STORY_TELLER wrote:slucero wrote:Perryisms.. LMAO.... that Perry admittedly "borrowed" from Sam Cooke.... so we really should call Perryisms - "Cooke-isms".... There's interviews of JSS where he says Perry was one of his main influences.... jeez...
Every musician borrows from their influences... ragging on Arnel for doing the same (at the behest of Journey or on his own) is simply hypocritical.
Don't buy it? Here it is
in Perry's own words... interview here:
http://steveperryfanclub.homestead.com/ ... urney.htmlQ. You mentioned there were people who influenced you?Steve Perry: I know this is hard to understand, but I would have to say everybody. A lot of my writing comes from the music of the late and early fifties, that musical simplicity, just more emotional. The early fifties vocalists were really good. Jackie Wilson was incredible. That was back when they were running a one or two-track tape machine. There were no vocal overdubs. Keeping this in mind, these singers were just incredible. I was extremely influenced by the use of echo techniques by Sam Cooke. His tonal qualities he had incredible tone. It would take hours to name everybody. Marion Reynolds and Diana Ross I thought were great. A lot of women singers I thought had tremendous voices. Dee Dee Sharp and Aretha Franklin; she still does. On the other side, I was never fond of Elvis' voice, though I liked Hound Dog and some of the semi-offbeat rhythms were great. I remember buying those records. I even have some old Chuck Berry 78s. Remember the song Green Door? That was a favourite of mine when I was small.
Then the sixties came along. All the surf stuff here comes that falsetto The Beach Boys and Frankie Valli, Lou Christy, Light and Stars Again. Intermingling with all those were all the Motown artists, Aretha Franklin, Sam, Marvin Gaye, Joe Tex, Diana Ross, all that. Then in the later sixties the English groups influenced me. Jack Bruce of Cream was a creative and dynamic singer, for what they were doing. Melding the falsetto into the harmony above it, in a hard-rock format, that was fantastic. Now it has become so sophisticated that I want to get back to a more basic approach.
Dude, all artists are influenced by other artists at some point. No one is 100% original. This can be said of every singer in existence and every illustrator in existence. I'm an artist myself so I know of what I speak. Perry was influenced by Sam Cooke, among others, absolutely, but he did what most talented artists do. He took the influence and did something original with it. He evolved the approach, putting his own unique stamp on it. This is why Perry and Rod Stewart, both who were heavily influenced by Sam Cooke, aren't mistaken for Cooke. No one refers to Perry as a Sam Cooke clone. Same can't be said for singers like Hugo (among others). You'll notice singers like Hugo aren't referred to as Sam Cooke clones? This is because the vocal turns and melody choices Perry uses are not a cloning of Cooke. A great deal of the stuff Augeri did while in Journey and what Arnel is doing now (on the samplers I've heard) are absolutely Perry's approach, not Sam Cooke's.
I'm not ragging on Arnel and I'm not being hypocritical about anything. You're just not getting the issue that was raised. Arnel didn't sound like Perry on his own music before he joined Journey. Go listen to his solo album tracks. Go listen to the ballad he made with the Zoo before joining Journey. Nothing Perry about him there. Sure, when he sings DSB, Faithfully or Open Arms, he does Perryisms. We're talking about new music here. There is intent to recreate Perry on vocals and it stems from Neal and Jon, not Arnel. I'm saying they shouldn't be pressing Arnel to be Perry. Let him be his own man. His voice is good enough not to need to do it.
Doooooooooooooood... the guys had like 6 live shows with the band.. and recorded albums that no one has heard in their entirety yet.... YET... everyone is passing judgment on him like he's been with the band as long as Augeri....
thats hypocritical...
Perry simply sang.... and his influences came out with it... there's no premeditation there.. its just how he sang...
Besides - how HORRIBLE would it be if one of Arnels influences was PERRY, and it came out in his singing style.... also.. its damn near IMPOSSIBLE for Arnel to sing any of the classics and not use some of the same inflections that Perry used on the originals... because ITS THE WAY THE SONGS WERE SUNG.... Augeri did it, JSS did it... and they got slammed for mimicking Perry too... Jesus... to sing those songs differently would be to do the SONG and PERRY a great injustice...
No one refers to Perry as a Sam Cooke clone.
Sam Cooke died in 1964... so he preceded Perry in the 80's by 20 years.... and more to your point... No one refers to Perry as a Sam Cooke clone because Perry (or Stewart) didn't replace Sam Cooke OR sing his songs.... LMAO... get a better example Doood...
And I do get the issue.... yet the reality of it is this. I would rather hear the originals done the way they were originally... because they really can't be done any better... its the honorable thing to do.... Its quite possible that performing the classics way they were done originally serves two purposes... it gives the fans what they want.... AND pays homage to those incredible songs which Perry put his vocal stamp on..... its really the only way they band can move forward.... which is also the honorable thing to do.
Oh and I'm an artist too.. a singer actually... since we're "qualifying" each others expertise...