If this sounds apocryphal...

[schmerica]

Don’t make me drive that truck, don’t make me feed that rottweiler
I’m clean out of luck, take me to the bedroom and tie my body down

...You guys, remind me not to listen to the LYRICS when I put on Paul Gross's songs, okay? OKAY.

(I stick with what I said the first time brooklinegirl showed me the Voodoo video: I actually do really like his voice. DON'T JUDGE ME.)

Now is the time of the day when I have to choose between continuing what I am doing -- that is, listening to PG and read all the archives at I Can Has Cheezburger? -- or watching the new Doctor Who episode I have downloaded. Decisions are hard!

Note that this is not a cue for fox1013 to comment to tell me that my lack of a clear decision means I should be writing her fic. That's not how it works!

Comments

[melpemone.livejournal.com]

You won't get any judgment from me - I think he's got a gorgeous voice. It's just, um... misapplied? I actually really adore Family Matters, and I can listen to much of Love & Carnage happily, but I think the genre's all wrong for his voice. Um. Don't hurt me?

[omphale]

It's not so much the genre as it is that he won't just *pick* a genre, isn't it? He tries to do too much, and he and David Keeley need to find a better way to pick their lead vocals than a coin flip or whatever they're using.

[malnpudl.livejournal.com]

It's not so much the genre as it is that he won't just *pick* a genre, isn't it?

Very true. His stuff is all over the map, isn't it? Listen to it and you can hear Willie Nelson and Gordon Lightfoot and Leonard Cohen and and and... I want him to find his own musical voice.

he and David Keeley need to find a better way to pick their lead vocals

From what I understand, most of the time they each sing lead on their own compositions (though at least some songs, including "Two Houses", are joint compositions). But occasionally they swap, or at least we know of two songs of Paul's on which David has sung lead.

Paul has said that he doesn't think he has a particularly good voice and that his voice limits the sort of songs he can perform to those with a limited range ("no high arching ballads") and "just kind of grumbly songs" -- those are direct quotes. Which, I believe, is why David sings "Cherry Beach" and "The Other Side of Life" even though both were written by Paul.

[omphale]

I want him to find his own musical voice.

I've got high hopes for the album he's rumored to be working on. Maybe with the success of S&A and H20 and some of his other projects, he'll finally quit trying to please everyone and sing what he wants.

That was my understanding of the vocal decisions, as well. But the result has some real cohesion problems, and maybe they need to rethink it. The albums are random, even if they make sense given the writing.

Either they're a group, or they're not. If they are, it doesn't matter who does the writing. If they're solo artists, then they need to release separate albums.

(It's a pet peeve of mine. YMMV.)

And I had heard that Paul didn't think he had a particularly good voice. It's more that he's got a limited range, though, because he's got a distinctive style and good tone on the notes he *can* hit.

And given the way that David strains to hit some of the higher notes, I don't know that he's that much better of a choice. *g*