Albert Hall..... Sold Out !!!

[moondance]

or it's a Ralph Kramden "to the moon Alice" move.

That's probably it.

Your emoticon, fish hook girl, looks the way that I felt trying to finish off my Christmas shopping this weekend. I am so sick of Christmas carols by now! Please...no more Johnny Mathis...I'll be good.

[Fish Hook Girl]

I am so sick of Christmas carols by now! Please...no more Johnny Mathis...I'll be good.

Where I work, the girl (she's my age, but I can't call her a lady, it sounds too old!) at the front desk area has been playing Christmas carols she has stored on her ipod through some portable speakers. These carols are so insufferable -- Bing Crosby, Johnny Mathis -- everything but the barking dogs. I really wonder about her taste in music.

[guitarplayer on here too]

Where the hell did that article appear from, what a load of crap (although where did that last paragraph come from?).

Mac sounds like Tom Smith... pah. Maybe the Editors have a resemblance in sound to the Bunnymen in the 1980s, but certainly no similarity in vocal style back then or even today. Mac does still have a distinctive vocal style, but everyone knows it has shot to pieces and continues to be more suited to Electrafixion period-type rockier songs than some of the softer songs that you get from them today. More akin to Kelly Jones than anyone else I can think of around today. A singer who is rumoured to be a very heavy smoker as well.

Same for the bollocks you hear from some fans that how can you expect a singer to sound the same as in his 20s after 28 years+ in the business. It wasn't fags that made it like that and it went like that somewhere around 1993 when he was no more than aged 34. Hardly an age to damage your voice through smoking. Personally, I think the Bunnymen are a brilliant band, legends, but even I can see that they are not what they were. And I'm not some kind of Mac hater. Without him, there would be no Bunnymen anymore.

[withahip]

Where the hell did that article appear from, what a load of crap (although where did that last paragraph come from?).

I put the last paragraph in. You know, no problem smoking through entire sets, wrecking his voice despite the loyalty of us fans shelling out cash for conecerts and cds.

I didn't know I was going to get fhg all wound up.

[guitarplayer on here too]

I thought you did. But perhaps it should have been a proper part of the article. Yeah it winds me up too, especially when some people get very defensive about Mac at any comments about his singing voice that are, quite frankly, true. But I still don't think cutting the fags out will ever make much difference though. Ironically, smoking can be quite soothing to the vocal chords/voice box. And are probably more of an aid to Mac during gigs than a hindrance (obviously when he can smoke given the ban in the UK). But over the long-term, it's the other damage that it can do that is a bigger worry for any smoker.

[Mr. Brian]

Same for the bollocks you hear from some fans that how can you expect a singer to sound the same as in his 20s after 28 years+ in the business.

Change is fine but that's different than a decline in quality. Mac's vocal style on Crocodiles vs. Grey Album is much different and then from the Grey Album to WAYGTDWYL I think it was relatively the same and he wrote songs about the same way too. It was after that the quality of his voice went downhill. I was just stunned to hear Mac's nicotine choked voice just croaking through songs like Ocean Rain during that Siberia tour. No way would I expect him to yelp and bellow like he did on HUH, but man he was starting to sound like Tom Waits with a cold on a bad day there for a while with no range at all. The last time I truly enjoyed Mac's voice on a studio recording was on WAYGTDWYL.

I've heard it has improved in the recent past but I have not heard a decent recording to be able to tell. I hope it's true.

[Dr Cheese]

Just play Evergreen and Siberia back to back, the decline in Mac's voice is obvious and a bit shocking when you consider they're only 8 years apart.

[JackT]

After Burned I really stopped following the Bunnymen for awhile, being only vaguely aware of Evergreen when it came out. Years later I got a chance to listen to Live in Liverpool and my reaction was "Aggggggggghhh what's wrong with Mac?????????"

[guitarplayer on here too]

There has certainly been a decline in quality. In fact, he generally doesn't sound all that good singing live at all anymore. Compare the Bunnymen live to the 1980s when they sounded better live than on record, whereas today they sound better recorded than live. The producer who worked on Evergreen and WAYGTDWYL? got everything right for Mac's voice, but the production on Flowers and Siberia was pretty dire in places (What If We Are? for example).

I also agree that nobody expects Mac to yelp like he did on HUH, but even in the early 1990s he sounded like he did back then circa Ocean Rain through to the grey album. I got my first ever listen to Honeydrip (out in 1992 I believe without checking) the other day having never bothered with his solo material before Slideling and I was left wondering how the Bunnymen would have sounded like now if he'd kept his voice exactly like that. Clear (rather than husky) at lower ranges and still able to belt something out smoothly at a higher range. I still don't think it's the fags that did the damage. I guess we'll never get to know, unless this forthcoming biography thing reveals all. I don't think it's something to be ashamed that a singer cannot sing the same as they did say 15 odd years ago, but it is annoying when they make out they are still as good as they ever were.

[Mr. Brian]

Years later I got a chance to listen to Live in Liverpool and my reaction was "Aggggggggghhh what's wrong with Mac?????????"

I can't stand that recording. Way too much emphasis on the Flowers songs too.

[Scouser]

At LIPA it sounded great, but pretty lifeless on record.

What we need is for Warners to remaster A Crystal Day and Albert Hall footage (it must be in the vaults somewhere)

[Mr. Brian]

I've heard that quite a bit of overdubbing went on for the LIPA recording to "fix" some things. More than the normal stuff that happens with live recordings. People all say the show itself was great, they must have really screwed it up when they re-engineered it.

I'll admit that a live show is always better than the recording, there is acoustics to consider, atmosphere, mood, alcohol.

[withahip]

imho - I think the greatest EATB song in the last ten years and one of the best of their career is "Empire State HAlo." Mac's range is not even an octave yet he sounds like he is soaring.

The guitar riff is memorable and chord chances grabbing.


Let Mac keep smoking, but the man needs a couple weeks of voice lessons to brush up on his breathing.

and again - let Mac sing over a Glide album.

[black francis]

Didn't Will write most of the music on Crocodiles? That album wasn't too bad.

[black francis]

Now, that's some clever wit.



Is your smiley jerking off? Real mature, fella, real mature.

In withahip's defense he is only upset at Mac cause it was my heart that was broken at the last L.A. Bunnymen show. He's very protective of me.

That Borg smiley was my favorite till withahip pulled out the one whacking off.