When I analyze Adam's vocals, I never do it with a frame of mind of critiquing a performance or trying to find flaws. First of all they are very rare to begin with and I cannot see how doing that would be fun at all. But rather do I know that his vocal ability is so beyond of any question, that when it is discussed this is not about right or wrong, it is about personality and about interpretation and on that level it is sometimes interesting to look a bit deeper. Let me give you and example and allow those that are keen on skipping to do just that right now.
Adam is a risk taker. If he has a choice between something safe, but plain or something a bit more risky, but entertaining and interesting he will always go for it. He'll take a chance, not be afraid if it does not work out.
We fans know that and enjoy the variety and interest that this brings and over the years we have also learned that this crazy cat based on his natural ability and on top of it years of training has learned to land on his feet most of the time anyhow. Only every once in a while will he reach too far and find he needs to practice and develop the skill needed for the newest difficult jump. And if he encounters such a situation, that is exactly what Adam does.
An ice-skater practicing the quadruple jump will fall again and again during practice, and then will have to eventually risk it during performance time and just not worry about the potential of a fall. This skater will also listen to his body, find out whether things are 'tuned' just right that day to allow him to have a chance or whether it is better to just do a simple jump instead.
You can sometimes see Adam do the same thing. In WWTLF on day 3
he faces such a situation. That jump up to a high D at the end (3:30) is the challenge. That's the quadruple jump. You can see that Adam tests his own vocals at (2:58-3:00) and probably also checks how much his audio feedback is working for that high note, because the interesting thing is that at 3:00 he clearly makes the decision that he will go for it next time around (thirty seconds later). Watch his body language and also compare it to the performances on the previous days, when he decides against the experiment. The interesting part is that on the third day, Adam makes that decision even though his test at 2:58 is actually not all that successful; he has to correct there, but clearly his vocal chords tell him that in this night he does have it in him and that he can hear himself well enough that he can correct should he not land it. And of course we all know that he did land the jump just fine.
For me the guts that it takes to go for it, when the test is actually not indicating it just adds to that personality dimension, which I would not be able to experience or understand about Adam without listening with care and by following along with him.
I am not skilled enough musically to always hear such things. Sometimes I need to pull up a keyboard and try something out, because I am not sure what I am hearing. Or I need to go to the music thread and ask. That scale in fame was such a situation where I had to work it out. It had grasped my attention immediately and I could tell it was a two octave descent just from listening. But I could have sworn that it was some more unusual scale Adam was doing there - no it wasn't. The piano does not lie. My brain clearly lied to me. Just a regular major scale, but MY - does it sound mighty fine. Maybe it is just the harmonics created by the other instruments, I don't know, I just know, it sounds crazy good to listen to.
The interest comes from the performance, from the dancing down those steps, the harmonies and rhythms around him, the fact that pop songs normally don't contain scales and for good reason, the fact that they certainly don't contain scales that span two octaves, but that is why it is special. Adam can master all that and hold my interest endlessly. And in this case he teaches me that he just honors the master. Does exactly what Bowie did, because it is THAT good. No need to up it, just a need to do it justice. And that is what I love about him. His response varies depending on need and that makes it feel so good.
Sometimes I just want to sit there and press F5 and forget the world around me, and sometimes I feel like opening another window with a piano and start figuring things out. Want to know what crazy thing he just did. It's all about the discovery, discovering Adam and discovering music and meaning along the way. Adam can be such a wonderful teacher in so many ways. There is no right and wrong in how we learn from him. It's all good.
No. well, now, you do! ;D
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