missy wrote:dubhlinn wrote:I think meself that once ye get past Dylan, Waits, Taylor, Guthrie and Gershwin there is not a lot left to talk about.
Slan,
D.
Woody or Arlo???![]()
"I don't want a pickle
I just want to ride my motorcycle"
![lol :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol_144.gif)
![wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink_144.gif)
Slan,
D.
![big grin :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin_144.gif)
missy wrote:dubhlinn wrote:I think meself that once ye get past Dylan, Waits, Taylor, Guthrie and Gershwin there is not a lot left to talk about.
Slan,
D.
Woody or Arlo???![]()
"I don't want a pickle
I just want to ride my motorcycle"
I would say you're talking about someone with a good voice, not necessarily a good singer. Someone can hit every single note spot on yet sing with no feeling. It's the same with any sort of musician -- you can key Dvorak's cello concerto into a MIDI player, and what comes out will be perfect but it will still suck. Similarly there are loads of people out there with good voices, good ranges, perfect pitch, and they still can't relate a song worth crap.BillChin wrote:There are some objective criteria for singing, such as ability to sing in pitch, range of pitch, power and projection, volume and control. The ability to sing live, especially acapella and still hold an audience is a more subjective criteria, but a good one. A lot of names listed on the other threads would do poorly in such a test. They may be good songwriters, and entertainers, but they are not top vocalists.izzarina wrote:I'm not trying to be snarky but I don't understand what you mean here (and I mean that sincerely...I didn't on the other thread either). A great vocalist is in the "ear" of the "hearer" . I know many people who wouldn't be fond of Janis Joplin's voice at all, but I for one think she's amazing. Unless I missed something on that thread that was implying that just because someone writes well, they are automatically a great vocalist? Just trying to understand your point here, CranberryCranberry wrote:I think a lot of people in the "great vocalists" threads are not getting the distinction--that of a great vocalist and a great singer-songwriter. A lot of people listed I think are great singer-songewriters, but not particularly great vocalists. You can be one without being the other, of course, and you can be both at the same time.
Didn't Prince actually write that one for her?And of course I must mention Sinéad O'Connor, who is both a great vocalist and a great singer-songwriter, in my humble opinion. She is best known for singing a cover (Nothing Compares 2 U), but her own songwriting can be absolutely pristine.
If someone with a good ear was scoring on a scale of 1 to 10 on the objective measures of pitch, range, volume, control, many of the names mentioned would be middle of the pack. A top vocalist would rate top scores in all of these. The quality of tone is more subjective, but after being able to sing in key, and range, it is what most folks focus on. A lot of folks probably have an average ear and can't tell if someone is on key unless they are way off. However, range, projection, and control usually do exhibit themselves if the person has it in them.
Thank you for that much needed clarification. A top vocalist must be able to add their personality, make a song sound original, and sing with emotion, and evoke emotion, to be a great vocalist.I would say you're talking about someone with a good voice, not necessarily a good singer. Someone can hit every single note spot on yet sing with no feeling. It's the same with any sort of musician -- you can key Dvorak's cello concerto into a MIDI player, and what comes out will be perfect but it will still suck. Similarly there are loads of people out there with good voices, good ranges, perfect pitch, and they still can't relate a song worth crap.
I like Prince's version better.fearfaoin wrote:No, Prince recorded it himself in the 80's, but it didn't go anywhere until Sinead covered it.izzarina wrote:Didn't Prince actually write that one for her?And of course I must mention Sinéad O'Connor, who is both a great vocalist and a great singer-songwriter, in my humble opinion. She is best known for singing a cover (Nothing Compares 2 U), but her own songwriting can be absolutely pristine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_Compares_2_U
But the interpretation of the obvious point is not the same for everyone. You are talking about someone that appeals to the broadest audience - a Bolton, Yanni, Dione clone. Music evolves and is made alive at the fringes.BillChin wrote:That said, I stick to the obvious point that a person that struggles to sing on key, and doesn't have much range, is out of the discussion for top vocalist. Top singer, perhaps, top entertainer, definitely. Again, a good subjective test is can the person sing a difficult song acapella, and hold an audience that doesn't know of their reputation and their work.
Well know.The Sporting Pitchfork wrote:Hmm...Well, I'm a big Elvis Costello fan. Other great singer/songwriters I might include would be Joni Mitchell, Arto Lindsay, Bob Dylan, Caetano Veloso, João Gilberto, David Byrne, and the great songwriting partnerships of the 20th century: Lennon & McCartney, Strummer & Jones, and Robert Forster & Grant McLennan (a.k.a. "The Go-Betweens").
At the moment, my favorite new singer/songwriter is ex-Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker. Here are the lyrics to his recent song "Quantum Theory" which was featured in the closing credits of the acclaimed film Children of Men. It's got quite a catchy little chorus. If you feel like singing along, there's a singalong video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_M22STINYw
Well did you hear, there's a natural order?
Those most deserving will end up with the most?
That the cream cannot help but always rise up to the top,
Well I say,... “sh*t floats”.
If you thought things had changed,
Friend, you'd better think again,
Bluntly put, in the fewest of words:
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world.
Now the working classes are obsolete,
They are surplus to society's needs,
So let 'em all kill each other,
And get it made overseas.
That's the word, don't you know,
From the guys that's running the show,
Lets be perfectly clear boys and girls,
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world.
Oh feed your children on crayfish and lobster tails,
Find a school near the top of the league,
In theory I respect your right to exist,
I will kill you if you move in next to me,
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust,
Oh but the takings are up by a third,
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world.
(Cunts are still running the world)
(Cunts are still running the world)
The free market is perfectly natural,
Do you think that I'm some kind of dummy?
It's the ideal way to order the world;
“x the morals, does it make any money?”
And if you don't like it? Then leave.
Or use your right to protest on the street,
Yeah, use your right but don't imagine that it's heard,
Not whilst cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running... the world.
Ahhh...see, I didn't know that. Well, maybe somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I did, but it had been long forgotten if that be the case. Thanksfearfaoin wrote:No, Prince recorded it himself in the 80's, but it didn't go anywhere until Sinead covered it.izzarina wrote:Didn't Prince actually write that one for her?And of course I must mention Sinéad O'Connor, who is both a great vocalist and a great singer-songwriter, in my humble opinion. She is best known for singing a cover (Nothing Compares 2 U), but her own songwriting can be absolutely pristine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_Compares_2_U
This is one of my favorite songs which Sinéad herself wrote. It's called No Man's Woman. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCyKEKi4fP4izzarina wrote:Ahhh...see, I didn't know that. Well, maybe somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I did, but it had been long forgotten if that be the case. Thanksfearfaoin wrote:No, Prince recorded it himself in the 80's, but it didn't go anywhere until Sinead covered it.izzarina wrote: Didn't Prince actually write that one for her?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_Compares_2_U
Sinéad O'Connor wrote:I don't wanna be no man's woman
It don't make me happy this mantrolling
thing that you got for me so I become
no man's woman
I don't wanna be no man's woman
I've other work I want to get done
I haven't travelled this far to become
no man's woman
Cuz I'm tired of it
and I'm so scared of it
that I'll never trust again
cuz a man can fake you
take your soul and make you
miserable in so much pain
My friends think I'm alone but I've got secrets
I don't tell everything about the love I get
I got a lovin' man but he's a spirit
He never does me harm never treats me bad
He'd never takes away all the love he has
and I'm forgiven oh a million times
I'm never tired of it
and I'm not scared of it
cuz it doesn't cause me pain
Like a man can fake you
take your soul and make you
never be yourself again