Harder than Joplin

[michelej1]

[I found this tribute singer's comments about Christine interesting]


The Miami Herald, July 24, 2008


CONCERTS: Rumour has it Fleetwood Mac's in town
Classic Albums Live recreates the sonic experience of landmark albums with exacting detail.


HOWARD COHEN, [email protected]

Get Craig Martin or Leslea Keurvorst talking about pop music and the two self-professed "geeks" spin happily on like a 33 1/3-rpm record on 45, tossing out trivia on life-altering albums with glee.

Keurvorst, for instance, launches into an analytical discussion about the deeper meaning behind the barely audible four-letter word that Lindsey Buckingham utters on Fleetwood Mac's The Chain.

Both are members of Classic Albums Live, a Toronto-based touring concert series in which a core group of 36 musicians and vocalists, plus a pool of about 100 others, travel through North America for 300 shows a year to expertly recreate landmark albums like the Beatles' Abbey Road, Led Zeppelin's I through IV and Fleetwood Mac's Rumours down to the most minute detail.

"We're like an orchestra that would do Mozart, but we do classic Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd. We deliver albums exactly as we heard them while growing up," Martin says. But the idea isn't to mimic the famous bands' visual image.

"It's music by fans for fans," adds Keurvorst from her room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. She's performing at the Rumours show Thursday through Saturday, swapping leads with bandmate Mia Sheard at the complex's Paradise Live. Elsewhere, she's handled the high harmonies on recreations of Queen's A Night at the Opera, Boston's self-titled debut and, earlier this season at Paradise Live, earned raves for nailing the soaring The Great Gig in the Sky from Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon.

In August, Keurvorst takes on Janis Joplin's Pearl album at Paradise. How can a person possibly embody Joplin's raw, bluesy wail? "I'm smoking more than usual," she jokes. But it's actually Christine McVie's mellow vocal tone that proves her biggest challenge. 'I have a high voice; Christine's an alto and getting those low notes -- a dark, low voice with no vibrato which is unnatural for me -- and re-create that authentically is physically hard. They ask me, `How can you sing those crazy Queen harmonies?' I say, 'Try singing [McVie's] Songbird three nights a week!' That's killer and yet it's such a simple song."

The concert is a straight run-through of the featured album with no on-stage patter to break the mood. Afterward, the group performs a set of "outros," of music celebrating that night's act. The outros are a bit looser, with audience interaction, but the musicians still adhere to the original arrangements. Sometimes, however, it's difficult to not get swept away on a feel-good, locomotive groove like Go Your Own Way and extend the live rendition slightly beyond its album fade-out.

"I tell the guys, `If we're in the groove you can go, but you have to stay within the confines of what a Lindsey Buckingham or a Jimmy Page would do. You can't start freestyling. This is sacred music, it's not our job to mess with it," Martin says.

Martin, 46, founded Classic Albums Live five years ago to pay homage to the great music he'd known growing up. "I was playing in cover bands and I was always upset about the lack of attention to detail in the music. It was a cash gig but it made me feel terrible about my life. I love classic rock. It's a part of my DNA."

While listening to the radio, he heard two songs back-to-back from The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street.

"By the time I hit Toronto on this four-hour drive I came up with this idea -- taking classic albums and doing them note-for-note using the best musicians." Martin produces Classic Albums Live shows, signs off on album picks and performs Mick Jagger's vocals.

"Sometimes I'll go off the beaten track," he says, citing a performance of Michael Jackson's Thriller. After all, it's called Classic Albums Live, not Classic Rock Albums Live."

Recent shows have featured '90s albums by Radiohead (OK Computer) and Nirvana's Nevermind.

"The generations are rediscovering this music," Martin says. "We should all have The Dark Side of the Moon on during Thanksgiving dinner instead of easy-listening Muzak. I'm still a hippie in my head and think that music will save us all."

[aleuzzi]

Amen. Christine's voice is unique. Her songs are good on paper, but great when she performs them.

[nicepace]

Originally Posted by michelej1

a dark, low voice with no vibrato

That's an interesting way of describing Christine's unique singing voice. Maybe it's the lack of vibrato that gives her voice that unique sound. Needless to say, I've always enjoyed Christine's way of singing. She doesn't put extra notes in that don't belong. Her singing style is simple, but not at all easy to imitate.

[shackin'up]

Come on guys, Chris is great, but do you know Keurvorst's voice? Maybe it is only difficult for her to sing like that, because she has an opposite voice. If you read this well, that is the case.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by shackin'up

Come on guys, Chris is great, but do you know Keurvorst's voice? Maybe it is only difficult for her to sing like that, because she has an opposite voice. If you read this well, that is the case.

None of us appear to disagree with you. I read her blog the same way you did. Christine's voice is not as technically accomplished as it is simply unique, it's tone inimitable.

[Gailh]

I was a bit confused when I read the title of this thread.

In the UK being "Hard" can mean to be a tough character so when I read "Harder than Joplin" I thought someone was suggesting that Christine was tougher than Janis Joplin - actually that might be right!

Anyway obviously when I read it I realised it meant the singing style. I think Christine's style is deceptively simple and clearly more difficult to imitate than one would imagine.

Gail

[jld92]

Originally Posted by Gailh

In the UK being "Hard" can mean to be a tough character so when I read "Harder than Joplin" I thought someone was suggesting that Christine was tougher than Janis Joplin - actually that might be right!

Haha. Christine is definitely tougher than Janis Joplin!

[Madelow]

Hello All-- What an interesting thread! I agree with the comments about Chris' precise use of notes in song writing, and performance. That being said, I would love to hear Classic Albums Live do "Rumours". I suppose the band is too expensive to hire for our "My Waterloo Days" in 2009. Darn it. Best regards, Madelow.

[David]

Is it the British folk style that infuses Christine's singing with its charm? If not, what is it & where does it come from?

Consider the opening of OH DADDY. "Oh Daddy/You know you make me cry/How can you love me?/I don't understand why."

The way she sings "love" is pure Christine. Nobody else does that. It's immediately identifiable. The arc dips & swoops so rapidly that the ornamentation transforms into the melodic body, & vice versa.

Now consider the opening of THE WAY I FEEL. "Once in everyone's life/A feeling has to grow/You may be having a bad time."

The Christineism is present on "life" & again on "bad."

It's akin to a little mordant or a reverse trill on a clarinet or a flute.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by David

Is it the British folk style that infuses Christine's singing with its charm? If not, what is it & where does it come from?

Consider the opening of OH DADDY. "Oh Daddy/You know you make me cry/How can you love me?/I don't understand why."

The way she sings "love" is pure Christine. Nobody else does that. It's immediately identifiable. The arc dips & swoops so rapidly that the ornamentation transforms into the melodic body, & vice versa.

Now consider the opening of THE WAY I FEEL. "Once in everyone's life/A feeling has to grow/You may be having a bad time."

The Christineism is present on "life" & again on "bad."

It's akin to a little mordant or a reverse trill on a clarinet or a flute.

Wow... I never noticed those trills...... awesome interp.... thank you!