Has anyone noticed that Billy's voice seems vastly improved from the last Pumpkins/Zwan eras? Its very clean, in tune, but still with those characteristics stylings. I'm quite impressed. Seems he's been working hard these past 7 years.

Can't wait for face emoticons for the newest entries into the Glass Children.

Yeah, it has imporved alot on a technical level, but the rawness is what made it special in the first place. I appreciate both vocal styles personaly, but im sure that is what people are going to be saying.

Along with Jimmy's drum stylings, it could be said that Billy's vocals are the Pumpkins (the latter being of much more importance than the former, as it so happens). With every new album comes another little notch in Billy's belt as a vocalist. Compare Gish with, say, Adore and you'll see what I mean. Is his Zeitgeist-era voice better or worse than any previous era? Not necessarily...just different, as it should be.

I heard some people say that they were dissapointed with billy's voice in Rex, well imo by the files I downloaded it seems like he had improved a lot.

Certainly is better than Machina era.

I havent heard too much of the new stuff yet, but just by judging terantula I would say it has improved, I will probably always prefer his voice 10 years ago though, but whatever its still him and you can hear hints of the softer voice every so often.

well after so many years of practice, you too can develope more control, pitch and contortion of your voice.

Yeah you are right it has improved but not VASTLY. He has always had the ability to sing well. You can hear his talent on SD and MCIS. He is just using his voice a bit better these days.

Although I love the way Zeitgeist sounds so far. I really miss the way Billy used to sing. You know. With his voice cracking every once in a while and over pronouncing his "R"s in a good way (this is verny noticable in "Meladori Magpie".

What do you guys think?

I think he's improved more in his live playing and soloing more than vocals.

If you go back and listen to the live Machina tour mp3's, the music just wasn't as tight as it is now. I remember during one of the Machina shows he was playing a song like "dross" and they completely screwed up the song almost a half way through so bad that they had to stop completely and apologize to the audience.

In these concerts they're playing like robots. Everything is dead on.

It just seems to me like his voice has lost a lot of that edge and rawness. Ex. in Hummer, if you listen to that "YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAH IIIIIII WANT SOMETHING NEW!" part after the solo, it just doesn't sound nearly as powerful as it used to. More like he's singing higher in a regular voice than singing it more of a raw way like before, and the same for part of Tonight, Tonight, and other stuff. I'm not gonna say he sounds all-around bad (he doesn't) but I wish he sounded more like he was into it when they play the older songs.

A lot of the alteration in Billy's vocal delivery these days has to do with the fact that, well, he's just not as angsty as he used to be. That nascent whine we've all grown to love was a product of the material at the time: During the Gish era, Billy was still sort of mired in gothic 80s influence, therefore attempting to use lower registers. Siamese Dream/Mellon Collie was the "rat in the cage" Billy, and so he employed the appropriate shrieks. But with Zwan and Zeitgeist, this is the instrument of an older man. He's respecting it more than ripping it to shreds (it's honestly a wonder he's never busted a vocal node or anything!)

I see what you mean, that he's adjusted his voice as he has aged and the tone and mood and so forth of the music has changed. And it'd be probably too much to ask for him to sing the way he used to on those older songs...I'm just happy enough that they're touring and more than satisfied with old live footage!

Trillian link=topic=1447.msg27281#msg27281 date=1182838771]
A lot of the alteration in Billy's vocal delivery these days has to do with the fact that, well, he's just not as angsty as he used to be. That nascent whine we've all grown to love was a product of the material at the time: During the Gish era, Billy was still sort of mired in gothic 80s influence, therefore attempting to use lower registers. Siamese Dream/Mellon Collie was the "rat in the cage" Billy, and so he employed the appropriate shrieks. But with Zwan and Zeitgeist, this is the instrument of an older man. He's respecting it more than ripping it to shreds (it's honestly a wonder he's never busted a vocal node or anything!)


He's still able to do it all. In this tour I've heard him let out some screams that last for a good 10 seconds and come from the depths of hell, like the one in the solo part of BWBW (despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a...).

But his studio vocals have been mellow since Adore.

Actually I did just watch a performance of Cherub Rock from the Orange Peel and he sounded and looked FAR more into it than I'd seen of all these tour videos. Maybe he's starting to gain steam during these shows in the states. He just seemed a little stiff before, which is understandable I suppose.

Does Mr. Hetfield sound the same as he did 20 years ago? What about Jon Davis? After allll these years, you can never expect a singer to stay the same. I fully agree that Billy's album vocals have been mellow the past ten years compared to his previous work, but from what I've heard from the concerts, his screams haven't changed very much. While changed, his voice clearly has that "nasaly whine", but just not as much. I agree that this has to do with age and the type of songs they now do. We must all understand that as he gets older, he has to be a little more conscious about taking care of his voice, so we can't expect him to do everything he used to. But he still gives the crowd his all, and I will always commend him for that. The day he can't give 100% anymore is the day he will hang up the Pumpkins for good.

*i didnt read the other posts*

i was just thinking about billy's voice, and that "nasaly whine" seems to be more like a boys uneasy voice during puberty, i was listening to bwbw and thats what i came up with

anyone agree?

I am amazed at how much his voice has improved from past shows. He's obviously either been taking lessons or the break from the pumpkins allowed his voice to get stronger. he's got a vibratio thing happening that i've never heard him do before. also it's gotten a lot stronger and has nearly perfect pitch.