Has Jon made any comments about his voice in public?

I agree totally about the songs lacking emotion now. Like I said before I keep hoping that one day we'll see Jon silence critics like myself by getting his voice back in shape. I'm sure he wasn't using the best technique during the 80s, but I don't buy the comments that he's learnt not to force it now. He wasn't forcing anything during the mid 90s but the sound was incredible.

The band are still up there in terms of energy and performance, I think it was "Keep the Faith" from the Amsterdam show that reminded me. (Though Richie seems to be a bit uninspired in his solos on the recent albums)

Personally I don't think Jon's voice deteriorated since SWW, I think it went from strength to strength right up to These Days, and just beyond with the tour (I haven't heard much from the Destination Anywhere tour to be honest). Maybe it didn't improve in terms of raw energy, but in maturity and emotion.

Ok I am new here so please forgive me if I intrude.
Jon was singing in a range that he was not naturaly built for, earlier in his carrier. To make matters worse he was abusing his voice by overuse. The result was an almost total loss of voice at one point, and scaring. He brought himself back to health through rest and taking lessons from a vocal coach. His voice has changed, yes, but also his voice had been remodeeld, to a verson that will allow him to sing in a healthier manner. The consequence of singing in the remodeled way is that it dosen't "Look" as natural as it did way back when, because it requires him to think about it. Its a different pattern, or way of thinking about producing those sounds, diaphram use, stance, mouth shape, tounge position, lips etc. but he is "singing his guts out" probably more now than when he was 20. it just looks different, and to some extent sounds a bit different. It also means that he isn't going to kill his voice before he turns 50.
Velvet

Aloha !

Erm, no. He hasn't got the power anymore to sing his guts out, most of the time. And if his voice keeps detoriating like this, it will be killed before he's turned 50.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

now jon's voice is a big problem for live show, and a problem for new studio song (last man standing???)

The former range and strength of his voice may be gone, but technically, yes, he is a better singer nowadays, at least better than in the 80s.

his voice wasnt bad on the crsuh tour but listening to the 2000 dvd and the giants show in 2001 you can see a difference. and when the bounce tour hit. POW it got really noticable, anyways thats only my way of seing things i guess

Admittedly I have not been to a concert. I would really like to hear him in person, but unless one of you is going to take me to a Chicago show, thats not likely to happen. But from what I can hear from the studio stuff it dosen't seem to be going south. Of course in the studio lots of stuff can be manipulated, but you cant make a voice out of nothing.

Jon has openly said since the Crush album, that in the past they never really thought about the effects of choosing what key to write a song in and look back now and laugh at how stupid they were to sing them so high. Now they write very mindful of what key it should be in.

Obviously Jon's range has deteriorated in recent years but he still has plenty of range and is still a phenomenal live singer. The Amsterdam show and The New York show proved that Jon's still got it. Technically he is a far better singer now then in the eighties, even if he dosen't have that high end anymore. His vocals on HAND are vastly better then on SWW.

The glory years were obviously 90-96 and after that there has been a steady decine, although it really wasn't that apparent until the end of the Bounce tour. However going on his recent live performances and the vocals he's done on HAND, I'm very confident Jon will do very well out on the road. Of course, if he quit the fags he'd be an awful lot better but that dosen't look likely.


Phil

I remember Jon saying that too but as a musician and recording engineer I can't think of any song from the 80s or 90s that I'd class as being in the wrong key. Of course they're in the wrong key if Jon's gonna attempt most of them now but that's a different matter.

Technically Jon has improved since SWW of course. The HAND vocals are strong in places, and technically very good....just with the restricted range and loss of power they aren't as good. Does anyone know for sure if Jon's still smoking? I think the last cigarette (no pun) I saw was on the box set DVD interview.

Don't know if anyone agrees but someone's who's made a huge career out of their voice but smokes maybe isn't so concerned about maintaining that voice?

Nice to see a different opinion but I have to disagree with the Amsterdam show bit. I thought Jon was struggling as much as ever, and seems to be cutting or avoiding notes all the time. It's gonna be interesting to see which songs from HAND make it to the set list.

I know some love, some hate "Always"....either way I imagine it's tough for Jon not to be able to sing one of his biggest hits anymore. Then again, maybe he's sick of it anyway!