EdVed's recent changed up singing style

Posts: 9,722
edited July 2010 in The Porch
I've noticed in the last couple of years Ed seems to have changed his vocal styling. Seems like his singing abilities are still there (especially being able to nail "Reign O'er Me") but it's just the way he chooses to sing the notes or words is different. He seems to be adding "ah" in the middle of words, in tons of songs that didn't used to have it before.

Just one example:

Red Mosquito - '96 (regular EV singing)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv2PGM4qu0s

Red Mosquito - '10 (revised singing)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76Rb1jeW ... re=related

"a-ah-loud to leave the the room....."
"i-ah-i was bitten..."

"i-ah-i was bitten..."
"a little vis-ah-it..."


Seems like he's adding an extra "ah" to many places that it didn't used to be. Anyone else notice this on more recent boots, in the last couple of years?
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Post edited by Unknown User on

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  • Posts: 17,560
    I've noticed his voice has changed and some songs have to be tuned a half step down for him.
    Shows: 6.27.08 Hartford, CT/5.15.10 Hartford, CT/6.18.2011 Hartford, CT (EV Solo)/10.19.13 Brooklyn/10.25.13 Hartford
    "Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
  • Posts: 2,608
    yup..sucks getting old

    it's really that simple

    you cannot compare his young voice to his mid-forties voice
    "No way to save someone who won't take the rope,and just lets go..."
  • Posts: 918
    Newch91 wrote:
    I've noticed his voice has changed and some songs have to be tuned a half step down for him.
    His voice has definitely changed, but I don't know or think its intentional. He is just getting older. Chris Cornell sounds really different too. I think its just age. It seems like its almost higher pitched. If you compare the Philly 2009 version of Glorified G with the album version, Eddie's voice doesn't even sound deep at all. I bet Scott Stapp sounds more like younger Eddie than older Eddie does. It doesn't matter though, I still think Eddie is a great musician regardless of his voice, and I think what makes him and Scott Stapp different is that Eddie knows how to play several instruments and isn't a one trick pony.
    Member Number: 437xxx

    Pearl Jam:
    Key Arena - Seattle, WA - Sep 21, 2009
    Pacific Coliseum - Vancouver, BC - Sep 25, 2011
    Key Arena - Seattle, WA - Dec 6, 2013

    Eddie Vedder Solo:
    Benaroya Hall - Seattle, WA - Jul 15, 2011
  • Posts: 17,560
    thefin190 wrote:
    show previous quotes
    His voice has definitely changed, but I don't know or think its intentional. He is just getting older. Chris Cornell sounds really different too. I think its just age. It seems like its almost higher pitched. If you compare the Philly 2009 version of Glorified G with the album version, Eddie's voice doesn't even sound deep at all. I bet Scott Stapp sounds more like younger Eddie than older Eddie does. It doesn't matter though, I still think Eddie is a great musician regardless of his voice, and I think what makes him and Scott Stapp different is that Eddie knows how to play several instruments and isn't a one trick pony.
    He's also smoked like a mad man during his career. In the Hartford 98 boot, he mentions something about his smoking and how he should've quit before.
    Shows: 6.27.08 Hartford, CT/5.15.10 Hartford, CT/6.18.2011 Hartford, CT (EV Solo)/10.19.13 Brooklyn/10.25.13 Hartford
    "Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
  • Posts: 7,718
    I must be in the minority here, but I like the way he's been singing in his 40s MUCH better than before.
  • Posts: 7,718
    thefin190 wrote:
    show previous quotes
    His voice has definitely changed, but I don't know or think its intentional. He is just getting older. Chris Cornell sounds really different too. I think its just age. It seems like its almost higher pitched. If you compare the Philly 2009 version of Glorified G with the album version, Eddie's voice doesn't even sound deep at all. I bet Scott Stapp sounds more like younger Eddie than older Eddie does. It doesn't matter though, I still think Eddie is a great musician regardless of his voice, and I think what makes him and Scott Stapp different is that Eddie knows how to play several instruments and isn't a one trick pony.
    Quite the opposite. His voice is much deeper now, he just likes to sing higher than he used too. He has trouble hitting high notes these days. Listen to his non-singing voice in interviews. It's much deeper now. The voice deepens and thins out with age.. and Scott Stapp can't even sing, so he's got no tricks.
  • Posts: 918
    LikeAnOcean wrote:
    show previous quotes
    Quite the opposite. His voice is much deeper now, he just likes to sing higher than he used too. He has trouble hitting high notes these days. Listen to his non-singing voice in interviews. It's much deeper now. The voice deepens and thins out with age.. and Scott Stapp can't even sing, so he's got no tricks.
    The only reason why I bring up Scott Stapp is because I heard that crappy song "with my arms with open" or whatever, and I didn't realize how much of an Eddie Vedder rip off he actually was until then.
    Member Number: 437xxx

    Pearl Jam:
    Key Arena - Seattle, WA - Sep 21, 2009
    Pacific Coliseum - Vancouver, BC - Sep 25, 2011
    Key Arena - Seattle, WA - Dec 6, 2013

    Eddie Vedder Solo:
    Benaroya Hall - Seattle, WA - Jul 15, 2011
  • Posts: 1,007
    Ed's got a great voice! Still love it. It doesn't pack the punch and the HUGENESS it had in the early 90's... watch Unplugged. But he still goes pretty damn good!

    As someone else said, listen to CC or Roger Daltry, or Mick Jagger, or Anthony Keidis, or Scott Weiland... I think only one to maybe survive it was Mike Patton.
    PJ - Sydney 1998; Sydney 2003; Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle 2006; Melbourne, Sydney 2009; Gold Coast, Melbourne, Sydney 2014.
    EV - Canberra, Newcastle, Sydney 2011; Sydney 2014.
  • Posts: 2,414
    Aside from the depth of his voice, or whatever damage age/smoking is doing to it, I think the OP was referring to additional notes he's been adding to syllables. Personally, I think it's an improvement. It shows that he's improved his range, is better able to slide between notes and has generally become a more versatile singer.
    93: Slane
    96: Cork, Dublin
    00: Dublin
    06: London, Dublin
    07: London, Copenhagen, Nijmegen
    09: Manchester, London
    10: Dublin, Belfast, London & Berlin
    11: San José
    12: Isle of Wight, Copenhagen, Ed in Manchester & London x2
  • Posts: 466
    I disagree- I noticed in the 2003 boots (I think) that he was changing the ends of virtually every word with some sort of note change lower. Sometimes now he changes something in the middle of many words as the OP noticed. I think he has to do this to make his voice last through an entire night. I imagine it's physically draining on your lungs and throat to sing for three hours- adding these small changes allows him to make it all the way.
  • Posts: 659
    I noticed a change too. But I am really digging his vocal style the last couple of years. I remember in 06 thinking how he would nail the new songs off of Avacodo but he would almost yodel a lot of the older songs to get through them. Yodel is a bad desricptive word for it but his voice would dramatically waver up and down all the way through songs. I found that very distracting and it wasn't my taste. I'm not saying he couldn't sing the older songs... it seemed more of a way of saving his voice. Break out all the stops on new songs and coast on some of the older ones. At any rate i think his voice sounds fantastic this tour. Listening to the hartford 2010 bootleg, he really shines on that one and makes you think he's still got it. Big time.
  • Posts: 139,725
    in black and jeremy he do the same,the extra eh
    "...Dimitri...He talks to me...'.."The Ghost of Greece..".
    "..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
    “..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”
  • Posts: 1,966
    I think the trend really started in '08, got bad in '09, and smoothed itself out in '10.

    Whenever I'm singing the songs in my head I tend to do the same thing.......I am more used to the live versions as compared to the studio......
  • Posts: 133
    Come Back in Black wrote:
    I noticed a change too. But I am really digging his vocal style the last couple of years. I remember in 06 thinking how he would nail the new songs off of Avacodo but he would almost yodel a lot of the older songs to get through them. Yodel is a bad desricptive word for it but his voice would dramatically waver up and down all the way through songs. I found that very distracting and it wasn't my taste. I'm not saying he couldn't sing the older songs... it seemed more of a way of saving his voice. Break out all the stops on new songs and coast on some of the older ones. At any rate i think his voice sounds fantastic this tour. Listening to the hartford 2010 bootleg, he really shines on that one and makes you think he's still got it. Big time.

    Couldn't agree more. I think the "ah's" are more of a lack of breath on his part than anything else. He just doesn't have the lung capacity that he used to have. He still has some serious pipes (best example being Of the Earth), but he doesn't compare, even to 2003 standards, when he still had that even baritone that carried him through songs. He's getting older and the singing and smoking are taking its toll now.
    -PUSH ME AND I WILL RESIST!
  • Posts: 435
    It's true about the added "ah"s, I've noticed that and other elements he throws in that he didn't before. Keeps it interesting, I like it.

    His voice is changing/evolving...it's an age thing. He sounded great in the early days (especially on the albums), but I think he's stronger live now than he was then, in terms of pitch, control, stamina, etc. Age has certainly changed his voice, nothing anyone can do but work with that.

    I still wish he'd quit smoking. That can't be good for his voice. And wotta voice, you know?
    "I know I was born and I know that I'll die...the in between is mine"
  • Posts: 533
    I agree with what others have said about aging, smoking, etc. having an impact on one's voice. But perhaps Ed changes his vocal style at times simply out of boredom and the desire to change things up at times. I mean he's the guy who is singing the songs night after night, all these years. I'm just saying that I believe that is part of it as well.
  • Posts: 4,377
    honestly, i dont quite understand how the hell ed can sound so good still. Listen to '95 boots. Rough-raw sounding..sure its grunge the way it should be...but if he kept singing like that, there is no way he woulda lasted till now, sounding as good as he does...especially considering he smokes....Thanks Ed for taking some lessons back in 96....because if it werent for that, he may sound like chris cornell these days....which is kinda sad

    He's gotta make up for the age and conditions somewhere....asking him to sing his heart out for 3 hrs a night for months in a row wouldnt even be logical if he didnt figure out how to compensate.

    Its evolution baby!! That, to me adds to keeping this band interesting...they're still good, but always evolving.
    Mansfield, MA - Jul 02, 2003; Mansfield, MA - Jul 03, 2003; Mansfield, MA - Jul 11, 2003; Boston, MA - Sep 29, 2004; Reading, PA - Oct 01, 2004; Hartford, CT - May 13, 2006; Boston, MA - May 24, 2006; Boston, MA - May 25, 2006; Hartford, CT - Jun 27, 2008; Mansfield, MA - Jun 28, 2008; Mansfield, MA - June 30, 2008; Hartford, CT - May 15, 2010; Boston, MA - May 17, 2010; [EV - Providence, RI - June 15, 2011; EV - Hartford, CT - June 18, 2011]; Worcester, MA - Oct. 15, 2013; Worcester, MA - Oct. 16, 2013; Hartford, CT - Oct. 25, 2013; Boston, MA -  August 5, 2016; Boston, MA - August 7, 2016...



  • Amherst, Massachusetts Posts: 1,510
    LikeAnOcean wrote:
    I must be in the minority here, but I like the way he's been singing in his 40s MUCH better than before.

    I totally agree.. I don't listen to any old boots anymore. I love the way Ed sounds today and the entire band as well.
  • Posts: 17,560
    I think my favorite time for Ed's voice was the 95-98 era. His voice is great during that time.
    Shows: 6.27.08 Hartford, CT/5.15.10 Hartford, CT/6.18.2011 Hartford, CT (EV Solo)/10.19.13 Brooklyn/10.25.13 Hartford
    "Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
  • Posts: 4,906
    edited July 2010
    LikeAnOcean wrote:
    I must be in the minority here, but I like the way he's been singing in his 40s MUCH better than before.

    Yup. Same here.

    And to be fair, the whole acl performance was pretty bad as far as eds singing. I've heard much better recent ones
    Post edited by 12345AGNST1 on
    5/28/06, 6/27/08, 10/28/09, 5/18/10, 5/21/10
    8/7/08, 6/9/09

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