Well the top of his range is gone so he can't really sing songs like "Lazy", "Space Truckin'", and most importantly "Child In Time" so well anymore. If I'm not mistaken Deep Purple actually took "Child In Time" off the set list almost a decade ago because Ian couldn't hit the high notes anymore and they are such an important part of that song.
Point taken and it is a good point.
However, for me I've seen nothing on recent Purple studio albums suggesting that Ian has really fallen off a cliff. That is the basis for my comment.
I've never seen Purple live (the one show I had tickets for was cancelled) and probably never will, so I don't really consider that aspect of it.
Reason being, there are artists in their prime or still close to it who can't nail some of their own material live.
At this stage of Purple's career, nobody expects Ian to hit all of the high notes night after night on tour. However, in the confines of a recording studio where the atmosphere is more relaxed and allows for a do-over (or several), Ian can still lay down some pretty good screams on record. He just might not be able to do them every night on the road, but that's not necessary since the band is only going to include 2-3 new songs from the LP in a set list anyway (whatever their current label feels is most radio ready) and leave it at that.
Yes, it can also be argued that studio magic has something to do with it or that Ian generally sings less challenging material to "hide" his voice, but I don't really see it that way.
Besides, there are plenty of veteran singers who no matter what a studio does, sound terrible on studio albums these days. I don't think Ian falls into that category.
