When did Perry's voice die?

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nausearockpig
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When did Perry's voice die?

#1 Post by nausearockpig » Tue Dec 15, 2020 10:28 pm

I'm systematically listening to all my bootlegs and am getting to the later shows now, and Perry's vocals are pretty terrible. This isn't news, but I'm thinking I'm gonna ignore all the shows after his voice finally carked it.

Can anyone pinpoint when he was no longer able to do his proper "Perry 1.0" singing? Relapse? Or shortly after like 2001 - 2002? I'll go back and listen to some shows from each year, but am interested in your opinions.

I'm sure this has been discussed to death here and on xiola but I can't find it and can't be fucked looking too hard..

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Mescal
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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#2 Post by Mescal » Wed Dec 16, 2020 3:32 am

On relapse he still sounds great imo.

To me he still sounded ok in 2003/2004 so, that was shortly after Strays.

His voice was gone by the time Eric rejoined, when was that? 2008/2009?

So I'd say somewhere between 2003 and 2008

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nestos
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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#3 Post by nestos » Wed Dec 16, 2020 5:11 am

I saw SP w/ Nino (back in 2005 I guess) and Perry still sounded ok (but already started mincing singing, which can be considered as part of the issue)

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Pandemonium
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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#4 Post by Pandemonium » Thu Dec 17, 2020 6:52 pm

I saw a big difference in Perry's vocals between the '97 Enit Relapse show and the 2001 Hollywood Bowl show. Listening to Strays, a lot of the quirkiness and higher range in Perry's JA v.1 vocals were gone but I'd bet some of that was due to Ezrin wanting Perry to sing in a more traditional way.

That said, I thought his vocals were not very good at the Irvine Meadows '91 Lollapalooza show I saw, but that was more likely due to touring/drugs short term burnout.

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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#5 Post by Hokahey » Thu Dec 17, 2020 7:32 pm

Pandemonium wrote:
Thu Dec 17, 2020 6:52 pm
I saw a big difference in Perry's vocals between the '97 Enit Relapse show and the 2001 Hollywood Bowl show. Listening to Strays, a lot of the quirkiness and higher range in Perry's JA v.1 vocals were gone but I'd bet some of that was due to Ezrin wanting Perry to sing in a more traditional way.

That said, I thought his vocals were not very good at the Irvine Meadows '91 Lollapalooza show I saw, but that was more likely due to touring/drugs short term burnout.
Yeah, it seems to me it all started around the Strays era. Still sounded pretty ok in 2001. It does make you wonder how much Bob Ezrin influenced him. That guy realllllllly fucked up that band.

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zendo
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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#6 Post by zendo » Fri Dec 18, 2020 8:43 pm

What puzzled me was he would improve for some shows and then regress. Maybe he never learned to sing correctly from his diaphragm and not throat in a sustainable way and age took its toll on the recovery time needed between shows. :noclue:

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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#7 Post by Charles » Fri Dec 18, 2020 10:56 pm

91' his voice was gone. So I would say 90' was the peak.

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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#8 Post by Stickyfingers » Sat Dec 19, 2020 5:35 am

Charles wrote:
Fri Dec 18, 2020 10:56 pm
91' his voice was gone. So I would say 90' was the peak.
91??

you're joking, right?

Pornos + Relapse was still golden age.

Lower tones and general decline began around Satellite Party era.

astro
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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#9 Post by astro » Mon Dec 21, 2020 10:30 pm

When Etty took over.

trevor ayer
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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#10 Post by trevor ayer » Tue Dec 22, 2020 9:18 am

seems like when perry was touring enough to keep his voice in shape and if he got a few days off before a show .. he would nail it .. but if he is only doing like 10 shows a year he blows it out early in the set and its gone .. too much touring and he gets worn out .. i think he sang pretty different in pyros .. dumped the delay which probably wore out what was left of his voice since the delay does a lot without much effort and now his voice was naked and having to really hold its own .. i would go with 90 91 being the end of prime perry .. sounded great in pyros but no banshee wailing was present .. by the relapse everyone in the band was a bit flat and uninspiring

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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#11 Post by Charles » Tue Dec 22, 2020 9:16 pm

trevor ayer wrote:
Tue Dec 22, 2020 9:18 am
seems like when perry was touring enough to keep his voice in shape and if he got a few days off before a show .. he would nail it .. but if he is only doing like 10 shows a year he blows it out early in the set and its gone .. too much touring and he gets worn out .. i think he sang pretty different in pyros .. dumped the delay which probably wore out what was left of his voice since the delay does a lot without much effort and now his voice was naked and having to really hold its own .. i would go with 90 91 being the end of prime perry .. sounded great in pyros but no banshee wailing was present .. by the relapse everyone in the band was a bit flat and uninspiring
Yes. His voice with no delay is not that pretty. It's amazing how much depth that Ibanez 'knob' brings his vocals when he plays.

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Hype
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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#12 Post by Hype » Wed Dec 23, 2020 10:02 am

zendo wrote:
Fri Dec 18, 2020 8:43 pm
What puzzled me was he would improve for some shows and then regress. Maybe he never learned to sing correctly from his diaphragm and not throat in a sustainable way and age took its toll on the recovery time needed between shows. :noclue:
Go back and listen to the XXX record with honest ears. He's always strained his throat, sometimes really badly. As a young man with a ton of effects on the vocal, it was otherworldly and amazing, and he does have one of the more unique voices of the past 40 years, but he was never singing easy, natural, whatever.

There are some boots from back in the day where the scream-singing is so off-putting it's almost as if it's a different person, too.

So, I think this isn't really the right question. It's not *when* did his voice die, because the old age screechiness and lack of high notes isn't really the entire issue. It's that the type of singing that he has always done is not just singing notes properly and smoothly, but a performance that required certain energy in the sound -- anger, rawness, power, etc., in addition to the effects and the pitch, and carrying the melody of so much of the best, simplest, songs.

Really, Jane's Addiction's sound is built out of something really, really difficult to maintain.

I guess it's a little bit like Maynard's early vocals with Tool. Those were unmaintainable as well. And now Tool just sounds like boring sludge.

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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#13 Post by kv » Wed Dec 23, 2020 11:43 am

Yup! on about everything hype said...plus the question is taste based...l like nasally perry when he wasn't trying to be a good singer....he'll tell you himself he couldn't sing back then...he was pure emotion though...I def think he was off of that by porno days and working on being better at his craft (which started to lose what I liked about him)...and you guys gotta remember they did their final tour as a band and were ready to break up...then did lolla right after that and he had nothing left before lolla even started

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Mescal
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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#14 Post by Mescal » Wed Dec 23, 2020 12:16 pm

Hype wrote:
Wed Dec 23, 2020 10:02 am

I guess it's a little bit like Maynard's early vocals with Tool. Those were unmaintainable as well. And now Tool just sounds like boring sludge.
Not sure what you mean, and not to start a different discussion, but I saw Tool live last year and it was easily one of the best shows I've seen in years.

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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#15 Post by Hokahey » Wed Dec 23, 2020 12:53 pm

Mescal wrote:
Wed Dec 23, 2020 12:16 pm
Hype wrote:
Wed Dec 23, 2020 10:02 am

I guess it's a little bit like Maynard's early vocals with Tool. Those were unmaintainable as well. And now Tool just sounds like boring sludge.
Not sure what you mean, and not to start a different discussion, but I saw Tool live last year and it was easily one of the best shows I've seen in years.
They're always a visually arresting show, but their music has degraded in to as generic a version of themselves as I can imagine.

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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#16 Post by Smokestack » Wed Dec 23, 2020 2:03 pm

Hokahey wrote:
Wed Dec 23, 2020 12:53 pm
Mescal wrote:
Wed Dec 23, 2020 12:16 pm
Hype wrote:
Wed Dec 23, 2020 10:02 am

I guess it's a little bit like Maynard's early vocals with Tool. Those were unmaintainable as well. And now Tool just sounds like boring sludge.
Not sure what you mean, and not to start a different discussion, but I saw Tool live last year and it was easily one of the best shows I've seen in years.
They're always a visually arresting show, but their music has degraded in to as generic a version of themselves as I can imagine.
I know this topic was about Perry and not Maynard, but damnit, Tool is very bland these days. However, I did see them live a year ago and it was still great. But the new music is very meh.

IMO, in some of the Relapse shows I heard, Perry could still bring it. Perry's screaming was done for by the time the Jubilee tour started.

trevor ayer
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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#17 Post by trevor ayer » Wed Dec 23, 2020 6:04 pm

on that note it took porno for pyros to bring out a decent "i would for u" performance .. he would butcher that song often in the early years .. there is a rawness of the early years i love but he had some real muscle memory working for him by the final 1.0 tours .. i saw tool open for rollins band 2 nights at cbgbs .. opiate tour with end of the silence .. vernon reid came out and jammed on hollow man and crazy lover for the encore each night .. i liked half of undertow .. watching stevie nicks on pbs right now .. opening with that sweet sweet prince keyboard line on stand back .. her voice sounds pretty great .. prolly fixxed it wit a computer

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nausearockpig
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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#18 Post by nausearockpig » Wed Dec 23, 2020 6:14 pm

Smokestack wrote:
Wed Dec 23, 2020 2:03 pm
I know this topic was about Perry and not Maynard, but damnit, Tool is very bland these days. However, I did see them live a year ago and it was still great. But the new music is very meh.
http://aintnoright.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3600

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SR
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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#19 Post by SR » Thu Dec 31, 2020 6:56 am

Still had it here....07? Love this song

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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#20 Post by Hokahey » Thu Dec 31, 2020 9:32 am

SR wrote:
Thu Dec 31, 2020 6:56 am
Still had it here....07? Love this song
2003.

He talks his way through most of this, and when he does sing, it sounds pretty shot.

Jesus I forgot how awful they looked during the Strays era. Awful hair, ridiculous clothes. They HAD to have had a stylist pushing them all down this path because it's so specifically awful and overarching in their entire aesthetic. They all look like they're in Avril Lavigne's band from this exact same time period.

Also, Chris Chaney has been in this band for almost 20 years now. Unreal.

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SR
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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#21 Post by SR » Thu Dec 31, 2020 10:46 am

Raspy vox, with old time high end for me.

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parklife03
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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#22 Post by parklife03 » Mon Jan 04, 2021 6:39 pm

I honestly prefer the balance between his rawness and his more "Strays-era" voice. So I think I love the 97-2003 period.

The bootlegs from 90-91 are amazing in terms of wildneress and having that "punk spirit", but the screams were sometimes not in the right place, and his voice got strained easily.

As almost any singer with his pitch, he lost a lot in terms of rawness. But around 2000, he also gained a lot in terms of having a more "pro" singing voice. I love that balance between natural talent + experience.

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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#23 Post by elbuitre » Tue Jan 05, 2021 2:21 am

Hi voice was good at the La Cita comeback show in 2008. Trip Away in particular: https://youtu.be/r69d9ZBJqn0?t=222

He went completely old-school with his delay/effects that night so I'd say my enjoyment of his performance is as much about his set-up as it is his voice.

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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#24 Post by clickie » Wed Jan 06, 2021 8:38 pm

It seemed like it happened overnight.

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Re: When did Perry's voice die?

#25 Post by clickie » Thu Jan 07, 2021 5:36 am

In my opinion he still sounded good at Woodstock

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