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posted by
davidt
on Monday October 16 2006, @11:00PM
the love of wilde writes:
The Globe and Mail cites Moz as a shining example of all that is right with pop singers in an otherwise grossly overproduced/auto-tuned culture... I'm sure this article would solicit a knowing smile and nod from the great man himself link: Ruled by Frankenmusic - globeandmail.com Excerpt: I was listening to Morrissey sing Dear God, Please Help Me, on his recent album Ringleader of the Tormentors, when I had one of those moments of revelation that sometimes happen in pop music. As that light, vulnerable tenor floated above the song's gliding beat, I realized that I was hearing something that has been banished from whole sectors of the recording industry: a man singing out of tune. He's not far off the pitch, most of the time, though enough to notice if you have an ear for that sort of thing. One descending line sags a little each time he sings it, especially at the words "track me down," when he slides a full tone flat at the trailing end of the phrase. He goes sharp, too, pushing a bit too high each time he reaches the last and highest-pitched words of the final refrain, "but the heart feels free." At this point in the music, Ennio Morricone's orchestral arrangement has reached its full magnificence, all the tension Morrissey sang about in the opening lines has dissipated, and you're left with the very tactile symbolism of a voice straining upwards as the heart feels its freedom. Dear God, Please Help Me is one of the most beautiful songs of the year (also one of the most mischievous, since it portrays a sexual tryst as an encounter with divine mercy), and its flaws are part of its beauty. It might not have turned out nearly as well if Moz were up to date, and used Auto-Tune like everybody else. Auto-Tune, in case you haven't heard, is a top-selling software program that corrects pitch for musicians who can't always do it themselves. It became headline news three years ago, when country singer Allison Moorer attached stickers on her album Miss Fortune that read: "Absolutely no vocal tuning or pitch-correction [technology] was used in the making of this record."
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Moz out of tune on "Dear God..."? - article on "Auto Tune" technology
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moz sounds wonderful (Score:1)
auto tune is a shameful embarrassment and morrissey always sounds wonderfully in tune. plus, moz never oversings, which is a huge problem in pop music by artists who use pitch fluctuation and vibrato to hide the fact that they are out of tune. moz uses none of this . he's pretty much perfect and the reviewer obviously has sour grapes because of his own failed life.
(User #11990 Info)
What, are your Randy Jackson? (Score:1)
Morrissey worked it out, Dog!
(User #14330 Info)
The author makes a very good point (Score:2, Interesting)
That is why Morrissey sounds like an old-fashioned crooner these days. His vocals are very real. The soul of a performance lies in the attack and decay, and the areas around perfect pitch. His voice does indeed slide around the notes - and does so masterfully.
Kudos to those vocalists who keep it real, and resist the cold, hard lure of "perfection." Mozza's voice melts right where it should, and no software or hardware can reproduce that human warmth.
Listen to Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong or Edith Piaf. They would have been murdered by pitch correction.
(User #14203 Info)
Auto Tune (Score:0)
Vertical Tones....Horizontal Noise (Score:1)
Whilst ruminating upon his favourite singers, he was asked by Peebles about his own vocal style. Morrissey replied that he only sings in the most natural voice that comes to him...."If that makes me flat or out of key....then so be it".
Morrissey's naturalistic vocalising is surely part of the reason we are all drawn towards him. No other voice could EVER do his lyrics anything resembling justice....the intonation is detriment to the subject matter on virtually every song.
That's why NO cover version has ever contained 1% of Morrissey's candour or epochal importance.
(User #10687 Info)
Neg bias mis-shapes this submission's tone. (Score:0)
Interesting. (Score:0)
There was an interview with Brian Eno back in the days of the early Smiths where he comments about Moz singing out of tune.
Uh... (Score:0)
Also, many times effects used on a vocalists voice can create just as power of an effect as pitch correction. Morrissey has used numerous vocal effects throughout his career.
The reality is, unless you digitze it to a noticeable degree, pitch correction cannot solve everything. Certainly Morrissey is allowing for those errors for the sake of purity, but he does seem to be straining vocally more so now, than in his early solo career.
vocal foibles can have an unintended effect when the music is heavily produced like it has been on Morrissey's last few albums. It stands out more as a flaw, next to the crystal clear perfection of modern production.
Like he said (Score:1)
Everywhere else on it where he's in the top register it has the effect of sounding... uh, shit.
Sorry, but it does.
(User #6533 Info)
Imperfect pitch perfect (Score:0)
Cool (Score:0)
It's like a girlfriend when proposed "will you marry me" after 20 years of relationship, would comment it back to the man: "Darling, how interestingly your worlds were a bit our of tune"
(User #14586 Info)