Rivers Voice

Does anyone else realize rivers voice today on the old pinkerton and blue album songs just isnt the same. Whenever he has to sing loud he yells in an obnoxious,annoying voice that doesn't feel and sound like his old voice. It's almost like he tries to sing to not make his voice crack or sound bad but really whenever his voice does crack and has a deeper tone to it, it sounds better, more raw,and alot more enjoyable to listen to. For example in uspoken he sung in a soft voice and sounded extremely young. In Butterly he also sung in a soft voice but it was alot more emotional and his voice sounded 10 times better even though it cracks throughout the song. It's funny because it seems like rivers wants to sing in that annoying voice instead of his original pinkerton/blue voice. But occasionally in some peformances he does sound like the old him like in the 2009 aol buddy holly recording. Trampoline and Everyone also sound like his original voice and i know there old but there post pinkerton.And God only knows sounds great.When ever the the green album dropped along with all those demos he never sounded the same. Very sad for the old weezer fans. I bet it goes all the back from pinkerton on trying to get away from that sound. I know its not him getting older because he sounds even younger when he sings on the newer records. I just wish he would stop trying to sound like that and just be him even though its rougher and it cracks but its so much more better like that, I had to brings this up because every concert he just sounds so bad on pretty much every pinkerton/blue song especially el scorcho, tired of sex, and getchoo. El scorcho probably the worst because he uses that annoying voice so much in it. no more quality yells.

Tags: rivers, voice

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by just a fan on July 3, 2011 at 12:25am

mattsharp_wasright said:

My brother was telling me that the other day and I gotta agree
Notice how he'd say "AS I WALK AWAY!!!!!" in old performances, now he sounds all obnoxious AS I WALK AWAYYYY you know what I mean

I know exactly what you mean and thats what im trying to say. It makes it hard to listen to the whole thing like that. Im glad you agree

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jamekae on July 3, 2011 at 12:31am

I love the tone he has on the recording of God Only Knows, it shows that he still has the ability to channel that much sweeter, delicate voice than he hasn't really touched since Butterfly, I wish he'd write some material that would allow him to use that strength of his.

I too have noticed in recent live performances he's sacrificing tone and energy for the sake of having good breath control and hitting every note. The thing is though, most people won't even realise if Rivers is singing a slightly off-key note, what they will notice however is the lack of drive, aggression and feeling behind the vocals, check recent performances of Why Bother? or the "why don't you remember my name" bit of Paranoid Android, they both sound right, but they don't feel right.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by just a fan on July 3, 2011 at 12:41am

Yeah your exactly right with sacraficing tone and energy for breath control and hitting every note. And yeah most of the memories tour didnt feel right at all with him doing that

James Stockwell (Jamekae) said:

I love the tone he has on the recording of God Only Knows, it shows that he still has the ability to channel that much sweeter, delicate voice than he hasn't really touched since Butterfly, I wish he'd write some material that would allow him to use that strength of his.

I too have noticed in recent live performances he's sacrificing tone and energy for the sake of having good breath control and hitting every note. The thing is though, most people won't even realise if Rivers is singing a slightly off-key note, what they will notice however is the lack of drive, aggression and feeling behind the vocals, check recent performances of Why Bother? or the "why don't you remember my name" bit of Paranoid Android, they both sound right, but they don't feel right.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gohi on July 3, 2011 at 4:28am

I dunno guys, I really like his vocals on the Memories shows. There was a time in '09 where I thought his vocals were not very good live, but I have nothing to complain about in the shows that I've seen. Why Bother, both times I've seen it, featured some quality yells and high notes and Butterfly sounded heartfelt and emotional. I guess I don't get the complaints. If we were talking about his vocals on the Maladroit tour or Radtiude shows, I'd be a bit more understanding.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Daniel [bleed0range] on July 3, 2011 at 8:10am

Yeah, when I heard him live the past few times... I could not really differentiate from his style of voice on new songs versus the old ones really. They all sounded great. I will agree that on the recordings, especially the red album and such... that he may have sounded different at times. Dreamin and Troublemaker comes to mind. But I think he was just experimenting with different ways to sing. I think he was doing the same on Hurley. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, as long as the result is actually good.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Farkas on July 3, 2011 at 8:30am

I don't agree.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Max on July 3, 2011 at 8:54am

If you haven't noticed, 1994-1996 Rivers cuomo had a lot more emotion in his voice. The songs meant something to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RFTB5vgV_4

This video of Say it aint so shows this emotion. During the bridge, you can tell the song means something. Same with all of pinkerton. But now that Rivers is older, married, and has kids, he can look back at those songs and kinda laugh at them. Like we all laugh at our younger selves. Now he just sings those songe because people want him to and he has accepted pinkerton as a great album, but an album where he can laugh at himself for being, well, his 1996 self.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jamekae on July 3, 2011 at 8:58am

Oh yeah, his vocals are definitely worlds better than those two eras and don't get me wrong, I still think he sounds fantastic, but if you start to nit-pick I think it's clear that he has sounded better and that's the point I was trying to raise. I've heard some fantastic vocal moments he's recently done like the operatic ending of Susanne and the added high note in Across the Sea, but I've also heard some not-so-fantastic things like him pronouncing "aaaaaa" instead of "eeeeee" and singing Paranoid Android in a stunted sounding range (even though he proved to us in the God Only Knows video that he can get a real heartfelt, passionate tone even in a higher register!). I'm happy with his voice, but at the end of the day, I'm a Weezer fan and I'm here to scrutinize!

Michael Rowland (NOT GOHI) said:

I dunno guys, I really like his vocals on the Memories shows. There was a time in '09 where I thought his vocals were not very good live, but I have nothing to complain about in the shows that I've seen. Why Bother, both times I've seen it, featured some quality yells and high notes and Butterfly sounded heartfelt and emotional. I guess I don't get the complaints. If we were talking about his vocals on the Maladroit tour or Radtiude shows, I'd be a bit more understanding.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by =gregor= on July 3, 2011 at 9:23am

i've never had a problem with his voice. I haven't heard the bootlegs yet though.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by just a fan on July 3, 2011 at 9:58am

Yeah you can't really tell on the newer songs he performs live, green album and up, and if you listen to most of pinkerton/blue stuff live he does sound good on some stuff but then on another part in the song he'll yell like a little kid that sounds really bad. Just listen to the el scorcho performances

Daniel [bleed0range] said:

Yeah, when I heard him live the past few times... I could not really differentiate from his style of voice on new songs versus the old ones really. They all sounded great. I will agree that on the recordings, especially the red album and such... that he may have sounded different at times. Dreamin and Troublemaker comes to mind. But I think he was just experimenting with different ways to sing. I think he was doing the same on Hurley. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, as long as the result is actually good.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gohi on July 3, 2011 at 9:59am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BMbhl7i1gY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-0B4AwKt2k

Oh yeah, man. No emotion at all. Yep. These songs clearly mean nothing to him anymore.

LOL.

Max Weiss said:

If you haven't noticed, 1994-1996 Rivers cuomo had a lot more emotion in his voice. The songs meant something to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RFTB5vgV_4

This video of Say it aint so shows this emotion. During the bridge, you can tell the song means something. Same with all of pinkerton. But now that Rivers is older, married, and has kids, he can look back at those songs and kinda laugh at them. Like we all laugh at our younger selves. Now he just sings those songe because people want him to and he has accepted pinkerton as a great album, but an album where he can laugh at himself for being, well, his 1996 self.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by just a fan on July 3, 2011 at 10:11am

He still shows alot of emotion in all those old songs but im saying for the most part he just doesnt sound like the old him

Michael Rowland (NOT GOHI) said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BMbhl7i1gY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-0B4AwKt2k

Oh yeah, man. No emotion at all. Yep. These songs clearly mean nothing to him anymore.

LOL.

Max Weiss said:

If you haven't noticed, 1994-1996 Rivers cuomo had a lot more emotion in his voice. The songs meant something to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RFTB5vgV_4

This video of Say it aint so shows this emotion. During the bridge, you can tell the song means something. Same with all of pinkerton. But now that Rivers is older, married, and has kids, he can look back at those songs and kinda laugh at them. Like we all laugh at our younger selves. Now he just sings those songe because people want him to and he has accepted pinkerton as a great album, but an album where he can laugh at himself for being, well, his 1996 self.