Don Felder videos on YouTube and other video sites

[chaim]

I didn't listen to the whole thing. I assume it's the same story as always; like describing Tom Petty's hair and teeth and getting the "wow!"s and the "hahaha"s when he says his name. But I found the "we didn't have the internet, iPhones or iPads..." a bit weird. I wonder how many in his audience had those as a kid. 😂

[WalshFan88]

I didn't listen to the whole thing. I assume it's the same story as always; like describing Tom Petty's hair and teeth and getting the "wow!"s and the "hahaha"s when he says his name. But I found the "we didn't have the internet, iPhones or iPads..." a bit weird. I wonder how many in his audience had those as a kid. 😂

Hahaha, yeah probably not many! I mean I was born in 1988, and I didn't even want a cell phone until smartphones became a thing, and the first iPhone came out the year I graduated high school. So do the math. And I would be one of the youngest at a Felder show. I know I was when I saw him a few years back with Styx and REO Speedwagon.

I did have my own computer growing up in Junior High. I've always been an Apple geek and so I had one of those fruit colored egg shaped iMacs back in Junior High. And then I had different iterations of iMacs until I was done with school and decided I wasn't a desktop computer person anymore and switched to MacBook laptops. I did however have the first year iPad, which came out in 2010, so I had an iPad and Macs way before I ever got an iPhone because they weren't tied to a carrier and just ran off of the home WiFi.

I didn't get an iPhone until the iPhone 6 came out because we use a really small regional cell carrier called US Cellular as they are the only ones who work here at the house out in the boonies, and they didn't carry the iPhones until the iPhone 6 came out. Before that I had a BlackBerry and then Samsung Galaxy's. I hated the Galaxys and Android in general, but the BlackBerry being my first smartphone way back in 2008 made me think I was cooler than those of my age at the time. I think the iPhone 6 was in 2014. I got the BlackBerry after a trip to New York City on vacation with my folks, and seeing so many men in suits and ties walking around I said maybe I will get a cellphone after all! Of my age group of the people I knew I certainly was the last to get a cellphone. I never wanted the dang flip phones or any of that. I was uncool for that reason at the time.

[thebagels]

Peaceful Easy Feeling at Batavia Downs this past Friday.


https://www.facebook.com/rob.hausrat...19205515881965

Rough performance; hopefully he plays better as the tour extends.

He's started using new vocal tracks too. They're more autotuned than before, but his vocal tone actually sounds better on them, oddly. I wonder if there's more reverb on the tracks now.

An interesting thing about this performance is that he apparently did "Best of My Love." I'm curious to see how he pulled it off or if he rearranged it as I've never heard him do that song.

[chaim]

Haven't listened to it yet, but are you sure he's using vocal tracks there? Would be a bit strange if he's recorded new ones.

[thebagels]

Haven't listened to it yet, but are you sure he's using vocal tracks there? Would be a bit strange if he's recorded new ones.

I'm fairly certain that he is (and someone can correct me if they can deduce otherwise). Don's natural voice is fairly raspy and cracks quite a bit. Sometimes, he does actually sing decently in tune (I posted some links a few months ago to videos of a fundraiser he did in 2014 where he sang uncharacteristically well), but it's never as note-perfect and compressed as it is here.

The thing with these new vocal tracks is that they're more cleverly recorded than the ones he was using before. They're not so compressed that they make Don sound like a little boy (listen to the AXSTV Vegas concert with Styx and Foreigner if you think this assessment is a too severe), and they've preserved a couple of voice cracks (like on the word "know" in "you don't already know how to go"). Seems like a page out of Kevin Cronin's book, as Kevin's vocal tracks include some goofs and spaces between the lines for him to adlib (they're probably meant to be red herrings).

Sometimes I wish that the people shooting these Felder concerts would focus on the computer screens in the sound booth or Timothy Drury's laptop screen.

[chaim]

I guess we'll know for sure if his voice cracks everytime in the same places. Would be cool if he decided to sing live. Paul Stanley finally started started lip-syncing - what a sad way to go out. Roger Waters barely sings live...

[WalshFan88]

Seems like a page out of Kevin Cronin's book, as Kevin's vocal tracks include some goofs and spaces between the lines for him to adlib (they're probably meant to be red herrings).

Interesting! I *love* REO, and I've seen then more than any other band at this point (4x). Some really don't care for Kevin's vocal mannerisms and haven't from the beginning.

And to the best of my recollection, it's been probably 2/2.5 years since I've seen the guys last - Kevin wasn't using vocal tracks or lip syncing. It was painfully obvious on Keep On Lovin' You and Take It On The Run as I remember. On those high notes it was cracking and very frail sounding. Other lines he would "whisper sing" to try to hit those notes. And hey, I'm not complaining - aging is an inevitable process that sadly affects some more than others. At least Kevin Cronin could sing well at one point, unlike Don Felder.

I need to see them again though! They always put on a good show and I like all of their music from the earliest more hard rock numbers right up through the power ballad era. Then again, maybe I won't enjoy myself as much if he's lip syncing the whole time. I guess I'd rather have the realness warts and all from a singer like Kevin. Felder, eh...

[thebagels]

Interesting! I *love* REO, and I've seen then more than any other band at this point (4x). Some really don't care for Kevin's vocal mannerisms and haven't from the beginning.

And to the best of my recollection, it's been probably 2/2.5 years since I've seen the guys last - Kevin wasn't using vocal tracks or lip syncing. It was painfully obvious on Keep On Lovin' You and Take It On The Run as I remember. On those high notes it was cracking and very frail sounding. Other lines he would "whisper sing" to try to hit those notes. And hey, I'm not complaining - aging is an inevitable process that sadly affects some more than others. At least Kevin Cronin could sing well at one point, unlike Don Felder.

I need to see them again though! They always put on a good show and I like all of their music from the earliest more hard rock numbers right up through the power ballad era. Then again, maybe I won't enjoy myself as much if he's lip syncing the whole time. I guess I'd rather have the realness warts and all from a singer like Kevin. Felder, eh...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPjagdjW9hg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnwUJlj_l8k

If you sync these two videos, you'll hear that his vocal is tracked, but his adlibs between lines ("you sing it!") are different.

I like REO as well. Kevin always had an interesting timbre to his voice, but his vocal tuning is really precise. Despite the frailty in his voice that you mention (which I agree with), I'm happy he's apparently keeping himself physically active. And when he sings songs in lower keys, they're still enjoyable to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-Ou6-s3zcQ