Pet Shop Boys Community

I'm listening to "Concrete" and I'm almost shocked by how well Neil sings! How come he's so great now compared to the Live 8 embarassment last year??

No one can sing perfectly all the time! He's always been great... with the odd mishap

as a new fan who's been listening to all the old stuff over and over again, I'd say his voice is better now than it's ever been. many singers have this happen. the older they get (especially if they have a voice on the fragile/thin/fine side), the stronger and more robust their voices become. in Neil's case, his angelic/choirboy chords have taken on a magnificence that's amazing to listen to at times.

then again, I'd listen spellbound even if he read the sunday papers with a sore throat and a burr.

gomorrah wrote:as a new fan who's been listening to all the old stuff over and over again, I'd say his voice is better now than it's ever been. many singers have this happen. the older they get (especially if they have a voice on the fragile/thin/fine side), the stronger and more robust their voices become. in Neil's case, his angelic/choirboy chords have taken on a magnificence that's amazing to listen to at times.

then again, I'd listen spellbound even if he read the sunday papers with a sore throat and a burr.

Well don't forget PSB have been going several years now so singing is more natural and relaxing to Neil I expect than when he first started. Now Neil has the confidence he is accepted as a singer - probably isn't worrying about how he sounds when he does sing. So he doesn't sound like he's having to impress anyone anymore and sounds more natural and not X-Factorish.

sometimes the singers are out of tune because of poor sound mixing onstage. if you as a singer can barely hear either the band or yourself you're bound to be off-key.

If i remember correctly his singing sounds awful on Highlights.

The situation at the Mermaid was much better than when they were doing Live 8. I'm sure they invested quite some time into the soundcheck, I'm not if they even had one at Live 8. As Alig pointed out, if you hear yourself and the right instruments, it's much easier to know where to go with your voice. When I saw them in Bonn this year I also thought that he sounded very good.
I however also think there could be some slight modification going on behind the scenes (Autotuning).

As a relatively new fan of PSB, to me Neil's voice sounds stronger with each successive album release. Whether that's down to studio techniques or vocal progression, I'm not sure, but he definitely sounds better now than he ever has!

Practice makes Perfect.