Brian on new Elton John album

[Andrew G. Doe]

The Union, due out in October - apparently it's largely a Leon Russell/EJ affair although Bernie's in there too.

[c-man]

I wonder if Brian had any interaction with Leon on these sessions?  I wonder if EJ and Russell duet on a new version of Elton's "Leon"?  I wonder if I wonder too much?

[Wirestone]

I've been following this -- very interesting project. Bernie writing lyrics, Elton and Leon co-composing music. Produced by T bone Burnett. Van Dyke is doing string arrangements.

[Ron]

Actually that sounds pretty awesome.  Van Dyke Parks, T Bone, Brian Wilson, and Elton John would then technically all be involved with the same song, eh? 

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

What's Brian's involvement with it? One song doing back-ups?

[Andrew G. Doe]

Guest = bvs 

[Shady]

Cool. I'll check it out

[Smilin Ed H]

Hope to God someone uses autotune on Elton's voice.  He's been sounding like a pub singer for almost twenty years.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Autotune won't change that. It's autotune, not Chuck Norris.

[Mr. Cohen]

I think I remember seeing somewhere that Elton is very proud of his latter day voice. He feels like he can give his songs more emotional weight, or make them seem more serious. Gee, who does that sound like that?

[Amy B.]

Didn't Elton have surgery for vocal nodules and end up with a much deeper voice? In any case, sounds like an interesting album. I know how much Elton respects Brian's work.

[Wirestone]

Several things happened to Elton's voice.

1.) His classic 70s voice was never "natural." He sang out of his range -- way too high -- for years. It wasn't until he did some sessions with Thom Bell in the late 70s that he was urged by an outside producer to try a more natural --lower -- range. In the early 80s, Elton ended up taking this to heart -- his voice sounds different way before he had any surgery.

2.) He had throat nodules removed in 87, after a tour documented on the "Live in Australia" album. His voice bounced back pretty quickly (some of the stuff he recorded a year or so later sounds like the early 80s), but the top range -- even if he wanted it -- was pretty much gone.

3.) He toured his voice very hard in the 90s and into the current decade. He still belts, too, which means that his voice just shreds a bit more each year. He pretty much hasn't had a clean tone since the late 90s. There's some gravel even in his ballads these days.

I sometimes wish he'd taken better care of his vocal instrument over the last 10 years or so. There's no reason that he should sound quite like that these days -- except for over-use.

[Smilin Ed H]

Reminds me of Vic Reeves...

[Chris Brown]

Several things happened to Elton's voice.

1.) His classic 70s voice was never "natural." He sang out of his range -- way too high -- for years. It wasn't until he did some sessions with Thom Bell in the late 70s that he was urged by an outside producer to try a more natural --lower -- range. In the early 80s, Elton ended up taking this to heart -- his voice sounds different way before he had any surgery.

2.) He had throat nodules removed in 87, after a tour documented on the "Live in Australia" album. His voice bounced back pretty quickly (some of the stuff he recorded a year or so later sounds like the early 80s), but the top range -- even if he wanted it -- was pretty much gone.

3.) He toured his voice very hard in the 90s and into the current decade. He still belts, too, which means that his voice just shreds a bit more each year. He pretty much hasn't had a clean tone since the late 90s. There's some gravel even in his ballads these days.

I sometimes wish he'd taken better care of his vocal instrument over the last 10 years or so. There's no reason that he should sound quite like that these days -- except for over-use.

I agree, it really is a tragedy what's happened to Elton's voice in the last decade.  Even into the late 90's, he still sounded pretty damn good for his age and what his voice had already been through.  There were still small moments on record where he sounded like his younger self, with a clear and strong tone.  Nowadays I can't even listen to him sing his own songs.  I don't like gravel in anyone's voice generally, and especially not when that person is singing songs that were meant to be sung with a young, clear voice.  Natural or not, his voice in the 70's was incredible...much like Brian, he learned to utilize his high voice to create wonderful dynamics in his melodies, and his songs were stronger for it.

I never thought I'd see the day where Brian Wilson (who is 5 years or so older than Elton I believe) sounded better live than Elton, but from what we've seen of Brian the past few years, it seems to have actually happened.  Still, I look forward to hearing what Elton comes up with, and having Brian doing some vocals is always a plus.

[Wirestone]

Yes, the fact that Brian tours relatively little, still has some vocal coaching, and doesn't push his voice too hard onstage has really served him well. I'm always surprised when I see him live to hear how piercing -- and relatively clear -- his tone still is.

And to be fair to Elton -- he's still in decent voice on his studio albums. He's also a smart enough live singer to mask or use his limitations for effect when it suits him. Frankly, I wonder if there's anything wrong with him that a year of vocal rest or a dramatically reduced tour schedule couldn't fix. (Take a listen to live clip on the front of eltonjohn.com -- it's from a week or so ago, and far better than I expected.)

[Ron]

I think Elton's voice sounds great.  The last album I bought of his was a few years back, the one with "Elusive Drug" on it, and "Freaks in Love", both of those songs he sounds great on.  He has a really powerful sound.  Definately way differerent than his early stuff, though.

The thing about Elton's classic songs that he does, that I always thought was actually pretty damn cool, was it seems that he kind of leaped for notes way out of his range, and sometimes made them and sometimes didn't.  When he would jump up into those high parts his voice would go way thin and usually be a little sharp to my ears at least.  He did it so much though that it was stylized and a really interesting technique to me.  Of course the classic example of this would be how he does it over and over again in "Tiny Dancer". 

I can't hate his modern voice, very solid to me.  I haven't seen him live since about 2001 or so, though.  He sounded great then (sang Tiny Dancer much lower, however!)

[Ron]

I think Elton's voice sounds great.  The last album I bought of his was a few years back, the one with "Elusive Drug" on it, and "Freaks in Love", both of those songs he sounds great on.  He has a really powerful sound.  Definately way differerent than his early stuff, though.

The thing about Elton's classic songs that he does, that I always thought was actually pretty damn cool, was it seems that he kind of leaped for notes way out of his range, and sometimes made them and sometimes didn't.  When he would jump up into those high parts his voice would go way thin and usually be a little sharp to my ears at least.  He did it so much though that it was stylized and a really interesting technique to me.  Of course the classic example of this would be how he does it over and over again in "Tiny Dancer".  Another would be the hook to "Someone saved my life tonight". 

I can't hate his modern voice, very solid to me.  I haven't seen him live since about 2001 or so, though.  He sounded great then (sang Tiny Dancer much lower, however!)

[Smilin Ed H]

Lie a candddddduuuuuuullllll in the weeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnd

Dreadful.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

McCartney still sounds great.  Ringo still sounds the same.

Dylan now sounds like a burnt ashtray.

Mike still sounds like Mike, but I haven't heard Bruce sing in years.

Brian obviously has salvaged his voice as best as possible.

Al still sounds fantastic!

[adamghost]

Elton still had the falsetto for SLEEPING WITH THE PAST, which was two years after the surgery.  After that, though, it was mostly gone.  His last album where he had clear vocals was SONGS FROM THE WEST COAST, which was '01.  Since then it's been pretty gravelly.  He's recovered a little in the past year from what I can tell, but yeah, it's hard to listen to now.

[Amy B.]

McCartney still sounds great.  Ringo still sounds the same.

Ringo never really stretched his voice. "Photograph" seems to be his toughest vocal.
McCartney sounds good for his age, though his voice has declined, as would be expected. And something about his voice now gets on my nerves. I can't pinpoint what it is, though. It's too affected or something.