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Post by Duggerman on May 14, 2009 23:42:07 GMT -5
Does he have the weakest voice among all of the Tempting Bass Singers? On the albums, he sounds fine. His voice is strong and clear. He sounds identical to Melvin.
But I can't help but notice that everytime he performs live with the group, you sometimes have to strain to hear him. His voice isn't BOOMING like the other Bass Singers who sung with the group. I saw the Temptations live two years ago, and Joe's voice wasn't impressive.
What do you think the deal is? Do you think he layers his voice in the studio to make it sound fuller, just like DB Woodside did in the Tempts movie? Or do you think that the studio engineers mix his voice to where it sounds stronger?
I think one of the two must be the case on the albums, especially Legacy. I seriously doubt that Joe's microphone is set on a low setting at almost every live Temptations performance.
Watch ANY footage of Joe singing live with the group. His voice is always easily drowned out. And when he sings his solos, his voice lacks depth, power and volume.
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Post by DC on May 15, 2009 0:41:19 GMT -5
Does he have the weakest voice among all of the Tempting Bass Singers? On the albums, he sounds fine. His voice is strong and clear. He sounds identical to Melvin. But I can't help but notice that everytime he performs live with the group, you sometimes have to strain to hear him. His voice isn't BOOMING like the other Bass Singers who sung with the group. I saw the Temptations live two years ago, and Joe's voice wasn't impressive. What do you think the deal is? Do you think he layers his voice in the studio to make it sound fuller, just like DB Woodside did in the Tempts movie? Or do you think that the studio engineers mix his voice to where it sounds stronger? I think one of the two must be the case on the albums, especially Legacy. I seriously doubt that Joe's microphone is set on a low setting at almost every live Temptations performance. Watch ANY footage of Joe singing live with the group. His voice is always easily drowned out. And when he sings his solos, his voice lacks depth, power and volume. You hit the nail on the head. Joe is a bass singer for sure but he just doesn't have the power that Melvin or Harry had. There's so many ways to enhance someones voice in the studio nowadays (Al B Sure ;D) that Joe's voice definitely could be altered. |
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Post by Duggerman on May 15, 2009 0:50:47 GMT -5
Yeah. I'd definitely put Joe in the DB Woodside category. He can naturally sing all the notes. But he can't sing the really deep ones with real POWER. Same thing with DB Woodside. I'll bet that Joe layered his voice to make it sound stronger on the albums. There's gotta be some studio magic involved here. I have yet to see any footage of Joe in concert where his voice was as strong or loud as Melvin, Ray or Harry. As a matter of fact, I have yet to see any footage of Joe in concert where his voice was as strong as any of the other men on stage with him!
Joe is a true bass, but not a strong one.
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Post by Duggerman on Dec 16, 2009 17:43:56 GMT -5
Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?
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Reminizzer
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Post by Reminizzer on Jan 28, 2010 18:49:42 GMT -5
The voice naturally weakens as it gets older. That may be what's happening to him. Having said that, I prefer all previous bass vocalists to Joe. They all possess vocal nuance that he just doesn't have.
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Post by Duggerman on Jan 28, 2010 20:29:55 GMT -5
The voice naturally weakens as it gets older. That may be what's happening to him. Having said that, I prefer all previous bass vocalists to Joe. They all possess vocal nuance that he just doesn't have. You're right about that. I never heard Joe when he was younger. Maybe his voice was stronger back then? But I know for certain that his voice lacked power when he joined the Tempts. |
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Post by smooth on Jan 29, 2010 9:49:03 GMT -5
Joe's voice doesn't sound identical to Melvin in my opinion. Melvin's voice was deeper and stronger, and Melvin's voice really stood out when they sung live. I must admit that I wondered the same thing when they sung live. The Tempts should've never fired Harry,their sound hasn't been the same since. Some might not know this, but Joe sang with Pookie Hudson and the Spaniels for that doo-wop special on channel 13, and his bass voice was excellent there, I don't know what happened. It could be because of age. Because when they were singing Goodnight Sweetheart, his voice really stood out.
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Post by Duggerman on Jan 29, 2010 13:29:42 GMT -5
Joe's voice doesn't sound identical to Melvin in my opinion. Melvin's voice was deeper and stronger, and Melvin's voice really stood out when they sung live. I must admit that I wondered the same thing when they sung live. The Tempts should've never fired Harry,their sound hasn't been the same since. Some might not know this, but Joe sang with Pookie Hudson and the Spaniels for that doo-wop special on channel 13, and his bass voice was excellent there, I don't know what happened. It could be because of age. Because when they were singing Goodnight Sweetheart, his voice really stood out. I think Joe sounds just like Melvin on the albums, which is odd because he can never pull this off in live performances. Have you heard "Something Special" and "Stay Together" on the Legacy album? I'd swear that the Tempts dug up Melvin to sing on those tracks. Perhaps Joe layered his voice to give it a stronger sound? Or maybe his vocals were mixed to have that full sound. I'm glad you mentioned Joe's career with The Spaniels. I have the audio of them singing "Goodnight Sweetheart" live and Joe sounded great. His voice was loud and strong. The clip was on youtube, but got removed. I have the audio and I'd love to upload it to youtube, but I'm afraid it'd get removed again. The bass singers in that group all have their subtle differences. I think Melvin and Ray sounded identical, only Melvin had a better ear. Joe sounds like Ray and Melvin, but lacks their vocal strength. Harry has a Barry White-esque purr to his voice when he speaks (and sings) and the other bass vocalists for the Tempts never had that. Their voices were more clear. |
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Post by smooth on Jan 30, 2010 12:13:48 GMT -5
Joe's voice doesn't sound identical to Melvin in my opinion. Melvin's voice was deeper and stronger, and Melvin's voice really stood out when they sung live. I must admit that I wondered the same thing when they sung live. The Tempts should've never fired Harry,their sound hasn't been the same since. Some might not know this, but Joe sang with Pookie Hudson and the Spaniels for that doo-wop special on channel 13, and his bass voice was excellent there, I don't know what happened. It could be because of age. Because when they were singing Goodnight Sweetheart, his voice really stood out. I think Joe sounds just like Melvin on the albums, which is odd because he can never pull this off in live performances. Have you heard "Something Special" and "Stay Together" on the Legacy album? I'd swear that the Tempts dug up Melvin to sing on those tracks. Perhaps Joe layered his voice to give it a stronger sound? Or maybe his vocals were mixed to have that full sound. I'm glad you mentioned Joe's career with The Spaniels. I have the audio of them singing "Goodnight Sweetheart" live and Joe sounded great. His voice was loud and strong. The clip was on youtube, but got removed. I have the audio and I'd love to upload it to youtube, but I'm afraid it'd get removed again. The bass singers in that group all have their subtle differences. I think Melvin and Ray sounded identical, only Melvin had a better ear. Joe sounds like Ray and Melvin, but lacks their vocal strength. Harry has a Barry White-esque purr to his voice when he speaks (and sings) and the other bass vocalists for the Tempts never had that. Their voices were more clear. I need to sing bass for the Tempts. Here is a clip of me on youtube. What do you think of my voice? Well said, I'm gonna try to upload the audio, but I tried to upload the original song and youtube removed it, I might give it another try |
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Post by smooth on Jan 30, 2010 13:26:52 GMT -5
I uploaded the Spaniel's performance with Joe Herndon singing bass
check it out in the "THEATER"
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Post by Duggerman on Jan 30, 2010 14:20:33 GMT -5
I watched the clip you posted. Thanks for uploading.  His voice was great on that performance. Very clear, very deep, and very strong. He sounds that way on the Temptations albums. I can't help but wonder why his vocals are never strong in live performances with the Tempts? And that leads me to this question; was it Joe singing bass on the original version of "Goodnight Sweetheart" that was recorded in 1954? |
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