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Geddy Lee's voice

#22
I love Geddy's voice on pretty much everything. Sanity-defying stuff on the early albums, mellowed out by Signals with some high bursts, and now he's pretty mellow, but amazing in that range.
 
#24
Geddy's voice, like so much else about Rush, has always been a love-it-or-hate-it kind of thing. Our drummer can't listen to Rush because of it. The rest of us love it. But you cannot deny that the guy can hold a tune, and his live performances deliver the goods big time, huge energy, even if it's not your thing.

Listen to 2112, the whole 23-minute song. Better yet, listen to the live version from All the World's a Stage. Geddy goes from singing softly to searing rock and roll screaming effortlessly. During the Presentation, where the guy shows the priests the guitar, he changes voices depending on which character in the story he is playing. Freakin' amazing, I always loved Geddy's singing, especially in his younger days.

Nowadays, you have to catch Geddy at the beginning of the tour to hear him at his best. When I saw him sing Headlong Flight is was flawless and blew the crowd away. That was like the second date on the tour. A few months later I saw them again and it wasn't as good, but neither was the sound in that joint.
 
#25
You either love it or you hate it...and boy do I love it. There is not one song where I haven't liked Geddy's vocals (and I've heard them all). It's a distinctive part of the band and what makes Rush, Rush.

Gotta say, Fountain of Lamneth vocals are some of my all time faves. The shrill is amazing to me.
 
#26
stratovani said:
When it comes to high shrill voices I can't decide who's shriller - Geddy Lee or AC/DC's Bon Scott.
Click to expand...
I thought Rush had a female singer. I thought BB King's "deuces are wild" duet on "Please send me someone to love" was with an old blues female star. Turns out it was the Simply Red guy:confused: Every time I hear high pitched voices I think it's a woman. I hate ACDC. I am an official old school curmudgeon. And regarding old stuff, I hated that squeaky voiced dude in the Jefferson airplane/starship in my era too. Grace Slick sounded more ballsy. Michael Jackson wrote some great music with Quincy Jones, but he should have hired a singer with b...
Lets see, how else I could get hate mail. I love Al Green because he has amazing range and soul. That man can hit the high notes and still pull the rest. Give me Aretha, Susan Tedeschi Beth Hart Bonnie Raiit and Etta James for tenors. Geddy plays great bass! :hiding:
 
#27
I like some Rush, but I've never quite been able to get past Geddy's voice.

Probably 30 years ago, I played part of the live version of 2112 for my mother-in-law. That's a record I love, and that song especially. All went well until Geddy's voice came on. The M-I-L started laughing hysterically, and then we all started laughing. I hope Geddy has a sense of humor about his voice.
 
#32
Last time I saw Rush was for thier "Time Machine" tour. They opened with "Spirit of Radio" and as soon as Geddy started singing it was obvious as to how much he was straining on the older songs. I also noticed this on the DVD of the same tour.

Not knocking the man at all. Hey, he's getting older, time takes it's toll and the old pipes just ain't what they use to be. It's gonna happen.
 
#33
russpurdy said:
<snip>

I'm surprised that so many people have an issue with the voice but no mention of the often crazy lyrics. I know a lot of them are inspired by fictional literature but "break my fast on honeydew and drink the milk of paradise" is definitely worth at least a discussion.

For the record, I love the lyrics for what they are but they are (waaaay out there).
Click to expand...


These words as well as the rest of the lyrics are more or less taken directly from Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan".

The poem has been extensively discussed for about two hundred years. Apparently Coleride was under the influence of drugs when writing it...

IMO Geddy's voice is just perfect for the period up until Moving Pictures. Couldn't have been done with any other voice.
I don't care too much for the later stuff unfortunately.
 
#35
I remember being six and commenting that I thought Geddy Lee's voice sounded "weird". My mom promptly put on Janis Joplin and I didn't think he sounded weird anymore. (I also thought he was a girl for two years after that...)

I went to probably the same shows as Spectrum and the first time I saw Garden it was stellar, utterly blew me away. Second time around on the umpteenth show his voice was showing tour wear that the magic just wasn't there (for that song). He's moral. And I agree with what others have said about Geddy Lee's voice being a part to Rush's success, the whole band is weird, which makes it appealing to the counterculture.
 

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