The Voice Of Gabriel or Collins in Genesis Songs

The rest...Gabriel by light years.

 

I really do not like the lack of timbre in Collins singing on the opening verse of the Seconds Out version of Carpet Crawlers, but will admit his higher register voice is more soothing than Gabe's and that does work slightly better. The problem for me is that he rushes the words at the end of each verse so he can transition into the chorus-voice and then does it again at the beginning of the next verse in transition out of the chorus, for example "The porcelain manikin with shattered skin fears attack" is sung by Gabriel as three distinct phrases that fit the music, but with Collins it is a crushed forced-fit on the live version with no pause between "manikin" and "with" and between "skin" and "fears". I find it "odd" that a drummer should bugger up the rhythm of the vocal so badly at that point - it really irritates me to listen to it.

 

To get a better understanding of what I mean you need to compare the Seconds Out version not with the studio version but with the Gabriel-era live version from the Archive Box Set where Collins provides the second (backing) vocals - that is the definitive live version and knocks the Collins version right out of the ball-park.

 

On Seconds Out Collins is doing a Gabriel impression, even on the Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering tracks, and doesn't use the bluesy-soul voice he would use on later albums. He is also singing in English rather than American (phrasing, pronunciation and diction) - another Gabriel trait (also shared by Kate Bush) that he later dropped.

 

In general, when Collins sings Gabriel songs that are within his vocal range he is a good singer, but he doesn't have the depth or versatility of Gabriel when he goes "into character" and lacks that [Roger] Chapmanesque bark in the back of his throat (that Hammill, and to some extent Fish and Ian Anderson, also have) - when Collins does character voices it just sounds mockney to me.