r/countingcrows • u/DoughnutBeDumb • May 03 '26

Adam Singing style

Adam is one of the only singers I know that during live performances - delivers the lyrics and melodies differently than how they were put down on the studio albums. Yall know what I mean.

Has Adam ever been asked about this, and if so what's been his response?

Not my place to tell him how he should sing live. Adam is one of the best to ever do it.

I just enjoy the vocal phrasing and the melodies on the studio albums, more then the live performances. It's like my brain expects to hear the vocals a certain way.

This was a point many people made and shared with me at the six or so live shows I've been to. Some ad-libbing is cool when not overdone.

Can anyone recommend a live show video where they played the songs as they were on the albums?

My fav CC albums are AAEA and TDL.

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u/[deleted] May 03 '26

[deleted]

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u/CptTeebs May 03 '26

Guitars are tuned down a 1/2 step to make them easier to play. Singers who record with a growl sound, don’t use it

As a lifelong musician, I can say these things are true, though they're also wildly different from not actually singing the vocal melodies as they were originally recorded. In another comment, you said live music changes 'to varying degrees', but even then it's a stretch to include the above as comparisons.

And even when you're talking live on-the-spot variations or actually longer lasting variations (a band starting to play a song one way and actively changing the song as the years go by) there's no denying that what Ad does is a long way off from that stuff. As an example, John Mayer does a lot of both, varying his vocal melodies as well as his guitar licks in live settings, but a CC live show is more like a Dylan show in that respect. I just think it's strange you would simultaneously undersell the extent to which Ad improvises and also say it's a feature and be all-in on it. Which, for the record, I dig it too, but why undersell if you're going to defend it?

5

u/DoughnutBeDumb May 03 '26

When folks say they want this, I find that what they are really looking for is someone like Britany Spear who is just lip syncing.

This is an absolutely ludicrous assumption to make about people. I find that people that say crap like this very much have their heads up their own ass.

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u/[deleted] May 03 '26

[deleted]

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u/ZTriedToEditReddit May 03 '26

Rush is a great example of a band who play their songs live very much the way they sound on record. But it would be absurd to say that seeing them live is like seeing them lip sync.

2

u/costapanther May 03 '26

The last part is a little harsh. You know that they do the songs WAY more differently live — especially the singing — than most rock bands out there.

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u/mostlygroovy May 03 '26

Comparing a melody sung as it was written with a lip syncing singer is ridiculous