How old does a rocker have to be to hang it up? I guess as long as they can reasonably perform and there are still people who want to attend a concert, let them keep going. I saw 80+ year old BB King a couple of years ago and though he was far past his prime, it was still a good show. Good tight band and his playing is a good as ever. He never was a great singer, so that didn't matter.
However, the other day, I listened to a couple of tracks from the Crosby, Still, Nash, and Young album taken from their concert tour of 2006. Their harmonies were never as clean in concert as on record, so I understood the occasional raggedness there.
What did surprise me was how bad Stephen Stills sounded. His solo voice was never smooth, but at 61 it was just awful. Apparently he knows it. On Wooden Ships, the opening back-and-forth dialogue vocals are done by Crosby and Nash, rather than Stills and Crosby. When Stephen comes in on the chorus, he sounds ragged, but is largely hidden behind the harmonies.
The worst, however, is For What It's Worth. Here his vocal is out there for everyone to hear and he just can't hit clean notes any more. It's sad.
So what should he do? Quit? He still plays an outstanding guitar. People still want to hear CSN perform. Though Crosby and Nash still sound decent (especially considering their ages), I don't know how a concertgoer can ignore Stephen's voice.
Still, it is not my place to tell him to stop. I just don't know if I want to pay to hear.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
How's this any different than Brett Favre though?
ReplyDeleteNever was a great singer? Are you retarded?
ReplyDelete"Never was a great singer" is not to say he was a bad singer. His voice was serviceable, but you went to a BB King concert for his guitar, the songs, and the band. And, for the record, not only am I not retarded, I do not hide behind anonymity when I post opinions like some people do.
ReplyDelete