When I recently tweeted the following statement, fans of Grammy nominated singer/songwriter, Adam Lambert – the Glamberts as they call themselves – knew instantly what I meant: This is #Adamsfault for sure!

Tempus: is a new original piece of theatre inspired by the Zodiac Shows, and by the astonishing and fearless performances from Adam Lambert at those shows before he became the international superstar that he is today.

Earlier this year I was approached by the prestigious Actors Centre in London to present a three-month voice workshop there.

My suggestion that the workshops also be used to develop a show for the actors to employ the techniques they were studying, was accepted, something which had not happened at The Actors Centre in recent years and which they are keen to kick-start again, so with Tempus, we are the first to do so.

Meanwhile, since I had always wanted to create a show in which genres were fused, I had been thinking for a while about developing a kind of Zodiac Show in London.

The performances at the Tristan Bates Theatre, however, will still represent part of the course, and as the theatre is too small to get rock bands and dancers in, the show will be developed in two phases.

For these first performances of Tempus, therefore, we will be concentrating on the ‘story’ part of the show, which also contains fantastic original songs sung by phenomenal singers.

Being from the opera world, the story of Norma has always intrigued me and therefore Tempus, is loosely based on the Norma story, but set in the future at a time when the Earth is in trouble – the ice-caps have melted and the seas are rising to the point where much of the land has drowned, and cities like Venice are disappearing, whilst elsewhere people are dying because they have no fresh drinking water.

Deep conflict rages between the Druids and Scientists. Even though they want the same outcome – each believes theirs is the right way and the other is wrong.

But the Scientists are like none you’ve ever met: feisty, fierce and very, very funny!

And instead of the love triangle being between two women and a man, in Tempus, it is between two men and a woman. The two men are the ‘leaders’ of the two factions and even though the Scientists have no qualms about creating their offspring in a test tube, the Druids are dead against this alliance as very few men are available for procreation.

The action takes place around important Druid Festivals of the four seasons:

Autumn – Moon Festival
Winter – Sun Festival
Spring – Water & Oak Festival
Summer – Fire Harvest Festival

The development of Tempus is being filmed and will be appearing on its own YouTube channel first of all, within the next few weeks. You can follow the show’s development and post comments here:  http://www.workingtitlestheatre.wordpress.com

All text and lyrics are being written by the amazing Dr Philippa Semper and all the music, apart from perhaps one aria, is being composed by the talented Elizabeth Dockrell-Tyler for the wonderful voices of the cast. But just because Norma is an opera, don’t think that the music in Tempus is operatic – there is a fusion of genres which has been crafted especially for the voices of the cast.

THE SCIENTISTS                                                                  THE DRUIDS

Steven MacGillvray                                                                 Nikola Trifunovic

Moshana Khan                                                                          Madelyn Swallow

Cecilia Gragnani                                                                           Mira Noltenius

Asha Kingsley                                                                                Dawn Stanley

Peter Oliver

One of the reasons the development of Tempus is being filmed, is so that audiences will get to know the actors, fall in love with them, and want to see them in the bigger productions we are moving on to.

You can also follow those of us with twitter accounts:

The show – @workingtitles1
Me – @angelinakalhari
Philippa – @sothspell
Sukanya – @BSukanya (our very own film producer)
Mira – @MiraNoltenius
Peter – @PeterOliverAct
Cecilia – @Ceciparis
Moshana – @Moshana123

Radio programmes in which the cast members talk about their experience and their voice will also be broadcast shortly.

Performance dates for a short initial run at the Tristan Bates Theatre is 3 – 5 January 2013.

As I said previously, this is all Adam’s fault. None of it would exist without Adam Lambert’s inspirational performances in the Zodiac Shows and beyond – he can never be repaid for the light he has brought into the world, but these shows may go a little way in thanking him in a way that he will surely understand.

Maria Callas singing the iconic aria from the opera, Norma

A synopsis of the story of Norma:

NORMA

ACT I. Gaul, 50 BCE, during the Roman occupation. In a forest at night, the priest Oroveso leads the Druids in a prayer for revenge against the conquering Romans. After they have left, the Roman proconsul Pollione admits to his friend Flavio that he no longer loves the high priestess Norma, Oroveso’s daughter, with whom he has two children. He has fallen in love with a young novice priestess, Adalgisa, who returns his love (“Meco all’altar di Venere”). Flavio warns him against Norma’s anger. The Druids assemble and Norma prays to the moon goddess for peace (“Casta diva”). She tells her people that as soon as the moment for their uprising against the conquerors arrives, she herself will lead the revolt. At the same time, she realizes that she could never harm Pollione. When the grove is deserted, Adalgisa appears and asks for strength to resist Pollione. He finds her crying and urges her to flee with him to Rome. She agrees to renounce her vows (Duet: “Vieni in Roma, ah! vieni, o cara”).

Norma tells her confidante Clotilde that Pollione has been recalled to Rome. She is afraid that he will desert her and their children. Adalgisa confesses to Norma that she has a lover (Duet: “Sola, furtiva, al tempio”). Recalling the beginning of her own love affair, Norma is about to release Adalgisa from her vows and asks for the name of her lover. As Pollione appears, Adalgisaanswers truthfully. Norma’s kindness turns to fury. She tells Adalgisa about her own betrayal by the Roman soldier. Pollione confesses his love for Adalgisa and asks her again to come away with him, but she refuses and vows she would rather die than steal him from Norma (Trio: “Oh! Di qual sei tu vittima”).

ACT II. Norma, dagger in hand, tries to bring herself to murder her children in their sleep to protect them from living disgracefully without a father (“Teneri, teneri figli”). She changes her mind and summons Adalgisa, advising her to marry Pollione and take the children to Rome. Adalgisa refuses: she will go to Pollione, but only to persuade him to return to Norma. Overcome by emotion, Norma embraces her, and the women reaffirm their friendship (Duet: “Mira, o Norma”).

The Druids assemble at their altar to hear Oroveso’s announcement that a new commander will replace Pollione. Oroveso rages against the Roman oppression, but tells the Druids that they must be patient to ensure the success of the eventual revolt (“Ah! del Tebro al giogo indegno”).

Norma is stunned to hear from Clotilde that Adalgisa’s pleas have not persuaded Pollione, and in a rage she urges her people to attack the conquerors. Oroveso demands a sacrificial victim, and just then Pollione is brought in, having profaned the sanctuary. Alone with him, Norma promises him his freedom if he will leave Adalgisa and return to her (Duet: “In mia man alfin tu sei”). When he refuses, Norma threatens to kill him and their children, and to punish Adalgisa. She calls in the Druids and tells them that a guilty priestess must die, then confesses that she is referring to herself. Moved by her nobility, Pollione asks to share her fate. Norma begs Oroveso to watch over her children, then leads her lover to the pyre.

Thank you to the fans who have supplied the photos and videos that I am able to share in this blog.

It is difficult to believe that already two months have passed since Queen and Adam Lambert performed their three magical shows at London’s Hammersmith Apollo in July 2012.

For those who attended the shows, I feel positive that the memory will forever live in their hearts and minds, as it will for me.

On Wednesday 15 August 2012, Juneau & Xena invited me on their blog talk radio show to talk about my experience of having attended the Queen + Adam Lambert shows in London – thank you both very much for giving me the opportunity to share my experience and for allowing me to indulge my enthusiasm by rabbiting on as I did.

Here is the link to the radio show:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/juneauxena/2012/08/15/juneau-xenas-salon

Below follows a rough transcript of my chat with Juneau & Xena:

I’d like to talk about my own experiences at the Queen + Adam shows I attended in London only, so forgive me if I don’t also talk about the shows in Eastern Europe as I wasn’t physically there.

A number of Glamberts came from all over the world to London especially to experience those amazing shows, which they dubbed: Queenbert. And many Queen fans also came from far and wide. But I will try to paint a picture, too, for those who were not there.

First of all I want to say that this is only the third time in my life that I had bought a General Admission ticket to a show and I was feeling apprehensive to say the least. But having been lucky enough to experience a number of Adam’s performances up close, I have become kind of addicted to his energy and knew that I had to get as close to him as I possibly could – a General Admission ticket seemed the most obvious way to achieve my goal.

In part, this new addiction came about because I was extremely fortunate that a Lambrit angel, named Joan, made it possible for me to see Adam performing at his London media showcase in February 2012. And even though I had seen him perform live a few times before then, that experience will forever be seared into my brain, because it took place in such an intimate venue – I stood only five feet away from him – that it felt as though it was a private show just for me, and I am positive that even the most hardened media person there, would have felt the same way. 

Adam was incredible that evening. His energy was beyond words, it was a master class in singing and performance, and it was an experience I will treasure for the rest of my days. I failed utterly in my endeavours not to sound like a complete fan-girl in the Sound Bath programme about that adventure, as I am sure those of you who have listened to it, can testify.

Other opportunities to see Adam in London earlier this year presented itself and I was able to attend them all. He performed at The Royal Albert Hall, on the Graham Norton television show and at Heaven – and I can tell you, he was amazing that night too, and I was in Heaven. A new friend, named Neil, dragged me up on the stage and we danced in the exact spot where a few moments later, Adam danced and sang – it was great to look out and see his audience eagerly awaiting him.

Unexpectedly an opportunity also presented itself for me to meet him briefly outside Capital Radio where I was able to gift him a CD with two original songs, inspired by him, which I had created in collaboration with Dr Philippa Semper and Prof Elizabeth Dockrell-Tyler. But who knows if he has time to listen to such things? It is perhaps enough that he might be happy to know he inspires his fans to create all sorts of things, including classical art songs.

I knew of course that his performances with Queen would be something different and very special, and as if we needed confirmation, the videos from the Eastern European shows, that wonderful Glamberts who attended those shows posted on YouTube, proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

I have been a huge Queen fan for thousands of years, but sadly never had the opportunity to see them perform live, and I adore Brian, whom I have met before, and Roger too, and wanted to be close enough to see their facial expressions also.

And boy, was I lucky! I won two early entry tickets for the first show and bought a seated ticket for the second show from Tina, a wonderful Lambrit. And due to work commitments suddenly being cancelled, and being gifted a General Admission ticket at the last minute by the fantastic London Glambert, @jeanjenie, together with another early entry ticket for the third night presented me by two Canadian Glamberts I had met in Canada last year, my Queen and Adam Lambert experience could not have been bettered.

The lovely Lambrit, Lucy, accepted my second early entry ticket for the first show, and so on the morning of the 11^th, we duly arrived at Hammersmith Apollo to be greeted by the sight of loads of fans having queued and slept there overnight. The area in front of the venue presented a colourful plastic sea of sheets to guard against the cold, wet pavements, umbrellas of all sizes and colours, and believe it or not, even a tent or two. The weather was awful – raining one moment, blowing gales the next. I felt really sorry for them, especially as the early entry queue was closer to the building, so at least we were out of the rain that came pouring down periodically throughout the day.

There were other Glamberts in our queue too, but the majority of queuees were dedicated Queen fans and we could hear them talking about Adam and voicing their doubts about what he would be like as a singer with Queen. Some of the guys were drinking beer and as the alcohol took effect, they started becoming more verbal as to whether a mere pop singer like Adam, could do justice to the music. They apparently did not think he could even hold a candle to Paul Rodgers, and on and on they went…

I have to say that I never worry for Adam – he is a consummate professional with an entrenched foundation in stage craft, an unshakable vocal technique, superior performance skills, and the biggest, most tangible stage presence I have ever experienced, not to mention the most beautiful voice I have ever heard. He has the ability to win over any audience by mesmerizing them, making them feel safe and by charming them out of real time and into Adam time, which is always over way too soon. And he can be quite fierce and fiery when he wants to be, so I am positive he can defend himself perfectly when he needs to. But by that stage, I was beginning to feel a twinge of alarm on Adam’s behalf.

Lucy and I wanted to say something, but did not dare as alcohol and debate do not usually make for good playmates.

But suddenly, however, a great opportunity presented itself when one of the guys – the one most verbally scornful of Adam, as it happens – walked past bearing a big Freddie and Montserrat Caballe poster. I stopped him and said that I liked the poster, which he subsequently gifted me. He pointed out that Freddie sang with an opera singer because he was that good. I replied that Adam had sung opera arias himself, and that I do, too. His face was a picture. “Really?” he said, “Sing something then!”

Now, normally I would NEVER do this – my voice was not warmed-up, I had talked all night at the Adamtopia party the previous night and had had about four hours sleep, but I could see that they might stop judging Adam before they had even heard him sing if perhaps I could convince them that he is to be taken seriously as a singer. So I took a deep breath and sang the first few bars of Puccini’s O Mio Babbino Caro, supposedly the most well-known opera tune in the world, so figured the Queen fan might recognize it even if he was not necessarily familiar with opera – I am well aware that opera is not everyone’s cup-of-tea, so to speak.

Then something extraordinary happened: As I was singing, I saw the guy’s eyes getting bigger and bigger, and I could see goosebumps creeping up all over his arms and up his neck – something I had never seen before. Then he started crying! This big, tattooed, fierce-looking guy! His wife cried too as did some other Queen fans around us. And a hush fell over the big queue, which I had not expected, and then burst into applause when I stopped singing. The guy hugged me and cried tears in my neck and all over my shirt, saying things like: “Thank you, that was beautiful. I can’t believe it. I’ve never experienced anything like it and just here, right in front of me!” And so on. I guess most people do not ever experience operatic voices singing right next to them, so it might be overwhelming to hear, I suppose.

But his transformation from belligerence to adoring fan-boy was so complete and surprising, I almost forgave him for the naughty things he had said about Adam!

Then I told him that if he thought I was good, he was in for the experience of a life-time because Adam is roughly 1000% better than me. I could see he was not sure whether I was joking or not, but at least for the rest of the day, no more mean comments about Adam came from him or his mates.

It is hard to choose my favourite  from the three shows – most likely because I stood right by the stage for the first and also for the last one, both stood out, but that first show will live inside my mind forever – it was breathtaking and Adam was a mystical rock god being.

Inside the venue the atmosphere was almost tangible with anticipation but from where I stood, the audience seemed split into two – the Queen fans and the Glamberts – each group of fans focussed on seeing their own idols. The pre-show music made me long for the pre-show music during Adam’s Glam Nation tour, but soon enough, the well-known tones of Queen’s ‘Flash’ – the intro to the show – unleashed a deafening roar of excitement from the waiting audience. And I have to admit, the drama of that music was perfect for heightening further the expectation and setting the scene for what was to come.

Next we could see the unmistakable figure of Adam behind the curtain and the Glamberts went wild. An unforgettable, poignantly historic moment for all of us.

As always, seeing Adam up close is a remarkable thing, but even more so when he is performing, because he always seems so much taller and somehow bigger in every way than expected, and like a piece of living art he is so extraordinarily beautiful, he takes your breath away, even before you experience his extraordinary voice.

To the Queen fans who had perhaps never seen him before, that first show would already have been amazing, as his voice enchanted us through the well-known songs like Seven Seas of Rhye, We Will Rock You, Fat Bottom Girls, Don’t Stop Me Now, and his moving duet with Roger in Under Pressure. But for the Glamberts who know him, he would have seemed perhaps a little restrained – I can only imagine he must have had a slight concern as to how the Queen fans would receive him – as a performer myself, I know that would have been foremost in my thoughts.

I Want It All, Somebody To Love and Adam’s astonishing version of Who Wants To Live Forever followed, killing us all with his interpretation and that voice!

Here is an amazing video of Adam singing Who Wants To Live Forever, edited by Pumpkin Priest, using seven different fan video shots taken on the last night:

We are already familiar with the beauty and power of Adam’s voice and his astonishing ability to nuance phrases in unexpected ways that further touch his audience to their core – seemingly individually – but what he did with Who Wants To Live Forever, was beyond anything I had ever experienced. He pulled my soul right out of my body and I do not mind telling you that I sobbed like a baby during the song.

The way in which Adam sang this song, transcends the commonsense interpretation of the lyrics and music, because it seemed – to me at least – as though he was singing about this reality and one beyond it simultaneously, taking the song to a place I’ve never experienced before. And I know I am not alone in this experience, because Brian alluded to it also in an interview, saying he was quite overwhelmed during rehearsals because he had never experienced anything like Adam singing this song.

This may be the perfect opportunity to say something about the long phrase he sang using only one breath, as I have received a number of questions about it. I feel sometimes people forget that Adam is actually a trained singer and that singing long phrases is something trained singers, in particular, do all the time – listen to any opera aria, oratorio or art song and you will hear it – so I am not sure it was a particularly long breath for Adam especially, but it was unusual in the sense that very few other pop/rock singers may be able to do it. What it proves, however, is that despite him going off and experimenting with more specifically pop sounding techniques as he does on his second album, Trespassing for example, he has not discarded his vocal technique at all – it is still there, intact, and he can call upon it whenever he feels like it. 

He may have been showing off a little – and who can blame him with a vocal instrument and technique like that – but there is no doubt that by joining the phrase together like that, he enhanced the art of the song superbly. And as I have said previously, this song reminds so much of the structure of an operatic aria, so what he did was entirely appropriate.

I will talk more about this song and how Adam sang it in an upcoming Sound Bath programme about Adam’s voice.

By the way, the big tattoed guy who cried in my neck stood roughly opposite me and when I looked up, he too was crying and mouthing OMG to me!

Another thing to mention about this song is that because of the aria-like structure, it does what all good arias do: kills the singer so that when the last note – invariable the highest note in the aria – comes around, often preceded by quite a high tessitura, the singer is too exhausted to sing it properly, but on the last night, Adam more than nailed that high D!

In fact, it is something I have noticed he seems to like doing: usually when it is the last night of a performance and he has not got to sing for a little while, he lets rip and boy, did he do that during the last show – on all levels!

Another element Adam used in this song, we also saw him using when he sang Soaked – being very still and silent before delivering the final tender phrase – doing that heightens the drama of those songs wonderfully and Queen, being no strangers to drama themselves, were clearly more than happy to go along with Adam, because you can hear them waiting for him to start singing again before joining in at the end.

Talking about Queen being happy – it was wonderful to see the joy on that stage and the camaraderie and respect shared between Adam and the members of Queen. I spoke to a number of Queen fans who said that they had never seen Brian or Roger look that happy before. And is it any wonder? We were in the presence of greatness, weren’t we? And I guess Queen and Adam must have felt that way too. (An excellent case perhaps for proving the whole being greater than the sum of its parts?)

Roger’s voice was also still wonderful and it was pure joy and very moving listening to him singing the songs I have loved for so long.

Here Roger sings These Are The Days Of Our Lives on 11 July 2012, uploaded to YouTube by a1999f:

And I became very tearful once again during Brian’s amazing rendition of Love Of My Life, which he performed right in front of me as I stood by the side of the little catwalk that extended out into the audience, especially since that was the only time he did it – during the next two shows he stayed on the stage for that song. It was a particularly magical experience as Brian started to play the music and sang the first few bars before the entire audience sang with him and then a huge projection of Freddie on the back wall of the stage, completed the song.

This is Brian singing Love Of My Life on the first night, 11 July 2012, uploaded to YouTube by hippiutube:

I adored Adam’s costume changes as much as I am sure he did! It was particularly clear that he was deeply in love with the red jacket he wore during Dragon Attack – such a fab song!

Here is Dragon Attack on the last night, 14 July 2012, uploaded to YouTube by riddle601b:

Very cleverly, Adam also chose the song I Want To Break Free to literally break free from the stage on the last two nights, when he most likely felt more accepted and comfortable with the Queen fans. He jumped off the little catwalk and ran his hand along the audiences’ outstretched hands as he made his way back towards the far end of the stage. But the first time he did it, he must have misjudged the distance from the raised catwalk to the floor and split open his leather trousers, then hilariously spent the rest of the song creating a showcase for the split trousers – indicating that he was breaking free even from his trousers. It did not stop him from doing it again during the last show, though, to the unbridled joy of the audience, but this time the trousers were intact and stairs had been provided for him with stage hands helping him to get down and up on stage again.

This video of the song and the split-trouser-episode was uploaded to YouTube by riddle601b:

By the third night, when Adam did it again, the Queen fans behind me nearly climbed over me to get to Adam – they were as completely taken with him as the Glamberts are, it seemed. They pressed in towards the stage so much, in any case, that several people around us fainted and had to be carried out.

Adam’s enjoyment of singing Another One Bites The Dust, Radio Gaga and Crazy Little Thing Called Love was almost tangible. And just like a classical singer darting from style to style during a recital, Adam switched gears for each song, including the operatic rock song, The Show Must Go On, which seems as though it had been crafted specifically for his voice.

This is his rendition of The Show Must Go On from 14 July, uploaded to YouTube by riddle601b

All around me I heard the astonishment in the voices of Queen fans as they talked about how remarkable it was that Adam could sing the songs so convincingly even though he had had no part in creating them. It made my toes curl from joy, because it is yet another testament to the classically trained singer and accomplished musician and artist that Adam is.

I have spoken about this in one of my own programmes, but I would like to reiterate again, that the way in which Adam sings The Show Must Go On, is remarkable not only because the song fits his voice like a glove, but because here especially, we experience very clearly how perfectly Adam tunes verbalised consonants and how he sings phrases through the music – all may seem subtle, but it makes a huge difference to the end product and elevates the song into a realm of professionalism, not so easily achievable perhaps by other singers. The song seems so poignantly appropriate to him specifically also.

I find the way in which he sings the following lyrics particularly heartbreaking:

The show must go on, yeah!
Inside my heart is breaking
My make-up may be flaking
But my smile still stays on

And in this song, it seemed to me as though Adam’s voice and Brian’s guitar swirled around each other in a particularly perfect and effective emotive duet – pure magic!

Of course, a show featuring Queen and Adam could not be, without the inclusion of Bohemian Rhapsody – a full circle moment for Adam who sang it at his first audition for American Idol, at which time Adam was apparently brought to Roger’s attention. So this song was most likely the significant factor in subsequent partnerships between Queen and Adam, and the foundation for the existence of these shows. 

Again, Freddie appeared hugely projected to sing the song, and ended with phrases being alternated between him and Adam. Usually by this stage the noise from the audience was deafening, but if we are able to focus only on Adam’s and Freddie’s voices, we will be able to hear a remarkable thing: Adam seemed to be able to tune his voice to Freddie’s so that at first we are not sure who is singing which line, Freddie or Adam – a very subtle but clever element and the fusion of two remarkable singers and performers.

I know Adam is not the new Queen front-man but it felt to me like a kind of blessing and handing over from Freddie to Adam as the last phrase was sung by Adam – it was another very emotional moment!

This is Bohemian Rhapsody from 14 July, uploaded to YouTube by

A fantastic end to the best shows I have seen so far!

Of course the audience would not let them go, so they had to come back to sing three more songs: Tie Your Mother Down, We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions. These songs are such rock anthems, that the entire audience was singing along, jumping up and down and an outpouring of such energy as I have never ever experienced, not even during the Glam Nation Tours, nearly lifted the roof off the Apollo. No wonder then that after the shows, people were walking out, looking dazed with silly grins on their faces. It was such a euphoric experience.

I just have to add too that it was wonderful when I had my seated experience on the second night, because I could hear the audience singing along more clearly and it was such an incredible wall of vocal sound – what a magical thing, the human vocal instrument. 

Adam’s execution of the songs was very dramatic and he interpreted Queen’s music flawlessly. But what struck me powerfully, was how he adapted his performance to their brand of drama, which included pyrotechnics and flames coming out of the stage, which you could feel even up in the balcony, and which added to the already sweltering environment.  But this is where Adam’s experience on the musical theatre stage and his acting skills came into their own – I really cannot think of any other singer with the voice and abilities to do what Adam did, and that is the reason that these shows were such a brilliant partnership. No wonder then that Brian thanked Adam each night, and deliberately pointed out that without him, the shows would not have been possible.

I tend to agree with Brian and how lucky we all are that this amazing music can once again live in the world.

I still cannot believe I was lucky enough to be there on all three nights and I am crossing body parts that they do more of these shows in the future.

I wanted also to gain the perspective of a couple of fans and the fabulous Donna, a British fan of both Queen and Adam, agreed to tell me her experience of the shows:

Not everyone feels comfortable being recorded, however, and another wonderful Queen fan, Gary Smith, whom I met at Hammersmith Apollo on the second night, preferred instead to let me print his interview: 

Angelina: How long have you been a Queen fan?

Gary: I have been a fan since 1975 really when a lot of people first heard A Night At The Opera. I joined the queen fan club in 1976 and have been a member now for 36 years. In this time, queen have cost me a small fortune, but they have been worth every penny for the big part of my life they have become, and the joy and pleasure such a unique and gifted band has given to me.

Angelina: Have you ever seen Queen live?

Gary: I was fortunate enough to have seen Queen live 9 times with Freddie, the first time being at Southampton Gaumont in 1976, then Wembley arena 3 times, 4 times on the crazy tour and their final gig at Knebworth. I also went to Freddie’s tribute gig at Wembley, then saw Queen + Paul Rodgers at Wembley pavilion and the 02 arena where I managed to get the set list from Brian & Roger’s side stage black tent! And lastly of course, the 1^st & 3^rd night of the recent Hammersmith Apollo gigs.

It has to be said that I have through the Queen fan club, managed to get some magnificent seats for many of these gigs.

I have also been to many of Brian & Rogers solo gigs and night two of the gigs at the marquee in London in 1993 I believe, when both Brian & Roger played.

Angelina: Have you ever met any of Queen’s members?

Gary: I have met Roger once and shook his hand. This was in the Marquee café after the Marquee club gig in 1993.

Roger came walking past us with Debbie Leng, but we never approached him until later when he and Debbie walked past us to leave – then I thought that’s it – I’m not going to miss this opportunity and we briefly spoke with him and Debbie shook his hand and wished him a happy Christmas. Before leaving, he did a signing session at a table for the people they had let in from outside, so I got in the queue and also got him to sign the set list I had also managed to get from the gig. He was quite bemused he was signing it already!

I also have a pair of Rogers drum sticks, and he once send us a signed picture from the slightly mad sessions to my home address to thank us for a birthday card we had sent him. Can you imagine that? Receiving mail in your post from Roger Taylor!

Angelina: What did you think of Paul Rodgers performing with Queen?

Gary: I thought Paul Rodgers did a very good and credible job singing for Queen – it worked!

However, I wasn’t so keen on the Free songs diluting the show or the Cosmos album which for me only had one Queen song on it, C-elebrity.

Angelina: Which of the Queen and Adam Lambert shows did you attend?

Gary: I attended the first night upstairs and on the last night stood right at the front Brian May’s side having been one of 100 to be let in early via the queen fan club. Being so close to the gig was amazing as was the energy and joy between the audience and stage. The light show was incredible as was the clever use of the video screens and the superb integration of Freddie into the show – I felt after, that it was the best gig I had ever been to!

Angelina: Had you heard of Adam Lambert before he sang with Queen?

Gary: Only that he was to be Queen’s next singer and I’d heard he had come second on American pop idol and had also sung with Kiss.

As for filling Freddie’s shoes, I personally thought he was superb all round. His vocals were powerful with much range, and his command of the stage and audience was excellent – he wasn’t phased by anything. He has the looks of Elvis (in fact he also looks not to dissimilar to Freddie in many ways) and had great stage wear.

He really looked comfortable and you could see he felt part of Queen and you could see Brian & Roger loved him being part of Queen.

What also struck me is that he also has a unique quality that Freddie had which to my mind is one where whilst performing the level of passion and consciousness is on a different level. It’s as though they are on a different plain to us, and something I’ve rarely seen in any performer, but Adam has “it” as well!

I don’t know if it’s something he does to focus, but 4-5 times throughout the show, Adam looked directly at me in the eye whilst singing for about 10 seconds, maybe he picks someone out to do this for some reason?

Long may he be Queen’s singer and also to record with them would be very exciting too.

Angelina: As you have been a Queen fan for so long, you must have some amazing stories to share with us?

Gary: I recently meet a friend of my sisters who used to live next door to John Deacon in the Leicester area when she was a teenager before Queen had hit the big time and she said she remembers how they would all turn up and rehearse there! She could hear them through her bedroom wall! and on other occasions she would be in the house with them and said Freddie’s voice used to fill the room.

Angelina: Did you ever meet Freddie?

Gary: No, but I met Peter Freestone, Freddie’s personal assistant, at his hotel in Torquay once where he had a bar there with much Queen memorabilia – a very nice and friendly man who once said “ I would do anything for you, Freddie”

And when in Ibiza on holiday in the late nineties, we visited Hotel Pikes where Freddie used to stay and had his 40th birthday party – there were pictures of Freddie in reception, bare topped playing tennis and Freddie’s room was called the Bungalow.

We spoke to the owner there who spoke very fondly about Freddie and said that he once took Freddie out on his speed boat to Formentera, I believe, one afternoon and that Freddie really enjoyed it including piloting the boat!

Freddie’s real name was Farrokh Bulsara. Over the years there have been countless mis-spellings of his first name due to unclear handwriting on his birth certificate – but if anyone should know the correct spelling it’s Freddies mum Jer who wrote a preface in a Queen book spelling it as Farrokh – so that’s good enough for me.

I am the proud registered owner of the website domain name www.farrokhbulsara.co.uk

By the way, did you know that if you count every track listing from the first Queen album through to A Night At The Opera that the song 39 is also the 39^th track! Was this planned or coincidence?

Thank you, Gary, for sharing with us your great stories about Queen and Freddie.

And as a special treat, I was very fortunate that the lovely Roy, or ‘Japanese Freddie,’ as he is known both here and in Japan, agreed to talk to me via Skype. This is what he had to say:

But as our Skype connection on the day was unfortunately not very clear, I have been able to use only a small part of our chat and because of the sound quality making what he says a little difficult to hear, here is the transcript of his interview:

Angelina: Thanks for talking to me – I really appreciate it. I just wanted to ask you a few questions about when you came to England – did you come just to see Queen?

Roy: Yes, I came to London to all three concerts and I enjoyed it – it was a good experience.

I saw your question you’d messaged me – “how long have you been a Queen fan?” Thirty years, from 1982 – I was just 12 years old – so a Queen fan for thirty years.

Angelina: Have you seen Queen before?

Roy: I have never seen the real Queen or Freddie Mercury, but I went to Queen plus Paul Rogers, twenty six concerts, and Brian May and Roger Tayler’s solo concerts, but I’ve never seen Freddie Mercury.

Angelina: You love Freddie?

Roy: Yes, of course!

Angelina: I saw your picture in the newspaper.

Roy: Oh yes, the newspaper, yes I got it.

Angelina: What did you think of Adam Lambert?

Roy: Adam Lambert – yes, I liked it because his voice is so good. Adam is a different singer. I think Adam Lambert is outstanding.

Freddie Mercury could write great songs, his performances were great and his voice was good, and Adam Lambert’s voice is good – I like it.

I have been to an Adam Lambert solo concert in 2010 in Japan and this month he came to Japan and had mini gigs – I went, in Tokyo.

Angelina: And did you like it?

Roy: Yes, I liked it – it was a different show. Queen plus Adam Lambert is all Queen songs, but Adam Lambert’s mini concert is Adam’s songs – four songs from his second album. I like his second album.

Angelina: Paul Rodgers or Adam?

Roy: Of course Adam. Paul Rodgers is not so bad, but he is a Rock Blues singer. I think Adam is a better Queen singer.

Angelina: Why?

Roy: Queen plus Paul Rodgers concert is Queen songs and Paul Roger’s songs, but Queen plus Adam Lambert is all Queen songs.

Angelina: Did you know about Adam before he sang with Queen?

Roy: Yes, I know of him from American Idol auditions. First he sang Bohemian Rhapsody. So many Queen fans knew of him. He was singing a cappella…such a beautiful voice. So many Queen fans are: “Oh, he sang Bohemian Rhapsody – I like Adam Lambert!” (laugh)…like that! And then Brian May and Roger Taylor with Adam Lambert and another person – I don’t know the name – performed We Are The Champions. I think Adam is a good singer. I like this project. I think now Adam is bigger and has big pressure but he made it.

Angelina: Thank you!

Thank you very much to Donna, Gary and Roy for sharing their thoughts and experiences with us and for helping to make this blog more interesting and exciting!

The Sound Bath programmes are recorded ’live’ – meaning not in a studio. Therefore, you will experience some ambient noises and ‘echoey’ quality to the recordings. Please be so kind as to ignore those and instead, enjoy the content of the programme. Please also remember that it is illegal to download music from here. It’s better to support the artists by buying their music in stores or on Amazon or iTunes. That way we ensure that they’ll be able to continue to make music for us in the future.

Thank you to all Adam’s fans for supplying the beautiful pictures of him for this review.

We may be forgiven for thinking that pop music rules the world these days. It’s everywhere, isn’t it? And it seeps into our consciousness as we go about our daily business. But what is extremely rare, is a pop album presented in such a way that every single track sticks in your head, one more scrumptious than the previous, apparently rivals for attention and begging for favouritism.

Such an album has recently burst on to the music scene. Trespassing is Grammy nominated singer/songwriter and performer extraordinaire, Adam Lambert’s new album. And with it, he seems to have passed the difficult second album test as Trespassing continues to receive overwhelmingly rave reviews from both media and fans around the world.

Overall the album continues to expand on some of the futuristic sounds from his first album, For Your Entertainment. But with this album, the production techniques are on a whole other level and Adam, who was the executive producer on Trespassing, appears to be taking pop music on to a new level of legitimacy – musically, lyrically and vocally. The fusion of genres within the same songs has almost created a genre in itself. A recent tweet from him should tell us all about the genres on the album: “TRESPASSING is ElectroFunkStepEmoPOP realness…”

In a recent interview, Adam said this of the album: “The whole process was extremely positive and I think it represents me really well. There is a concept to it in the sense that it reflects the two sides of me that we deliberately explored in the video for the album’s lead single, Better Than I Know Myself. With me there is a dark side and a light side and the two need each other for me to exist. I wanted to bring that out in the record so Trespassing is one-half celebratory, fun, disco, funk, electro pop, dance music and the other half is this dark with a much more vulnerable moody side.”

The album boats well-crafted pop music and some mind-blowing ballads and each song tells its own story with a clear beginning, middle and end – something we’ve come to associate with Adam as a master story-teller.

I’ll leave the reviewing as a pop album to those more accomplished to doing it. Instead, however, I would like to look at one of the aspects that always take everything Adam sings onto a higher level: his voice. How he uses his voice on Trespassing is even more interesting than the creation of a new genre. And is that any wonder? Adam Lambert seems able to turn his exquisitely beautiful voice and his exceptional artistic mind to any genre and create exciting, imaginative and remarkable art.

Trespassing is brimful of example after delicious example of Adam’s vocal versatility and displays perfectly his ability to sing authentically in just about any style he chooses – even some of his own making. He introduces us to unexpected and innovative ways of using phrasing, sounds, breath, consonants and vowels. Consequently he has created a smorgasbord of astonishingly sophisticated, original and often subtle, colours, shapes and textures, often surprising but perfectly suited to the songs they’ve been created for. I suspect it is partly a deliberate artistic experiment and partly an innate creative ability, and it is pure genius.

1. The title track, Trespassing, a personal favourite of mine, was co-written and produced by Pharrell Williams, and it’s a terrific start to this album. Adam delivers the ballsy lyrics with great gusto and it is a particular treat to see him perform the song live.

It’s interesting to note, first of all that even though, mostly because of a great bass line, it sounds as though he is singing more staccato than we are perhaps accustomed to hearing from him. But tune out the music and listen to his voice only, and you may be surprised to hear that the legato line is still there. By jumping off the consonants, and thereby emphasising the rhythm, he creates a line that sounds more punchy, and therefore more staccato. And by shortening some of the consonants dramatically and using explosive, short out-breaths, he further creates a sense of staccato which works wonderfully well with the music, as it emphasises the pounding beat, and gives great energy to this song.

His fabulous harmonies above and underneath matches the melody line note-for-note and word-for-word, which creates a delicious pure multi-Adam-layered sound. And apart from the fact that this is a fantastic dance track, we can still hear wonderful rock-type vocal riffs from Adam in this song as well.

This is what Adam recently tweeted about Trespassing: “Not following any of these lame ass rules. Look out bitches.”

Well I was walkin for some time
when I came across this sign
sayin “who are you and where are you from?”
We don’t like when visitors come.
“No Trespassing” that’s what it said
at least that’s what I could read.
No Trespassers?
Yeah, my ass!
Wait till you get a load of me!

One day I was trippin and that’s when I could see
that the ether I had tapped into could be reality
It was great, that’s when I climbed that optimistic vine
Once I hit that mountain peak I began to lose my mind
I don’t need no sympathy. I won’t cry and whine.
Life’s my light and liberty
and I’ll shine when I wanna shine.
Make their faces crack
there’s no turnin back.
Let’s GO!

Well I was walkin for some time
when I came across this sign
sayin “who are you and where are you from?”
We don’t like when visitors come.
“No Trespassing” that’s what it said
at least that’s what I could read.
No Trespassers?
Yeah, my ass!
Wait till you get a load of me!

I ain’t got BS in my bag
that’s the one thing you can believe
my heart is gold, my body is glass
come on baby, can’t you see?
I don’t need no GPS
to show me where to go
But I can turn into the North Pole
and show u what is cold

I don’t need no sympathy. I won’t cry and whine.
Life’s my light and liberty
and I’ll shine when I wanna shine.
Make their faces crack
there’s no turnin back.
Let’s GO!

Well I was walkin for some time
when I came across this sign
sayin “who are you and where are you from?”
We don’t like when visitors come.
“No Trespassing” that’s what it said
at least that’s what I could read.
No Trespassers?
Yeah, my ass!
Wait till you get a load of me!

I ain’t stayin’ at home
I got places ta roll

Yes, Adam, we got a load of you and you’re fierce!

2. The next song, Cuckoo, is a fabulous club dance song which I can just imagine being played in the clubs in Ibiza!

This song takes us even further into the electro-pop that Adam says he likes to listen to. Again, whilst still singing legato lines, because he’s emphasising the rhythm and jumping off the consonants, it sounds as though Adam is singing in a much more staccato manner than we’re used to hearing from him.

What is interesting is that even in a song like this, which clearly doesn’t present him with any real vocal challenges, he continues to sing properly, moving the phrases forward musically with his voice. And here again, the rock-type riffs is an unexpected and delightful surprise.

In Cuckoo we find more great harmonies, both in his higher and lower registers, and it’s illuminating to hear with how much sophistication auto-tuning has been employed, so that it enhances the song and becomes part of the production, creating a piece of art, rather than for any practical vocal reasons.

In this song Adam also introduces us to a new Adamism in “pack up your thingses” and it’s another song he clearly enjoys performing live.

This is what he tweeted about Cuckoo: “Yeah that’s right. I’m nuts. But damn it’s fun, you coming along for the ride?”

Feels like I’m having a meltdown
It feels like I’m losing control
They tell me I’m a danger to myself
Now the crazy train is ready to roll, Oh!

Walk that walk like you don’t give a fuck
You’ve got a right to turn it up and get down
Electric shock no I can’t get enough
Cause tonight we’re taking over the town, hey
I wanna lose my mind like a maniac
And cross the line
Never looking back
We’re on the loose
Getting crazy and we’ve gone cuckoo
Gonna party til they take us away

I’m swinging off of my hinges
I’m cocked and I’m ready to go
Go on and pack up your thingses
The crazy train is ready to roll, oh

Walk that walk like you don’t give a fuck
You’ve got a right to turn it up and get down, yeah
Electric shock no I can’t get enough
Cause tonight we’re taking over the town, hey
I wanna lose my mind like a maniac
And cross the line
Never looking back
We’re on the loose
Getting crazy and we’ve gone cuckoo
Gonna party til they take us away

Gotta get out of this straight jacket, whoa, Cuckoo!
Gotta get out of this straight jacket, whoa yeah

I wanna lose my mind like a maniac
And cross the line
Never looking back
We’re on the loose
Getting crazy and we’ve gone cuckoo
Gonna party til they take us away

Gonna lose my mind
Gonna lose my mind
Gonna party til they take us away

3. Shady is another of my personal favourites and impossible to keep from dancing to.

Shady features Sam Sparro and legendary guitarist, Nile Rogers, who helped to create this super-funky back beat and rhythmic bass, typical of funk music. And because the song has such an overwhelmingly sexy beat, the vocal line could so easily have been peripheral. But of course, that could never happen with a powerful and flexible vocal instrument like Adam’s.

Vocally, it reminds of Prince at his funkiest, but this is a uniquely Adam Lambert funk experience.

Adam does something very different in this song: he doesn’t give us the end consonants to words, especially at the ends of phrases. He usually pronounces each consonant with such precision that it comes as a bit of a shock at first, but we can still hear very clearly what he’s singing, because his diction remains faultless on the beginning and middle consonants, clearly demonstrating that this is a chosen stylistic element he wanted to employ in this song. And like all good story-tellers, by doing this, he immediately prepares his audience to expect something different from this song – that he’s feeling “shady.” He’s also still singing a through-line, with the overall effect that his voice mirrors exactly the rhythm of the song – a master-stroke indeed!

For the first time we hear voices other than only Adam’s, and the effect creates a new and interesting vocal texture and colour, muddying Adam’s usually pure vocals and displaying a kind of ‘shady-ness’ – rather clever, I thought.

Those familiar with Adam’s style of singing, will be accustomed to the unique way in which he uses his breath and breathing as part of the interpretation of songs, and although he uses short explosive out-breaths in the previous two songs, here he employs a full-on pant to great effect, perfectly indicative of “feeling so shady lately.” The way in which he uses his voice at the ends of the word “latey,” further emphasises the ‘shady-ness’ and leaves his audience in no doubt as to what he’s feeling.

Apart from his own fantastic harmonies, here he also introduces us to ‘asides’ as he ‘comments’ on the lyrics – I particularly love the “yeah” after “gonna go and get me a shot“ – it’s so emphatic! And the “Oh!” between “gonna knock it back forget all my blues” and “yeah that really hits the spot” – it’s dramatic and unexpected, but still stunningly musical and once aware of it, difficult to imagine the song without it.

This is what Adam tweeted about Shady: “feeling loose now, gonna get my swerve on. Feeling nasty.”

Baby, I’m on the hunt
Baby, I got my target on you
Trouble, that’s what I want
And I’m gonna do just what I have to
Get your ass down to the front
Go on and roll it out, I dare u
Sorry I’m kinda drunk
But did u just say your game was brand new

No, I ain’t broken, but I, I need a fix
That satisfaction when I, I get my kicks
I’m up all night
I’m outta sight
Don’t turn on the light
‘Cuz I’m feeling so shady lately

Come on and take me underground
Deep under the street
Come on and take me, take me down
Where freaks like us can meet
Turn it up, turn it up, turn it up, turn it way up
Don’t stop the beat
Come on and turn me, turn me out
‘Cuz I’m feeling so shady lately

Gonna go and get me a shot
Gonna knock it back, forget all my blues
Yeah,that really hits the spot
I’m feeling pretty fierce in my dancin’ shoes

No, I ain’t broken, but I, I need a fix
That satisfaction when I, I get my kicks
I’m up all night
I’m outta sight
Don’t turn on the light
‘Cuz I’m feeling so shady lately

Come on and take me underground
Deep under the street
Come on and take me, take me down
Where freaks like us can meet
Turn it up, turn it up, turn it up, turn it way up
Don’t stop the beat
Come on and turn me, turn me out
‘Cuz I’m feeling so shady lately

I throw more shade than a cloudy day
The brakes don’t work
I’m just a runaway train
Somebody come and help me out
All I wanna be is free
I was tryin’ to get down
Now I can’t get out
I’m shady lately

Come on and take me underground
Deep under the street
Come on and take me, take me down
Where freaks like us can meet
Turn it up, turn it up, turn it up, turn it way up
Don’t stop the beat
Come on and turn me, turn me out
‘Cuz I’m feeling so shady lately

4. Song Number four on the album is Never Close Our Eyes, written by Bruno Mars for Adam and is the current single worldwide, including the UK.

This song is interesting rhythmically, because it seems as though it might turn into a ballad when it first starts, but then morphs into a kind of Euro-electro pop song.

Lyrically it sounds like it might be a love song, but the way in which Adam sing it, tells us that he clearly has another interpretation for this song, thereby demonstrating how universal this songs on Trespassing are.

Even in this kind of “standard” pop song, Adam still manages to inject the lyrics with a deeper meaning. For example, in “I don’t want to let a minute get away” he puts a slight emphasis on the word “get” which immediately gives the impression that he’s here, present in the moment, and on the word “lose” in “cuz we got no time to lose” he employs a tiny crack in his voice at the end of the phrase, which stresses how important it is that we have no time to lose. He continues to hit that point home as he uses a similar technique on “see” in the phrase “none of us are promised to see tomorrow.”

This is what Adam tweeted about Never Close Our Eyes: “let’s all stay in the moment and stay open to all possibilities. We have the power to create our reality. “ A powerful message indeed and perhaps unexpected in a pop song!

I wish that this night would never be over
There’s plenty of time to sleep when we die
So let’s just stay awake until we grow older
If I had my way we’d never close our eyes, our eyes, never!

I don’t wanna let a minute get away
Cause we got no time to lose
None of us are promised to see tomorrow
And what we do is ours to choose

Forget about the sunrise
Fight the sleep in your eyes
I don’t wanna miss a second with you
Let’s stay this way forever
It’s only getting better if we want it to

You know I wish that this night would never be over
There’s plenty of time to sleep when we die
So let’s just stay awake until we grow older
If I had my way we’d never close our eyes, our eyes, never!

It’s so hard to think this could fade away
But what goes up must come down
Why can’t we just live life with no consequence
And always live in the now

Forget about the sunrise
Fight the sleep in your eyes
I don’t wanna miss a second with you
Let’s stay this way forever
It’s only gets better if we want it to

You know I wish that this night would never be over
There’s plenty of time to sleep when we die
So let’s just stay awake until we grow older
If I had my way we’d never close our eyes, our eyes, never

You know I wish that this night would never be over
There’s plenty of time to sleep when we die
So let’s just stay awake until we grow older
If I had my way we’d never close our eyes, our eyes, never

5. In Kickin In, again auto-tuning has been artfully used as a part of the production of this song as a means of ‘segueing’ Adam’s voice into the music.

This is another great synth-funk/electro pop club/dance song, again reminding somewhat of Prince, and one that Adam clearly also enjoys performing live. But even though this is a great pop song, Adam has created astonishing harmonies here – the most shocking, a harmonic line that hits the stratosphere and notes that only Adam can sing – and all in his phenomenal head voice! Not something one expects to hear in a pop song, and therefore all the more brilliant.

Surprisingly, even in a club song, Adam still manages to put nuance into the lyrics as well, and he does it with all the harmonies, too. Listen to how he sings the word “persuasive” for example.

And if those are not enough shiny goodies in this Russian doll prezzie of a song, he treats us to another rock-type riff that makes every hair on your body want to dance and sing along – if only that were possible for us mere mortals!

This is what Adam tweeted about Kickin In: “The “she” in Kickin In is about a guy friend of mine. Ya know? That one Banjee fishy queen you all call a she. Mary please. I know Banjee and Fishy are sorta opposites but my fav queens are that glorious half and half. They can just flip depending on the song. But it’s totally also about that crazy fruit fly who’s always stealing yo thunder by last call. Lol”

She wants to be up there
in the air where the clouds live
the sweetest seeds make the best trees
30,000 feet she can smile and now

she puts the shot glass down
she asks for another round
she wants to hit the clouds
honey are you up there now
she puts the shot glass down
she asks for another round
girl don’t you hit the ground
Is it kickin’ in?

Can you feel it kickin’ in?
Honey are you up there?

She wants to introduce me
to her friend Eddie
What is she tryin’ to do to me?
He got words the rhyme
He got a dirty mind
Persuasive
what am I about to do right now?

she puts the shot glass down
she asks for another round
she wants to hit the clouds
honey are you up there now?
she puts the shot glass down
she asks for another round
girl don’t you hit the ground
Is it kickin’ in?

Can you feel it kickin’ in?
Honey are you up there?

Bounce, bounce, bounce,

And now, she puts her shot glass down,
She asks for another round,
She wants to hit the clouds,
Honey are you up there?
Now, she puts her shot glass down,
She asks for another round,
Girl, don’t you hit the ground,
Is is kickin’ in?

Can you feel it kickin’ in?
Honey are you up there?

6. Naked Love is yet one more fantastic fun club dance/party song with a great beat and another song that Adam seems to get a kick out of performing live. And during live performances he invites the audience to sing along, so that it becomes a kind of anthem song for the album.

This song gives us a delicious example of real staccato and legato singing living side-by-side. It is a revelation to hear how much energy Adam invests into this song – he sings it with so much joy – in fact so much so, that the excellent, tight harmonies almost go unnoticed, but without those, the song wouldn’t be nearly as effective – genius! And he still manages to get some rock sensibility into the song too, with a few riffs nearer the end.

This is what Adam tweeted about Naked Love: “Come on folks! Relax!! Chill! It ain’t that deep- take a chance and express how u want. Strip away all the BS and get real.”

O whoa-o, yeah yeah yeah
O whoa-o, yeah yeah yeah

Lose control, collision course
When you, my love, call 911
So ro-o-oll the dice
Get lu-uh-cky tonight
I know you’re holding back
No more hesitation

Just c’mon
I want your naked love
So don’t you dress it up tonight
Come on
Ya know your naked love
Is what I’m dreaming of tonight
Oh whoa-o yeah yeah yeah
Oh whoa-o yeah yeah yeah

Take it off
And try me on
The hottest threads
Ya ever worn
So ro-o-oll the dice
Get lucky tonight
I know you’re holding back
No more hesitation

Just c’mon
I want your naked love
So don’t you dress it up
Toni-i-ight

Come on
You know your naked love
Is what i’m dreaming of
Toni-i-ight

Oh whoa-o yeah yeah yeah
Oh whoa-o yeah yeah yeah

Just c’mon
I want your naked love
So don’t ya dress it up tonight
Come on
Ya know your naked love
Is what I’m dreaming of toni-i-ight
Oh whoa-o yeah yeah yeah
Oh whoa-o yeah yeah yeah

7. Pop That Lock is an impressive club dance song with a fantastic beat and a very powerful message – another favourite!

In this song, Adam displays brilliant harmony lines and also wonderfully again, his lower register where we’re treated to his more Baritone sounds, on “that’s right,” “alright” and “down, down, down,” before he delights once more with phenomenal rock-type riffs as only he can.

This is what Adam tweeted about the song: “Pop that lock is about being fierce. Basking in the glow of light you have the power to put out in the universe. That’s the key.”

Left, right, step up to the spotlight
Why you actin’ uptight?
I’m takin’ you to school, that’s right
High, low, don’t tell me you don’t know
How to ever let go
I’m takin’ you to school, that’s right

Tonight we burn it all
Get hot get tall
Yeah we’re lighter than air
You got the key to your release
So pop that lock until you’re lighter than air

If you wanna be it
You’ve got to dream
If you got the key then baby pop that lock
If you wanna free it
You have got to scream
If you got the key then baby pop that lock

Banjee Boys and Dancey Girls get down down down
bitch you don’t gotta stress this
Got ‘em feeling restless show ‘em how it’s done alright
Secret don’t care if you don’t keep it don’t care if you leak it
Show ‘em how it’s done alright

Tonight we burn it all
Get hot get tall
Yeah we’re lighter than air
You got the key to your release
So pop that lock until you’re lighter than air

If you wanna be it
You’ve got to dream
If you got the key then baby pop that lock
If you wanna free it
You have got to scream
If you got the key then baby pop that lock

Banjee Boys and Dancey Girls get down down down
Get down
Get down
Werk Werk Werk alright
Get down
Werk Werk Werk alright

Banjee Boys and Dancey Girls get down
You better pop that lock

If you wanna be it
You’ve got to dream
If you got the key then baby pop that lock
If you wanna free it
You have got to scream
If you got the key then baby pop that lock

Get down
Baby pop that lock
Get down, get down
Pop that Lock, get down!

8. Better Than I Know Myself was the first single to be released from the album.

It is basically a tender love song, although in the music video Adam reinterprets the song completely to great effect, demonstrating successfully the different interpretations lurking inside his songs.

At the very start of the song, Adam again displays his use of breath in the interpretation of songs, by taking in a sharp breath, as though he is “cold as ice.” It’s seems such a simple thing, but it is highly effective and a testament to Adam’s unique artistic instincts, because it goes against classical training.

Better Than I Know Myself displays perfectly Adam’s remarkable ability to connect with his vulnerable side and his skill in inviting the audience to share those emotions with him. The tessitura of this song is rather high and probably presents somewhat of a challenge for him to sing. And yet, those full-voiced high notes are still perfectly free with no squeezing or ‘shouting,’ another testament to Adam’s masterful vocal technique.

To me it’s a kind of make-up-after-a-fight song, especially in view of the turbulent piano underneath the lyrics near the beginning of the song. Adam says that he sees this song as a reassurance to your partner of your love.

Cold as ice
And more bitter than a December
Winter night
That’s how I treated you
And I know that I
I sometimes tend to lose my temper
And I cross the line
Yeah that’s the truth

I know it gets hard sometimes
But I could never
Leave your side
No matter what I say

Cause if I wanted to go I would have gone by now,
But I really need you near me to
Keep my mind off the edge
If I wanted to leave I would have left by now,
But you’re the only one that knows me
Better than I know myself

All along
I tried to pretend it didn’t matter
If I was alone
But deep down I know
If you were gone
For even a day I wouldn’t know which way to turn
Cause I’m lost without you.

I know it gets hard sometimes
But I could never
Leave your side
No matter what I say

Cause if I wanted to go I would have gone by now,
But I really need you near me to
Keep my mind off the edge
If I wanted to leave I would have left by now,
But you’re the only one that knows me
Better than I know myself

I get kind of dark
Let it go too far
I can be obnoxious at times
But try and see my heart
Cause I need you need now
So don’t let me down
You’re the only thing in this world I would die without

Cause if I wanted to go I would have gone by now,
But I really need you near me to
Keep my mind off the edge
If I wanted to leave I would have left by now
But you’re the only one that knows me
Better than I know myself

Cause if I wanted to go I would have gone by now,
But I really need you near me to
Keep my mind off the edge
If I wanted to leave I would have left by now,
But you’re the only one that knows me
Better than I know myself

9. Broken English is another of my favourite songs from this album.

The song contains so much imagery in the lyrics and complexity in the music arrangements and rhythms, much of the music reflecting the ‘broken-ness’ of the lyrics and therefore it’s a surprising song on many levels. And talk about fusing genres within one song – here even some bluesy-jazz flavour is evident in some of the vocal lines, whilst the music is anything but blues or jazz.

Again in this song, Adam created some astonishing harmonies, in particular the lower harmony line which is spectacular and adds depth to the overall feel of the song – a veritable waterfall of sound for the ears. And just when you think there are no more surprises, Adam gives us one of the most stunning coloratura runs (riffs) accompanied by a kind of military drum beat. I feel I have to revert here to the classical term for a riff, because his voice is so beautiful and ethereal – this coloratura run sounds like a fervent yearning from his soul and easily rivals the beauty of operatic coloratura runs – a surprisingly sophisticated element to find in a pop song.

The music, and especially the ending of the song, is unexpectedly in keeping with the ‘broken-ness’ of the lyrics.

This is what Adam tweeted about Broken English:” I’m trying to read u.. It’s confusing but soooo mysteriously sexy. Maybe words aren’t the key. Communication through touch.”

This song is intriguing on so many levels that I feel compelled to create another Sound Bath programme just about Broken English.

Tower of babel has fallen down again
Information disarray
I don’t know who I should believe in
Everybody’s an authority
Fragments don’t count
They always end up falling through the cracks
Don’t think out loud
Cause once it’s out, your mouth can’t take it back

Can’t say all the little things
That I wanna tell you right now
I know you won’t understand
But I gotta tell you somehow
And on and on and on I go
Connect the neck to what’s below
I know
Now your body language is broken
Broken English

Lost inside communication breakdown
Better just read my lips
Comin’ in clearer when we get down
Iceberg just the tip
My words get lost
Can you read the look that’s on my face
Wires get crossed
In communion with the human race

Can’t say all the little things
That I wanna tell you right now
I know you won’t understand
But I gotta tell you somehow
And on and on and on I go
Connect the neck to what’s below
I know
Now your body language is broken
Broken English

10. Underneath is my absolute favourite song from this album and I will go so far as to say that it is the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard. This song reminds of the passionate arias we find in operas, some of which have been around for hundreds of years and still seem to be as popular as when they were first heard. This song seems a very worthy contender to share such longevity.

A stunning ballad, the lyrics in Underneath are again filled with so much imagery and the sweeping musical lines perfectly compliment Adam’s exposed soaring vocal line.

For the first time on the album his voice stands predominantly alone. Instead he’s making use of a kind of echo after some of the phrases, which is wonderfully effective.

Underneath is the perfect vehicle to showcase Adam’s beautiful voice with its phenomenal range, power, control, sensitivity and emotional intensity. At times it’s clear that he is drawing on his musical theatre experience in this song.

If the coloratura run in Broken English felt like ‘a fervent yearning from his soul,’ then Underneath in its entirety feels like the passionate cry of an imperfect but courageous and fearless soul appealing for understanding and unconditional acceptance, for example in the lines: “Look at me, now do you see?” and “Welcome to my world of truth, I don’t wanna hide any part of me from you.” Isn’t that what we all want?

This is what Adam tweeted about Underneath: “I’m doing my best. Underneath my best game face it’s still not always easy. I have my demons and they are powerful.”

It is another song that cries out for a Sound Bath programme as there is simply too much to say about this gorgeous song in this brief review.

Strip away the flesh and bone
Look beyond the lies you’ve known
Everybody wants to talk about a freak
No one wants to dig that deep
Let me take you underneath

Baby, better watch your step
Never mind what’s on the left
You’re gonna see things you might not wanna see
It’s still not that easy for me underneath

A red river of screams
Underneath
Tears in my eyes
Underneath
Stars in my black and blue sky
And underneath
Under my skin
Underneath the depths of my sin
Look at me
Now do you see?

Welcome to my world of truth
I don’t wanna hide any part of me from you
I’m standing here with no apologies
Such a beautiful release
You inside of me

A red river of screams
Underneath
Tears in my eyes
Underneath
Stars in my black and blue sky
And underneath
Under my skin
Underneath the depths of my sin
Look at me
Now do you see?
Underneath…

Welcome to my world of truth

A red river of screams
Underneath
Tears in my eyes
Underneath
Stars in my black and blue sky
And underneath
Under my skin
Underneath the depths of my sin
Look at me
Now do you see?
Underneath, underneath, underneath
Look at me
Do you see?

Welcome to my world of truth
I don’t wanna hide any part of me from you

11. Chokehold is yet another of favourite of mine from this amazing album.

This song has a wicked beat with a rock sensibility, and whilst Adam singing it in a mostly non-rock manner shouldn’t work, in fact, his vocal style perfectly suits the lyrics and the song is enhanced in a way it wouldn’t be if it was sung perhaps more as a rock song throughout. Instead he uses rock riffs in the harmonies. That, coupled with his much lighter vocal treatment of the song, means that we experience his ‘addiction’ to pain somehow more clearly.

Here again, Adam treats us to something new: he sings the word “second” in a way that emphasises the rhythm but simultaneously stresses the immediacy of his sentiment.

This is what Adam tweeted about Chokehold: “You’re playing games with me and it’s putting me though it! But I’m addicted to the heartache and drama. I can’t get enough.”

Staring at the ceiling in the dark
Sheets are in a knot
My heart is like rock

Pictures flashin by inside my head
I’m hanging by a thread
But, I’d do it all again

I keep running away, running away, running away from you
But I can’t stand breaking the chains, breaking the chains, breaking the chains
It’s too good

‘cuz I know the second you go
Wantcha to bring it on back, bring it on back, bring it on back to me
And you know I want your chokehold
Wantcha to bring it on back, bring it on back, bring it on back to me
Bring it on back to me

Oh without your touch I suffocate
Cold asphyxiate
But I kinda like the pain, yeah
Baby I can smell you on my clothes
I try to stay composed
But I feel the fever grow

I keep running away, running away, running away from you
But I can’t stand breaking the chains, breaking the chains, breaking the chains
It’s too good

12. Next is the extraordinary Outlaws of Love.

This ballad is an astonishing piece of art and in order to do it fully justice, I have created a Sound Bath programme about this song after I first heard in July 2011 when Adam performed it in St Agathe in Canada. (The programme is available at Soundbath.wordpress.com: http://wp.me/p1mWtm-4z )

Of course the album version is different from his live version, but if possible, goes even further to display Adam’s phenomenal willingness and ability to be vulnerable and to share that with the world.

As I said in my programme: ‘this is a very important song – the first reason, because the lyrics deal with a subject matter almost never attempted in song-writing, and certainly never in this way in which we, the listeners, are being told what it feels like to be “Outlaws of Love.”

Secondly, I feel this song will change the way non-fans perceive Adam Lambert – not only the over-the-top, make-up wearing, campy, sexy singer with the great voice, they must now learn to appreciate, too, the serious artist, as his fans has known him to be, from the beginning.

And thirdly, this song is a departure from anything Adam has sung before, and shows how far he has come in his artistic development and song-writing skills. This song is truly a piece of art.’

In Outlaws of Love we have Adam’s voice completely exposed and therefore the astonishing beauty of his voice singing these poignant lyrics really has a chance to hit home. The elegant use of harmonies, serve to further enhance the lyrical content, perfectly complimented by the comparatively simple, but still surprisingly innovative accompaniment.

This is what Adam tweeted about Outlaws of Love: “Road to equality ain’t easy. Sometimes we get sad. All the hate because of the love we wanna share. But we are gonna be ok.”

Oh, nowhere left to go
Are we getting closer, closer?
No, all we know is No
Nights are getting colder, colder

Hey, tears all fall the same
We all feel the rain
We can’t change

Everywhere we go we’re looking for the sun
Nowhere to grow old we’re always on the run
They say we’ll rot in hell, well I don’t think we will
They’ve branded us enough, outlaws of love

Scars make us who we are
Hearts and homes are broken, broken
Far, we could go so far
With our minds wide open, open

Hey, tears all fall the same
We all feel the rain
We can’t change

Everywhere we go we’re looking for the sun
Nowhere to grow old we’re always on the run
They say we’ll rot in hell, well I don’t think we will
They’ve branded us enough, outlaws of love

Everywhere we go we’re looking for the sun
Nowhere to grow old we’re always on the run
They say we’ll rot in hell, well I don’t think we will
They’ve branded us enough, outlaws of love

*     *     *

The last five songs have been added to the album as bonus tracks but they are all so good, I feel compelled to include them in my review. (Just imagine what gems the other fifty discarded songs might contain!)

13. Runnin is a delicious surprise, and another of my favourites from Trespassing – a fantastic song with a powerful message.

In this excellent rock song we’re treated again to Adam’s delicious Baritone tones and notes, especially in the line: “down, down, down,” before he takes his voice up into the stratosphere and rocks out as only he can, making every hair on your body stand up in appreciation of his fantastic vocal gymnastics and the drama of the accompanying music.

This is what Adam tweeted about Runnin: when I don’t follow my heart, i get dark. vicious cycle that only I can pull myself out of. We all have the power to affect change.

Steel to my tremblin’ lips
How did the night ever get like this?
One shot and the whiskey goes down, down, down
Bottom of the bottle hits
Waking up my mind as I throw a fit
The breakin’ is takin’ me down, down, down

My heat’s beating faster
I know what I’m after

I’ve been standing here my whole life
Everything I’ve seen twice
Now it’s time I realized
It’s spinning back around now
On this road I’m crawlin’
Save me ‘cuz I’m fallin’
Now I can’t seem to breathe right
Cause I keep runnin
Runnin from my heart

‘Round and around I go
Addicted to the numb livin’ in the cold
The higher, the lower, the down, down, down
Sick of being tired and sick
And ready for another kind of fix
The damage is damning me down, down, down

My heat’s beating faster
I know what I’m after

I’ve been standing here my whole life
Everything I’ve seen twice
Now it’s time I realized
It’s spinning back around now
On this road I’m crawlin’
Save me ‘cuz I’m fallin’
Now I can’t seem to breathe right
Cause I keep runnin runnin
Runnin from my heart

Oh, I’m coming alive
Oh, I’ll wake up now and live
Oh, I’m coming alive
A life that’s always been a dream
I’ll wake up now and live

14. Take Back is an excellent pop song with a great beat, rock sensibility, a wonderful melody line in the chorus and again, meaningful lyrics.

The repeated same-note lyrics drive home the message of the song and it’s interesting to notice how again, making these lyrics sound very staccato by the in which he’s jumping off the consonants, Adam is actually singing a legato line. But this also serves to emphasise the delicious legato singing in the chorus, where the melody line resolves to great satisfaction along with the music. Here again, Adam treats us to great harmonies and a full range of emotional intensity, going from poignant, delicate and vulnerable to fantastic dramatic rock vocals.

This is what Adam tweeted about Take back: “How can we reset how we fell apart? How do we get back to where we started? This was the first song written for Trespassing.”

All you ever think is “Gimme, gimme”
But you never give back
All I ever do is overthink and drink
Until I attack

We know how to talk it into the ground
We know how to wear it out
If we ain’t goin save it
Gonna end up in a grave and baby

How do we take back what’s been done,
What’s been said?
Oh my…
How do we take back?
‘Cuz no one wins
When love breaks down, we both die
I would give anything just to chase the dark away
And start all over again
How do we take back what’s been done,
What’s been said?
Oh my…

I fed you a fantasy
But you’ve been drunk on reality
All you want is to be wanted
As long as you get it out of me

We used to be a jungle, sticky and wild
It used to be we owned the night
All the stupid games we play
And all the shit that we’ve been sayin

How do we take back what’s been done,
What’s been said?
Oh my…
How do we take back?
‘Cuz no one wins
When love breaks down, we both die
I would give anything just to chase the dark away
And start all over again
How do we take back what’s been done,
What’s been said?
Oh my…

Remember remember the first time we collided
We lost it we lost it

15. Nirvana is yet another of my personal favourites from Trespassing.

A stunning piece of art and although I’m astonished that it’s a bonus track, because it feels as though it could have been part of the album proper, I’m so glad that Nirvana was added to the album.

The drum beat at the beginning of the song makes it sound as though it might turn into something else, yet the moment Adam starts to sing, it’s clear that it’s a beautiful love ballad, in fact, it almost feels like a ‘lover’s lullaby.’

His lower harmonies are particularly wonderful, and help to create a lovely satisfying, almost vocal ‘orchestral’ sound that has the effect of making the listener feel as safe and loved as one imagines Nirvana for lovers would be.

The song is a wonderful example of Adam’s phenomenal technical abilities, because Nirvana perfectly showcases Adam’s expressive range. Here he paints layer-upon-layer of colour with his voice, singing in his pure tenor voice, before treating us to fantastic rock-type riffs which he seamlessly pulls back to beautiful light near-falsetto sounds, as only he can, giving us a pretty good glimpse at what Nirvana might actually sound like.

Adam also demonstrates successfully his impressive ability to make his voice express clearly his inner feelings and thoughts – by no means an easy feat in singing!

When the stars are too cold
Frozen over their glow
On the edge of the night
We can be their light
So give me more than your touch
Give yourself to the rush
Just keep holding my hand
As we’re taking off
I know where we’ll land

We can escape to a higher plane
In Nirvana stay
Where the dreamers lay
I’ll lay you down, lay you down
Safe on a higher plane
In Nirvana stay
Where the dreamers lay
I’ll lay you down, lay you down

Through the dark there’s a way
There’s a love, there’s a place
Where we don’t have to hide
We can dream all night
So follow me through the sky
And watch the oceans collide
Just keep holding my hand
As we’re taking off
I know where we’ll land

We can escape to a higher plane
In Nirvana stay
Where the dreamers lay
And I’ll lay you down, lay you down
Safe on a higher plane
In Nirvana stay
Where the dreamers lay
I’ll lay you down, lay you down

Oh, we don’t need any diamonds or gold
Watch the mystic and cryptic unfold
As we fly high

We can escape to a higher plane
In Nirvana stay
Where the dreamers lay
And I’ll lay you down, lay you down
Safe on a higher plane
In Nirvana stay
Where the dreamers lay
I’ll lay you down, lay you down
I’ll lay you down, lay you down
I’ll lay you down, lay you down

16. By The Rules has a great electro/reggae/rock sensibility and, might be yet another favourite song from Trespassing. This wonderful love song also has a great message.

The song transports us immediately to a beach somewhere exotic and warm, and Adam’s voice reflects this perfectly.

Adam introduces us to more delicious new aspects we’ve never heard from him before, for example, he uses a much more relaxed way of singing and on many of the ends of the phrases he allows his voice to fade out unsupported – meaning he doesn’t employ his body’s muscles to support his voice to sing to the end of phrases.

This is the first time I have ever heard Adam singing without support and it’s a very pleasant surprise, but make no mistake, the way in which he mixes singing with and without support, is technically complex, even though he makes it sound easy. It is clearly an element he has deliberately chosen to employ in this song and again, his artistic instincts led him to produce a wonderfully authentic new sound-scape. Interestingly, he continues to sing through the phrases properly with full voice support. And he keeps his voice very light throughout the song, in direct contrast to some of the more rock-type accompaniment.

This is also the first time that we hear a production treatment entirely different from the other songs on Trespassing in terms of feeding his vocals to our ears individually on some of his very light riffs and harmonies. It creates the impression that Adam’s voice and breath is kissing your ears one by one.

You are my lover
My lava flow
Burn like no other
Right through the cold
Just like the constellations, we shine
No wreck or ruin, our planets align

The tide and the moon yeah
You pull like the sea
In waves I can feel ya
You’re my ecstasy
The lamb and the lion
We lay down in peace.
Like air to the fire
I need you to breathe

By the rules I play
By the rules I play
By the rules I play
Let nature have it’s way
Predator and prey
That’s the way we’re made
So by the rules
By the rules
By the rules

After the thunder
Must come the rain
After our beautiful karma
Must come the pain
Just like the constellations, we fade
As blades of sunlight send, send night away

The tide and the moon yeah
You pull like the sea
In waves I can feel ya
You’re my ecstasy
The lamb and the lion
We lay down in peace
Like air to the fire
I need you to breathe

By the rules I play
By the rules I play
By the rules I play
Let nature have it’s way
Predator and prey
That’s the way we’re made
So by the rules
By the rules
By the rules

17. Map, a shiny pop jewel from the Trespassing treasure chest, also with a great message, is a further excellent addition to an album that just keeps giving. This song really grows on you the more you hear it.

In Map Adam again treats us to singing both supported and unsupported and as the song’s tessitura is lower than we’re used to hearing from him, Map is a particularly unexpected and pleasant surprise.

He keeps his voice very light which, by the way in which he has chosen to sing the phrases in Map, complements the music and lyrics perfectly.

The great harmonies create a kind of vocal ‘orchestral’ sound that is immensely fulfilling and works perfectly together with the resolution of the music as we get to the chorus.

I had a vision that the colors bled away
and I had nothing to follow
was in the present and my life was stuck on replay
and all my wishes were hollow

You were a beam of light
Lit up my broken sky
there was just something about you
I had a vision and you painted the world for me
and now I’m laying beside you

I don’t need to wander anymore
I have found what I’ve been looking for
I don’t need a map to know the way
I don’t need a map to tell me where I’m at

Now I believe in more than I can see
now I can breathe again
and I don’t need a map to know the way
I don’t need a map
you’re always like a path

The dawn is bright and my perception is open wide
You know you flooded my senses
What you inspire is a feeling I can’t describe
forgotten all my defenses
You were a beam of light
Lit up my broken sky
there was just something about you
I had a vision and you painted the world for me
and now I’m staying beside you

I don’t need to wander anymore
I have found what I’ve been looking for
I don’t need a map to know the way
I don’t need a map to tell me where I’m at

Now I believe in more than I can see
now I can breathe again
and I don’t need a map to know the way
I don’t need a map
you’re always like a path

Finally I believe, I believe, I believe in more than I can see
I believe, I believe, I believe in more than I can see

Now I believe in more than I can see
now I can breathe again
and I don’t need a map to know the way
I don’t need a map
you’re always like a path

*     *     *

Adam’s father, Eber Lambert, with one of the incarnations of Trespassing.

Personally, I will eat several of my hats if Trespassing doesn’t bring Grammys, Golden Globes, Oscars, Pulitzer and Nobel Peace Prizes among the many rewards I’m sure will be bestowed on Adam Lambert for this fantastic second album – I can’t begin to imagine where he’ll go with the next one and the next one and the next…!

Many congratulations, Adam. Trespassing is truly a remarkable album on many levels and so much more than just another pop album – no wonder it went straight into the Billboard charts at Number 1 in both the US and Canada.

Trespassing is now available in the UK.

Trespassing Album Cover Art

mp3 only – full programme – running time: 40:39 minutes

Today celebrates a month since a number of Adam Lambert’s UK fans gathered together in London for a listening party of his new album, Trespassing.

The room where the Listening Party was held

The album became available elsewhere in the world on the 15^th of May but will only be available in the UK in July. That didn’t stop his fans here, however, wanting to celebrate, along with the rest of the world, his amazing second album, which he executive produced. So, thanks for an amazing evening arranged by Lucy & @jeanjenie.

Essential equipment for the Listening Party!

Just how great this new album is, was proved a few days later, when on the 23^rd of May, the album went straight in at number one on the coveted Billboard 200 chart in America. This was a first on another level for Adam Lambert too, being the first openly gay recording artist ever to do so.

In a recent interview with PressParty, he said: “”I didn’t know that it hadn’t been reached before so I was kind of surprised, but I felt honoured by that. I think it’s a big deal in a way. It’s a big deal about something that shouldn’t be a big deal…”

His fans, who are extremely loyal and supportive, are excited by these new firsts, and at the listening party, I had an opportunity to ask them why they like him so much and what they think of his new album, Trespassing.

In the excitement of the evening’s entertainment, chatting, quizzes, games, eating and drinking, and listening to the new album, I accidentally lost one of the recordings so a few days later, I went to re-record another of Adam’s ardent fan’s views for inclusion in the programme

Prizes to be won!

The winning drawing by Hanna

Winner of the quizz, Donna, and her prize

I too had been lucky enough to have been gifted a copy of Trespassing by the wonderful Ruth, a fan from America – thank you so much, Ruth – but I had been holding off listening to it properly until the listening party and hearing it all the way through, that loud especially, was completely perfect.

Trespassing is undeniably a brilliant piece of pop art and certainly the best album I think I’ve ever heard, because there isn’t one song on there that I don’t like. One of the things that take it to a level impossible for other artists to reach, is of course, Adam Lambert’s exquisite voice. His vocal lines and harmonies are indeed, as one of his fans described, like an Aladdin’s cave full of stunning treasures.

I will be talking more about his voice in my next programme, which will be a vocal review of Trespassing.

In the meantime, thank you Adam, from all your UK fans for creating a pop musical feast for the soul, body and mind.

We can’t wait for July when the album will be available here and when we get to see you performing with Queen. As some of my teenage students have been saying: Sicknessss!

Here is the music video of Adam’s new single, Never Close Our Eyes, soon available in the UK:

The snippets of the tracks played on this programme:

Trespassing

Shady

Kickin’ In

Outlaws Of Love

Underneath

Broken English

Runnin’

Never Close Our Eyes

The music for the intro and outtro of this programme was composed and performed by Elizabeth Dockrell-Tyler.

We do not own the copyright to any of the pictures, music or videos presented in this programme, only copyright on all scripts presented within the programme, and no copyright infringement is intended.

This blog is offered to invite comments and discussion on the work presented by The Sound Bath.

Picture by BestFan

The Sound Bath programmes are recorded ’live’ – meaning not in a studio. Therefore, you will experience some ambient noises and ‘echoey’ quality to the recordings. Please be so kind as to ignore those and instead, enjoy the content of the programme. Please also remember that it is illegal to download music from here. It’s better to support the artists by buying their music in stores or on Amazon or iTunes. That way we ensure that they’ll be able to continue to make music for us in the future.

For those who have become enamoured with the exquisite voice of Grammy nominated recording  artist, Adam Lambert, 2011 will probably be remembered as the year in which only three vocal highlights from him, enchanted the world.

And what enchantments they were! So, in the order in which they happened, Adam’s trinity of gems:

First of all, Adam surprised his fans during his St Agathe show in Canada in July when he premiered a new, song, co-written with Rune Westerburg, called “Outlaws Of Love.”  He promised that the song would appear on his new album, “Trespassing.” In fact the album will be available on15 May in the US and 2 July in the UK.

Secondly, a phenomenal performance, fronting Queen with a medley of their wonderful music, at the European Music Awards in Belfast in November, when they won the Global Icon Award, did much to further awareness of Adam’s amazing talent, stage presence and astonishing voice.

And finally, in December 2011, the world was introduced to his first new single, “Better Than I Know Myself” from his second album, “Trespassing.” The song was a collaboration with Dr Luke, and co-written by Claude Kelly.

But let’s take a closer look at these three gems Adam unleashed on the world: In a previous programme, I took an in-depth look at “Outlaws Of Love.” Several experts examined the song from different angles and also as a whole, and I believe we created a comprehensive and very interesting programme that, hopefully, did justice to the song. To me “Outlaws Of Love” is truly a piece of art that will live on in the world as one of Adam’s masterpieces, and most likely will become part of the sound track to people’s lives, so to speak.

Let’s listen now to how Adam sang the song earlier this year on the Kidd Kraddick In The Morning radio show in America – this version comes to us via YouTube from the show:

Stunning, and very moving, I’m sure you’ll all agree.

The song has a different accompaniment on the album, and here is a short snippet, uploaded to YouTube by one of Adam’s fans, Djidjityyy1:

One of the reasons Adam’s pitch is so perfect and his diction is so faultlessly clear at all times, even early in the morning, is that not only does he ‘sing’ the consonants, but he sings them on the same notes as the vowels they are related to. This may seem like such a little thing, but in fact, it makes an enormous difference in how we experience a singer’s voice as a musical instrument in the process of ‘making music.’ It may also appear to be an obvious thing for singers to do, but I’ve found that most singers in the popular music styles don’t do that – they’ll usually start and end consonants on a slightly different note, sometimes it’s a fraction of a tone off, or they’ll slide up or down to a note, and then it sounds as if they’re singing out of tune – which sometimes they are! And which is probably the reason for rather too much use of auto-tuned voices in the non-classical styles of singing. J

Next, let’s take a look at Adam’s phenomenal performance fronting Queen at the European Music Awards for a medley of three of their wonderful songs: The Show Must Go On, We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions.

I have recently been informed that a huge debate raged between their fans about who is the better singer: Freddie Mercury or Adam Lambert. I have no intension of joining in the fray, but rather, I’d like to look at what these two remarkable singers contributed to the songs.

Personally, I will always associate Freddie Mercury with Queen, and Adam Lambert will always be…well, Adam Lambert. Both flamboyant, both great entertainers and showmen, both great voices, both great musicians, both larger-than-life characters, and both with fantastic stage presence, but that’s where the similarities end, for me at least.

The one thing, perhaps above all others that make them stand out from other performers, is their unique and powerful voices: Freddie’s voice was apparently classified as Baritone, even though he sang mostly as a Tenor. And Adam is undoubtedly a tenor.

So, before we continue, and for those interested in voice types, it might be good to clarify that in popular music, singers seem to be classified into voice types based entirely on their vocal ranges, with little regard for the other qualities in the voice, which makes it so distinctive.

In classical singing, however, the voice is classified by looking at several vocal traits, such as colour, range, timbre, weight, tessitura, resonance, and where the vocal transitions or passaggi lie – the passaggio being the bridge from one vocal register to the next. Even the personality of the singer plays its part in the classification of the voice.

The vocal categories, for example, Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Tenor, Baritone, and Bass, or their sub-categories – under Soprano you find for example, the Lyric, Coloratura or Spinto Soprano, and so on, or under Tenor you find the Lyric, Heroic or Italian Tenor, etc., – these are typically arranged according to the German Fach system. In opera, roles were, and are, usually written for specific voice types.

Adam’s voice, although we can hear some Baritone colours in it, which I’ve spoken about previously, if we have to give it a box to live in, fits perfectly into the Leggiero Fach, the highest tenor Fach. A great example in opera of this voice type, is Juan Diego Florez’s wonderfully flexible two octave range voice – a good range and perfectly usual for opera singers. Adam’s voice on the other hand, clearly seems to have a much greater range, which is staggering. And according to his wikipedia page, Freddie Mercury’s range apparently spanned an astonishing four octaves! But no matter how high or how low a singer can sing, that doesn’t necessarily make the voice more beautiful, more unique, or more pleasant to listen to – there are many other factors involved, which is why in opera, a voice is never classified using only its range.

Besides, guessing Freddie’s or Adam’s actual range, is just that: a guess. We can only hear their recorded range, which isn’t necessarily their entire range, although very, very few singers will sing to the extremes of their voice in public or on recordings.

Adam has in numerous interviews indicated that he does not like to, nor has he any interest, in defining his range – he is only interested in producing excellent, authentic sound. How refreshing to hear a singer speak like that, because all too often, singers and their audiences seem to be so stuck on the range that lives in the singer’s voice. Of course the voice has its physical limits, but by naming them, we somehow put such restrictions on what it may be able to do. It reminds me of the story of the four minute mile: everyone believed that the four-minute mile was unattainable. But once one athlete proved it achievable, others let go of their limitations too, and then they could do the impossible as well. Of course there’s more to the story than that simple version, but we’ve seen something similar happen in singing also: It wasn’t until 1835 that the first full-voiced high C was attempted by a tenor – even though at the time it was a slightly sharp A in modern terms, but until then, singing that high for any tenor, seemed an impossibility. Today, however, there are operatic tenors, like Juan Diego Florez, and pop/rock tenors, like Adam, who can sing much higher than the modern tenor high C.

So let’s get back to Queen and Adam’s performance in Belfast and to what Adam did with the songs – we already know the astonishing works of art that Freddie produced. But it must have been an amazing experience for Adam, who is a Queen fan and who has often referred to Freddie Mercury as having been a great influence on him as a singer and performer. Equally Queen must have been really excited to have their songs performed by an astonishing singer who could sing the songs in the actual keys in which they were written.

Brian May had this to say about Adam’s voice: ‎”I’m not easily moved to jelly by male vocalists…But Adam’s voice reaches out with sensitivity, depth, maturity, and awesome range and power which will make jaws drop all around the world…No doubt about it. The world of Rock has a bright new star.”

http://www.mjsbigblog.com/adam-lambert-2012-soundtrack-tune-confirmed-by-brian-may.htm

And more recently, Speaking to Yahoo!’s Reality Rocks, Roger Taylor described their collaboration as “fireworks”, whilst Brian described Adam as: “Something different. He has an extraordinary voice, there’s no way you can get around that – whether you love him or hate him. He’s extraordinary. So we’ll be exploring new ways to do things. We don’t like to just reproduce what we did before; we like to move on and try new ways of doing stuff. So it will be exciting!”

http://ca.music.yahoo.com/blogs/reality-rocks/queen-talks-idol-adam-lambert-queen-extravaganza-001250035.html

Their song choices for the European Music Awards, however, I feel could not have been bettered. The first song was “The Show Must Go On.” This song is the final track on Queen’s 1991 album, Innuendo. Largely written by Brian May, it tells of the efforts made by Freddie Mercury, as he continued to perform, despite nearing the end of his life. In fact, he was so ill at the time of recording the song, that he could barely walk, and there were real concerns as to whether he would physically be capable of singing it, but sing it he did, and brilliantly so. The song was released as a single in the UK just six weeks before Freddie died.

First I’ll play Freddie’s version of the song and then Adam’s version immediately afterwards:

-  on YouTube by Ana94356

- on YouTube by happy1smile1

This must surely be one of the most dramatic and operatic rock songs ever created. And I’m so very glad that the world once again could hear it performed live like this.

I’d like to share just a few of my observations: On the very first line, “Empty spaces,” Adam is asking the question already – I don’t know if he knows that’s what he’s doing but it’s very effective. Whereas Freddie asks it more clearly perhaps in the second half of the phrase, “what are we living for?” A small thing, you might be thinking, but it allows us to see exactly how different these two singers are looking at the lyrics and the notes right from the beginning of the song.

In the next line, “Abandoned places, I guess we know the score,” Freddie’s interpretation seems vulnerable, more resigned perhaps, whereas Adam’s is a little stronger, indicating he may be more ready to challenge the ‘score.’

I also like that Adam sang ‘Does anybody know what we are living for?’ instead of ‘looking for,’ and that he added a delicious little ornamentation on the word, ‘mindless’ in the phrase ‘Another hero, another mindless crime’  - all a different way of thinking about the song that makes his version different from Freddie’s.

On the higher note in ‘Hold the light…’ Adam’s voice, to me, feels a little more comfortable than Freddie’s which seems slightly more squeezed, but equally effective, nonetheless.

And then we come to the fabulous dramatic bit, ‘The show must go on.’ I’ve commented previously about Adam’s ability to present a wall-of-sound type of idea with his voice alone, and here we experience it again. Even though there are instrumental gaps in the singing, we’re not so aware of them, because Adam continues from one phrase into the next. This is something which opera singers pay particular attention to – we don’t sing a phrase or a word and stop dead after it, but we sing it in such a way that it sounds as if the idea continues into the next vocalization, despite being interrupted by instrumentation. Adam does this perfectly.

Adam’s version of this song, was clearly homage to Freddie, whilst at the same time, it sounded as though he was telling of his own struggles as a gay man, just as Freddie did. Although they approached the lyrics differently, I found the way in which both singers sang the following lyrics particularly poignant:

The show must go on, yeah!

Inside my heart is breaking

My make-up may be flaking

But my smile still stays on

Freddie sings his ‘smile’ almost as though he can’t bear to do so any longer, whereas Adam gives us a longer, more pointed and unashamed ‘smile.’

Freddie’s interpretation of this song breaks your heart, especially in view of the fact that he was so near the end of his life when he recorded it. But Adam’s version is no less moving – it’s almost as if he sang it for both of them, and of course, the song gave him the opportunity to show off his incredible range and his remarkable vocal flexibility in a way not many other songs allow him to do. It must have been such a thrill for him to sing this, as we can clearly hear from his ‘woo!’ at the end!

The second song Queen and Adam performed together was “We Will Rock You.” Again, this song was written by Brian May and recorded by Queen for their 1977 album, “News Of The World.” In 2009 the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and it is also the title of the Queen-inspired musical currently on in London’s West End. So it’s another very important song choice.

Again, I’ll play Freddie’s version first, taken from “Queen Live At Wembley Stadium,” followed immediately by Adam’s version in Belfast:

- on YouTube by Queenofficial

- on YouTube by happy1smile1

This is such an arena anthem and as a result, it’s actually not that easy to sing and perform, but if anyone other than Freddie could pull it off perfectly and excitingly, Adam surely did!

And finally, the world was treated to a great performance of “We Are The Champions.” Of course they are: they’d just won the Global Icon Award! This was the second time, however, that Adam performed the song with Queen – the first was during the American Idol final in 2008, the year that Adam was a contestant on that show.

This is Freddie’s version of the song taken from “Queen On Fire: Live at the Bowl” from their Milton Keynes Bowl performance in 1982. And then to show how much Adam has grown as a singer and as performer, I feel it would good to listen to his first performance of it, together with the other American Idol finalist in 2008, Kris Allen, followed immediately by Adam’s performance in 2011:

- on YouTube by Queenofficial

- on YouTube by LexieeLambert

- on YouTube by happy1smile1

Yup, he has definitely become a superstar and don’t you just LOVE that delicious falsetto note Adam slipped in on the word: “few,” in the line: “I made a few.” It seems so innocuous, yet it changes the meaning behind the words so effectively, doesn’t it? Very astute. And for those not sure what Adam’s falsetto sounds like, this is a perfect example of it.

I like the fact that Adam made the songs his own and didn’t copy Freddie in any way, and it’s illuminating indeed to see how he successfully incorporated his own, very distinctive singing style into such well-known and loved songs. Brain May and Roger Taylor were clearly very impressed with Adam – in an interview with the BBC afterwards, this is what they had to say -posted on YouTube by BrianMayCom :

What I found really remarkable is that Adam didn’t intrude on Queen’s glory that night. He wasn’t even introduced. Can you imagine? What other singer would do that? It is a huge relief to me to have it confirmed again so clearly that Adam is indeed a true artist, who serves music in its purest form. He does not appear to need or want any aggrandizement, and that, coupled with his phenomenal talent and the fact that he seems to be a genuinely nice person, is probably the reason he is already a global superstar to his millions of dedicated fans.

Queen has also invited Adam to a few more performances with them in 2012: one in Moscow on the 3^rd of July and another in Poland on July 7^th which is the date they were supposed to perform at the Sonisphere Festival in the UK, but sadly the Festival was cancelled. Queen, however, clearly value their fans and arranged for two more performances with Adam at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on the 11^th and 12^th of July. Mention was also made of a third possible date there, as well as another possible concert in Kiev, headlining with Elton John, but that’s unconfirmed as yet on the date that this programme was recorded.

And finally, we come to the third gem Adam bestowed on the world in 2011. On the 20^th of December, we heard the first single, “Better Than I Know Myself,” from his second album, “Trespassing.” Here is Adam talking about the song and please do also watch the really excellent music video that accompanies it – courtesy of SuperFreshlySqueezed:

The song and music video are both available from iTunes, Amazon and from Adam’s official website, AdamOfficial.com.

This is a great departure musically from his first album and he explained that this second album will allow fans to see more of the ‘real’ Adam. He shares his light and his dark sides that we all have. He explained that the album is split into the light side, with funky dance music and the dark side, which is more contemplative and more emotionally raw, the lyrics are more personal, and the music more in line with what Adam himself likes to listen to. And so he feels that the album is an invitation to his fans to trespass into his life, so to speak. Hence the album’s title: “Trespassing.”

This is what he has to say about the new album – courtesy of UKGlambert:

In this great interview from Finland, Adam continues to discuss the new album:

http://www.iltasanomat.fi/videot/viihde/adam-lambert–juttusarja-35-uusi-levyni-kasittelee-sita-mita-rakastan/vid-1288465758278.html?pos=1288427205885

There are also 3 remixes available – this one is by Robert Marvin Shearer and uploaded to YouTube by one of Adam’s fans, emsatt1989:

So even though he didn’t tour in 2011 and spent most of the year behind studio doors beavering away on his much anticipated second album, he still somehow managed to wow, and make a strong musical impact on the world. And long may that continue, Adam.

The second single from the album is also now available. It’s called Never Close Our Eyes and was written by Bruno Mars.

Adam recently performed a number of acoustic performances of the single during his promotional tour for the album in America, and this is one I particularly like – courtesy of gnosbt:

The single is already available in America, and will be available in the UK from the 24^th of June.  But if you live in the UK and you’re a fan, you can start requesting the single for radio play from the 16^th of May. To find out how to do that effectively, have a look at the guidelines on the Lambrits website – http://www.thelambrits.co.uk

You can also pre-order Adam’s album, Trespassing, and if you do so from his website, http://www.adamofficial.com, there are all kinds of other goodies available as well, including a limited edition Trespassing Deluxe Box Set.

Thank you for all the fab new music, Adam, we look forward to the album!

The music for the intro and outtro of this programme was composed and performed by Elizabeth Dockrell-Tyler.

We do not own the copyright to any of the pictures, music or videos presented in this programme, only copyright on all scripts presented within the programme, and no copyright infringement is intended.

This blog is offered to invite comments and discussion on the work presented by The Sound Bath.

Have you ever had a once-in-a-lifetime, never-dared-to-dream-of type of experience? Well, I never thought it would ever happen to me, but it did. And very recently. And I’m still trying to recover, but have it on good authority from myself, that I probably never will.

It happened on Friday 3^rd of February 2012…well, actually, it started on Thursday 2^nd of Feb.

It was an interesting day to begin with, Thursday, that is, because a lovely Lambrit – that’s how the singer, Adam Lambert’s fans in the UK describe themselves – anyway, a Lambrit called Lucy, contacted me to ask if I’d like to join her in London, as Adam Lambert was in town to promote his new album, Trespassing, out in March/April this year.

A number of his fans were meeting up outside the building where he was being interviewed by the UK press, to greet him and to make him feel as welcome, wanted and loved in the UK as he is being made to feel everywhere else in the world that he goes.

Despite a heaving workload, I felt it was a good idea, because personally, I feel Adam is on his way to becoming a very important, and I’d go so far as to say, a pivotal artist, for change within the music industry. I flew out the door – hair still wet, no make-up, my warmest coat, which my cat occasionally uses as her bed, so clearly not my most glamorous moment, but determined to make it on time to at least say ‘hi!’

An exceptionally cold day, we huddled together and were rewarded for our effort, when after several hours of being interviewed, Adam suddenly appeared. He was very gracious – smiling, giving autographs, posing for piccies and dolling out warm hugs before he got into a car with blacked-out windows to go wherever it was he had to be.

When later that day we were informed that somehow separately Lucy and I had both received invitations to Adam’s showcase the following evening, I was delighted beyond words, and I’m pretty sure that Lucy was very, very excited too.

At first, I couldn’t believe it, because, since my introduction to Adam Lambert’s astonishing voice, it has been my dream to hear his voice up-close in an intimate venue and preferably unmiked. So it felt like all my xmasses and birthdays had come at once!

I later discovered that my invitation came by way of the wonderful Joan, so I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you, Joan. You will never know what this has meant to me – no words can describe what it was like to experience Adam’s exceptional and extraordinary vocal instrument in such an intimate setting. I will never, ever be able to repay you for your generosity and kindness.

Actually, I am constantly astonished by how fantastic Adam’s fans are – they call themselves the Glamily. I know the word refers to Adam’s Glam side, but they really are a kind of global family – they support and help each other out, and I’ve met some wonderful, wonderful people vicariously through Adam. I’ve never experienced anything like it and have often wondered if his fans reflect the way Adam conducts himself in the world, always supporting other artists and inspiring people to be whoever they are and to strive for fulfilment in their lives. He seems to be such a wise, old soul and is an incredible role model for everyone, not only for his younger fans.

The other recipient of Joan’s generosity (and I know she feels enormous gratitude toward Joan, too), was the wonderful Etty. I will be chatting to her a little later in the programme.

So on Friday 3 February, I duly met up with Etty, Lucy and her friend, Claire, and at 5:00pm we made our way to the very swanky private members-only Arts Club, essentially a wonderful 18^th century town house, in the heart of Mayfair.

Interestingly, The Arts Club was founded in 1863 by men of vision in order to – according to their blurb – “facilitate the social intercourse of those connected with, or interested in Art, Literature or Science.” How apt, I thought.

For those unfamiliar with Mayfair, The Arts Club is located just a few metres away from The Ritz Hotel and within walking distance of Buckingham Palace.

The venue itself was rather small, about the size of a living room, and filled to the brim with journalists and other media people.

It was immediately clear to me, however, that the room didn’t appear to have very good acoustics and that my dream of hearing Adam singing unmiked, was not going to happen, but I was thrilled anyway that I’d still be able to see him perform from really close-up, no matter where I stood.

But then, even more unexpectedly, and without trying to do so, together with my companions, I somehow ended up standing right in front of the tiny stage, right in front of Adam’s chair and mike stand, just behind two children – I’d say around 5 feet or so away from where Adam would be.

The Sony Executive who introduced him, did a great job, using Brian May’s comment about Adam’s voice “reaching out with sensitivity, depth, maturity and awesome range and power that will make jaws drop all around the world. The world of rock has a bright new star,” he quoted.

Personally, I couldn’t agree more.

And then Adam Lambert walked on stage.

I have been to a few of his live performances previously, but of course, I have never experienced him so close-up – he really is something to behold. I know his fans thinks he’s the sexiest most beautiful man they’ve ever seen, and I have to confess, he is unusually striking and impressive and his stage presence is immediately tangible and enormous. He practically oozes charisma, magnetism and charm.

What struck me straight away, apart from his sheer physical presence – he is very tall – just over 6 foot, I believe – is how chic and sophisticated he looked, dressed all in black with minimal make-up, and with his signature dark nails and silver rings – he looked every bit the successful global star that he has become. He seemed very relaxed and in charge of the party – it was after all, his party!

And then he sang.

FEVER

He started with a song called, Fever, from his previous album, For Your Entertainment. I know his fans will probably jump all over me now, but it was never one of my most favourite tracks from that album. But here he sang a near-acoustic version – I say near-acoustic, only because he had to use a mike, although his voice is very strong and we would probably have been able to hear him perfectly well without it, although, as I said, the acoustics in the room weren’t great. But with totally stripped down backing, I found myself having to re-think my opinion of the song – clearly another one of Adam’s many talents: motivating people to change their mind about things, just by doing what he does.

I feel Fever was an inspired choice for the first song, because it seemed that most people in the room were familiar with it, judging by the response from behind us.

I found myself astonished that Adam could make the song sound so energetic and the lyrics filled with so much excitement using only his voice really – the backing was minimal. I’ll play it in a moment, so if you can, try to separate out the backing from the vocals and you’ll see what I mean.

Of course, those who have heard his voice live will know that it sounds so much better live than it does recorded, and that is saying something, because he already sounds pretty spectacular recorded, too.

Unfortunately, there are no videos or audio available yet from his London showcase, but this is Fever recorded in Austria prior to his London showcase and uploaded to YouTube by X67X67X  – again, this is a recorded version of his performance on that day – seeing him live really is a different story altogether!

Wonderful, I’m sure you’ll agree.

And even though he was seated, his entire body was involved in the production of the sound and the interpretation of the song. It was an education and a master class in performance technique to watch him give himself over so completely to his voice and the music, whilst still staying completely alert and focussed on the audience.

He really doesn’t mess around – he commits absolutely and wholly to what he’s doing. And although I’d always suspected it, it came as a bit of a shock to realize just precisely how present he actually is. It felt as though every single aspect of him was on stage – he wasn’t distracted, he wasn’t thinking of something else, he wasn’t fractured…ALL of him was there.

This is remarkable in many ways, not least because this is exactly what all performers strive for and many are never able to achieve it. And this is also the force that makes him so compelling to watch – he magnetizes you until you’re unable to tear your eyes away from him.

As if this isn’t enough, he adds one more element to his arsenal of awesomeness. Those who have seen him perform live will be familiar with how he makes direct eye-contact with members of the audience.

I know some people find it slightly disturbing and they don’t know where to look, because for those few seconds, it feels as though he is singing for you only. But I find it a particular privilege and a complete thrill to have him focussing exclusively on me for a few moments and to imagine that indeed, he is singing for me only.

Of course, other performers do this too, but I feel that the reason it’s so uniquely effective when Adam does it, is because he is so totally present, so when he looks at you, he really, really looks at you – what a communicator, right?

But each time I hear him live, I’m always taken aback again at how high his voice actually is – it’s much higher than you’d expect and that somehow doesn’t translate when you hear his voice recorded. And so it always takes me a moment or so to adjust to the exquisite, live voice.

And I know I’ve spoken and written about this before, but the fact that he’s using proper vocal techniques, is also always a surprise, although I don’t know why it should be so. I guess it’s probably because most other singers in modern styles of music do not habitually use such techniques – you usually expect it more with classical singers, and it’s a testament to Adam’s excellent early singing education and continued hard work – it’s something which he clearly continues to practise and as a result, he’ll be able to sing for a very long time without developing the pop singer’s usual trouble of nodules on the vocal folds.

Talking about techniques, it was a real treat to witness up-close and first-hand how low he breathes into his body and how he keeps his rib-cage open and use his diaphragm to support his voice.

And even in a song like Fever, which to some people may not seem a particularly important song with much substance, he makes the riffs mean something and be a part of the song – they’re not just a string of notes to cover a gap in the song – something which again, you often find with other singers in pop music, in particular.

The other thing that struck me was how amazing it is that he could do all those interviews and talk that much, and then still deliver such a perfect vocal performance. I don’t know anyone else who could do that.

BETTER THAN I KNOW MYSELF

Next he sang his new single, “Better Than I Know Myself.”

I’ll be talking more about this song in my next programme, which is called: “Adam Lambert’s Trinity of Gems from 2011,” because it’s one of only three vocal experiences he gave us in 2011.

For now I can say this: when I first heard the song, I must confess that I didn’t immediately like it, although it’s catchy and I danced to it in my kitchen. But the more I listen to it, the more I came to understand it and like it, and I LOVE this acoustic version.

The piano underneath Adam’s voice is particularly delicious and although I was feeling anxious about anyone else singing with Adam, especially, but not solely, because of all the fantastic harmonies he created on the album version of the song, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I loved the way Kevin’s voice blended in with Adam’s, creating a whole new colour and sound-shape. By that I mean that there is almost a muddying – in a good way – of the vocal sound here. No longer do we have the pure Adam sound. When their voices mix together, a more deliberately raw sound emerges, creating a fusion of dark and light colours and a rougher texture.

The tessitura of the song is consistently rather high and therefore it must be a little bit of a challenge to sing. Of course, as always, Adam makes it looks so easy, but it really isn’t.

Again, no acoustic version of this song is yet available from the London showcase, but following is the song as Adam performed it in Austria and uploaded to YouTube by Q-Music:

We now (March 2012) have the version from London available, thanks to JMeehan719:

Exquisite, right?

And for comparison, here is the album version – check out also the incredible video that accompanies the song:

This song will be available for download on UK iTunes on the 11^th of March and everywhere else on the 12^th, so go get it!

After the showcase, I had an opportunity to chat with Kevin. I told him that I really liked the way his voice blends with Adam’s and he seemed genuinely pleased to hear that. I believe Etty and Lucy told him the same thing, so hopefully, he doesn’t have a big head now!

In answer to my questions, he said that singing with Adam was like nothing he’d ever experienced, that he viewed Adam’s voice as a legitimate instrument in its own right, and that he was in awe of the fact that during rehearsals Adam sometimes goes off into lots more improvs and does stuff he could never even have imagined vocally possible. He laughed and said he couldn’t even try to go there, and that he just sticks to the notes.

Of course Adam also does so much more with a song than just stick to the notes. And it was a revelation to be that close to him to be able to see every tiny gesture, every small movement, every minute nuance, every slight tightening around the eyes or at the corners of his mouth to render meaning to the lyrics he is singing. And even though Adam is a past master at projecting out into the audience, it struck me forcibly how much we’re missing when he’s performing. I’m very grateful I had the opportunity to see it at least once in my life.

Talking about projecting – he does something else very, very interesting. You’ll find that performers usually fall into one of two categories – those who project outwards and those who draw their audience to them. Rarely do you find someone who can do both. But guess what? Adam does both – at the same time! It was such a shock to me when I first realized it, that I kept blinking, wondering if I was hallucinating. But no, that’s what he does – astonishing, right?

I also hadn’t realized before how wide he opens his mouth – he really does not suffer from self-consciousness, unlike many other singers I’ve come across. And it was great to see the ridge down his tongue – supposedly all very good singers have one. And I can confirm that although his teeth are fabulous when he smiles, he really has completely perfect pearly whites throughout his mouth!

OUTLAWS OF LOVE

Before the next song, “Outlaws of Love,” Adam asked for a bit more reverb and I suspected it’s because the song is a ballad and therefore would sound better with extra reverb. Apart from that, I think the sound guys did a pretty spectacular job to make Adam sound even better than he already does.

I have already devoted an entire two and a half hour programme to “Outlaws of Love” because I believe it’s very important song and a fantastic piece of art. Mind you, the programme is broken up into five parts, so you won’t need an entire two and a half hours to listen to it, you can access it bit-by-bit.

“Outlaws of Love” clearly means a lot to Adam, too. When introducing it, he spoke very movingly and passionately about the uphill struggle that he and the rest of the LGBT community – he called them “my community” – still faces every day, despite things getting better.

When I first heard this song live in Canada in July last year, I found myself crying uncontrollably, not only because the lyrics tear into your heart, but the melody is exquisitely beautiful, too, and the song suits Adam’s voice like a glove.

But as a performer I know what it feels like when you’re singing and someone cries right in front of you – it can be disconcerting – so I was determined not to do so this time. But I was unprepared for the impact that this song would have on me again, and very soon, I couldn’t stop myself – tears ran down my face entirely without my permission.

Hearing it again, and being that close to him, really reinforced for me how much of himself he puts into that song – it may at times sound soft and ethereal, but his body is working as hard, if not harder, than when he’s belting something. And I LOVE how he hovers in that place just between a floating head voice and falsetto – it kind of puts you in a trance, and reminds of the state between waking and sleeping.

To me, it feels almost as though Adam is channelling this song from somewhere else, beyond this world.

Adam’s voice in this song, for me at least, contains elements I don’t experience when he sings anything else. It is difficult to put into words, but it has to do with the specific energy and sound-shape in his voice and that’s partly the reason I created a separate programme devoted entirely to the song.

I can’t wait to hear what he’s done with it on the album.

Here’s how he sang it in Austria – uploaded to YouTube by gnosbt:

How beautiful is that, right?

And here is the London version – now available to us (March 2012), unploaded to YouTube by JMeehan719:

So beautiful and tender and each note and phrase filled with meaning and emotion, I’m sure you’ll  agree and I’m sure, too, that you can see now why I just could not stop myself from crying during the song.

WHATAYA WANT FROM ME

Next he sang “Whataya Want From Me,” a song from his previous album, for which he’d received a Grammy nomination.

I’ve heard him sing this song on numerous occasions, including a number of acoustic versions, but he is one of those rare artists able to keep surprising his audiences by changing how he sings songs. As a result, it’s kind of like a permanently enchanting lucky-dip – you always get something delightfully new, which makes you listen to whatever song he’s singing with as much attention as when you first heard it. And of course, he did it again this time too.

Again, this is the version from Austria, uploaded to YouTube by Q-Music:

TRESPASSING

The last song of the showcase was “Trespassing,” the title track from his new album.

Wow, this a great song and I can’t wait for it to come out as a single – I hope it does – I have a feeling people will go nuts for it.

It’s very, very energetic, has a great message and lots of attitude, with lyrics like: “No Trespassing? Yeah, my ass! Wait till ya get a load of me!”

Yes, Adam, we got a load of you and it was fantastic!

It is an immensely performable song and that’s exactly what he did. He got up from his stool and was therefore even a little closer to us.

It suddenly became very hot in the venue – those who have seen Adam perform live, will know that when he shakes his booty, he really goes for it. I’m sure that’s partly why his fans view him as the sexiest man in the Universe. And he didn’t disappoint this time either. Witnessing him moving and dancing like that so close-up was an experience I don’t think I’ll ever recover from.

I tried very hard to keep my thoughts straight, however, and was again enormously impressed by how naturally uninhibited and comfortable he is on stage – he definitely belongs there.

Once he starts his next tour, I’d be very interested to see the comments from his fans about this song in particular.

Here is a version of the song that was uploaded to YouTube by ohmylicious – I’m assuming, taken from his performance of the song in Austria:

Of course, typically, he changed the song quite a bit at the London Showcase and we were privy to some deeply gratifying grunting and groaning, panting type riffs in the second half of the song.

Even though they’re enormously effective to listen to, they’re actually rather difficult to do, because it takes a lot of strength and stamina from the diaphragm to make those explosive sounds.

Here are the lyrics:

Well I was walkin for some time
when I came across this sign
sayin “who are you and where are you from?”
We don’t like when visitors come.

“No Trespassing” that’s what it said
at least that’s what I could read.
No Trespassing? Yeah, my ass!
Wait till ya get a load of me!

One day I was trippin and that’s when I could see
that the ether I had tapped into could be reality
It was great, that’s when I climbed that optimistic vine
Once I hit that mountain peak I began to lose my mind

I don’t need no sympathy. I won’t cry and whine.
Life’s my light and liberty
and I’ll shine when I wanna shine.

Make their faces crack
there’s no turnin back.
Let’s GO!

Well I was walkin for some time
when I came across this sign
sayin “who are you and where are you from?”
We don’t like when visitors come.

“No Trespassing” that’s what it said
at least that’s what I could read.
No Trespassing? Yeah, my ass!
Wait till ya get a load of me!

I ain’t got BS in my bag
that’s the one thing you can believe
my heart is gold, my body is glass
come on baby, can’t you see?

Well I was walkin for some time
when I came across this sign
sayin “who are you and where are you from?”
We don’t like when visitors come.

“No Trespassing” that’s what it said
at least that’s what I could read.
No Trespassing? Yeah, my ass!
Wait till ya get a load of me!

This is the amazing version of Trespassing from the London Showcase available now (March 2012) courtesey of JMeehan719:

It’s astonishing how, even though Adam is still singing legato – meaning he’s still linking the words and the phrases together, he is simultaneously also driving the rhythm forward by how he jumps off the consonants and how he lifts some of the sounds and words. And watch to see how much of that he generates within his body – it looks so easy, but it’s rather more difficult to execute, and it takes 100% commitment to do! If there were no backing instruments, he’d still be able to sing it like this – awesome!

But to get back to the Showcase – I was aware that behind me, the audience had been getting more excited with each song and was now dancing, hooping and having the time of their lives.

This was a real showcase in every sense of the word. Adam showcased not only his great new music, but also his astonishing voice, adding in new riffs to the well-known songs and the new ones alike. And I will eat several of my hats if anyone who was there failed to be impressed by his fantastic performance.

What made this event even more special, though, is that whilst he was performing, the audience was utterly quiet and enthralled, unlike his concerts with fans attending and which can become so rowdy that sometimes the noise practically drowns out what he’s doing.

But the showcase audience exploded and hooped and whistled and applauded wildly after each song finished and it must have felt great to him to hear that. They enthusiastically clapped and danced along and a great showcase was had by all.

Personally, I was so happy to see that the UK media responded so positively to this wonderful and important artist.

Once the performance was over, Adam left the stage and the four of us just stood there staring at each other. Mind blown, and I speak for myself when I say, feeling very, very hot suddenly after THAT performance of Trespassing! I felt like I’d been dunked in a whirlpool of turbulence and colour – all perfectly tastefully done, of course, but my head was spinning and my soul had left my body!

After the show, of course, everyone wanted to talk to Adam and he stayed until practically the end, happily talking and posing for photos with his newly recruited fans from the UK media.

I too had an opportunity to talk with him briefly twice, and after thanking him for a great showcase and congratulating him on his recent birthday and excellent new music.

He seemed delighted to see a few fans there, and greeted us like family. I received the best hug of my life – a lovely firm, happy, enthusiastic hug.

As he’d just come off-stage, I expected him to be feeling hot, but was surprised to feel so palpably the delicious energy that continues to run through performers’ bodies after a performance, and I became aware of the fact that his back and arms were wet – wow, in just five songs – that’s some energy output!

I spoke to some other people too, and Nick from Fault magazine promised that their March issue will feature great coverage of Adam, which he was sure Adam’s fans will adore.

And then right at the end, going over to say good bye, we unexpectedly had an opportunity to talk with Adam again, a little longer this time.

Etty graciously introduced me to him as the opera singer fascinated by his voice and he promptly launched into talking about some tweets he’d sent about his voice and in particular about falsetto. He seemed frustrated that people might imagine he didn’t know what falsetto was or how to use it. As it happens, he uses it very, very rarely. I told him that I had indeed seen his tweets and had sent one of my own saying that he didn’t need to use falsetto when he has a head-voice that can float as beautifully as his does.

But I do understand completely where he’s coming from, because as a singer, I can confirm that it feels much more satisfying to sing with your head-voice – if you can do it! And in fact, there are very few people who can do what Adam does – it’s actually much more difficult to float your head-voice than it is to sing falsetto, which by comparison, seems almost a cop-out or a kind of laziness. But of course, falsetto does have its place in the interpretation of songs, too. It’s just remarkable that Adam is one of the few singers – especially in pop music – with the ability to choose which way he wants to use his voice and then to make it happen. And on the few occasions when he chose to use falsetto, he has always done so with great sensitivity, artistry and sophistication.

He then went on to recommended some vocal exercises to me developed by his own vocal coach, which he told me had helped him, and which really works your voice, so I’m going to have to check those out for sure!

Well, I have talked a lot, so I think it’s time that I introduce my special guest. It’s the wonderful Etty Payne with whom I went to Adam’s showcase.

But before I talk with her, here’s a little something about her:

Etty has a very cosmopolitan background, being born in one continent (Africa), with the nationality of a country in another continent, South America (Venezuela, to be specific) and she grew up in a third continent, Europe, in the UK.  After working for many years as a translator at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, she now does proofreading, copyediting and a little writing, alongside her job as a finance officer.

Since being a huge fan of David Bowie, Etty enjoyed the music of Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Marti Pellow and Muse, but felt there was no one quite in David Bowie’s league… until she discovered Adam Lambert.

Etty’s interview only, if you’d like to listen to it separately – running time: 13:06 minutes

Personally, I wish Adam the most brilliant success and thank the Universe every day that I am alive at the same time as him, so that I can experience this wonderful and inspiring artist. And I hope to continue to do so for many, many years to come.

So, Adam, thank you for continuing to have the courage to give your voice and art to the world.

Here are three recaps by fans who attended the showcase in London, including Etty’s own recap on Adam Lambert’s Fan Club site:

http://adamlambertfans.com/users/stardust/blogs/1866501

The music for the intro and outtro of this programme was composed and performed by Elizabeth Dockrell-Tyler.

We do not own the copyright to any of the pictures, music or videos presented in this programme, only copyright on all scripts presented within the programme, and no copyright infringement is intended.

This blog is offered to invite comments and discussion on the work presented by The Sound Bath.

This picture was taken at St Agathe, Canada by Luv2Laugh77

mp3 only – full programme

This programme in its entirety, is around 2 hours 23 seconds long, but below you will find it broken down into five parts:

Part 1 – Angelina Kalahari - a vocal analysis

Running time: around 26 minutes

The Sound Bath programmes are recorded ’live’ – meaning not in a studio. Therefore, you will experience some ambient noises and ‘echoey’ quality to the recordings. Please be so kind as to ignore those and instead, enjoy the content of the programme. Please also remember that it is illegal to download music from here. It’s better to support the artists by buying their music in stores or on Amazon or iTunes. That way we ensure that they’ll be able to continue to make music for us in the future.

Today I want to talk about Grammy Nominated singer/song-writer Adam Lambert’s song, “Outlaws of Love.”

The song was premiered at his show in Canada in July 2011, and he said that it’s a definite for his second, eagerly-awaited, album, due out early in 2012.

I was lucky enough to be at the show at St Agathe, and to hear the song sung live for the first time. The initial impact of this seemingly simple song, hit me extraordinarily powerfully on every level, but mostly physically – at least first of all. And I found myself nearly howling from the pain of it. It’s been difficult, ever since, for me to listen to the song without becoming somewhat emotional.

Adam’s “Outlaws of Love” is a deeply overwhelming song. So overwhelming, in fact, that after his performance of it, I couldn’t really remember what else he’d sung and later had to reconstruct the end of the show from YouTube videos posted by fans.

The only thing I do remember is that because of the torrents of rain that suddenly appeared, the canopy above the stage sagged with the weight of it, and as I was standing right in front of the stage and directly underneath the canopy, buckets and buckets of water came crashing down on me. It came down so fast, I felt I couldn’t breathe and was in danger of drowning because there was no getting out from under it and away from it. But once I’d allowed myself to relax and not to panic, it felt like a waterfall of Adam’s love. It reminded me of the waterfall pictures I use on the YouTube videos of my programmes and I knew then that I simply had to make a programme about this special song.

But you have been warned, so be prepared with a tissue or two – you’re going to need it.

There are several reasons why I think this is a very important song.

The first reason is because the lyrics deal with a subject matter almost never attempted in song-writing, and certainly never in this way in which we, the listeners, are being told what it feels like to be “Outlaws of Love.”

As a professional singer myself, I am naturally very interested in lyrics, but I am not an expert in analyzing them – I’ll leave that to Dr Philippa Semper for later in the programme.

Equally, although I find the melody haunting, beautiful, and perfectly and poignantly working with the lyrics, beyond acknowledging that the song was written using the Pentatonic scale, I will leave the more in-depth discussion of what the music is actually doing, to Elizabeth Dockrell-Tyler, to cast her expert eye over.

Secondly, I feel this song will change the way non-fans perceive Adam Lambert – not only the over-the-top, make-up wearing, campy, sexy singer with the great voice, they must now learn to appreciate, too, the serious artist, as his fans has known him to be, from the beginning.

And thirdly, this song is a departure from anything Adam has sung before, and shows how far he has come in his artistic development and song-writing skills. This song is truly a piece of art.

But first, I would like to focus on Adam’s voice and what he does with it in this song.

I’ll start by saying that every singer has a ‘sweet spot’ in their voice – usually referred to as their tessitura: which means it’s the most comfortable range for the singer’s voice, where the tone, colour, timbre and texture of the voice sound the best.

Some singers’ tessitura sits over a few notes, for others it’s more. In Adam’s case, it would seem as though his tessitura spans throughout his entire, rather formidable range, which, by the way, seems to grow wider, when I hear him again, after each disappearance from live performances – sometimes I wonder if he somehow inhales new notes to add to his already impressive stash.

His voice sounded particularly rich in harmonics (the overtones in his voice) and seemed to have a new energy when I saw him in Canada in July, no doubt because he’d been hard at work on his new album and had been singing with some top producers in the studio. To my ears, his vibrato also seemed tighter and more consistent, but it might just be what he’s consciously chosen to do with this song. But it is a testament, once again of his astonishing techniques.

I should point out that music also has a tessitura – this does not mean the range of the music, but merely the part of the music over which most of the vocal line sits. The tessitura in “Outlaws of Love” is irrelevant in this case, because the song has been crafted for Adam’s vocal instrument specifically, which means that his and the song’s tessiture are completely compatible. Having said that, the way in which Adam sings “Outlaws of Love” extends its tessitura over two octaves, rather unusual for a song in the modern genre, because most pop songs have a range of around one octave, but bear in mind that that is not necessarily it’s actual tessitura.

Of course “Outlaws of Love” is not a pop song, but a ballad and a very, very good, well-crafted one at that.

But before we take a more in-depth look into what Adam is doing with this song, I’d just like to take a brief overall glimpse at his vocal on “Outlaws of Love.”

We can hear once again the exquisite long legato lines, the gorgeous open vowel sounds, the sensitive and unexpected phrasing, the emotive nuances, the light and shade, and the use of breath and breathing as part of the interpretation – all elements so characteristic in Adam’s singing.

As the song has not yet been released, other than the YouTube versions of it recorded by fans at the show, there is no official CD or mp3 available. So let’s listen now to an expertly edited version of the song, produced from bits and pieces of footage, thanks to TALCvids and fiercealien, by another of Adam’s fans, the wonderfully talented Lambosessed. 

If you’ve ever wondered who is behind making those astonishing ‘improved versions’ of fans videos posted on YouTube, here’s a little background on her:

Usually a karaoke show snob, she got sucked in after hearing Adam’s great voice at his American Idol audition, an amazing voice during Hollywood week, and he blew her away as a performer during Satisfaction. After Googling Adam and seeing his range, there was no way back for her.

She taught herself how to edit video and audio to get the maximum out of all the available media. She wanted to make videos she wanted to see as a fan, without flaily-arm obstructions or shaky camerawork to detract from the enjoyment. As the recordings have gotten better in quality, she can now choose the best angles, and may spend days trying to enhance the feel of the performance and to make something beautiful that people would want to watch over and over again.

Unfortunately, due to a bad cold and a sore throat, she was unable to chat to me this time, but she has kindly sent  her response to a few very quick questions I had put to her about “Outlaws of Love.” This is what she said:

“I think “Outlaws of Love” was a fabulous treat for fans, rewarding their loyalty. But in hindsight, it was also a very economical way to keep Adam in the public eye, as the song got picked up by the media who ran articles on it.

He once said his biggest fear was being forgotten about, so I think it’s done enough to maintain people’s interest. I think Adam is best appreciated through the medium of YouTube. I see YouTube as essential for artist promotion and it’s a great indicator of an artist’s popularity – people watch only because they want to.”

So I’d like thank Lambosessed not only for participating in this programme, but for all the art she puts out there, too.

Here is the link to her blog, where you can read more of her thoughts on “Outlaws of Love” -  http://bit.ly/OOLqc

So here’s the song:

Of course his fans, including me, love to hear Adam’s exquisite voice like this – with minimal accompaniment – almost a cappella – because of course, his voice itself IS music.

His performance in St Agathe was wonderful too – Adam was very still, using mostly his face and wonderfully expressive eyes only to enhance the beauty of his voice, and of course, that’s very powerful and focussed the attention even more on the stunning beauty of his voice.

A quick word about the accompaniment, which again, Elizabeth will go into a little more, but I wanted to point out that whilst the accompaniment is with a guitar only, here Monte uses an electric guitar, whereas we might have expected an acoustic one. But the electric guitar is capable of those exquisite slides between notes, which the acoustic guitar would not so easily and effectively be able to do. But those slides between the notes, adds further to the overall melancholy ambience of the song.

Also, the accompaniment is very sparse, so that Adam sings the song almost a cappella, as I said before, which is a real treat, as we can clearly hear his voice, but it’s also very clever, because it helps to make the song sound even more tender and gentle, whilst continuing to give the song an edgy, modern quality.

As with any song, a singer will first explore the basic tempo and mood markings, typically set out at the beginning of the music by the composer, to guide the musicians and singers as to how to perform the music – where to stress a note, where to lengthen one, where to change the tempo of the music, where to emphasise a word, where to breathe, etc.

Not having had the opportunity to look at the music, and going only by how Adam sang “Outlaws of Love” at St Agathe, and because the tempo the song was performed at there was 60 beats per minute, we can say with some confidence that the basic tempo is larghetto, which means ‘rather broadly.’ The basic mood marking might be affettuoso, which means with passion, emotion, and feeling; very expressively and tenderly – exactly how he sang it. But beyond these very basic markings, of course this song is Adam’s own creation, so we may never be privy to the other markings contained within the music – unless he publishes it.

Another thing a singer might immediately notice is that the song appears to be structured in three sections as the verses seem to have a section A and a section B followed by a chorus. This, together with the simple lyrics and melody, makes it easy to learn.

Adam is both a highly intelligent and intuitive vocalist, and it is always a master class when he sings, and fascinating to see how he uses his voice.

So let’s now take a closer look at how he sings “Outlaws of Love:”

1. At the beginning of the vocal line, the short sharp intake of breath, just before the first word: “Oh” in the phrase: “Oh, nowhere left to go…,” makes that whole line feel like it’s nearly too painful and private to say the words out loud. Listen also to the second “colder” in this verse – it sounds almost like a sob.

2. Usually Adam’s classical training compels him to sing those dazzling open vowel sounds he does so well and, which helps to create those beautiful long open lines we all adore him for, but listen to how he next sings the words “same,” “rain” and “change.” He’s singing here rather pointedly on the consonants “m” and “n”, and it’s a master-stroke, because it suggests intense emotional pain. You’ll also notice that on the words “same” and “rain” the melody goes up, which seems contradictory to the words, and on “change” Adam sings three notes, instead of only two, as you’d perhaps expect him to sing – this makes for a more musical, satisfying sound experience, whilst the word itself opposes that.

3. Next comes the chorus and because we can experience the rhythm more clearly during the chorus, we feel comforted and almost rocked, as though in a lullaby.

The beats before the chorus followed by the higher note on the word “Everywhere”, in the phrase “Everywhere we go…” is what makes us snatch our breath and what makes the chorus so effective. In the clip to follow, we can clearly hear the difference it makes when we don’t hear the verse first.

The way Adam sings a fractionally longer, more musical note on the word “on” in the phrase “we’re always on the run…” gives the impression of movement, along with the musical line and the actual words. Movement is further emphasised as a result of singing through the word “run.”

The way in which he sings the word “hell,” however, in the next phrase, conveys a feeling of acceptance, of already having forgiven the “they” who said “we’d rot in hell.” But it could so easily have been sung in an angry way – we’ll come back to this later in the programme when Christine Smith shares her views on “Outlaws of Love” with us.

4. We might have expected him to take a breath after the word ‘enough,’ in the phrase “They’ve branded us enough outlaws of love” –right? But because he sings it as one phrase, the meaning is immediate clearer, more poignant. And the note on the word, “love” at the end of the phrase, is so gracefully filled with a longing we sense might never be fulfilled.

This could so easily all have been angry, or sung in an aggressive way, but instead it’s empathetic, tender and tolerant, and therefore so much more powerful.

5. The second verse, again feels as though he’s experiencing private, painful thoughts and feelings. “Scars make us who we are” could have sounded defensive – instead it sounds wistful and almost meditative. And the second “broken” again sounds like a sob.

6. The use of breath after the word “far” in the phrase “far, we could go so far” strengthens his plea. Listen also to how he lingers once again just fractionally longer on the word, “so” in “we could go SO far” – it conveys a sense of both longing and of wisdom. And again, he combines the two phrases: “we could go so far” and “with our minds wide open,” which reinforces the meaning of the words.

7. Then a slightly longer “all” in “We ALL feel the rain”, suggests a sense of inclusivity, beyond merely the words, as the sound is warm and generous. And the definite “t” in “we can’t change” lets us know that it’s not possible for anyone to change their core selves, even though who they are, may be deemed unacceptable.

8. The wonderful coloratura improv Adam does after having sung the chorus for the second time, where by the way, the “Everywhere” at the beginning of the chorus is more emphasised, feels like he’s crying. The effect is enormously emotional for the listener, not only because of the stunning beauty of his voice as it climbs to the higher notes beyond those of the song, but because this crying does not seem to stem from anger or victimhood – one has the impression that it comes unbidden, as a result of a deep sadness on the one hand, and complete acceptance, on the other – that this is just how things are – at least for the moment. Also the vowel sound he’s using, reminds us of the word “love.”

9. Again, we have that sharp intake of breath just before the final singing of the chorus, which conveys the feeling of a pain being held in. Then, on the line “Well, I don’t think we will” – for the first time, we hear a kind of defiance, which seems like the willingness to fight for what he believes in.

10. On the penultimate “Outlaws of love” on the word “outlaws,” Adam’s voice displays a raspier sound, which reminds of the sound of a voice having just cried.

Another reason that this song, in particular, is so powerful, is because Adam sings it entirely forward in his mask, which is why, even on the consonants, the sound is clear, and it is also the reason that the sound travels so deliberately and hits us so specifically.

Adam has a particular genius for using his voice to infuse the melody and lyrics of songs with a much deeper meaning than many other singers are capable of doing, and so it’s wonderful to hear what he does with his own songs. We already know that he changes songs to make them feel different, fresh and new each time he performs them, so I can’t wait to hear what next he does with “Outlaws of Love,” although I have to say I just love this version.

Part 2  - Elizabeth Dockrell-Tyler - analysis of the music

Running time: around 28 minutes

But now I’m thrilled to introduce my first guest to enlighten us on what the music is up to in “Outlaws of Love.” She is a professor of music and piano at Reading University, a soloist in her own right, a much sought-after teacher and accompanist, a violinist, and best of all, she has been my friend and my accompanist for many years. She is Elizabeth Dockrell-Tyler.

Part 3 – Junie Moon - the song from a writer’s point of view

Running time: around 8 minutes

My next guest, Junie Moon, is a writer from Austin, Texas, who prefers to use her fan name for Adam activities. She currently authors historical materials for a major research library in Texas. Over the years, she has written extensively on subjects ranging from computers to American politics to sports to Texas history, and she is the co-author of two historical novels set in early America.

In 2009, a chance encounter with the American Music Awards changed Junie’s life forever and reawakened a long-dormant love of rock and roll music. She has since been devouring everything she can find on Adam Lambert and blogs regularly about her Adam journey on the Adam Lambert Fan Club site, which is where I was directed to read the stunning blog she wrote about our topic today, “Outlaws of Love.”

Part 4 – Christine Smith - from the fans’ perspective

Running time: around 30 minutes

Next, I’m delighted to welcome back to The Sound Bath, my friend, Christine Smith, or Cassie, as some of you might know her, from the Adam Lambert dedicated fan site, Adamtopia.

Christine was classically trained in piano and violin before taking voice lessons. She has done some community musical theatre – on stage and in the pit, sang in a conservatory choir during college years, the highlight of which was singing with the Milwaukee symphony orchestra — Beethoven’s 9th, among other numbers. She says that was a thrill, because it was a very good, professional orchestra with soloists from the Met. (The conductor at the time was Kenneth Schermerhorn, who actually was assistant director to Leonard Bernstein at the NY Philharmonic previously.  A very dynamic, eccentric director).

Part 5 – Dr Philippa Semper - the meaning behind the lyrics

Running time: around 50 minutes

And now, the lady I suspect many of our listeners have been waiting to hear talk about “Outlaws of Love,” Dr Philippa Semper, avid reader since the age of three, and captivated by music for as long as she can remember.

She took her PhD in medieval manuscript research at the University of Exeter, and taught English for several years at University College Dublin before moving to the University of Birmingham, where she lectures in medieval English literature and modern fantasy writing and publishes in both areas.

Philippa became interested in the relationship between modern song lyrics and literary texts when she found herself writing about a U2 lyric in one of her finals examinations, and she has since used modern songs to teach students how to approach medieval lyrics. She discovered Adam Lambert by way of the rock band, Muse, through the song ‘Soaked’ which Muse provided for his debut album; she has been fascinated by both Adam’s lyrics and his music ever since.

It’s wonderful to welcome you back to The Sound Bath, Philippa. I thought it might be a good idea to listen to the song once more, so it’s fresh in our minds when you tell us more about the lyrics in “Outlaws of Love.”

Oh, nowhere left to go
Are we getting closer, closer?
No, all we know is No
Nights are getting colder, colder

Hey, tears all fall the same
We all feel the rain
We can’t change

Everywhere we go we’re looking for the sun
Nowhere to grow old we’re always on the run
They say we’ll rot in hell, well I don’t think we will
They’ve branded us enough, outlaws of love

Scars make us who we are
Hearts and homes are broken, broken
Far, we could go so far
With our minds wide open, open

Hey, tears all fall the same
We all feel the rain
We can’t change

Everywhere we go we’re looking for the sun
Nowhere to grow old we’re always on the run
They say we’ll rot in hell, well I don’t think we will
They’ve branded us enough, outlaws of love

Aaaah…

Everywhere we go we’re looking for the sun
Nowhere to grow old we’re always on the run
They say we’ll rot in hell, well I don’t think we will
They’ve branded us enough, outlaws of love

Outlaws of love
Outlaws of love
Outlaws of love
Outlaws of love

Thank you, Philippa, and thank you also to all my guests today. I thoroughly enjoyed talking to everyone. I trust that everyone listening to the programme, will also enjoy our conversations, and perhaps even tell us their views on this wonderful new song we now have in the world, Adam Lambert’s “Outlaws of Love.”

The music for the intro and outtro of this programme was composed and performed by Elizabeth Dockrell-Tyler.

We do not own the copyright to any of the pictures, music or videos presented in this programme, only copyright on all scripts presented within the programme, and no copyright infringement is intended.

This blog is offered to invite comments and discussion on the work presented by The Sound Bath.

Thank you to Virg 1877 for this beautiful picture of Adam Lambert taken during his show in St Agathe, Canada in July 2011.

mp3 audio only – full programme – 2 hours

This programme was presented on 7 September 2011 on Juneau & Xena’s Blog Talk Radio programme – here is the link to their blog site: http://wp.me/pIqKe-4ns

RADIO SCRIPT

You have asked me to talk about Adam from child performer to adult artist, which is a delicious challenge, and I promise to do my best.

In order to see more clearly Adam’s progress, I thought it might be a good idea to look briefly first of all at what talent actually is, and where it comes from?

You may be surprised to learn that as far as singers are concerned, very little study has been done in this regard. Such research, however, has been done for instrumentalists. And the conclusions that were arrived at may seem obvious. Researchers at Keele University found that as with any talent, people are born with the innate ability. But in order for it to blossom, or to employ it satisfactorily, a lot of work has to happen to hone that particular talent. We wouldn’t expect someone who can run quite fast to go on and win the Olympics, right? It would take a lot of work. And so it is with talented singers, too. They’re like diamonds in the rough – just a lump of white rock with possibilities – they have to be cut and polished before they can sparkle and shine.

There’s a book out called The Talent Code, written by a journalist, Daniel Coyle, who travels the world to discover the truth about talent, and studies how individuals can unlock the full potential and bring their talents to light. He takes an in-depth look at where talent comes from. Having visited 9 different institutions around the world which consistently produces the highest number of world-class achievers in everything from sport to the arts, he identifies patterns in the methods they employ and something called “deep practice.”

But the book also explores the science behind talent and discovers that when someone’s passion has been ignited, they usually engage in a higher level of commitment, as well as what he refers to as “deep practice,” which the specific kind of practice that increases skill up to ten times faster than conventional practice, which relates to some of the accelerated learning programmes with which we’re familiar. In other words, and briefly put, the kind of practice that leads to what we think we understand talent to be.

During the absorbing “deep practice,” as we fire the neural circuits in our brain that leads to knowledge, skill, and musicality, for example, our neural pathways are being insulated with myelin, a microscopic neural substance that adds vast amounts of speed and accuracy to our movements and thoughts, and therefore, the conductivity of those circuits, improve.

I mention this book and his research here, because, quite apart from the importance of the discovery of myelin, I can wholeheartedly agree with him, from my own experiences as a perpetual student, singer, performer and teacher, on the “deep practice” it takes to become a professional performer.

And apparently scientists believe that myelin might be the Holy Grail, and the foundation of all forms of greatness – as Coyle puts it: from Michelangelo to Michael Jordan. The good news about myelin is that it isn’t fixed at birth; it continues to grow, therefore, it can be cultivated and nourished.

According to Coyle’s research, it would appear that a well-myelinated neural pathway becomes up to 100 times more conductive and translates into what we call talent. The result, he says, is an unconscious competence that often seems inherited, but is always the result of the myelinization process – which happens as a result of “deep concentrated practice.”

This is a quick quote from his book:

“Recent research has led to the following discoveries – and these may be obvious to us:

• The more the skill is exercised, the less aware you are of using it. It begins to feel natural, like you’ve always had it. Walking and talking are good examples.

•…Also, struggle is not optional – struggle is required. To get a circuit to fire optimally, you must fire the circuit as well as possible for you, inevitably making mistakes, and tending to those mistakes, slowly but surely correcting and honing the circuit.”

And finally he says: “World-class skill levels require about 10 000 hours of deep practice, usually over about ten years. Geniuses are those who have developed an unusual facility for deep practice: focused, passionate, obsessive practice.”

It reminded me so much of an interview I once heard with Adam, and which I have referred to previously, in which he was asked what he sings at home and he answered scales – that was particularly comforting to hear, because it confirmed for me that he is a very, very serious singer, musician and artist, and not just in it for the glory, the money or the fame, or the clothes – or whatever.

Anyway, that’s the science bit over with, but I want to add that unfortunately, reality TV shows like American Idol or the X-Factor, or The Voice, do not highlight how hard the contestants had to work before they were ever deemed suitable contestants on such shows. The shows themselves do NOT turn the contestants into artists – they only provide a platform for people who have already achieved a certain level of artistry to display that to the world, yet these shows seem to want to perpetuate the myth that they develop artists, when in fact it isn’t true.

And I despair when I hear people say that of course singers are born with the talent that would take them to the top of a show like American Idol. It really is like saying someone who won sprinting competitions at school can go on and win the Olympics without any further work.

I also often hear such statements with regards to Adam, too – that he was born with that talent. Of course he was, but without hard work, we wouldn’t now have him in the world as the artist he is today, and it seems to me as though people who make such statements, want to believe that there is something somehow mystical in singing or magical in performing – and of course there is magic, too, otherwise we won’t be so invested in it, but it seems to me they don’t want to know about the years of hard slog, mistakes, tears and self-flagellation it takes to achieve the kind of artistry that Adam displays today. And I find it kind of insulting to him, and dismissive of the hours and years of hard work he’s had to put in to be the amazing artist he is today.

So let’s take a look at his journey. But before we start, I want to say that there are gazillions of examples I could have chosen to demonstrate Adam’s development from child performer to adult artist – it’s been difficult to choose, so please forgive me if I have not chosen your specific favourite Adam song or performance to demonstrate my points. It’s also such an enormous subject, that although I’ve spent quite some time putting together something that seems almost like a thesis on the subject, I feel as though I’m merely skimming the surface of what deserves a much more in-depth study and analysis.

I believe the idea for this programme was inspired by the recent TV programme about Adam, Behind the Music, and the fact that the fans felt the programme had missed out a large proportion of his musical development, so I’d like to use that show as a starting point for my demonstration.

Near the beginning of the ‘Behind the Music’ programme, we see a clip of a very young Adam, around two years or so, running on the beach and we can clearly see the famous chest – so the singer’s physiology was there from the beginning. Also, throughout the programme, we can hear his mother, Leila, speaking, and to my ears, I experience the same characteristics and colours of timbre in her voice, as Adam has in his. So for me, there is some of the evidence that he was built and born to be a singer.

So what did the young Adam sound like? Here is a very short clip from that TV show where we can hear his voice and you’ll notice how articulate he was, even then.

He sings so sweetly with his child’s voice, and I know it’s only a very short clip, but we can clearly hear, although typically, for that age, not having the breath and voice control we associate with him today, that already he was clearly musical, and understood the nuances of lyrics, because he repeats the second line softer and more gently than the way in which he sang it the first time. And later we find out, that as for most singers, lyrics are particularly important to Adam. Also, his diction was already very good and he sings proper diphthongs to the ends of the phrases – so good singing training is already in evidence.

Later in the same part of that programme, we hear an even shorter clip of the 17 year old Adam singing in a competition in which he came second – I’d love to know who came first. But here we can hear the distinctive timbre of the voice we’ve come to know so well today. And here too, we can see in the video, he already has the beginnings of the strong stage presence and immediate connection with the audience which he displays so effortlessly today – this, by the way, is something many singers don’t master until they’re much older. Having said that, this is the age and level of vocal development usually presented at auditions to conservatoires or music colleges/academies when people know they want to become professional singers. Listen carefully because it is only seconds long.

To hear a little more of what he sounded like at 17, here he is singing – “It’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday” at his graduation in San Diego.

The beauty of his voice, the sensitivity and the artistry, the story-telling ability, and the astonishing techniques are clearly already in evidence here, although we can hear that there’s still some work that needs to be done on voice production, placement, and control, in particular.

Let’s move on a few years later when Adam is 21 and singing “My Conviction” from Hair – his first big break touring Europe.

This song deserves a whole programme on its own in my opinion, but briefly: oh my lord! Amazing interpretation, fantastic, uninhibited, over-the-top, campy singing – perfect! Those remarkable techniques have kicked in, but the voice production and placement is still a little all over the place, as I’m sure Adam himself would probably agree, but what a huge development from our 17 year old Adam, right? We can also clearly hear the operatic manoeuvres and astonishing flexibility in the voice, no doubt honed during his time singing light opera, just prior to being cast in this musical.

The next time we can hear this light classical vocal production is when he sings “Come to Me, Bend to Me” from Brigadoon, with which all his fans are familiar by now. But during that song, we can begin to appreciate his astonishing breath control as well and an exceptional sensitivity to lyrics and phrasing, again, something we’ll see later is of enormous importance to Adam.

By 2004 when he sings “Is Anybody Listening” from The Ten Commandments, we experience a perfect display of how malleable his vocal instrument is, what an excellent interpreter, what an emotional, insightful and versatile a singer he had become. And now he’s singing in a way that takes his audience with him – no longer do we find only the singer with the beautiful instrument, now we find the rapport-builder with his audience.

And then there is his wonderfully tender version of “Dust in the Wind” at the Upright Cabaret, in which he displays his by-now-legendary breath control, and brilliantly thrilling improvised riffs, demonstrating perfectly how they are to be a part of the interpretation of the song and not done just for the sake of it – which, let’s face it: most people do, perhaps not understanding the subtlety, but oh so important difference, and which he could so easily do, too, to show off that ability, right?

On the other end of the spectrum, also in 2004, he made his debut on The Zodiac Show with his unforgettable version of “A Change is Gonna Come.”

I’m sure you’ll all agree that in this performance, we get a sense of the performer and the artist Adam is today – fantastic vocals: we hear that characteristic wail, the changing up of the lyrics and the melody to suit his clearly very personal interpretation of the song – a terrifically powerful and emotional interpretation, fantastic storytelling, utterly uninhibited freedom and complete control of the musicians, the stage and the audience. For me, this performance lacks only Adam’s characteristic poise and sophistication, but I totally get that he felt frustrated and possibly even angry, seemingly on many levels, and that he wanted to communicate that. And I feel he absolutely did that with this performance. So here we can see that he’s starting to share more of himself with his audience.

In 2005, when he was in the musical, Wicked, we can also hear him singing Shir LaShalom (A Song for Peace) and his vocal control, sensitivity and wonderful phrasing, again is not only very much in evidence in this performance, but it’s more polished, more deliberate, becoming more sophisticated. Here too, we hear how brilliantly the minor key suits his voice – something I will return to later in the programme.

If we jump now to 2007, we can hear Adam performing with Monte Pittman in their band, Citizen Vein – this song is called: “Nocturnal by the Moon” and I believe Adam’s time with Citizen Vein, albeit short, plays a very important part in his development and in becoming the artist he is today. It gave him the freedom to experiment with the ‘rock’ side of his voice and personality. And to be much more himself as a singer – and that, I assure you, is not an easy thing to do. Not having to portray a role someone else had written, or having to move in a way a director or choreographer had told him to, and not having to conform to the rigours of the musical theatre stage, must have been such a relief for him.

Somewhere during this time, or even a little earlier, Adam apparently co-wrote and recorded a number of songs with friends, and I’m sure his fans are all familiar with a song called: “Live the Life,” which Adam has given permission to be released, and which demonstrates him flexing his song-writing muscles. And I must say that the lyrics of the song, reminds me of Adam’s positive outlook on life.

But it was in the summer of 2007, that Adam says he got his inspiration at the burning man festival – He said he had a realization that if he wanted to be a singer and make it happen, then HE had to MAKE it happen – it wasn’t just going to happen TO him. He also said he feels that that was the first time he started to realize that HE had control over his world.

And unlike most other people who perhaps also receive inspiration like that, only to slump back into non-inspiration after the experience, Adam clearly took his inspiration seriously.

So, in 2008, by the time Adam got to American Idol, he was already an accomplished singer and musician, and a polished performer, with a deep understanding and complete control over his vocal instrument. He was also already a compelling story-teller with convincing, captivating stage craft skills, and he was also an instant rapport-builder with his audience.

Here, to demonstrate that instant effect he has on his audience, no matter who they are, let’s listen to him singing Bohemian Rhapsody at his audition.

And now, the American Idol audiences got to experience that phenomenal stage presence we had only glimpsed previously when he was much younger. But something else also came to the fore during Idol…something that is vitally important and separates forever and absolutely the performer from the artist: and that is – musical originality and musical imagination.

My first in-your-face experience of this on Idol was when Adam performed Ring of Fire – his sheer audacity, his fearlessness, his perfect, but shocking vocals, his over-the-top dramatic presentation of the song, left me speechless and in awe and delirious with incredulity and excitement, and I knew then that I was witnessing the birth of a legend. (Clearly I had no clue about the Zodiac Show at that time!)

Adam’s body of work on Idol really is a master class in contemporary singing and stage craft skills, but the song that stood out for me because of its poignant emotional supremacy, was his version of “If I Can’t Have You.”

Not only does his voice sit securely and perfectly in his mask at all times, he sings this song in a stunningly musical way, with inspired phrasing and using as much of his range as possible, and by that, I don’t mean only the notes – I mean also the colouring and the shape of the voice, as he creates the colour and shape of the song. Here we can also hear very clearly how he uses his breath and breathing as an interpretative element in the story-telling. On top of which, he seems to lose himself in the song with almost deliberate abandonment. Also, in my opinion, this song is a complete piece of art, whereas some of the others could not be art so totally, because of the short time frame the contestants were allowed for their performances.”

At the end of American Idol, looking back at his body of work, it was very clear to me that Adam had been singing his life story to us, choosing very carefully the songs and the lyrics that would most specifically tell us about him and his life. It was an exceptionally masterful and courageous thing to do.

During the Idol tour, came the rapid realization that Adam was already a star, as many people went to the show, essentially to see only him. And it is true that he took his performances on the tour to whole new level – we can clearly see him flexing his performance muscles as the tour went on and he became more and more comfortable with performing in the large venues.

So I wasn’t in the least surprised to learn that Adam had been approached to lend his voice to a song called “Time for Miracles,” the soundtrack for the movie, 2012, which also appeared on his first album, For Your Entertainment. What WAS surprising – to me at least – was the idea that he was capable of such unbelievably stunning vocals when I thought I’d heard it all on American Idol, but boy, “Time For Miracles” is something else! It made me wonder what other gold is hidden in that voice and what else he was capable of.

Let’s jump forward to the AMAs – I do not want to dwell on it, because it wasn’t his best vocal, but in my opinion, everything that went wrong with it, showed us exactly what a consummate, skilful and instinctive performer Adam truly is and how ‘safe’ we are with him. Even when he gets wild and crazy, he’s still entertaining, he’s still mesmerizing, he’s still better than the best currently out there, and he also made it clear that he won’t ever let us down with a mediocre or ‘conventional,’ or predictable performance. And he never has. I believe it was also the first time that the world saw him perform the exciting, and difficult-to-sing title track from his first album, For Your Entertainment.

Prior to the Glam Nation Tour in June 2010, which followed the release of his first album, Adam performed his first official solo concert at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in California, where he performed live for the first time, a stunning song he had co-written, called Broken Open, so we can see how much he’d developed as a song-writer from his first stab at it in songs like “Live the Life.” It was also here, that he performed his renowned acoustic version of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” which further perpetuated his reputation as an exciting, unique performer and artist!

This presentation is clearly yet another few notches up the performance scale: a distinct, more sexually explicit, hypnotic version of the song, in which his voice hits stratospheric notes, unlike those mere mortals are capable of.

Of course, by now, we are all used to Adam changing up songs and injecting the same song with new nuances and riffs and improvs so that they sound fresh and new every night, no matter how many times he sings them, so baring that in mind, I invite you to also listen to the progress he makes with each new rendition of the song, “Ring Of Fire.” Of course “Ring Of Fire” is also in the harmonic minor key, which so perfectly suits his voice.

This is what “The Ring of Fire” sounded like on the opening night of his Glam Nation Tour in June 2010, Wilkes Barre.

This is what it sounded like mid-way through the tour in Indianapolis.

What an enormous difference in Adam’s vocals – obviously part of that is due to the fact that he’d been singing pretty much every night for a few months already by the time he got to Indianapolis, and all singers know that your voice develops more and more the more you use it.

And this was “Ring of Fire” at the very last night of the Glam Nation Tour in LA.

We can clearly hear the further development in vocal confidence, nuance and intent…and THIS to me is what is so phenomenal about Adam’s performances. He just keeps getting better and better the more he performs. We saw his growth from his first performance to his last performance on American Idol, we saw it again during the Idol tour and it’s been beyond belief to see him gearing it up to yet another, higher level during the Glam Nation Tour. You may say, “Well, that happens to other artists, too, surely?” Well, yes, it does, but not at this speed – it’s like he’s a Formula 1 Racing car, whilst everyone else are maybe only Ferraris or even Lamborghinis.

This brings me back to the book, The Talent Code, I referred to at the beginning of the programme – I sincerely believe that Adam understands the method of using “deep practice” when he works on his voice, his music, his performance: his art in general – possibly entirely intuitively – but I feel sure that this is an important reason why he is able to make such enormous progress at such a fast pace in his development as an artist.

The last time I saw Adam performing live was in London at the end of last year and I thought he was pretty much perfect then. To my mind, he was already an international superstar, who deservedly went on to receive a Grammy Nomination for “Wataya want from me”, a track from his first album.

Imagine then, my shock, when I saw him live in Canada in July.

When he walked out on that stage, not only did he look amazing – well-rested and bronzed, at ease, content, in love, and wonderfully, glamorously rock-god-like. BUT he seemed transformed on a deeper level, too: he had become the legend I’d thought he’d be from the beginning of this crazy, exciting journey we’ve all been sharing with him.

It felt to me as though Adam had fully come to embrace his amazing good fortune, the adulation, the fame: the good and the bad – he’s accepted it all, just like he’s been telling us he’s accepted himself: the good and the bad – in order to love himself completely. And now he’s on a totally different level, personally as well as artistically. He’s become that international superstar – in a league of his own. And to me, in the same vein as major superstars, like David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Elvis, Michael Jackson, Barbara Streisand and Shirley Bassey – he’s there, with them – now.

And it reminded me of what Adam said during BTM:

“I think as an entertainer that is one of the best things that we have in our artillery, is that we can affect people – I definitely want my albums to take the listener on a journey.”

“I’ve liberated myself and accepted myself and learned how to love the person that I am.”

“I’m not TRYING to be anything – I’m just being me.”

So when he started singing and I heard that his voice was also on a different, more phenomenal level – even more perfect, than the last time I’d heard him sing live, far exceeding all my expectations – no doubt because he has been singing for months whilst working on his new album – I blissfully opened myself up to be swept up in his sound and to receive that extraordinary new energy I felt he was sharing with us.

And to demonstrate his new-found confidence – if that’s what I can call it – he treated us to a feast of unexpected and surprising new notes and riffs – for me Aftermath was a great example of the new energy in his voice.

He also had a real surprise up his sleeve, his brand new song, “Outlaws of Love.

This song definitely needs an entire programme dedicated to it! And in fact, I’m in the process of recording it now – it will be available here on 15 September 2011 as well as on The Sound Bath’s YouTube channel:  http://www.youtube.com/thesoundbath

When I first experienced it, I don’t mind telling you that I was almost howling with the pain of it and I couldn’t listen to it for ages afterwards without crying.

In fact, during the show in St Agathe, I couldn’t remember anything else he sang after this song – I knew “Whole lotta love” happened, because I so badly wanted to see it live, and I know it rained, because the canopy sagged with the weight of the water and buckets of the stuff came crashing down on us, nearly drowning us, but that’s about it – I had to reconstruct what happened after “Outlaws of Love” afterwards.

Again, this song is written in a minor key, which works so magnificently with Adam’s voice, and it’s one of the reasons why the melody feels so sad and painful, quite apart from the lyrics. And what lyrics they are, right?!

Here we can hear clearly how far Adam has travelled vocally (and of course, lyrically) from the songs he sang on the first album.

He also uses his voice in a different way here – there’s almost a kind of crying and sobbing that happens – unusually so on some of the consonants and I get a feeling that it’s deliberate, because it’s not on all of them. What is remarkable is that his voice is so totally forward in his mask on this song, which is one of the reasons that the sound travels so perfectly to our ears and into our bodies.

I could go on, but I guess it’s time to finish. But if this is an example of the calibre of music on the second album, I’m already in ecstasy!

Lastly, I want to say, that whilst for me, Adam became an artist during Idol, it’s only recently, and specifically during the Behind The Music programme, that I heard him refer to himself constantly as an artist – and my heart clapped hands!

I can’t wait for the next phase in his development – because as impossible as it may seem, I just know there’s more to come!

Freakishly, today the video below was posted on YouTube. Adam and his designer friend are talking about what it takes to become an artist and, I believe, their conversation fits in really well with what we were talking about on the radio programme earlier in the week.

This spectacular picture of Niagara Falls – with kind permission of Grrrr_girl.

It’s a particular pleasure to chat with June Kinoshita via Skype and Katherine Hollinsworth in her home in Toronto about their latest venture, fanatic.fm.

Fanatic.fm is a new music industry platform for promoting musicians/artists without the benefit of American Idol or X-Factor or big name labels, thereby giving the artists a lot more control over how their music is presented to the world. It’s also a brilliant way for fans to connect directly with new/favourite artists, initially being able to listen to their music for free, before buying it, whilst the artists are being paid by brands who want to use their music to promote themselves and their products and services. There is also a fantastic charity component to this agreement, making it a win/win/win/win situation for everyone involved.

Some of our listeners might know these two ladies better as Juneau and Xena, the authors of the book, On the Meaning of Adam Lambert, which combines personal reflections on the career of singer Adam Lambert, with analysis of the impact of reality television and social media on the formation of far-reaching and meaningful fan cybercommunities. The topic is one they continue to explore on their blog, Juneau & Xena’s Salon (the name comes from their social media identities). They also co-host a weekly radio show which frequently features independent musicians.

June, who resides in the Boston area, is an award-winning journalist who was an editor at Scientific American and helped develop three Public Broadcasting Service documentary series. She is also a co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of SociaLife, LLC, which applies entertainment and social networking technologies to healthcare.

And Kath, a Toronto-based policy analyst, has worked closely with Canadian businesses and local and national government in sectors ranging from music and gaming to healthcare and energy, and she was an aide to a former Canadian Finance Minister.

Fanatic.fm, the California-based company that earlier this year released its innovative music sponsorship platform, announced the appointment of Katherine Hollinsworth and June Kinoshita to lead its global marketing and communications operations.

A few of the great artists already signed up with fanatic.fm and whose music is featured in this programme, is Monte Pittman (a multi-talented guitarist also for Madonna and Adam Lambert),

Xander Smith’s great rock band, RunRunRun,

soul singer, Daryl Strodes,

shamanistic diva, Helen Adove Hawk,

extraordinary talented band, Merrickans,

and the perfect harmonies that belongs to Fridge Magnets.

June and Kath can be contacted via: Fanatic.fm, or at http://fanaticfm.wordpress.com/, or  Juneau & Xena’s Salon.

The music for the intro and outtro of this programme has been composed and performed by Elizabeth Dockrell-Tyler.

We do not own the copyright to any of the pictures or music presented in this programme, only copyright on the scripts presented within the programme, and no copyright infringement is intended.

This blog is offered to invite comments and discussion on the work presented by The Sound Bath.