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Aaron Swain posted a clip of the Cathedrals singing "This Ol House" with Kurt Young (and not the infamous Dove Awards clip) that sounds pretty decent. Aaron, who is apparently impressed with the video, seems to think that Kurt could have "easily been one of the best tenors the group ever had...." under different conditions.
DBM, however, counters with his own argument, which in a nutshell, states that Kurt displayed too many technical flaws to be considered a "top tenor." While true, I offered my own thoughts that such flaws could have been due to lack of confidence, which seems to be the consensus of most comments. I'll let you check out the post for yourself, so as not to rehash the entire thing.
This brings up an interesting question....can a singer's confidence outweigh their ability? Can one's performance cause audiences to overlook the fact that their singing is less-than-perfect? Sure, showmanship is something that is important to ANY live performance, regardless of genre, but when does it take the front seat to talent?
Case in point would be the early clips of Ernie Haase with the Cathedrals. There are times where it seemed that Ernie was straining to hit some of those notes (which he still does today), but he seemed comfortable on stage. He had confidence. Whether each note was a bullseye or not, he was throwing at the target knowing that there was a reason he was there.
Kurt, on the other hand, always had this look on his face as if to say, "Oh boy, I hope I don't mess this up!!" He rarely moved and seemed stiff as a board, giving a whole new meaning to the term "flat-footed singer." Even on a song like "I've Just Started Living," which is meant to evoke excitement, he just kinda swayed back and forth and sprayed pitches throughout the verses.
When Danny Funderburk joined, the first record they did included "Who Am I," which had a bit too much screaming, even by Danny's standards, but at least the guy was confident.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
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2 comments:
Like I said in the comments of that post, my opinion doesn't just come from that video alone; I've posted others to the blog that are much better. That video just confirmed the suspicion I had that he could actually pull off that ending.
I do agree with your statement about nerves playing a big role in his singing. I was talking to a guy that was there when Kurt auditioned that said that nerves are what did him in.
Kyle,
You make an excellent point regarding nervousness. An otherwise good performer can blow it due to stage fright, or being thrust into the limelight before they're ready. Until you realize that the guys on stage are just human beings like yourself, it can be a bit daunting to stand there and concentrate on doing your part justice.
Another possibility could be stamina...especially with tenors. I've heard singers that sounded fantastic for the first two or three songs, and then they were done for the rest of the night.
I'm not saying that's the case with Young, because I've only seen a few video clips. I never got the chance to hear him sing in a live setting. I feel like Younce and Payne would have brought him along and helped him develop his stage appeal, though, if it was just purely a situation where he was nervous and not a fundamental issue with his ability to sustain notes at the top end of his range. After all, their track record shows they did that for several others who weren't exactly stunning vocalists when they began.
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