Oh, what the hell; here we go again...
I don't even get how people can NOT notice Ms. irwin's "slight"
note-finding problem live--on disc it's a different story, seems to me..and
I say this as someone who's always liked their "Old Paint" CD and still
do--only now I'm aware of the 4800 takes it must surely have demanded till
they arrived at ones with the notes pretty much hit!
As I added on-list after that show Mrs. Haugesag just mentioned...some of
my best-loved acts are not especially known for PRECISION and natural
or trained VOCAL CLARITY , so I'm far from a stickler in this regard (The
Sticklers are, of course, a highly practiced bluegrass family band from,
uh, Northern Kentucky <g>)!
What's more off-putting about Freakwater live (and this is not as
noticeable on disc either, so maybe it's stagefright or something that
overtakes the act) is that the singing was emotionally imprecise and
unknowing....
Same said Ms. irwin holds notes and breaths when the meanings says
clip...roars exactly when she orta shut tight, breaksoff and searches for
some version of a "harmony" at moments more randomized than demanded by the
lyric, etc etc etc c...so I have to figure she doesn't quite know what
she's singing ABOUT.
That's my definition of Bad Singing--bad performing of any sort
really--and doing those same things right, maybe even especially if done
unexpectedly right in many inventive ways, is a big part of why I can call
a Bob Dylan, for instance, a great singer, or Steve Earle a damned good
one-- with no irony intended AT ALL.
For the record, I do think Jon W's always been RIGHT in pointing out
around here that doing all of the technical thinks precisely does NOT
automatically mean you've gone deadly, romantically challenged or
mechanical either. Clarity and precision can be perfectly useful
tools--but the highest point of their use too is still to deliver
something soulful.
Some artists arrive at that highpoint by slightly different means, from
slightly different traditions. Rock and roll, bothering from strains in
R&B, and being, as Dave Alvin always says, a loud folk music itself, tends
to be forgiving about precision.
But that's no cover for the truly singing-challenged.
Barry M.
