Why does James sound so good on ACOS considering it is post-accident?

[Ħ]

OIALT is a flat-out awful performance by James, so glad he got out of that rut. That album is basically unlistenable because of how bad the vocals are.

[RodrigoAltaf]

OIALT is a flat-out awful performance by James, so glad he got out of that rut. That album is basically unlistenable because of how bad the vocals are.

 On OIALT, no words sound more appropriate on Take Away My Pain than the song title itself.

[Sycsa]

OIALT is a flat-out awful performance by James, so glad he got out of that rut. That album is basically unlistenable because of how bad the vocals are.

I still prefer it to his Budokan performance, which is a real shame considering it's the nicest looking concert DVD I ever saw. Plus OIALT got Derek's great Hammond sound.

[BlobVanDam]

OIALT is a flat-out awful performance by James, so glad he got out of that rut. That album is basically unlistenable because of how bad the vocals are.

Definitely the low point for him, and the band. The keyboards ruin it as much as the vocals for me though.
To think that it's been 15 years since then, and JLB has only improved.

Because all the finest wines IMPROVE WITH AGE!

[marlencrabapple]

You guys keep mentioning OIALT being James' worst recorded performance, but to be completely honest it sounds like he's just trying to avoid coughing throughout most of it. His Sean Conner impression esque performances on CiM are far more cringe worthy.

[TheGreatPretender]

OIALT is a flat-out awful performance by James, so glad he got out of that rut. That album is basically unlistenable because of how bad the vocals are.

Definitely the low point for him, and the band. The keyboards ruin it as much as the vocals for me though.
To think that it's been 15 years since then, and JLB has only improved.

Because all the finest wines IMPROVE WITH AGE!

Are you implying that he's.... Winy?

[RodrigoAltaf]

You guys keep mentioning OIALT being James' worst recorded performance, but to be completely honest it sounds like he's just trying to avoid coughing throughout most of it. His Sean Conner impression esque performances on CiM are far more cringe worthy.

 Which song in particular? I think he did a good job on a handful of songs on CiM.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

You guys keep mentioning OIALT being James' worst recorded performance, but to be completely honest it sounds like he's just trying to avoid coughing throughout most of it. His Sean Conner impression esque performances on CiM are far more cringe worthy.

 Which song in particular? I think he did a good job on a handful of songs on CiM.

It's easier to ask: In which songs do you think he did a good job?  CiM is universally considered as one of JLB's worst moments ever.

[SeRoX]

Knowing that James had many amazing performances during SC World Tour, it only matters to me. So, having worst performances on the DVD is another debateable matter and James is not the one can be blamed for this.

Actually I'm still questioning, in what sense you decided to put "that" Blind Faith performance in DVD even though there was better performances recorded from the tour. Same goes for Surrounded and Lines In The Sand... Actually all...

[El JoNNo]

Yeah, in my mind you would put on performances that don't paint any member in a bad light when doing a compilation.

[ZirconBlue]

You guys keep mentioning OIALT being James' worst recorded performance, but to be completely honest it sounds like he's just trying to avoid coughing throughout most of it. His Sean Conner impression esque performances on CiM are far more cringe worthy.

I agree.  On OiaLT, his voice cracks some, and he screams where he can't hit the high notes, but otherwise there's a lot to like in the album.  On CiM, on the other hand, everytime he goes into the higher registers it sounds very. . . fake, like his voice has been extremely overprocessed.  I don't know if he was way off pitch, and they really layed on the AutoTune, or what, but the high parts on CiM don't sound like I've ever heard JLB sing, before or since.

[Sacul]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nfun2sYGRI
For me, Budokan has his worst performance.

[Ħ]

It's not so surprising that singers can have nights where they are completely off, but what is extremely surprising is the fact that they decided to put out these performances as big DVD/CD releases. Surely they have other footage or can film several shows just to be safe! This is probably true for CIM especially. The problem is almost always James, he's the factor that makes or breaks the whole listening experience.

[TheGreatPretender]

It's not so surprising that singers can have nights where they are completely off, but what is extremely surprising is the fact that they decided to put out these performances as big DVD/CD releases. Surely they have other footage or can film several shows just to be safe! This is probably true for CIM especially. The problem is almost always James, he's the factor that makes or breaks the whole listening experience.

Well, they don't film every single night. They decide ahead of time when they want to film, and if it's not the best night for James, then there's nothing they can do. They already spent the money on the camera people and stuff, so it's not like they can say, "Well, too bad. I guess we'll just shelf this one."

But I think people really exaggerate. His performance on LAB and even OIALT was fine. Maybe not the most stellar, jam packed with improvised F#s, but it's not like some of the other bootlegs I've seen where his voice was just consistently cracking to a point where it's painful to listen to.

[GasparXR]

It's not so surprising that singers can have nights where they are completely off, but what is extremely surprising is the fact that they decided to put out these performances as big DVD/CD releases. Surely they have other footage or can film several shows just to be safe! This is probably true for CIM especially. The problem is almost always James, he's the factor that makes or breaks the whole listening experience.

Well, they don't film every single night. They decide ahead of time when they want to film, and if it's not the best night for James, then there's nothing they can do. They already spent the money on the camera people and stuff, so it's not like they can say, "Well, too bad. I guess we'll just shelf this one."

But I think people really exaggerate. His performance on LAB and even OIALT was fine. Maybe not the most stellar, jam packed with improvised F#s, but it's not like some of the other bootlegs I've seen where his voice was just consistently cracking to a point where it's painful to listen to.

Indeed! He has a few awesome moments on both. On LaB, I love the line in Trial of Tears "I look for a way back home", as well as right before the second chorus of New Millennium "Welcome you all new milleeenniUUM!". Also, in TDS, "Now that you can see all you have done", the vibrato when he sings "see" is amazing. On OIALT, some of the extra improv notes in Lie were pretty cool.

[Ħ]

This dyyying sooul-owl

*cringe*

[GasparXR]

This dyyying sooul-owl

*cringe*

That would be one of the parts that I don't like, though.