Bit late for the fight, but I'm going to chip in on the whole Barlow VS. Owens debate.
SPOILER: I honestly can't say which one is "better" singer but there are certain aspects in music where I think Barlow wins.
First of all, I'm not going to get technical because I have no idea what half of those terms mean. Timbre, range, lungs to head... Yeah, I can't really talk about things I'm not familiar with (although I laughed
@Diesel 11's Trabant reference. Where from did you pull out that one?!?!) But I can say something about stage presence and overall being a persona in music world. The funny thing is that I saw them both on the same day so I'll use that as an example. And I'll throw Halford in because he was also there and just for the fun of it.
Considering live performance, I only saw Owens once and all I can say is this: that guy is professional. Considering the fact he was "singing" for Yngwie Malmsteen, who is the instrumentalist (and a huge ego!) he handled the stage very well. This was some stupid afternoon spot and half of the setlist were instrumentals, yet, you could see Owens was still "into it". I mean, most of the time he was pointing attention to Yngwie which reminded me on those guys that juggle with the signs of some local business by the side of the road. TBH, I felt sorry for the guy at one point. I mean, he delivered those vocal lines, he was engaged in his act, still, he was now singing for a guy who had the worse festival spot and less stage times than two bands he previously sang for (Iced Earth and Judas Priest were later that day). I saw that Owens has a lot to offer but there he was - taking checks, delivering somebody else line with his best music days far behind him. Later that year somebody summarized his stage presence during his Iced Earth time in once sentence: "Guy dresses as a best man at a wedding (white flannel shirt with the black vest) and punches the air around like a
bro trying to impress a teenage girl." A shame really because, to me, that day seemed like Owens was born to do this but was somehow dealt the wrong cards.
Now, Iced Earth came on stage and even from the stage presence you could see Schaffer's idol was Steve Harris. Barlow, on the other hand, was almost invisible. I know he just started touring after several years, his vocal delivery was great but his stage presence was... well, he was there, I'm sure of that because I was in the first row. But most of the time he was standing back, maybe he came forward a couple of times and if I was standing somewhere in the back I don't think I would notice him even once. He had this attitude of a talented shy guy who would probably turn his head the other way if you addressed him. Now, next time I saw them (I think the
@Perun was on same tour) it was smaller club and a co-headlining spot and I can still see the scene in my head: Front row, his foot on the speaker screaming "
Life's a bitch, life's a whore!" - now that was an impact. You could see he felt more natural and the audience, of course, responded.
Just for the sake of it, I'm mentioning Halford, who came later. Let's get one thing clear. Halford is an icon. He's the Sir Ian McKellen of metal. That guy wave his hand once and the audience is in trance. BUT! Although he sang great, I couldn't help but notice he wasn't into it as he could've been. It's not the age thing. My friend told me he saw Sabbath on their farewell tour and got flabbergasted how much energy Ozzy had. I mean, on their last tour Bruce was much older than Halford was when I saw him - a birthday candle next to a 4th of July firework, that's how would they look if they stood next to each other. Now, don't get me wrong, Halford sings great but frontman-wise, he just rides on the wave of Judas Priest fame. Even that night comparing K.K with Halford who was right next to him, you could see a guy who enjoys rocking himself out to the fullest next to guy who tries to do his job right. And this is where it all boils down to me: in lack of better term I'll use this one - authenticity.
I'll try to paint a picture for you by naming a singer who has
the worst stage presence I've seen - Hansi Kursch from Blind Guardian. Basically, that guy walks on a stage and has an aura of a "dad in a restaurant". It takes him 5 minutes to tell a joke (announce a song) but everybody could guess the punchline (name of the song) even from the first sentence. Still, everybody is standing there looking at Hansi rambling, waiting him to finish. Now image Blind Guardian going on tour with some session vocalist because Hansi has personal matters to attend to. This session guy is a wonder, a miracle. He's breaking Guiness records with his voice, has the stage presence, hits every note right, doesn't have a bad night - not a single soul can find any complain about his singing/fronting the stage. And now try to image Hansi gets back on stage with "Into the Storm" in the background. Audience response from those two gigs would be unmeasurably different. And this is where I think Owens loses.
I'm going back again to Judas Priest. I couldn't get all the hype when Richie Faulkner joined Priest. OK, great guitar player, but why the fuck should I care? Did he wrote the riff to "Delivering the Goods"? No, K.K. did and Richie wasn't even born then. I mean, OK, he did bring that some spark back and recorded one mediocre and one great album with them. But in a decade or two in the future, looking at Priest discography Ritchie just won't have the same place as K.K. will. Same as Owens won't have the same place as Halford has in Judas Priest or Barlow has in Iced Earth. Maybe doesn't mean a lot to some people, but it's a big deal for me.
I think it's psychological thing for me. I'm seeing a band maybe once or a couple of times, but I'm listening to their records a hundred times. Of course I'm going to be more connected to how the songs originaly sounded, who played on them and who created them. I have no doubt some of the songs on Owens albums went better with the audience when Owens sings than when Barlow sings them, and vice versa. In the end, Owens has a voice, has a stage presence, has the attitude but what will be his legacy, what will he be remembered for? Two albums for a couple of bands and even those two albums are in top 3 of each band. On the other hand, somebody mentions Barlow in the future and people will automatically think Something Wicked trilogy or Alive in Athens or something else that is considered their best. Does that make him better singer? Maybe yes, maybe no. But he will definitely more remembered because he created them and few of those who maybe find a way to prove that "Owens did them better" will eventually fade away. I don't think any of us know any of these guys well enough to judge their character well enough to say who couldn't work with who and whose fault it is that things broke down. Still, I must admit that, to me, Owens has this aura of "hired gun" around him and I think most of the bands he worked with never considered him a "core" member. Of course Priest will rather welcome back Halford and Iced Earth will welcome back Barlow. After all, it's a business and in most case fans connected more with something in the past, especially if that past is what made them famous.
If that wasn't the case - we wouldn't have so many album anniversary tours lately.
