Yes, I know Robert Plant is great. I know Elvis is king, and I know Dean Martin can hum butter in a puddle of delicious goodness. But for my money, there has never been a more technically skilled, soulful, and amazingly gifted vocalist than the late Boston frontman Bradley Delp.
If you don’t believe me, dust off the first Boston album and check out almost every song. Mind you, this was before autotuning recording software and Pro-Tools could make Daffy Duck sound like God. All male vocalists, regardless of gender, should at least listen to the newly remastered ‘More Than a Feeling’ and try to nail down all the nuances of Delp’s astonishing performance. There used to be some dispute as to whether Brad hit every high note on the recording, but if you can trace the early demos or even the isolated voice of this performance (which appeared on YouTube a while ago) you will find out. not only did he play all the recorded notes, but in some cases he doubled and even harmonized with the stratospheric highs.
In the more than 35 years since his professional debut, Delp has performed on nearly a dozen albums and projects with astonishing anonymity despite phenomenal success. The Boston debut alone sold 17 million copies, but Delp was still able to walk down the street and blend in with her neighborhood. With Brad tracing layers and layers of near-perfect harmonies in phenomenal pieces like Boston’s ‘Cantcha Say You Believe in Me’, RTZ’s ‘It’s Easy’ and ‘Until Your Love Comes Back Around’, the time it took to create and perfect each track. . From conception to radio success, the singer had plenty of time to perform at clubs and charity events doing concrete impersonations of Lennon and McCartney in his Beatlejuice tribute band.
If you really want to get to the heart of what made Bradley Delp one of the few singers to follow, it all comes down to tone, technical prowess, and soul. While his phenomenal vocal range really can’t be understated, his ability to execute difficult jumps in octaves and to double and triple the harmonization on recordings with a kind of commotion that most singers allude to is what still makes me wonder. bristle the hairs of the arms for three decades. after hearing “More than a feeling” for the first time. In short, many singers can “play” the notes … but very few can actually sing them.
If you want an overview of Delp’s best work, aside from the aforementioned Boston megahit ‘More Than a Feeling’, check out RTZ’s’ Face the Music ‘, pretty much anything from Boston’s first album, but definitely’ To Be a Man ‘and’ Hollyann ‘from the album’ Third Stage ‘, the list goes on and on. Combining incredible technical skill with an indelible soul and a personable, down-to-earth delivery was Bradley Delp’s calling card. We miss him deeply, he will never be forgotten, and for these critics’ money, he is nothing less than the greatest male vocalist ever recorded.
