Plant vocal nodules operation

[Matjaz1]

If you listen to TSRTS, which are the last concerts, before Robert had the operation, you can only sometimes notice his voice cracking and he sang some stuff lower, but his voice still sounds powerfull and mostly clean(not raspy) and he sometimes goes very high. On the tours before the 1973 United states tour, it's obvious his voice started cracking and so he wasn't pleased anymore with his singing, because he had to sing stuff lower and less powerfull.

So he decides for an operation and after that things get much worse on the 1975 tour!! What the f**k??? He is not just singing even lower and cracking a lot more then in 73, but he is also hoarse!!

Maybe the voice needed more rest after the surgery and I think he also had a flu at the beggining of the tour, but it's still strange. I also read, that a singer must think very carefully, before he takes such an operation, because things might not turn out to good and so it's better to just let the chords heal by themselves and then improve vocal technique. So perhaps Robert was offered the operation and didn't know the dangers!!?

But still I think: Holy crap, how could they perform an operation on him, or even offer him an operation if they knew, things can get worse, instead of better!!??? And was he pushed into it by the management, because there was just no time between tours to rest his vocal??

I know that vocal nodules by themselves can cause cracks, loss of range and raspiness. But Robert mostly had cracks, while after the operation, he had everything, which i also read about, that the operation can sometimes result in this symptoms aswell, even if some of them were not even present before the operation and the operation does not necceserilly make them better and that is why someone like Mercury avoided the operation and just sang stuff lower, to not further hurt his vocals!

So the question is does anybody know any details about this stuff in terms of Robert's case and also details about such operations and why they are performed, if they don't really work and why it didnt' really work for Robert!? I got only basic information from wikipedia! Steve A. Jones or anybody else, help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!!

And also, Plant obviously has all the range these days, which can be seen in the 90's Page/Plant performances and something like Since I've been loving you on the reunion concert!! He just doesn't sound as good as he did in the early seventies!!

Sorry for rambling!

[Mattmc1973]

From Dave Lewis' book "Led Zeppelin: The Concert File", page 231...

"During the 1973 tour his voice could be very erratic - perfectly illustrated by shows such as the Chicago (July 6) date where his voice from the start is almost completely shot. This state of affairs may have been a contributing factor to their lay-off in 1974. Listening to the studio versions of 'Trampled Underfoot', 'Sick Again', 'Wanton Song', and 'Kashmir', it's clear his voice was still hoarse during the initial sessions for Physical Graffiti. His performances on these cuts, while certainly not lacking in commitment, is noticeably less clear than on the Houses of the Holy album. Asked in an interview with The Scotsman in 1988 how he looked after his vocal chords, Plant revealed that..."15 years ago I had an operation on my throat and couldn't speak for three weeks." No news of such an operation leaked out to the press at the time, but now it seems likely that the operation took place around late '73 to early '74, and this contributed to the lay-off."

[SteveAJones]

I'm going to refer you to the search function as this has been discussed many times before.

Suffice to say he willfully had the operation after the 1973 tour and their break in 1974 was in part because of it. His vocal problems throughout the first few weeks of the 1975 tour are attributed to influenza. It so happens when they landed in Chicago from London via New York on January 16th 1975 (to set up camp at the Ambassador East for the first leg of the tour) John Paul Jones was the only one wearing a coat.

[Matjaz1]

Thanks!

I know he had problems in 73 and there were perhaps some shows where his voice was shot, but mostly it just cracked if he tried to sing as high as he did in 72.

The most important question I am asking here is, why didn't the operation really help, to make his voice what it was, because his voice wasn't just bad in 75, when he had the flu.

I mean if you look how low he sang the last part of Stairway even at Earls court and how his voice still cracked, even when he was that low and how hoarse he was, the operation just didn't seem to help at all!!

I know I answered some of the stuff myself and I know there are various deggress of vocal nodules, so sometimes they don't heal by themselves!

Perhaps Robert was told his voice won't be the same after the surgery, but why the heck was it worse then before the surgery!!??