Comments on: History of Oversinging

By: LW

LW — Sat, 03 May 2008 17:28:53 +0000

Ivan Parker is by far the best. He still does this song at Gaither Homecomming concerts.

By: Kyle Dowden

Kyle Dowden — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:18:26 +0000

LOL! Hey Doug, thanks for pointing folks to that college multi-purpose concert video. That was KWFC’s 39th anniversary concert. Had about 2,500 people in attendance.

Love it!

By: Joey M

Joey M — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:57:38 +0000

Ivan, Brian, Mike and Tim… were there any better?? I don’t think so.

I wish they would do a reunion of sorts… they could sell out a huge stadium, I’m sure of it. Ivan’s STILL popular, Brian has his own group, and Tim is still widely regarded as one of (if not THE) best bass singer ever.

By: Grigs

Grigs — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 01:00:26 +0000

I prefer oversinging to undersinging.

By: C.W. G.

C.W. G. — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:26:07 +0000

I guess it goes to show you I don’t know my y’s from I’s or is it the other way? Just kidding.

By: wackythinker

wackythinker — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:37:44 +0000

This is reminiscent of Simon Cowell dogging a contestant one week for not making a song his/her own, then the same thing next week for changing it up, TRYING to make it his/her own.

You can’t have it both ways.

By: Leebob

Leebob — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:20:30 +0000

Perhaps this could qualify as oversinging, but NOTHING compares to oversinging like any version of The Star Spangled Banner. I am not sure why but accomplished musicians feel like they have to put their spin on a national treasure as if they are going to make it their own. I cannot tell you what the more senior people within my family call it so as not to offend but let’s just say a certain nationality has messed it up according to them.

This may be an answer as to why SG singers feel they have to place their own spin on songs that have already been sung as if to say this is my song sung the way nobody else can.

By: Trevor Haley

Trevor Haley — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:58:33 +0000

Seeing that old DX7 brings back a lot of memories for me. No keyboard player could be without one in those days.

By: Brett

Brett — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:20:39 +0000

Ivan’s version is best barnone. The others sound contrived.

By: Trent

Trent — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:32:47 +0000

I think we all just need to give the new guy time to blossom and find his own way with the group. It’s early yet. I’ve got a hunch that he’s going to be outstanding a year from now. He’s already quite good.

By: brad

brad — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:31:52 +0000

WHATEVER

By: matureman

matureman — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:23:33 +0000

#10… It didn’t get by most of the astute readers here. Surely, it was intended as written. Good candidate for Webster’s.

Good shot, #5 C.W.G.!

By: not a grammarian

not a grammarian — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:10:28 +0000

CWG (#5)
That is the most hilarious alternate spelling I’ve ever seen

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:13:04 +0000

I’m with Joe (#3). Brian, Ivan, Mike, and Tim in my opinion were the best quartet ever.
I think Jonathan is a talented guy and sings other songs great and proved himself as being one of the top leads in SG during his tenure with GC.
The other guy has some work to do to be on Jonathan’s level and may never be on Ivan’s level.
Midnight Cry is not a good comparative song because no one will ever be able to sing it like Ivan. JMHO.

By: Bari-Tone-Def

Bari-Tone-Def — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:11:14 +0000

Brian Free sportin’ the ‘Fro’. Thats great …

By: Rod

Rod — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:41:53 +0000

I like the new new guy a alot…Still…the old Gold City was CLASS…Smooth and very listenable…Is that a word? Probably not…They (Old GC) were much easier on the ears and they didn’t walk all over each other…The blend was perfect, no stacks, canned music, just plain flat footed singing. Not even close in my opinion.

By: matureman

matureman — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:29:41 +0000

Angie #4, bless you. I thought I was the only person on earth that really paid attention to our pet-peeve, which makes me turn the CD or radio off at times.

I believe that peculiarity started in the 60’s and 70’s when we popularized groups that were untrained and leaned Country/Bluegrass. “..not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

It has long been my firm belief that in concert, a group should sing any song as close to the arrangement as possible… (if nothing else but to prove they can do it) then, perhaps take their liberties on the encore.

Thank you for mentioning this (?) ..would you call this ‘over-singing’, as well?

By: C.W. G.

C.W. G. — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:08:09 +0000

Wow - what ever happened to just enjoying the song or the moment - way too analized for me.

By: Angie M

Angie M — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:37:30 +0000

Thanks for reposting these. My problem isn’t so much with the individual renditions of the verses, but with the tendency to draw out certain sylables at the expense of others. I see this in a LOT of live SG performances. I guess they’re trying to give the fans something different from what’s on the CD. It’s particularly evident here in the 1997 version. At the end of the first chorus, when Jay(?) and (searches memory, comes up empty…maybe it would help if I could see the video instead of just hearing the sound–and also, this was during my decade SG hiatus) Other-Guy come in, we get something like, “Aaaaat theeee miiiiidniiiiiiight crywhenJesuscomesagain.” This is one example of a technique that’s used a lot in that particular version of the song. Having said that, all the vocalists are really in fine form. I recognize this might be just one of my pet peeves, and maybe others like this style of live singing. I don’t necessarily think live performances should sound just like the CD, but it’s disconcerting, not knowing where those familiar notes are going to land. I did enjoy hearing all three versions, though.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:16:05 +0000

Thanks to Doug and Kyle for letting us take a trip back in SGM history, and once again, listen to Brian, Ivan, Mike and Tim sing.

IMHO, the 4 best voices ever to join together in male quartet.

That was, once again, a thrill.