If you like that style of vocals, his albums are quite enjoyable. His leads give the songs fire that rescue them from being pop tripe.
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Paul Gilbert writes pretty funny songs
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I assume you mean small in terms of timbre. I think the lack of glissando or vibrato is a stylistic choice rather than a technical deficiency. His range is adequate for what he does.
While there is a lot of vocal talent out there, little of it is exceptional. The majority of popular vocal music features singers who are competent but no exceptional, and a great deal of is songwriters who themselves are only passable singers.
The majority of everything is mediocre. The exceptional singers are by definition the exceptions.
Also, for every Yngwie album with Marc Boals or Goran Edman, there’s another with Jeff Scott Soto and his muppet-like falsetto or Yngwie’s own vocals. Do you really rank Boals or Edman among the likes of David Coverdale or Freddie Mercury? I don’t, so I will look further.
Outside of a hair metal (or maybe prog) context, it’s pretty difficult to list music featuring a virtuoso guitarist and a virtuoso vocalist. Thelma Houston appears on some of Scott Henderson’s albums.
Paul Gilbert is a competent singer. I enjoy his work. I think his voice really suits his songs. I was at one of his clinics once where he said that making his pop style vocals work with his guitar playing was a challenge for him initially.
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I share pretty much the same sentiment. Even though Vai’s voice isn’t super great, I vastly prefer Flexable to his later instrumental albums. It seems to have more character. Generally speaking I don’t dig much instrumental guitar music. Big exceptions for Jeff Beck and John McLaughlin though, I can always listen to their instrumental pieces
I would rate edman at freddy mercury level, absolutely. Love them both. I took private voice lessons when i used to sing. Edman has a fantastic range and vocal stylings. Ej not only is untrained but his voice lacks confidence like he has no breath control.
Too many talented pop voices atm to list. Lady gaga for instance has a great voice. Even mediocre pop singers put ej to shame. Mick jagger is 100x the singer that ej is, even tho mick is often not on pitch, Hes got so much more going on. They are like opposites.
At least yjm had the sense to hire great singers.
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Power metal bands like Stratovarius, Kai Hansen era Helloween, Rhapsody, Sonata Arctica, and Angra come to mind.
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I like EJ very much, mostly Tones and AVM - and to a lesser extent Venus Isle. After that I did not keep track (though I saw him live few years ago).
I think his songwriting skills are decent. More than that actually. There are quite good songs on Tones (Bristol Shore, Friends, Trail of Tears), not overwhelmed by too much guitar wizardry. He’s obviously not in the same league as Paul Simon or Joni Mitchell etc… but when you think about it there are very few great guitar players who also have solid songwriting skills. Most guitar greats would come with awesome riffs for sure, but not so many would write good songs. EJ surely could/can do that (and other than EJ I’m thinking Francis Dunnery can be good too, but I can’t think of many others).
His voice is an acquired taste but to me it perfectly fits the songs. Interestingly enough he sings in a similar register as his old friend Christopher Cross. A heavy-metal vocalist would sound very bad with Eric’s music IMO. A female singer on the other hand would be a nice match.
I’ve thought the same thing, maybe something like Mike Oldfield’s “Moonlight Shadow.”
I can think of many singers whom I’d love to hear with Eric taking the guitar duty (+ backing vocals). His girlfriend (?) Ariel is a good singer. There’s also Leslie Mendelson who sings on the last Steve Kimock album. Check out the song ‘Variation’ that has a somewhat vibe similar to ‘Trail of Tears’. That would be a great match IMO.
Also … what about a collab with Molly Tuttle ? Wouldn’t that be great on every levels ?
I might be misunderstanding your post. Did you take private lessons with Edman?
I’ve only heard Edman on the two YJM records he appears on. Great singer no doubt, not trying to diminish his singing ability at all, I just don’t think it’s at Freddie’s level based on having heard those albums only.
I took vocal lessons too.
Sure, there are a lot of excellent singers, but there’s another side to it. I’m aware of dozens of famous singers who can’t control their voices and pitch when performing live. Some are so bad that I can only believe their recording are the product of endless takes and pitch correction.
There’s also a lot of singers, particularly singer-songwriters who are themselves only passable vocalists.
I’m not arguing that Eric is a great singer. I think his voice is adequate. There are plenty better singers, but there are plenty worse too.
That’s the great thing about music, it moves people in different ways. I personally love his music and songwriting, but if it hits others differently, I’m cool with that too.
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I feel like the OP about a lot of virtuoso type music. EJ, Yngwie, John 5, P Gilbert.
All AMAZING players and I strive to be able to do a fraction of what they do. But their music isn’t something I can just sit and listen to for any length of time.
Possibly the only exception would be Joe Satriani. His stuff is just more “song” oriented. At least to me.
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I know this thread is about EJ, but to me it raises another question: What happens if you want to push your technical facility on guitar to a “higher level,” yet don’t really like most of the music in which the advanced techniques are ordinarily used?
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Learn to play fusion.
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You had me until the Mick Jagger bit 
Ritchie is the real deal. Not a Freddie Mercury but then who is 
Dan Huff can sing a bit too
This is so odd, just this morning I listened to ‘Cliffs of Dover’ and I hadn’t really listened to the track in probably 15 years or something. I thought it was compositionally very stale! Even though i really liked the tone and solos and such. But in fairness I just really don’t like instrumental rock guitar music in general so I don’t know if my opinion is too relevant here anyway.
I think across a lot of genres it’s really hard to be both a great player and a great writer.
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If you think COD is compositionally stale… idk what to say. Its an exceptional song from another era and it did get a lot of radio play.
I think there is a general consensus that newer music is compositionally stale. Despite the never ending double kick drums and the ability to program complex rhythms using a mouse, new music hasn’t advanced much.
A funny thing that reminded me of this… I was watching a “Generation Axe” video yesterday on YT. I think this is Vai’s brand of G3. Anyway it was Vai, YJM, Phil Collen, Zakk Wylde, and Tosin Abisin on stage and they were closing their set with Highway Star where everyone would play a solo. The song was ripping along and then it was Tosin’s turn for the solo, and it sounded like he was practicing intervals. He had absolutely no way to work in the context of that simple song, didn’t seem to know any blues licks, couldn’t make the guitar sing.
He is heralded as a great musician (of the new), but he was completely disconnected from something that most bar band players can ace.
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I respect what you’re saying - I think there’s just so much subjectivity in it. I know I have particular tastes. For one, I’m just not that big on blues licks! Especially in a heavier rock context. I haven’t heard the performance in question but I wouldn’t be that surprised if I would have liked Tosin’s solo the best, from what you’re saying!
It’s all good though. You’re right that it’s definitely from an era.
Lukather is a decent singer.
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I have a theory as to why I don’t dig most instrumental guitar music
Let’s use Eric as an example: EJ was in a fusion band called electromagnets before he went solo and his playing in that group made tons of sense, it fit perfectly and the songs were super interesting to listen to
I think the problem is he took that flashy Mahavishnu like approach and tried to marry it to soft rock. It just doesn’t make sense to my ears. It’s almost a matter of “Well I can so I should” vs. “What would best serve these songs”. More power to him though, he got a fanbase doing it
The same goes for other “shredders” too, a lot of times you hear amazing soloing over a flat groove with little dynamic in the rhythm section
What draws me to bands like Mahavishnu, Dixie Dregs, Eleventh House, Weather Report and what makes their instrumental approach listenable for me is probably the dynamic interplay. The melody instruments REALLY competed with the rhythm instruments and really tried to standout. It wasn’t so much about showing off as it was about communicating great ideas
And that concept just resonates more with my ears, I guess
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