Barney's Vocal Transitions: What's your favorite era?

Considering there's a topic referring to the most creative period, I thought I'd ask what you all regard as Barney's best vocal period. Clearly his vocals sound different era to era, indeed in my view there appear to be about five distinct era's with minor differences that could provide for even more distinct era's.

1981-1982 (Pre-Temptation): Cold vocals for the most part, rather Bernard as Ian approach.

1983: You started hearing the Whoops with "Hurt", and they contined with Age of Consent and beyond. Here his voice is developing a bit more range in certain tunes, but appears to be still a bit dry, and cold in tone.

1985: The transition through PCL and Thieves and Lonesome Tonight hits a fully fleshed new stage. Sometimes offkey, but with a greater range, particularly on the high end, almost falsetto at times, and deeply unusual, the coldness of past records is gone, but the Technique era ease with vocals isn't there yet either.

1986: The Bridge. He almost sounds like Barney circa the modern era, but not quite. This appears to be the last stage in his development before he perfected the style he'd use for the rest of his career. He still strikes me as off key at times, and a bit all over the place in general but the range expanded further and he began to show a true voice at this stage.

1988 and beyond: The Modern period, first begining to be realized with True Faith and 1963, and fully developed by Technique, the only vocal changes I've seen since have been due to the age-issues that crop up with vocalists 25+ years into their careers.

Anyway, this isn't scientific, needless to say, and someone far more familiar with the art of singing and singing in key and with great range could explain far better than I, but I wanted to see what other people felt about it. Listening to New Order records, I find that I've always most preferred his modern voice, over all others, however I miss the qualities of his vocals as they developed over the years. There is a bit of a sadness in knowing that while Barney can sing any song in the style he originally sange Technique tunes, or even True Faith or Touched etc, you'll almost assuredly never ever hear him perform a vocal like he did with Age of Consent, or Lonesome Tonight, or Thieves, or Face Up, or Sunrise, or Procession, or Sooner than you think again. The days of his vocals sounding like that are simply over. He found his voice and here it is. Like it or not.

What Barney era do you find most appealing to your tastes? The Modern period? The earliest period (thinking Movement, Mesh/Cries and Whispers etc), the PCL era, Low-Life etc?

The one where he`s in tune! :D

All ot them expect in the very beginning...I LOVE his voice it is so sweet

i think some of his best vocals are to be found on republic, followed closely by technique.

he seems to have lost, for lack of a better term, sweetness of his voice on the latter recordings.

he seems to have lost, for lack of a better term, sweetness of his voice on the latter recordings

I dpn´t agree

Twisted Tenderness era

Electronic first album era

Electronic is neck and neck with Technique with regard to the vocals.

Interesting topic Stephen.

My personal favorite is the PCL era, exemplified by "Age of Consent", "586". There is an element of menace in the vocals of these songs, which I always found to be an appealing aspect of New Order. There seems to be a lot of aggression (and even violence?) just below the surface - barely controlled and threatening to break out at any moment - which adds a lot of tension and excitement to the songs. It's there even in more 'suppressed' songs like "Blue Monday" and "Your Silent Face". Perhaps this vocal style is amphetamine-related. Employed to great effect on 1984's BBC "Rock Around the Clock" - the performace which first turned me on to New Order. (Alternative theory: one simply prefers the style of the records one first got excited about).

The vocals in the PCL period also seem to be more 'raw' than in later years, and for this reason more 'genuine'. I was disappointed to learn that Bernard had had singing lessons; I'd always associated this with those naff ads one used to see in the back of the Melody Maker in the 1980s: "Alison James: Vocal coach to the stars. Has worked with established artists such as Howard Jones, Nik Kershaw. Call 01 345 7867 for rates. North London area". Not very punk.

I remember my schoolmates complaining in 1983 that although the music of "Blue Monday" was good, the singing was really crap and that they wouldn't buy the record for that reason. Although Bernard's singing is technically better now, in some narrow ("American Idol") sense, I agree with Stephen that something important has been lost.

I think right around Technique is when Barney really hit his mark as a singer, showing a certain command in his voice yet even with his vulnerablilties seeping through.

"All the Way" to "Vanishing Point", he appears to be at ease with various melodies on this album-- from a cold staccato deliverance to the high notes.

The single "WFTSC" kind of reminds me of the same vocal range he had at that time.

Julio wrote: Electronic first album era

I agree. His vocals on "Get the Message" make me melt. I do find his PCL-era vocals strangely appealing though also. The vocals on "Age of Consent" and "Thieves Like Us" perfectly match the songs' innocence.

Interesting, when Get the Message came out, I was dreading that he'd adopt that kind of vaguely dead pan style as his new vocal technique. I loathed it (the single as a whole, and the vocal specifically too), much preferring his vocals on Some Distant Memory and the seemingly endless Try All You Want in addition to other tunes. Glad you liked it though, and glad he and Johnny didn't fall into Mt. Pinatubo during the video shoot.