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Singers whose voices are faultless

Started by Ballad of Ballard Berkley, June 10, 2018, 12:37:17 AM

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Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Even if you don't particularly care for their music, you have to admit that Dusty Springfield, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Scott Walker, Jim Morrison, Otis Redding, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole and Dean Martin were great at the old singing business.

I don't want to turn this into a "Who is you favourite singer?" thread, nobody wants that, but who, when all is said and done, had a fantastic set of 'proper singing' pipes as far as you're concerned?


It's got to be Emmylou Harris. Just perfection.

saltysnacks

I'm going to pick an obvious one: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. She was egotistical and basically a Nazi, but her performance of Strauss' Four Last Songs brings me to tears.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley


Let's face Karen Carpenter could sing like fuck and I'd like to add Sandy Denny to that list. Both seemed powerful and effortless.

chveik

Bjork, Nico, Nick Drake, Hope Sandoval, Trish Keenan, Dionne Warwick, Roy Orbison, Mark Linkous, Lisa Germano and the girl groups: The Shangri-Las, The Shirelles, The Ronettes...

Twit 2

Quote from: saltysnacks on June 10, 2018, 12:42:00 AM
I'm going to pick an obvious one: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. She was egotistical and basically a Nazi, but her performance of Strauss' Four Last Songs brings me to tears.

Not that many classical music bores buffs here so perhaps not that obvious. Even less obvious would be Soile Isokoski's on Ondine - for my money the very best, even better than the legendary Jessye Norman recording.

https://youtu.be/_mPvhAAigLQ

How about KD Lang? My 2 fave performances of hers:

https://youtu.be/4Q0Fh89OTCc

https://youtu.be/JNbnFVBVnz0

a duncandisorderly

nina cardigan
tim buckley
jane relf
don van vliet
liz fraser
micky dolenz

you'll struggle with that last one, I reckon.


Roy Orbison, of course. I don't even know if it's classically "good", it's just so pleasing.

thraxx


Hope Sandoval
Trish Keenan
Harriet Wheeler
Roy Orbison
Liz Fraser
Kirsty Maccoll

Brundle-Fly


Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: a duncandisorderly on June 10, 2018, 01:11:42 AM

micky dolenz

you'll struggle with that last one, I reckon.

Why would anyone struggle with that choice? Micky Dolenz is one of the greatest pop singers of all time. Sublime voice. Here he is in his seventies, still knocking it out of the park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpp-Ry2ZNhY

Good lord, the way he sings this Goffin & King tune. So beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ0cVqfFrS8

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: Pearly-Dewdrops Drops on June 10, 2018, 01:43:44 AM
Roy Orbison, of course. I don't even know if it's classically "good", it's just so pleasing.

It's more than pleasing, it's the sound of a lonely God splashing tears upon His lost and hopeless species. One of the greatest voices we've ever been blessed with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6Xj72bP0To

manticore

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on June 10, 2018, 02:36:18 AM
Good lord, the way he sings this Goffin & King tune. So beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ0cVqfFrS8

Gosh that's gorgeous. Don't remember it at all.

manticore

Definitely Harriet Wheeler for a woman.

Maybe Johnny Clarke for a man:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBlwXMqGZH4


itsfredtitmus

McCartney, Chris Isaak, Roy Orbison, Bill Withers, Enya, Margaret O'Hara


Crabwalk

#18
Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on June 10, 2018, 12:37:17 AM
Even if you don't particularly care for their music, you have to admit that Dusty Springfield, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Scott Walker, Jim Morrison, Otis Redding, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole and Dean Martin were great at the old singing business.

I don't want to turn this into a "Who is you favourite singer?" thread, nobody wants that, but who, when all is said and done, had a fantastic set of 'proper singing' pipes as far as you're concerned?

Hmm, 'proper singing' pipes? I guess you do end up having to pick your favourites otherwise it would be endless! I'll give myself 10 that haven't been mentioned yet and a few words on each to keep things from getting too list-y:

Joni Mitchell - first utterly pure, then beautifully weathered
Stevie Wonder - imbibed with joy
Sandy Denny - strength and vulnerability (edit: sorry, she was briefly mentioned above. I'll slot in Irma Thomas instead)
Toots Hibbert - the tone!
Gal Costa - masterful at the sweet and the unhinged
Paul Buchanan - Scottish Sinatra
Curtis Mayfield - warmest falsetto
Minnie Ripperton - a miraculous instrument
Smokey Robinson - I love Glen Campbell but listen to Smokey's 'Witchita Lineman'
Tracyanne Campbell - the closest we have to a Dusty these days.


Neomod

Quote from: a duncandisorderly on June 10, 2018, 01:11:42 AM
nina cardigan
tim buckley
jane relf
don van vliet
liz fraser
micky dolenz

you'll struggle with that last one, I reckon.

I'd struggle with Nina to be honest. When I saw the Cardy's she was flat countless times.

Lovely girl though.

Fabian Thomsett


wosl

#22
Nat King Cole's top of the tree for craft and feel, and he's rightly there in the OP.  Others of that ilk who stand comparison: Bing Crosby, Mel Torme, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day, June Christy and Julie London.  Doris Day's pipes were always sweet and dependable.  Matt Monro, Andy Williams and Jack Jones (when he reins in those power-climaxes) are all excellent, as well as being radar-dodgers somewhat: engaging crooners, with great technique who came to prominence when rock, and pop ballads, had become the main event.  I've started to pick through Williams' work recently, and he did swathes of wonderful stuff.  On his TV shows he duetted with a lot of the greats, and of those I've seen, he matches or surpasses all of 'em.  In the pop and rock field a lot have already been listed, so I'll just lob in Annie Haslam (I've always racked her right alongside Sandy Denny, with a sweet tone as affecting as Sandy's dry one), Minnie Riperton*, Gladys Knight, Barbra Streisand and Patrice Rushen (who bursts at the seams with talent, being also a knockout jazz pianist, composer and arranger). 

*Edit: already name-checked by Crabwalk

Egyptian Feast

Due to last night's Microdisney reunion show at the Barbican, Cathal Coughlan springs immediately to mind.

https://youtu.be/9M95O-OPBao

https://youtu.be/wutPje4nAKU


Brundle-Fly


Twed


wosl

Yeah, within her field she fits the faultless-but-not-a-favourite mould well.  Technically very solid (as a number of live YT vids will vouch for) but an oddly cold singer.

Twed

To me her voice sounds like a wide-eyed girl experiencing the trials and delights of the adult world anew. She's a capable adult woman trying not to show that there's still a little girl in there. Far from lacking soul for me.

BeardFaceMan

Mike Patton. He can do it all, singing, yelping, screaming, growling, crooning. And doesnt he have a ridiculous range, something like 6 octaves? Amazing voice.

holdover

Mimi Parker
Gillian Welch

Another top of the hat for Micky Dolenz

This is another Carole King song he sounds amazing on.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DMIeu1OKTdo