Live Acoustic at MLB.com DOWNLOAD
 

VIDEO:
-Surround Me
-The Great Divide
-Complete Interview

AUDIO:
-Surround Me
-The Great Divide

Thanks for the videos. They were great. Most important thing to me was that Stapp seemed relaxed and happy during the interview and performances. He still has a great voice no matter what everyone else say!

Thanks for the videos, ItalianAB. Nice performance by Scott and goneblind. He does seem more relaxed and at ease now.

Nice videos. Good to see some new stuff. However, I hate to be the one always posting the negative, but I think these videos prove what I've been saying regarding how his voice live is not the best. In Surround Me, the first verse he sounds flat, or at least off half an octave down, and then he seems to get a bit better after the first chorus. However you can see how he forces out the notes towards the end of the song. It's like hitting some of the notes just doesn't come natural and he has to force it out. What I'm afraid of is that is what happened during the Weathered tour. He had to force a lot of the higher notes out and half way through the tour, he had throat problems... :(

Good point, Steve, although I have not watched the videos yet. I guess we won't know for sure until he starts touring. Obviously, the videos we've seen(and the live acoustic performances we've heard) seem to be a bad sign, but you never know until he starts going out and touring. Hopefully he'll sound good live and stay healthy. I'm looking forward to his performance at the Nascar race this Sunday. Hopefully he sings the National Anthem better than he sung God Bless America.

The Great Divide was a bit better. But regarding the song itself, does anyone not like the song the way it was played acoustically? I think that not having drums does this song harm. It would have been better with a bongo drum in there IMO :) Especially towards the end of the song.

Alright, I just watched "Surround Me". My initial impressions were that Stapp and his band sounded very good, although he was a bit flat with that first verse. Still, overall, he sounded 100x better than the radio performances I've heard of SM. I second Steve regarding the drums. I was surprised that they didn't have the drummer. It would have sounded even better if the drummer were there playing the bongos. Not having him there takes something away from the song.

I enjoyed the songs on the whole but i have some concerns with his voice:

The thing you all are noticing is that he is straining his voice when he sings. He sings straight through his throat in all the songs and in many cases he is singing outside of his range.

Scott Stapp has been and still is a baritone voice, he's trying to sing high tenor a la myles kennedy, and he's just not singing properly to be able to hit those notes.

If you notice specifically in Surround Me when he's singing after the first chorus there are times where he has to strain so much that his right leg actually comes up towards his chest (no this is not some artistic thing, this is his body tensing up to get up to those notes).

If Scott continues to sing this way (from his throat) i can promise you we will see tour cancellations based on his voice as we did in the Weathered tour.

I would hope that since he's still pursuing this as his career he would have invested in some singing lessons to get his voice out of his throat and into his chest and diaphragm, but obviously that's not the case. My best guess is he wants to hold on to his raspy voice, but as far as longevity of career is concerned it's an extremely unwise choice.

For one thing, he is not trying to sound tenor like MK(thank God,..one MK is too much as it is!) I saw nothing wrong with his voice and both songs were performed awesomely. As I am no vocal expert, not really knowing fundamental critique, I know what sounds good. And as a fan, I thought he sounded great. I think he really exumes passion thru his vocals. Other fans like me are not going to be trying to find every flaw in him,...so overall I think a REAL fan would enjoy it and I can't wait for his tour.

cool...and mimmo, nice avatar!

heheheh thank you!

Thanks ItalianAB - you rock!

I watched the videos and the interview and I think that Scott sounded pretty damn good - 1,000x better than those radio performances. Its obvious though that he is ready to ROCK. He had such a hard time keeping himself on the seat. It will be good to see him on Leno when they're plugged and seeing him able to act out. Thanks again ItalianAB. :D

very nice. impressive once again.

well, I do not like his vocals, he is straining and it clearly evident in the video...so if he goes on tour, there might be cancellations because of it, song is good though....

:jam: :jam: :jam: :jam: : Damn Right We Are Ready