For all the people that complain Axl doesnt have that rasp in his voice anymore

[August 18th]

it will, because that's what axl is perfecting.
and what we heard was just a low-quality demo, imagine what's to come. we're part of something very big here, and i'm gonna be damn proud to have stuck with him all the way when release day comes and others will jump aboard.

[jabba2]

Could Axl now sing One in A Million like he does on Lies? I think thats one of his greatest vocal performences.

Axl definately uses a different vocal pitch thats higher than in the past. Some like it some dont. I personally would be happy if Axl sang the old songs exactly like he does on record...long screams not included, because anyone will have trouble with those touring, but just the verses. Axl sometimes seems to struggle keeping up with them, especially on Jungle.

[conny]

Listen to "I.R.S." and tell me about a weak voice...

He sounds great, and for the record he never was a good SINGER in concert. He was (and still is) a great PERFORMER, but only few VOCAL performances could live up to what he did in the studio. No big thing. Axl is not the only one, listen to Bono in concert and compare that to a U2 album for example.

Live it's a different setting and very much depending on the mental and physical constitution of the day. He may hit it right on the nail sometimes, but technically, most of his vocals are weak live and have always been.

After all, he still is and sounds original and that's what counts.

His voice rocks and at the moment he is still the greatest rock singer alive. Active or not - you know he can both hit and miss very hard, but when he hits, there's nothing to him and you know it.

Complaining about rasp vs. clean voice is like complaining about Slash vs. Buckethead - it's a matter of what you prefer. Both are very good and unique...

[Saul]

Complaining about rasp vs. clean voice is like complaining about Slash vs. Buckethead - it's a matter of what you prefer. Both are very good and unique...

Bad analogy .. slash is a blues based pentatonic player .. whereas Buckethead can play any genre and/or style. 

[jimmythegent]

It's not just the rasp (which is good in the right places), its the 'strength' or 'power' that appears to have diminished

Im hoping that alot of this can be attributed to Axl being out of shape, and alot of the time out of breath on the last tour

hopefully he'll be in better shape when he next emerges

ive always felt that one of the reasons Axl was a far better live singer from 87-90 was that he didnt run all over the stage like he did in the Illusions era and the last tour. he is wasting valuable energy doing this that needs to go into his singing. I'm aware that with the bigger venues, he was trying to put on a bigger show etc... but just witness some of the bigger earlier shows and I think he had a much better handle on what was required - a balance between showmanship and holding the big notes

[Dust N Rose]

21st century's Axl is a new mystery, even his voice. 
I like the rasp thing a lot. I can live without it though. It's true that many people don't like it though. You need to get used by it anyway. I like the new way, but it's like he lost the special gift he had (especially when you hear him for the first time).
I agree with most of you about the common way of singing in 2002 shows and in AFD studio albums but in one thing, he can't fully use that rasp. Have you heard the first show he did in Las Vegas in 2001? In the first song, "welcome to the jungle", he tried that thing till the first chorus but it was like he failed to do it and he quited from trying. Besides, I wonder why he doesn't sing scom like he did in Bigdaddy scom version (btw it's like he suffers on that version). The answer I think after all, is that he can't use the rasp too much after the 2000s. He uses it optionally to a few songs and to the new ones like "oh my god". I'm sure he can make it at studio versions (e.g. IRS, oh my god), so the album is gonna rock either way.

[Gunna_girl01]

Axl is still Axl and i love him with or without the rasp.
dont forget he is getting older people!!
he isnt the 20 year old anymore, he has aged as people do, you cant expect his voice to be exactly the same....

[jimmythegent]

Axl is still Axl and i love him with or without the rasp.
dont forget he is getting older people!!
he isnt the 20 year old anymore, he has aged as people do, you cant expect his voice to be exactly the same....

yeah the age thing is definitely a factor - another reason I reckon, why he should lay off the running round the stage and getting out of breath

[Gunna_girl01]

Axl is still Axl and i love him with or without the rasp.
dont forget he is getting older people!!
he isnt the 20 year old anymore, he has aged as people do, you cant expect his voice to be exactly the same....

yeah the age thing is definitely a factor - another reason I reckon, why he should lay off the running round the stage and getting out of breath

maybe he feels young at heart, but he is getting older and if he does keep pushing his body he is not going to be a happy chappy when he has a heart attack on stage which can very easily happen expecually when he is  running around not giving his body time to rest.
i just hope he watches his health

[PhillyRiot]

I am not going to speculate WHY Axl's voice is different in the 2002 tours.  But I have to say I enjoy his voice a lot more from the early 90's/late 80's.  It is just an angrier stronger voice.  The 2002 voice is too high pitched and not as fierce.  I am not sure why anyone would not prefer the old growling Axl top the high pitched one.

[chinesedemocracy05]

I hate the rasp!!!!!!!! It ruins alot of live songs. SCOM with a rasp is awful. I wish Axl had a litter more behind his voice but thats all, from what Ive seen from the new tour is good. I prefer that to the damn rasp. Down with the rasp!!!

[nesquick]

Axl's voice on GN'R Lies are the top. Listen to you're crazy or one in a million. It's Janis Joplin.
His IRS voice is also exellent.

[Hoosier]

i didnt read all the post in this thread but im going to throw in my 2 cents here:

first off, the "rasp" that we are speaking of, i call "distortion". i guess its just the guitarist in me. anywho, the distortion was most defintly aparent on AFD. "WTTJ" anyone? oh yea

as far as not having it anymore, well its true that the vocals were "cleaner" on the 02 tour, but there were hints of the distortion there as well. "live and let die" is a good example on most shows. and on IRS, i think he sounds like he can go back and forth between the clean and distorted vocals. the line "theres not anymore that i can do" is clean, while a line like "wouldnt be the first time ive been wrong/gone" has distortion.

and i like that distortion on songs like "jungle", "rocket queen" and "YCBM". but the clean vocals sounds mucho better on "sweet child" and "the blues". word out

[AdZ]

He did slip into it occasionally on the tour... for instance in 'The Blues' in pittsburgh where he does the 'you know I tried so hard to make you..' line.

He can still pull it off, however the clean voice is much nicer a lot of the time.  Madagascar with rasp? I hope not.

[dave-gnfnr2k]

Just look at the SCOM 99. The first part is old Axl with Rasp and it sounds awful, the ending is Axl from now, and the cleaner voice. Which do you think sounds better?

[jimmythegent]

Just look at the SCOM 99. The first part is old Axl with Rasp and it sounds awful, the ending is Axl from now, and the cleaner voice. Which do you think sounds better?

yeah but one was studio and one was live - kinda like comparing Apples to Oranges

We wont really be able to compare until CD is released

[GNFNR_UK]

Id much rather take Axls voice for lets say SCOM from France (ppv) than from toyko (dvd).

Here here! As much as I enjoyed the Tokyo shows (I've owned them since they came out), Axl does sound like crap on most of the 2nd part of the show 
Where as on the Paris show he maintained his voice throughout the whole thing (A better show, wish they'd released this one)

[GNFNR_UK]

He did slip into it occasionally on the tour... for instance in 'The Blues' in pittsburgh where he does the 'you know I tried so hard to make you..' line.

He can still pull it off, however the clean voice is much nicer a lot of the time.? Madagascar with rasp? I hope not.

Yes but when he slips into the rasp on that line on the Blues I think it sounds awful, that Pittsburgh version is amazing, don't get me wrong I just didn't like the way he did that line. It was better high pitched on Rio.

It's funny you should mention Madagascar with a rasp cos on the studio clip I think he sounds kinda raspy when he sings @I won't be told anymore'. I'm with you though I think that one should stay how its been done live in terms of vocals (He nails it on the Albany,NY bootleg).

[Dead N' Bloated]

I just think some of the original GN'R songs don't sound the same because Axl's voice has changed. ?Take YCBM for instance. ?When he used to get to the "I think we've seen that movie too....OWWWWWWW", now it sounds like "ah". ?It's just weaker.

Thats what I been sayin for 3 years now


 

P.S I still think I voice sounds unreal tho.

[GNFNR_UK]

High pitched voices can sound cool in rock, I mean Perry Farrell is a good example of this.
His voice used to really irritate me years ago but I really dig it now. I think Axl is /was quite a big Jane's fan too!

I'm rambling now anyway