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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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manticore

Quote from: wosl on June 10, 2018, 03:14:30 PM
an oddly cold singer.

I'm going to have to ask you to step outside.

wosl

Quote from: Twed on June 10, 2018, 03:20:16 PMTo 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.

It might be that quality that holds me at a distance slightly (ditto the whiff of Thumper bunny about Kristin Hersh's voice).  She's clearly fine, despite that.  Of that clutch of indie female singers who came to prominence in the late 80s/early 90s (simultaneously becoming, in a lot of cases, UK music journo/student lad fantasy girlfriend figures - the sort of thing that can have a marked effect on critical objectivity), Wheeler, Hersh and Tanya Donnelly, Natalie Merchant, Karen Peris, etc, I think Meriel Barham had about the best voice, in terms of being able to nail a tune and enunciate with an 'ideal,' orthodox clarity.  Lush were great, but their stuff would've been even more special if Barham had stayed on as lead singer.



wosl

Quote from: manticore on June 10, 2018, 03:56:00 PMI mean, cold? Cold?

I knew that was going to come across as a bit strong when I wrote it.  Chilly?  A touch calculating?  Knowing/manipulative?  A hint, repeat hint, of something like that.

Twed

I'm glad that you wrote it even it I disagree. I think our difference in perspective is due to you putting her in a category of singers that was already established in your mind. I was too young to appreciate The Sundays in their era. I discovered them around ten years ago. With that, Wheeler's voice is entirely out of context for me, so if it was of a style then that passed me by.

manticore

Quote from: wosl on June 10, 2018, 03:58:07 PM
I knew that was going to come across as a bit strong when I wrote it.  Chilly?  A touch calculating?  Knowing/manipulative?  A hint, repeat hint, of something like that.

It's so hard to define one's feelings with this kind of thing. Even the most expressive voice has some element of affectation in it, and it's so hard to trust people nowadays that one can see the strand of inauthenticity in any voice. I was 27 when The Sundays appeared, and Wheeler's singing seemed quite distinct from all the other people you mention, and from anyone I'd ever heard. But then I was one of those millions who fantasised having her as my girlfriend.

To me, Bing Crosby sounds very affected, as do most 'crooners'. I get very little feeling from him at all.

Golden E. Pump

Sam Cooke. Another shout out for Donny Hathaway, too. And of course, Karen Carpenter. And George Michael.

wosl

Quote from: Twed on June 10, 2018, 04:01:04 PMI'm glad that you wrote it even it I disagree. I think our difference in perspective is due to you putting her in a category of singers that was already established in your mind. I was too young to appreciate The Sundays in their era. I discovered them around ten years ago. With that, Wheeler's voice is entirely out of context for me, so if it was of a style then that passed me by.

Good point fairly put.  I'm an exact contemporary (DEAD SOON) of Throwing Muses and Lush (a bit younger that those old farts the Sundays, mind), and at the time it was funny, if deflating, to see usually poisonous music hacks from the Melody Maker and NME mooning dreamily over the likes of Harriet and Kristin and Natalie Merchant, and linking them together as a new wave or movement, despite their stylistic differences.  I've never forgotten Jonh Wilde (who once took the Stone Roses to pieces in a big main-feature MM spread), I think it was, wrapping up an article on 10,000 Maniacs with the line "The angels are ruffling your hair."!  It was difficult to isolate what these bands did from the hoopla.


pigamus


wosl

Randy Crawford's great.  Progheads won't need the heads-up, but not being one, I only fairly recently discovered her doing a sterling job of serving the song on this Steve Hackett piece

Nobody Soup

mentioned already but she merits more than just saying "liz fraser".

it's stuff like the cocteau twins getting money to make their music and having people make a video and then people watch it and like it that makes me think sometimes the world's a great place.

she's perfect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhGoZLudKyk&list=PLZjFhqzbKvGku5nFgOrB97L8Q6Uxxr2Ls


Twed


Shoulders?-Stomach!

I don't want a faultless singer - when a singer has limits and you can feel them striving to be better and sometimes failing, that's worth a million octaval snakes-and-ladders from the warble divas.

On another note, the gutteral voice of say, Louis Armstrong is by no stretch 'faultless' but his performance is what counts, he performs songs like an actor plays their part - this is what is lost in talent shows and the like, that the best singers are all good storytellers and actors. A lot of those names mentioned at the start are not technical virtuosos but supreme actors.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: wosl on June 10, 2018, 03:14:30 PM
an oddly cold singer.

Far from my reaction to Harriet Wheeler. The first album in particular is very playful lyrically and vocally - petulance, vulnerability, then seconds later verve and command. None of it affected. Charismatic, identifiable, but refusing to fit into any neat niche.

a duncandisorderly

Quote from: BeardFaceMan on June 10, 2018, 03:25:12 PM
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.

oh, god yeah. terrific voice, & top bloke too.

holdover

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on June 10, 2018, 08:59:05 PM
I don't want a faultless singer - when a singer has limits and you can feel them striving to be better and sometimes failing, that's worth a million octaval snakes-and-ladders from the warble divas.


One of my favourite singers is Hattie Stoneman. A quick listen makes clear 5at she is far from faultless but I am in love with her mountain-girl voice.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rMp8Th4X3G4

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JLKvEIpwgUM

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v7lkVynjFcg





Quote from: wosl on June 10, 2018, 01:33:14 PM
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

Thanks for the heads up on Annie Haslam, just checking out Renaissance for the first time and she's exceptional.

Dr Rock

Elvis Presley. And so versatile too. Can be lovely, or awesome, often within the same song.
Scott Walker. Voice Of God 1.
Karen Carpenter. Voice Of God 2.
Roy Orbison. Voice Of A Broken-Hearted God.
Minnie Ripperton. Amazing pipes. Beautiful.
Dusty.
John Fogerty. CCR are great, and would be nothing without his distinctive voice.
Flawless Country Gals: Bobbie Gentry, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Anne Murray, a long list..
Flawless Country Guys: Glen Campbell, Conway 'Hello Darling' Twitty, can't go wrong with a bit of ol' Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings.
Levi Stubbs.
Nick Drake
Kate Bush
Steve Marriott
David Bowie. Sometime it's like he can't really sing but has found an excellent dodge which means he can sing really well. Have I explained what I mean?
Tom Jones. He could do things with his voice that seem impossible to me.
Ronnie Spector
Tina Turner (but only the early stuff, she was shit without the domestic violence)
Mickey Dolenz was an excellent shout.

That's off the top of my head anyway. Probably forgot a lot, soz brill singers x


The Culture Bunker

I'm not sure I'll get much support for this one, but Neil Finn's voice just works for me.

His voice seems to have held up amazingly well over the years too, but then I wouldn't have him down as the hard-living type.


a duncandisorderly

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on June 10, 2018, 10:27:06 PM
I'm not sure I'll get much support for this one, but Neil Finn's voice just works for me.


oh hell yes. one of the greatest living songwriters too, up there in both contexts with roy harper.

a duncandisorderly

Quote from: Nice Relaxing Poo on June 10, 2018, 10:04:15 PM
Thanks for the heads up on Annie Haslam, just checking out Renaissance for the first time and she's exceptional.

wind back & check out the jane relf version too, please. it's worth it.

manticore

Quote from: Crabwalk on June 10, 2018, 11:19:10 AM
Toots Hibbert - the tone!

People often liken Toots Hibbert to Otis Redding, but I don't think they compare. Hibbert's singing is much more organic and natural and warm, comes from a different place. It's a force of nature more than any other voice I've ever heard.

I was on the Wikipedia page of Russell "The Voice" Watson and it mentioned his recording of Barcelona as a duet with Shaun Ryder.

I was going to put it in that Funny Wikipedia Stuff thread, assuming it was amusing bullshit. A bit of prank vandalism.

But I looked it up and it actually is a real thing. I wonder if Mark E Smith managed to collaborate with G4 or Il Divo before leaving us.

saltysnacks

I'm going against the rules a little here, as his voice certainly isn't faultless, but Frank Zappa has a very pleasant voice. The kind of guy who doesn't need to sing well as his speaking voice is nice to listen to.


chveik

Edda dell'Orso, Shirley Collins, Helen Merrill, Little Jimmy Scott, Amalia Rodrigues, Meiko Kaji, Kathleen Ferrier, Jackie deShannon, Bobby Vinton, Margo Guryan, El Perro del Mar, Julee Cruise, Robert Wyatt, Russell Mael, Alison Goldfrapp, Mary Wells

Phil_A

Quote from: thecuriousorange on June 11, 2018, 12:15:23 AM
I was on the Wikipedia page of Russell "The Voice" Watson and it mentioned his recording of Barcelona as a duet with Shaun Ryder.

I was going to put it in that Funny Wikipedia Stuff thread, assuming it was amusing bullshit. A bit of prank vandalism.

But I looked it up and it actually is a real thing. I wonder if Mark E Smith managed to collaborate with G4 or Il Divo before leaving us.

I heard an entertaining rumour that Ryder never turned up to the recording session for that, so Watson ended up doing both parts himself. Might be bollocks, but I'd like to believe otherwise.