Glenn Tilbrook on Live at Daryl's House

[Outkaster]

I watched all the tunes on this new episode Glenn Tilbrook has a killer voice.  The band is on point as usual. Brian Dunn is a monster drummer.   I suspect Daryl struggles with some of the keys and his voice seems a little off.  The song Tempted seems off and weird also. It’s Glenn’s song but Paul Carrack really made that tune.  I also suspect there is some auto tune going on with vocals. That Roland sounds freakin horrible also.  Black Coffee in Bed is a Killer tune.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4uy-2RTdXw

 

 

But check out Tempted here. It sounds strange:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV09rq5CzDw

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jonathan Hughes]

I thought Tempted sounded good, It seemed a few BPM too fast, and Darryl's harmonies were mixed a bit loud, but these things aren't supposed to sound like the record.

And I couldn't hear the Roland well enough to judge if it sounded "freakin horrible".

[stoken6]

Both tracks reinforced my reputation for Tilbrook as a singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. There’s some sophisticated chord changes in those songs.

 

But yeah, Roland’s rotary sim is B- at best.

 

Cheers, Mike

[D. Gauss]

too slick. like a wedding band. i think even glenn alluded to that in the show.  also, all those good singers and no one (at least audibly) was doing the squeeze trademark "octave under" vocal. imo that's THE squeeze sound.

[stoken6]

9 hours ago, D. Gauss said:

too slick. like a wedding band. i think even glenn alluded to that in the show.  also, all those good singers and no one (at least audibly) was doing the squeeze trademark "octave under" vocal. imo that's THE squeeze sound.

Good point. Every Tilbrook needs a Difford. 

 

Cheers, Mike

[Outkaster]

On 11/3/2023 at 7:31 PM, D. Gauss said:

too slick. like a wedding band. i think even glenn alluded to that in the show.  also, all those good singers and no one (at least audibly) was doing the squeeze trademark "octave under" vocal. imo that's THE squeeze sound.

 

I don't think it's too slick.  I just think there is something too perfect about the backgrounds.  I have seen these guys live and the band is top notch, don't get me wrong but I suspect the vocals have been altered. 

[Stokely]

If so it was done pretty subtly (which isn't hard to do in Logic Flex pitch that I use, and i know there are better tools).  Nothing really stood out to me as sounding too hard to pull off, and nothing stood out as "too perfect".   My band does a fair amount of Eagles and other tunes with 3 and 4 part harmonies and those in this song are not particularly hard to do.  Nothing as difficult at the harmonies in even Take it Easy that don't move together or with the chord for example.   They made the harmonies shorter than the original (from memory) which helps makes them easier to pull off (and maybe makes it sound weird to some).

[JohnH]

I went to Nightranger two weeks ago and there's no doubt, they are using canned back ups for Still Rock In America and Sing Me Away. I went on You tube and found a show a year ago, and it was the exact same perfect backups. I guess that's the only way to mimic Glenn Hughes (who sang backup on SRIA), make canned back up vocals to get the same power! Those back ups were just way too powerful and clean to be anything other than fake.  They were way louder than any other song too. Thankfully, the rest of the show was all live and it was just these two songs that had it.

[Stokely]

Ugh.  This is a big reason why I don't go to "big" live shows anymore.  I don't even like tracks with solo acoustic acts, I sure as hell don't want to hear canned crap when there is a whole band there.

I'm fairly sure some of the Yes background harmonies on big generator were canned, and same for some at one Sting show I saw (with his smaller band).  Too perfect, and in particular in the latter case I'm pretty sure I heard a second Sting   

But this version of Tempted didn't strike me that way.  I thought it was a good live version, ymmv.

[zxcvbnm098]

Hearing/seeing this reminds of how many chord changes are in this! I remember trying to learn it when it came out and getting really frustrated. They were the Steely Dan of the New Wave-ish bands out of the UK in the 80's....most of their tunes are pretty rich harmonically...

[Jim Alfredson]

I'm surprised to see Eliot Lewis use the Roland because he's a Hammond artist. He should have the SK Pro.

[Outkaster]

On 11/6/2023 at 5:29 PM, Jim Alfredson said:

I'm surprised to see Eliot Lewis use the Roland because he's a Hammond artist. He should have the SK Pro.

Jim that's what I thought also...sounds terrrible. 

[D. Gauss]

3 hours ago, Outkaster said:

Jim that's what I thought also...sounds terrrible. 

we don't know what the guy gets paid for the gig.  That could be a keyboard that lives at the club and it's not worth it for him to have to schlep his own crap there. It got the job done and most people are none the wiser.

[ksoper]

I have an opinion.

[Outkaster]

On 11/8/2023 at 8:05 PM, D. Gauss said:

we don't know what the guy gets paid for the gig.  That could be a keyboard that lives at the club and it's not worth it for him to have to schlep his own crap there. It got the job done and most people are none the wiser.

You realize this guy tours internationally and is a Hammond artist don't you?  Do you know anything about this band? It's also Hall and Oates touring band. They are paid well. And the Roland still sounds like shit.

[D. Gauss]

9 hours ago, Outkaster said:

You realize this guy tours internationally and is a Hammond artist don't you?  Do you know anything about this band? It's also Hall and Oates touring band. They are paid well. And the Roland still sounds like shit.

 

your condescension is adorable.  AFAIK, he isn't in H&O anymore, nor is he in the the Daryl's House band anymore.  make of that what you will.  perhaps he was still under contractual obligation and doing the absolute bare minimum to fulfill it.  or maybe Daryl fired him after 20 some years because his keyboard sounded like bad.

[Outkaster]

Yeah and you came and dropped a bomb on this thread.

[Mark Schmieder]

I was really amazed at the passion, musicality, and incredible singing in all of the clips I watched, as I had recently watched some Squeeze tour clips from this year and felt the energy was relatively low and the vocals not exactly stellar. very curious now why that is, but perhaps older musicians get less worn down by a one-off and really bring their A-game to the fore. Anyway, I then watched other "Live at Daryl's House" video clips (I never knew about these!) and was equally blown away by every guest he had!

[zxcvbnm098]

Eliot's website (https://www.eliotlewis.com) does not list Hammond as one of his endorsers? Only Roland, Bose and Reverend. 

 

That would explain the Roland and no Hammond?

[Jim Alfredson]

11 minutes ago, zxcvbnm098 said:

Eliot's website (https://www.eliotlewis.com) does not list Hammond as one of his endorsers? Only Roland, Bose and Reverend. 

 

That would explain the Roland and no Hammond?

He's on the Hammond site. Perhaps he ended his relationship and Hammond hasn't updated their site... or he didn't tell them.

[stoken6]

I remember Eliot using a VR09 in early LFDH episodes. 

 

Cheers, Mike.

[o0Ampy0o]

On YT there are different performances of Tempted done at varying BPM's and ages by Paul Carrack with and without Squeeze. As someone stated, he made the song his because of his original vocal performance. However, Carrack has a voice that works well with many other vocalists and he can sing lead as well as harmony. Carrack's voice fit well with Glenn Tilbrook's. Tilbrook covers the lead well enough but his voice has a character relatively on the fragile side. He is not one to belt out vocals pushing his voice like Carrack has. This is an example of a song that does not tolerate someone stepping in doing their own thing like what typically happens when Daryl comes in. Tempted is as much the vocal delivery as it is anything else. At this point in his career and life Daryl has changed his vocal style to accommodate the limitations imposed by age and tour wear. He is very nasally and sort of throws in some Motown-style improvisation these days. Tilbrook and Carrack both seem to deliver the vocals similarly even though Tilbrook is not belting them out like Carrack. On the other hand Daryl is not following either one's approach.

 

As for something being off, I don't think the BPM is too fast and I don't think the word "slick" hits the nail on the head. I think the Tempted performance is too conservative. Maybe they needed at least another practice run or two like someone kept making a mistake during rehearsals. Everyone seems to be holding back so everyone gets it right. Or maybe Glenn was not used to the perfection of the band and he felt he was not perfect enough to match them. In the clip where he references how good the band is and being used to the rougher Squeeze band, this might have been what he was thinking about. As far as pitch correction goes, I do not hear artificial traits but Tilbrook's voice is almost too pitch perfect given the circumstances so maybe there is a little on his vocals.

 

 

[o0Ampy0o]

3 hours ago, Jim Alfredson said:

He's on the Hammond site. Perhaps he ended his relationship and Hammond hasn't updated their site... or he didn't tell them.

 

Keith Emerson is still listed.

 

Anything extra come with being listed twice?  👍 👍

 

 

[changearound2]

1 hour ago, stoken6 said:

I remember Eliot using a VR09 in early LFDH episodes. 

 

Cheers, Mike.

My favourite LFDH performance is Diane Birch and Nothing But A Miracle.  Eliot's using an electro with a sustain pedal attached to the left hand side for changing leslie speed. Crazy to think this is from 2009 and sad to learn that Eliot has now left the band. Up until the Squeeze episode he's the only regular member still standing from that time although Charlie DeChant who plays only on certain episodes/songs where sax is required is still present and has been with H&O forever.

 

 

[Outkaster]

21 hours ago, o0Ampy0o said:

On YT there are different performances of Tempted done at varying BPM's and ages by Paul Carrack with and without Squeeze. As someone stated, he made the song his because of his original vocal performance. However, Carrack has a voice that works well with many other vocalists and he can sing lead as well as harmony. Carrack's voice fit well with Glenn Tilbrook's. Tilbrook covers the lead well enough but his voice has a character relatively on the fragile side. He is not one to belt out vocals pushing his voice like Carrack has. This is an example of a song that does not tolerate someone stepping in doing their own thing like what typically happens when Daryl comes in. Tempted is as much the vocal delivery as it is anything else. At this point in his career and life Daryl has changed his vocal style to accommodate the limitations imposed by age and tour wear. He is very nasally and sort of throws in some Motown-style improvisation these days. Tilbrook and Carrack both seem to deliver the vocals similarly even though Tilbrook is not belting them out like Carrack. On the other hand Daryl is not following either one's approach.

 

As for something being off, I don't think the BPM is too fast and I don't think the word "slick" hits the nail on the head. I think the Tempted performance is too conservative. Maybe they needed at least another practice run or two like someone kept making a mistake during rehearsals. Everyone seems to be holding back so everyone gets it right. Or maybe Glenn was not used to the perfection of the band and he felt he was not perfect enough to match them. In the clip where he references how good the band is and being used to the rougher Squeeze band, this might have been what he was thinking about. As far as pitch correction goes, I do not hear artificial traits but Tilbrook's voice is almost too pitch perfect given the circumstances so maybe there is a little on his vocals.

 

 

you said it better than me.

[ABECK]

On 11/6/2023 at 5:29 PM, Jim Alfredson said:

I'm surprised to see Eliot Lewis use the Roland because he's a Hammond artist. He should have the SK Pro.

He's played several boards throughout the show and on the live gigs.  He seems to favor the simplicity of a single 61 note board, which always surprised me, given the caliber of the gigs.  I think he was playing a VR09 when I saw him in Mansfield MA with H&O about 10 years ago.  It was equally underwhelming in sound and stage presence.

[changearound2]

There's a new episode up on YouTube with Charlie Starr from Blackberry Smoke and Eliot is still there. I'd never heard of Blackberry Smoke but enjoyed the episode. LFDH just works.

[stoken6]

On 11/12/2023 at 10:53 PM, o0Ampy0o said:

he made the song his because of his original vocal performance. However, Carrack has a voice that works well with many other vocalists and he can sing lead as well as harmony. Carrack's voice fit well with Glenn Tilbrook's. Tilbrook covers the lead well enough but his voice has a character relatively on the fragile side. He is not one to belt out vocals pushing his voice like Carrack has.

Tilbrook wrote the song, and reportedly wasn't happy that Carrack sang it. But Carrack was the new guy (replacing Jools Holland) and the record company wanted him to have a "launch song" to introduce him to the public. 

On 11/12/2023 at 10:53 PM, o0Ampy0o said:

This is an example of a song that does not tolerate someone stepping in doing their own thing like what typically happens when Daryl comes in. Tempted is as much the vocal delivery as it is anything else.

Yeah, Daryl's Philly-soul stylings don't suit this song at all. 

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Mark Schmieder]

I always enjoyed the "demo" of the song that appeared at some point on a reissue disc or maybe a compilation, but also love Carrack's take. The song is so wonderful that it can withstand many different interpretations, including Philly Soul. I didn't realize that Carrack was Holland's replacement though; I thought he was simply a guest artist for part or all of that album, just as he sat in with so many other bands over a 20+ year period. I can see though how the label might have wanted to "introduce" him via vocals.

[Outkaster]

He came back in 1993 and joined the band again for Some Fantastic Place.  It has a cool tune on there called loving you tonight:

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd8lsyf3mTQ