zeppelincheetah Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 When I play Led Zeppelin material there are three Robert Plants I hear. 1968-1969 (very soulful and bluesy - from the beginning until their third album), 1970 - 1973 (high pitched, more unique sounding -starting with Immigrant Song and ending with Houses of the Holy album) 1974 - present (aged sounding - no more shrill sounds and sort of scratchy - starting with the new material on Physical Graffiti) Anyhow Led Zeppelin's latter stuff sounds like it should be a LOT more later than it is. Even though Plant was only 30 when they recorded their last studio album he sounds more like 50. So in a weird way it kind of sounds like they had a full career. Rather than 12 years sounds more like 30 year span in the difference between Good Times Bad Times and In the Evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonzoLikeDrumer Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 When I play Led Zeppelin material there are three Robert Plants I hear. 1968-1969 (very soulful and bluesy - from the beginning until their third album), 1970 - 1973 (high pitched, more unique sounding -starting with Immigrant Song and ending with Houses of the Holy album) 1974 - present (aged sounding - no more shrill sounds and sort of scratchy - starting with the new material on Physical Graffiti) Anyhow Led Zeppelin's latter stuff sounds like it should be a LOT more later than it is. Even though Plant was only 30 when they recorded their last studio album he sounds more like 50. So in a weird way it kind of sounds like they had a full career. Rather than 12 years sounds more like 30 year span in the difference between Good Times Bad Times and In the Evening. And if you notice his first two solo work's are back to the old screeching higher sound's, yes? Led Zeppelin was a road band from hell! They where constantly doing show's, so I believe his voice just needed a rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kashmir330 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Great observation BonzoLikeDrumer. I'm not really surprised how Robert's voice changed over time. Especially considering the touring, car accident, and the death of Karac and all the strain that put on him. I love Robert's voice no matter what. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotplant Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Newbie thread alert.... Of couse you're entitled to your opinion, but it sounds like a thread to shit-stir. Just my 2cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McSeven Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Here is my take on Plant's voice. I go by the Albums. LZ1-High and rough he had great energy and barely could control his high voice.' LZ2-A wild and groovy Plant. He had a great sense of control, he could put himself in the pocket, when it comes to adding his voice to the songs. LZ3 to HOTH- Plant started to get his Thor voice. This is where his Golden God voice started to come in. PG/P- Plants voice got scratchy still good. Its almost like he took his LZ2 and LZ3 voice and life at the time mixed it together. ITTOD this voice is todays Plants voice. Low and bluesy. A man with experiance that does not have to resort to tricks. He still manages to keep his voice unique. He is a great singer. Also keep in mind that they did a lot of tricks with his voice on the studio sessions. Most of HOTH, Plants voice has a lot of Studio tricks to it. Mc7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom kid Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Robert had an operation on his vocal chords after the '73 tour, that would explain a big change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHD Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Robert's voice is ever evolving. It's obvious that he would never have the same vocal range throughout his life, and as someone mentioned, the vocal chord op would of made a difference. Imo, I think he has faired a lot better vocal wise than some of his contemporaries..ie, Ian Gillan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonzoLikeDrumer Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Great observation BonzoLikeDrumer. I'm not really surprised how Robert's voice changed over time. Especially considering the touring, car accident, and the death of Karac and all the strain that put on him. I love Robert's voice no matter what. Welcome Kashmir330, I guess being a famous star that everyone want to see live on stage can have it's short coming's!!! Newbie thread alert.... Of couse you're entitled to your opinion, but it sounds like a thread to shit-stir. Just my 2cents. What would that be my friend? Here is my take on Plant's voice. I go by the Albums. LZ1-High and rough he had great energy and barely could control his high voice.' LZ2-A wild and groovy Plant. He had a great sense of control, he could put himself in the pocket, when it comes to adding his voice to the songs. LZ3 to HOTH- Plant started to get his Thor voice. This is where his Golden God voice started to come in. PG/P- Plants voice got scratchy still good. Its almost like he took his LZ2 and LZ3 voice and life at the time mixed it together. ITTOD this voice is todays Plants voice. Low and bluesy. A man with experiance that does not have to resort to tricks. He still manages to keep his voice unique. He is a great singer. Also keep in mind that they did a lot of tricks with his voice on the studio sessions. Most of HOTH, Plants voice has a lot of Studio tricks to it. Mc7 Yes, true, and there is a bit of getting used to the people you are working with. The 1st album was put together quite fast for today's standard's so maybe it's a bit rough around the edges sounding (nothing wrong with that). After a short while you get used to who your playing with but, the constant changing of sound and material would be enough to keep one on their toe's! So I would think that he would have had to keep up with the change's that they where going through with each recording they made. They did do at least one Blue's standard on every album so even if most all of there music is rooted in Blue's (IMHO), that one cut will be a given. I am wondering, what studio trick's you are referring to? Robert Plant is a good enough singer to not need a lot of trick's and putting aside the normal time based effect's and some dynamic's processing (all common thing's) I don't hear a lot of trickery. Robert's voice is ever evolving. It's obvious that he would never have the same vocal range throughout his life, and as someone mentioned, the vocal chord op would of made a difference. Imo, I think he has faired a lot better vocal wise than some of his contemporaries..ie, Ian Gillan. I'll 2nd that, he has made the right decision's with the direction to go as he moved on to the appropriate gig's at the appropriate time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McSeven Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Thanks for adding me as a friend Miss Honeydriper. You asked me about studio trickery. In HOTH, Plants voice is speeded up and slowed down in certain places. Lots of echo and reverb in other places on LZ2 as well. Mc7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeppelincheetah Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 I don't understand why this is put on the newbies forum. I've been posting on this forum for nearly 2 years now. I've been a casual zep fan since the 90's and a hardcore led head since 2002 or so. It's just that the evolution of Plant's voice still fascinates me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigstickbonzo Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Plant's voice sounded good following the 1975 tour, not quite the same as 73, but certainly better sounding since anything pre-Japan 72. I've always considered 1978 his biggest drop off. His voice, coming back to a recognizable strength during the 77 tour completely sounds different on ITTOD/Knebworth and onward. One can speculate he had begun treating his voice differently by this point in his career and had developed a better singing style to last his voice. I also think he spent alot of time smoking heavily during this period, (August 77-78) with little to no singing at all. That will dramatically alter the voice. And Plant's vocals were altered on some tracks from HOTH. TSRTS is the best example of them using a voice modulator which elevated the pitch to his voice. 1971 was his best vocal year. It was his high point between the transition of "Golden God banshee bluesman" to everything post-72. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mangani Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Newbie thread alert.... Of couse you're entitled to your opinion, but it sounds like a thread to shit-stir. Just my 2cents. Huh? I don't get that at all. The opening poster was just asking a genuine quiery. He's right anyway. Plant's voice did change extremely radically over the ten years of recording with Zeppelin and he was simply wondering why it was such a major change through those years. The Plant of 1968 doesn't even sound remotely like the Plant of 1978. Even lookswise Robert aged a lot in those years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gospel Zone Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 And Plant's vocals were altered on some tracks from HOTH. TSRTS is the best example of them using a voice modulator which elevated the pitch to his voice. 1971 was his best vocal year. It was his high point between the transition of "Golden God banshee bluesman" to everything post-72. I wonder what they were thinking on Houses Of The Holy, there is quite a contrast between his voice there, when compared with the album before it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deborah J Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 And if you notice his first two solo work's are back to the old screeching higher sound's, yes? Led Zeppelin was a road band from hell! They where constantly doing show's, so I believe his voice just needed a rest. I think his voice just needed a rest as well. The man can still bring you to your knees when he sings the blues and can send chills through your body when he hits a high note. The voice has always been one that cannot be imitated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glicine Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Anyhow Led Zeppelin's latter stuff sounds like it should be a LOT more later than it is. Even though Plant was only 30 when they recorded their last studio album he sounds more like 50. So in a weird way it kind of sounds like they had a full career. Rather than 12 years sounds more like 30 year span in the difference between Good Times Bad Times and In the Evening. To be honest, I didn't quite get what you mean with "Plant was only 30 when they recorded their last studio album he sounds more like 50". And I'd like to say 12 years in Led Zeppelin and with the way he sang, it was probably more intense than 30 years for a random musician. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotplant Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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