I remember when I used to frequent this board back in the Riot Act era. I would defend his voice against all those who said he didn't have it anymore. I would point to recordings like Release from Tokyo 03 to evidence how rich his baritone still was rich.

I listened to Riot Act on the train this morning and thought wow, Ed HAD a great voice, and if that guy had been laying down the tracks on Backspacer we'd have a great album on our hands.

So I am shocked, perhaps you might say pleasantly surprised in a way at the lack of Ed can't sing anymore discussions.

But the fact is... when they recorded this album and it came time to lay down the vocals... I can envision Brendan O'Brien as the teacher in Ferris Bueller's day off.

Vedder?
Vedder?
Vedder?
Vedder?

He still has a good voice, they just have to detune the heck out of songs live to reproduce them.

Sorry, but this post was entirely pointless.

Also, I get really fucking bored of people talking about Eddie having 'lost his voice' just because he hasn't got the 'Ten baritone' anymore. Get the fuck over it. The baritone was fake anyway, it was put on.

Ten era Eddie Vedder is overrated.

Yield era Eddie Vedder is perfect.

I agree, but he doesn't even have the Riot Act baritone anymore. I was always a big defender but I'd say on Avocado it became noticeable. On the 08 Boots it became worrisome and now on Backspacer it's glaring.

and he sounds awesome on the new album.

It's really fascinating when people don't have a clue about what they're talking about. Baritone is the middle male voice (between bass (low) and tenor (high)). Now Ed's voice extended (to be fare since 10 on both ends) but especially he uses his lower register better and actually reaches lower notes than he did in the 90's.

on the record maybe

and live

well u gotta understand thats why most of us got into the band, or at least a big reason why

Ed sounds great on the new record. Doesn't sound like he did 10-15 years, but he might actually be a better singer. He sounded amazing at some of the solo shows.

Right, which is why I said they detune a lot of their songs now......

I've never heard them tune a song down so he could sing it live. That's complete bullshit.

even in private conversations

especially in private conversations.

not really. definitely not from a voice preserving point of view. On record he was OK from No Code on (Vitalogy almoust) but live he was destroying his pipes. It's not the smoking.
For whoever is going to prove me wrong by explaining me how they used to smoke, stopped and how their voice cleared up, you didn't do the amount of Eddie's signing in the way he was doing it so no, it doesn't count.
Whatever is left of Whitney Houston's voice is an example of a "lost voice" but not Vedder. They're more or less the same age so the comparison is better than it may seem.

I've heard a few people say that they tuned down songs and I had no clue what they are talking about. Seems ridiculous.