To Bid You Farwell

[Demiana]

Can anyone tell me who sings on this beautiful song? Even though it's one of my favorites, the vocals are not always in tune..unfortunately
Next month I will finally see them here in Holland, on the Waldrock festival!

 

[Villain]

Eh... It's Mikael Åkerfeldt himself, who sings on that one.(!) And yes, his clean singing wasn't so perfect at that time, but the song is _GREAT_ nonetheless.

-Villain (np: Godhead's Lament)

 

[Demonspell]

The only other voice that has appeared on an Opeth album is Steven Wilson...

 

[MountainDweller]

The imperfections, I think, add to the greatness of the song. I don't even really notice them. In fact, it seems like a song that was meant to be sung in that way. The lyrics, the music, and the way he sings in such a sad tone just forms a perfect picture in your mind. It's just an awesome song...perfect.

 

[HoserHellspawn]

I don't really have a musical ear for that sort of thing and probably wouldn't be able to tell if he was out of tune. And (possibly as a result) I don't care. I've heard that argument (Mike being occasionally off in his singing) used by Opeth critics many a time, though. Always seemed to me that they were struggling to find weaknesses to justify their opinions.

(Not to say that anyone here was being critical of Opeth - I've noticed that sometimes I have to make certain things very clear... gotham and his "to Hoserhellspawn" thread, for example)

 

[The Wanderer]

i dunno. practice is important for any band, no matter how good. even the stupid jam bands need to practice.

however, its easy to record without practice. some amazing things can be done in the studio these days. with pro tools and other digital editing programs its really easy to make shit work. you can record a couple parts, reorder them, and make them sound like they were played together. you can fix drums, solos, whatever. really easy. i have no idea if opeth does this or not. but anyway. random rant

 

[Orchid]

Originally posted by The Wanderer
however, its easy to record without practice. some amazing things can be done in the studio these days... with pro tools and other digital editing programs its really easy to make shit work. you can record a couple parts, reorder them, and make them sound like they were played together.

Heheh, been there, done that.

When we were recording our latest song and I was trying to get one quite an easy piece of guitar solo together and my goddamn stubby fingers failed on me (once again!) we thought: "let it be.. I'll play as much of it as I can and then play the hard parts again. We'll edit it." and voilá, almost no one can hear the difference (almost.. there's always some prodigy or a Beethoven around).

 

[Jim Ansell]

Where exactly does he go off key?
Thats one of my favoirte opeth songs.
Its so emotional, very powerfull.
That song brings me back to one night i'll never forget

 

[Protocol]

I haven't got a perfect pitch, but a flawless relative pitch, and I've never picked up anything disturbing about the singing in To Bid You Farewell. There might be tones that don't fit perfectly onto a scale, but I second MountainDweller's opinion: The 'imperfections' add to the song, and I don't believe for a second that it's wrong or a mistake.

There was a finnish singer in the 60-ies who had a very unique voice and singing technique. It does sound good (for those who fancy the kind of music), it doesn't sound off-key at all, but what he was doing was actually singing certain notes half a tone off.

To say perfect is absolute compliance with certain standards is rather conservative. Who would call Opeth a conservative band?

 

[MountainDweller]

I hated even saying "the imperfections" because to me, there's nothing wrong with the song at all. He sang it the way it was supposed to be sung and it sounds great. I mainly meant, whatever imperfections you think you hear are meant to be there. My guess is that because for most of it he sings in a very low, sad, voice and sometimes it just seems like there's not a whole lot of power in his voice, that maybe that's what Demiana thought to be "imperfections"...but when anyone sings in a low voice, they're not going to have strong "perfect" vocals, and that's how the song was meant to be. So, the so-called "imperfections" add perfection to the song. It's just the style of the song. Think of The Cure or even Katatonia. Some could say the vocals aren't perfect, but it's the style of the singing, and it makes the songs great. Like I said before, the lyrics of "To Bid You Farewell" just bring vivid images to mind, and I can see him standing, comtemplating things as he awaits the sunrise at the start of the song. There's supposed to be an element of peace, quietness, AND sadness there, and Mikael does that perfectly. Imperfections? There are none.

 

[jesse]

Who cares if his vocals weren't in EXACT pitch? Music should be beyond perfect technicality. This isn't computer-altered N'Sync music here...

 

[Opet]

Mikael Åkerfeldt off pitch?? What what WHAT??!!

I'm goofin', but really, I agree with all that say, "Off pitch? BLAH! Who cares." Let me just say this. Mikael is the only vocalist that I've ever heard this many people just go on and on about how GREAT his voice is and how the HELL does he make it feel and sound like that.

 

[warsofwinter]

Those imperfection are what I miss about old Opeth , no band should be perfect , although we like to think that opeth is , we shouldn't , Those imperfections seem like they were meant for those songs . I wouldn't want my band to be perfect , people would get tired of it , if you understand what i'm sayin

 

[liquiDeath]

Imperfections? What fu**ing Imperfections? That song IS PERFECT I cannot fault it in any way.
To me you are being blasphomus....... please leave! (Nah, i'm only kidding)

 

[Orchid]

Originally posted by Protocol
There was a finnish singer in the 60-ies who had a very unique voice and singing technique. It does sound good (for those who fancy the kind of music), it doesn't sound off-key at all, but what he was doing was actually singing certain notes half a tone off

Hmm, who are you talking about? I can't think of anyone...

 

[Protocol]

I don't remember his name. Some pop-singer. My old man had a tape with him playing in the car radio way too often.

 

[MadTinus]

Originally posted by Demonspell
The only other voice that has appeared on an Opeth album is Steven Wilson...

Not quite true, I'm pretty sure I hear Dan Swanö's voice on To Bid You Farewell, when the distorted guitars come in ("Devotion eludes..."). Maybe Mikael himself can comment on this when he reads this.

P.S. yes, this is a very old thread, I was just browsing the pages, starting at the very first page and found it. Funny a lot of people who posted in the beginning are not or rarely seen on the board anymore nowadays.

 

[The Wanderer]

Jesus Christ. I've not posted on teh opeth forum in over a year and all of sudden i get all these emails saying there are replies. threw me for a loop. I quit posting on this one cuz it got too crowded and too hard to follow.

 

[MadTinus]

Well, welcome back! It's a nice forum, stay!

By the way, are you a member of Serberus?

at your location, like the self-mockery.

 

[M.Lehto]

Damn, this song is something I've listened last hour over and over. In situation like mine, I now can relate with the situation what the lyrics are all about...Sad but true...