Imaginos great v. mediocre, no bad timing

[John A Swartz]

AB sez:

>One final point John I enjoyed your description of the various vocal
talents of the main three guys, and for the most part I agree.  I would
however add the word -soulful- in describing Al+s vox, especially on
songs like Vera Gemini.

Yes I would agree.  Stuff requiring a real show of "emotion" often seem
to fit Al's style better than either Buck or Eric.  Buck (laid-back)
and Eric (hard-edged) seem to me a bit more one-dimensional as singers,
although their vocal tone is excellent for their particular styles, and
they carry them off extremely well.

Having had the benefit of hearing demo tracks of Imaginos with Albert's
vocals throughout, I believe that some of the tracks worked better with
Albert's original vocals, while I preferred Buck and Eric's on some:

I Am the One You Warned Me Of -- both Al and Eric do this one well.
Les Invisibles - Buck's vocals seem to fit the mood of the song better.
In the Presence of Another World - I like Eric's vocal, although Al's is good.
Del Rio's Song - Al's vocal beats Eric here.
Frankenstein - Well, Albert's vocal is pretty good, but Joey Cerisano blows
everyone else away.
Astronomy - I like Buck's vocals on this one.
Magna of Illusion - Buck and Al treat this one very differently.  I like
them both, but Albert's inflection make it easier to follow the story here.
B.O.C - Well, Al sings on both versions, which works well, although I do
like the parts that Buck sings (although it wouldn't have been as good had
Buck sang the whole song, I suspect)
Imaginos - Al is definitely better than Jon Rogers, although there's a few
spots in the song that Jon embellishes a bit on what he no doubt heard Al
doing on the demo - the embellishments work for me, but overall Al is better.

John