This entry had been a long wait due to an audition for a lead vocalist spot that I was getting ready for (which I am still waiting for the decision of the band whether they will take me or not). Nonetheless, I am back here to do some blog work.
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This part of the head2head feature comes actually with a surprise for me. More revelations that I had never realized before. So let's get on with it.
NOTE: I have viewed quite a number of videos of both performers, but I will just be posted just a few notables.
Some say the band's (not only the singer's) live performances really tell their real talent (apart the talent in songwriting and composing of course). For me it's not entirely true but a big part of it is true. But let's speak of the lead vocalist alone. Live performances give vocalists the chance to show their ability to replicate IN REAL TIME (or even tweak a bit crediting their creativity) the songs they have recorded on studio where they could have done it NOT in real time. They also give the vocalists to show longevity, stamina and endurance mainly of their singing voices (and Journey songs are songs to be reckoned with). Also, live performances can reveal a vocalist's level of showmanship - one's ability to connect with the audience.
Perry and Pineda definitely got what it takes to deliver long live performances without even breaking a sweat off their asses, but if you try to closely watch their performances, there are a number of things that can be significantly noticeable, and maybe splits the two singers in some fashion more effective than the comparison of their studio performances.
As contrary to popular belief that they have very similar voices, I disagree again. Yes they do have similar vocal range (in the countertenor range), but they have different and distinct timbres. Perry has this trademark rasp, and Pineda has what I would say a clean voice. Making an analogy to a guitar, Perry is to distorted (but of course not too distorted), as Pineda is to clean. Both of them delivered effectively in their live performances with their own styles.
I have noticed that Perry's voice is somewhat different in live compared to the studio versions, where Pineda would maintain his studio voice in live performances. This is very noticeable in the song Separate Ways. I have mentioned in the previous entry that Perry and Pineda had similar delivery in the studio versions of this song, but in Perry's live performance of this song, his voice was thinner. Well, he had a better delivery in his NY 1994 performance than the video below, but he sang it two semitones lower. The video below features Perry singing Separate Ways (the longer version already) in Houston 1981.
Perry's trademark rasp is still true in his live performances. His voice quality in his live performance of Faithfully (find clip here - http://theamateurmusicanalyst.blogspot.com/2010/02/head2head-steve-perry-vs-arnel-pineda.html) would more or less be the same, which is good.
Perry appeared to be the more creative live performer than Pineda, in a sense that he would play with vocal notes (maybe instantaneously on set). He would bend and get out of the usual ways he sings the songs, and make it sound beautiful. Check his 1994 in NY video -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W9SatPrhmU&feature=related (I am sorry about this, embedding is disabled in this video by request). Anyway in Perry's performance there (I'm guessing not with Journey), his creativity in this song was really at the highest level. The only bad thing about that is he sang it two semitones lower than the original. See video below for his less creative (but still highly creative) live performance of the same song in Houston 1981:
Like what I have mentioned above, Pineda would sound pretty much the same in his studio and live performances. His clean and very whole modal voice is very true in all of his performances. And again, as he would do in his studio versions, he does emphasize long notes very effectively. Check his live performance of Faithfully in Chile 2008 concert (find clip here - http://theamateurmusicanalyst.blogspot.com/2010/02/head2head-steve-perry-vs-arnel-pineda.html). The whole song had him display his ability to sing long notes but check his rendition in 2:28-2:30. I never heard Perry do that as how Pineda has been doing it.
Pineda has been proven very gutsy already in his studio versions, but he would just go further in his live performances, hitting those high notes with longer measures, yielding an even more whole voice compared to his studio voice. His vibrato is just top notch, most especially when hitting those tied whole B4 notes in the line "somewhere in the night" in Don't Stop Believin, where in Perry's version, he just hit that note right on with no vibrato.
In the showmanship sense, Pineda just beaten the shit out of Perry. Yea, Perry would do some gestures, and would walk around the stage, interacting a bit with bandmates and speaking with the audience. But Pineda would do a lot better. And I have seen his ultimate performance in the band's and Pineda's homecoming concert here in Manila in 2009, singing Separate Ways. All those moving and running around and jumping around. And any vocalist would know (including I myself) how hard it is to hit those B4 and C#5 notes properly while trying to get down and shake the fans' hands. Well, it may be kinda biased, but that's his first homecoming concert with Journey. He must have been really happy doing those on stage. And mind you, Separate Ways was at least the tenth song already they performed that night, with all that energy Pineda spent before singing Separate Ways (which in my opinion is a very "tiring" song to sing), and he still had that energy to finish the whole concert. Talk about stamina.
And take note: Pineda is already in his 40s, while Perry was in his 30s when he was doing most of these stuff. But it seems Pineda appears to have the more youthful energy than the other vocalist, which is more appropriate for the songs Separate Ways, Don't Stop Believin', Anyway You Want It, and those other songs on that tempo.
As that energy Pineda would show us, that actually takes him down on the mellow songs, particularly on Faithfully, Open Arms and Lights. Pineda would sound overly intense singing those songs (with the exception of his performance guesting in Ellen's show singing Faithfully, which in my opinion his most soulful and relaxed performance of that song), while Perry would maintain his "seemingly hypnotic tone" which is more appropriate in those songs. This difference itself wouldn't be that hurtful on the studio versions, because you would not see the facial expressions of the vocalists, but on live performances, some of Pineda's mannerisms while singing those mellow songs would seem inappropriate, and in a way, it has an effect on the listeners/viewers on how they think Pineda would sound like. The video below is their performance here in Manila singing Open Arms, which had him moving like he wasn't supposed to, at least in my honest opinion. I wish Pineda would just do Open Arms or any other mellow song they got as how he did move in their concert in Chile, AND minus his overly intense delivery in the stanzas.
Or just try to do what Perry did in their Oakland 1982 concert (at least the movement and stanza parts):
I have read a few comments that came to my attention - in live performances, Perry had this tendency to sing that would be hard to understand. So I did try to listen to the videos closely, as if I do not know the lyrics. I found that even though Perry and have these little pronunciation issues, Pineda appears to sing clearly than Perry. I can be a bit technical about it, but I wouldn't bother.
So that's it for now. Definitely two both great vocalists, each with their own strengths and weaknesses (at least for my own pair of eyes and ears). It's really a matter of preference.
Now the last installment of this entry coming up!
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