Outlaws of Love Improved Version

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My attempt at retiring from video editing didn't last long. The lure of fresh new material from the debut of Outlaws of Love was just too tempting to resist. My aims for this video were simply to make something beautiful and to reflect the breathy ethereal quality of Adam's voice accompanied by the delicate instrumentals. And to lessen the wincing from screams so we can comfortably watch it all the way through. Here you go:



The gentle guitar introduction leads to the opening note that reminds me so much of CLYG. It seems that there are many screamers in the audience who can't handle the excitement to the vexation of everyone else trying to shush them. When I hear Adam sing, everything else falls away. I guess this is what he meant by bringing the focus back to the voice and I adore it. It's the closest I've heard to an a capella, and his soothing, mellifluous voice is painfully, achingly, agonisingly beautiful. The pretty melody is fairly simple, the range not too challenging, no vocal acrobatics, it's all about the emotions evoked by that voice in a song written for that voice. Even without understanding the lyrics, we can feel it's a haunting lament about an enduring sadness, energy and hope slowly draining away, which is so heartbreaking to listen to. It's sung so smoothly and flawlessly with breathtaking trills effortlessly eased into that floating voice, topped off by a heart-stopping crescendo with grit providing the necessary light and shade. I must admit I have a bit of a fixation with the rich hoarseness of that final "hell". Stunning.

I suspect that the arrangement for this is much sparser than what the studio version will be, but I hope the vocals will still be central with nothing detracting from it. I like the idea of having an acoustic rather than an electronic production, perhaps with just a piano or even harp as accompaniment. Whichever way, I'm looking forward to seeing how Adam changes it up. Perhaps one thing I'd tweak is the bridge. It reminds me of Broken Open but I think the transition into it could flow a little better. I'm rather excited by video possibilities for this song, which feels quite cinematic. Ronnie and Clyde outlaws on a road trip. Wearing Burning Man costumes.

The lyrics are uncomplicated and sincere with a strong clear message, making it a potential anthem for LGBT rights. I think it would have been ideal for performing on the recent awards shows Adam has attended. We are all human, feel the same range of emotions but some of us are demonised simply because we lie outside society's rules over how we ought to love.

Oh, nowhere left to go
Are we getting closer, closer?
"No," all they 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 open
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

Aaah...

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

Note to Screamflailberters: For the benefit of all concerned, STFU when adam sings please. Shit your pants, die, explode, whatever, AFTER he has indicated he has finished the song. Thankyouverymuch. I spent fucking ages trying to clean up after your mess and there isn't just just some fucking program I run this through to magically get rid of every unwanted noise. It involves manually pinpointing the set of frequencies of every single fucking noise for zapping. This means having to listen to every single fucking one of your painful wince-inducing sounds over and over, making sure Adam's voice doesn't become too distorted and the removal isn't too jarring. It's no wonder I want to retire after each edit, especially when cleaning the sound takes longer than the video. It drives me insane. Rant over.

Here are the downloads, and thanks to TALCvids and fiercealien for letting me get my hands on their raw audio, includes an uncompressed wav for you quality whores out there. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD Outlaws of Love mp3 - 9.33MB Alternative download link
DOWNLOAD Outlaws of Love wav - 45.75MB Alternative download link
DOWNLOAD Outlaws of Love iPod compatible mp4 - 27.34MB Alternative download link
DOWNLOAD Outlaws of Love HD mp4 - 108.26MB Alternative download link

EQCA Equality California Awards

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I have a very busy few days so no time for comments, but here is my playlist for Adam at the awards. Included is the red carpet arrival, questions, an impromptu duet of Mad World with Kathy Griffin and his acceptance package with speech. I'm glad the LGBT community are finally giving him (as opposed to some straight "bi" popstrel) official recognition for being a visible role model. Well deserved Adam!

AdamBehindTheMusic

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I was unable to stay up to watch a live stream Adam Lambert on VH1's Behind the Music but here are all the videos and bonus clips with some brief comments:



As we'd already seen from the teaser trailers, we knew there was going to be a lot of coverage about Adam's sexuality but I still didn't expect it to feature so heavily that it would be more like "Behind the Gay" with so little about the music. Having said that, his sexuality has played a major part in shaping him as a performer and as a role model, the show giving out lots of positive messages about coming out.

Apart from watching Adam looking very fresh-faced and speaking softly in his trademark articulate manner, the parts of the show I found myself most drawn to were those from his pre-Idol days. Not only because it's before I started following his every move, but for the insights and new footage of him singing and speaking as a youth. Hands up those of you who, like me, ended up playing some kind of mental photo-Bingo? How did you do? I think I had about 95% of the photos that were shown. The new ones were a splendid bonus for hardcore fans who struggled to learn anything new. As expected, there's the revisiting of old controversies and we got to hear a little more about how he felt as his "Oops" moment unfolded. There was a little bit about music and certain songs but I got the feeling it was edited so only the songs relevant to the way the show was spun - "Coming out = liberation and empowerment" - got a look in. It was satisfying to have it re-iterated that Glam Nation was a huge worldwide success.

I did enjoy watching the programme, especially the bonus clips. If I were a casual viewer, I'd think it paints Adam as a talented, intelligent and fascinating person with an interesting history (that we'd all like to know more about, with videos please!) but has ultimately worked hard to deservedly get to where he is. I'd think that the way he has dealt with his struggles without compromising himself or his integrity is admirable and I'd want to find out more about him, maybe even Google him from which I know with hindsight there'd be no return.