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almatri
Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 239
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 Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 02:18 |
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Why Jamiroquai's songs are so hard to cover ?
I was listening some covers of Jamiroquai's songs, and something surprised me: most of the singers sounded really bad 
(Funny, since so many people keep saying that Jay Kay is an average singer  , or just a Stevie Wonder clone)
So why is so hard to emulate Jay Kay's style ? Because of the keys that he used to touch when singing ? Or because of his voice's tone ? |
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robotscantadlib
Joined: 28 May 2005
Posts: 242
Location: san francisco
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| Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 05:19 |
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i dont know about him being an average singer or a clone of stevie wonder..but that could be said about anyone who followed him. stevie was THE r&b singer. anyway, i suppose the difficulty lies in the timbre and inflection of his voice. very full sounding, almost feminine at times..kinda overdoing it on the EOPE stuff, even.
i'll try to put up some youtube vids at some point of me singing jamiroquai tracks, at least the old ones, circa space cowboy. i have those down pretty well, at least better than most of the people on youtube, or so i think. however can't sing dynamite very well, would require me to do coke and chain-smoke for about 10 years.  |
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almatri
Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 239
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| Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 15:30 |
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Yeah it would be nice to listen your cover
And yeah that's what I think too. Imo people wanting to cover Jamiroquai's songs, should sing with their style, instead of trying to copy Jay's style |
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deesh
Joined: 23 Feb 2002
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| Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 20:26 |
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Well honestly...I think that since we are hardcore fans, its maybe a little difficult for our ears to accept anything that is trying to imitate Jamiroquai that isn't actually Jamiroquai.
Look how hard it is when a musician is replaced in the actual band. Our ears are very in tune with the difference and often quick to criticize that. So I can only imagine it would be hard for us to accept a whole nother band trying to cover Jamiroquai.
Hope that makes sense!
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almatri
Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 239
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 00:44 |
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I don't really agree with you Deesh. For example in american idol, a guy had sung Virtual Insanity. Well even though he was not able to sing as good as Jay, his performance was still good, because he didn't just try to sing the tune like on the album, he put his style in it.
And imo some artists are just really hard to cover, for example the singer of Sade. Even though I like their music, I'm not big fan. Well I'm pretty sure that it's not easy to cover her, just because of the particular timbre of her voice |
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Knjaz
Joined: 01 Feb 2006
Posts: 803
Location: Stuck in your computer
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 07:06 |
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I second Deesha. People usually try to copy J's vocals when they cover songs, and that sounds real bad for the most of the time. Hell, even J had a change of voice, yet he still manages to sing some of the old tunes.
Most people who cover Jamiroquai songs try to sound like J, instead of adapting the song to their own voice. Really dumb, if you think about it. |
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deesh
Joined: 23 Feb 2002
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 14:07 |
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| almatri wrote: |
I don't really agree with you Deesh. For example in american idol, a guy had sung Virtual Insanity. Well even though he was not able to sing as good as Jay, his performance was still good, because he didn't just try to sing the tune like on the album, he put his style in it.
And imo some artists are just really hard to cover, for example the singer of Sade. Even though I like their music, I'm not big fan. Well I'm pretty sure that it's not easy to cover her, just because of the particular timbre of her voice |
I thought you were talking about an entire band trying to cover Jamiroquai. You didn't say Jay nor did I comment on just Jay.
As far as Blake, yes...it was an okay performance - but I tell you what, I didn't really care for it and I wouldn't go see him as a lead singer of a Jamiroquai cover band. Plus, that guy had about 2 minutes and on American Idol, you aren't supposed to cover the songs, you are supposed to put your own style into it and make it unique.
I doubt that if Blake were to have to actually cover Jay singing in that falsetto of Virtual Insanity, he could pull that off.
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almatri
Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 239
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 16:32 |
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Well I said in my first post that the singer sounded bad, I said nothing about the band playing with him .
And yeah I doubt that Blake would be able to be the singer of a Jamiroquai cover band, I just said that it sounded okay when he was doing it with his own style |
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deesh
Joined: 23 Feb 2002
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| Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 17:15 |
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| almatri wrote: |
Well I said in my first post that the singer sounded bad, I said nothing about the band playing with him .
And yeah I doubt that Blake would be able to be the singer of a Jamiroquai cover band, I just said that it sounded okay when he was doing it with his own style |
Oh, my bad.
When I see 'Jamiroquai' I think of the whole band, so that is what I commented on. Well, I still stick with my initial post of that my ears are keen to hearing Jay and the band, so when someone else tries I think I'm already jaded that it won't sound as good.
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EDDI
Joined: 25 Sep 2006
Posts: 209
Location: Manchester, England
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 21:11 |
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jay singing is so high, that if you went falsetto in some song it would just not sound right. Another reason, is there are so many instruments in the band. Most bands rely on bass, drum, guitar and keyboard. Wheras jam has decks, puccusion, horn section and recently backing singers |
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MissyM
Joined: 28 Feb 2007
Posts: 451
Location: Here--> there & everywhere!
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| Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 07:02 |
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I agree with deesh!!  To my ears noone else can sing these songs..lol..
Seriously I also think that his voice is quite unique as are most singers in some bands and therefore the songs have a feel about them when sung by these ppl.. So in other words when a different person sings a song they give it a different vibe or feeling.. .. do u get me?..
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jgrizz
Joined: 12 Jan 2005
Posts: 1049
Location: Claremont/Southern California/USA
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| Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 18:16 |
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I think that it's hard to copy Jay's style simply because of the uniquness of his voice, which when I first heard it, on EOPE, I thought he was a black female soul singer.
that, and Stu's bass playing just drew me in and I said wow this is really something differnet and fresh and it actually says something positive, etc, etc.
As far as someone covering a JMQ tune, they or the band should not even attempt it unless they do kind of sound like Jay (I Think) because that's what is so unique about the band, that he (did) sound like a black sould sista!!!!
anyway that's my rant  |
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jameerica
Joined: 31 Jan 2007
Posts: 744
Location: Walking in the strawberry fields (with devils!)
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| Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 18:37 |
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and also whoever plays the tracks doesn't play it in the same way...per example when blake lewis was singing the backing band kinda put a twist or something on it and it just didn't have the same feel at least to me
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MissyM
Joined: 28 Feb 2007
Posts: 451
Location: Here--> there & everywhere!
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| Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 05:39 |
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| jgrizz wrote: |
I think that it's hard to copy Jay's style simply because of the uniquness of his voice, which when I first heard it, on EOPE, I thought he was a black female soul singer.
that, and Stu's bass playing just drew me in and I said wow this is really something differnet and fresh and it actually says something positive, etc, etc.
As far as someone covering a JMQ tune, they or the band should not even attempt it unless they do kind of sound like Jay (I Think) because that's what is so unique about the band, that he (did) sound like a black sould sista!!!!
anyway that's my rant |
soul sista ?  really? 
unique is tru must agree there with u..
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