General Music Chat

I love AIC.. woulda loved to hear em do all that 10 years ago.. with Layne.
Thanks, man.

The first chick that caught my ear was Dione Warwick.

I can't understand how anyone with a liking for hard driving rock can't appreciate Janice's howlin' on tunes like "Move Over". Also, Linda Ronstadt's album with Nelson Riddle, performing classic pop songs from the 30's & 40's is one of my favorite recordings. (shame on you, Philbey)

I love to listen to Joan Armatrading

Also,

Bjork
Suzanne Vega
Loreeda McKennit
Billie Holiday
Sinead O'Connor
Patsy
The chick that sang with "The Shirts"
Exima from the great L.A. band "X"
Wendy O Williams
The Wilson sisters
and lately,..... Jesca Hoop

As for "worst", I too was never a big Cher fan, but I did like some of her early stuff with Sony.
Most girl singers these days all sound alike to me.

A long time ago, when I was young, several female singers made big impressions on me.
The worst from those days would probably be a one-hit wonder named Nancy Sinatra.
There were a lot of good ones. Connie Francis and Patsy Cline come to mind.
By the way, when I was a teenager I actually liked Janis Joplin's singing. What was I thinking?! Was I thinking at all?
Musta been the drugs.

HJ - Wendy O Williams? *cough cough cough* & you place the shame on me!

When you said "Patsy" were you actually referring to Patty Smith?

LMAO

Admittedly, I never heard Ronstadt's performance with Nelson Riddle, but I still hold that I didn't like her tone. Perhaps it actually fit there.

Janis was way too drunk to ever be a great singer. Yeah, she fell in nicely occasionally with some accidently good vocals, but she could never hold it through an entire song, cuz, well, she was drunk or otherwise distracted.

I lost a lot of respect for Allison Kraus when I heard her version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" on utube. She completely lost the "common touch" that the song is written in with her overpronunciations & overly pretty tone.

I liked Karen Carpenter, but disliked most of her material. Ditto for Toni Tenille.

For me, it isn't necessarily the range & technical skill that makes a good singer, it's the delivery, the ability to express the emotions of any given song in vocal tone, dynamics, pronunciation, breathing, etc. While Kraus & Ronstadt certainly have the technical abilities, they often completely miss the intention of the song by overusing them where they aren't called for, while ignoring the intent of the song. For them, I suspect, it's more about thier performance than it is about the song's actual meaning, & that makes them minor performers at best, for me, the listener, no matter how great thier voice may be.

Natalie Merchant has that in most of her stuff, as does McVie & Nicks & others that I & other ppl have mentioned.

A singer needs to be able to adjust his or herself to the song, to bring out all the nuances of it. I hear the singer too often adjusting the song to fit thier own beautiful voice, while they ignore the piece of music as a complete idea that should be expressed with the mood the composer intended.

Perhaps that's why people who sing thier own compositions do so well. It isn't often that I hear someone who can really nail someone else's song, yes, make it thier own, but keep the integrity of it, too. It's a tall order that many ppl miss, imho.

Some of my favourites are:

Sam Brown
Skin (Skunk Anansie)
Stevie Nicks
Liz Fraser (Cocteau Twins)
Kari Rueslatten (The 3rd and the Mortal)
Bjork
Kate Bush
Ann Wilson
Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation)
Amy Lee (Evanescence)
Big Mamma Thornton
Kelly Clarkson

Cannot stand Celine Dion. I appreciate her range and ability but have never liked her tonal quality!!

Dorah Pesche(think thats spelled close) from a german band called warlock. I saw her at a metal hammer festival in Germany with Metallica(a month before the bus crash that killed Cliff) and Venom. And That chick blew me awy! Not sure what happened to her but she was top sh*t in Europe for the best part of the eighties ... That chick in OTEP frickin rocks(she did, f'd up her throat I heard) and the worst chick has got to be .. Anyone from GIRLSCHOOL eech what was Lemmy thinking?

Dorah Pesche(think thats spelled close) from a german band called warlock. I saw her at a metal hammer festival in Germany with Metallica(a month before the bus crash that killed Cliff) and Venom. And That chick blew me awy! Not sure what happened to her but she was top sh*t in Europe for the best part of the eighties

Doro Pesch.
She's still out there doing music, my man.
http://www.doropesch.com/

[quote="philbymon"]HJ - Wendy O Williams? *cough cough cough* & you place the shame on me!

When you said "Patsy" were you actually referring to Patty Smith?

LMAO I still hold that I didn't like her tone. Perhaps it actually fit there.


Philby,
I had the good fortune to see the late Wendy O and The Plasmatics in a scuzzy New Joizey club one night an I gotta tell ya, it was one of the most electrifying live performances I've ever seen! I have see The Who, and Alice Cooper, and I would find it hard to decide which show was best. All three were mind altering experiences.

I was referring yo Patsy Cline, but I will take this opportunity to include Ms Smith to my list as well. Her tune "Career Of Evil " as performed by Blue Oyster Cult is one of my favorite asskick rock tunes.

Howlin'

The Donnas, "Fall behind me"

Thanks HowlinJ!! you mentioned another that should have NEVER been left off my best list. I love Dionne Warwick. Her little squeaks and quirky vulnerabilities just kill me. She is in my top 5 female vocalists for sure!

The Donnas, "Fall behind me"

Cool guitarist

I love female vocals ! From the Joan Baez /Joni Mitchell
hippies to badass screamers.....

My Faves are Joan Jett, Souixie Souix and
the most fabulous of all, Emmanuelle with
Ultra Orange !!!!

Björk, at Riverside Church in NY


Possibly, Maybe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3-PdudE85E

A Hidden Place

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv6rzhZ83rk


Björk on Television

Cocoon (Performs solo with a Music Box Accompanying Her - Followed by Interview!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv9Mi2I-bFo


Clive Anderson Interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKrbYhYEdBI

i always got that hell yea feeling whenever i heard anne wilson sing just about anything the ever published.maybe it was because the rest of the band was so in tune with her needs as a vocolist.but hart rocks! nobody new plays like that any more.

Amy Lee of Evanescense... nuff said...

Yeah, my son loves her. She really has a strong voice.