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

I think Stevie has maintained much of her range, and we do get to hear it on recorded material from time to time, but I believe she merely *chooses* not to use it in a live setting.

One might wonder why she doesn't use her full range on her albums more frequently, and with that I am reminded of something Concrete Blonde always tried to do, and that was not record something they weren't going to be able to reproduce live on a regular basis.

Thus, I wonder if Stevie is just choosing to avoid a wider vocal range, so that she can sound the same on stage as she does on her albums, by and large.

Entirely agreed. Her Deep Dish version of Dreams is a good example, I think. I love her vocals on the cut (and only wish the production was closer to the original version, without Deep Dish ). She most definitely can still hit the notes (at least with her head voice), but it's certainly not sustainable on tour.