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Top 5: Vocalists
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Harold B View Drop Down
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Points: 55 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Harold B Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 09 2023 at 04:28
David Longdon
Peter Gabriel
Greg Lake
Annie Haslam
Jon Anderson 
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Freddie Mercury
Daniel Gildenlöw
André Matos
Annie Haslam
Joanne Hogg (Iona)

I also like:
Ian Gillan, Michael Sadler, Geddy Lee, Mike Baker, Fish, Steve Walsh, Vincent Cavanagh...
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Points: 2565 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Progishness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 13 2023 at 01:25
My 5 favourite male vocalists (probably)

Ian Gillan
Robert Plant
Freddie Mercury
Greg Lake
Peter Gabriel

Honourable mention: Roger Daltrey, Jon Anderson
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Points: 17497 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 13 2023 at 07:43
Originally posted by rogerthat rogerthat wrote:

@ moshkito:  Whilst the aspect of acting out the lyrics is very important, it's not the be all-end all either.  A great singer still needs a great tone, range and power to have options otherwise his/her repertoire is going to be limited.


Hi,

I disagree, as a "director" of theater and film. I wouldn't want someone just going through the motions, simply because they can hit the "right note".

As for rock music ... it is slightly different. I don't see Mick being in tune 100 times a night, but his vocalization eats it all up quickly ... and it makes no difference which note the guys are on. His singing is less about the notes and the chords than it is about his expression, which adds to the whole thing.

One of the best exercises, if you have a chance, is to listen to the TOSCA aria for tenors by various folks ... start with Beniamino Gigli and take it all the way to Pavarotti, and beyond ... and before long you will get a very different feeling from each of them, but you will have tears on Gigli's, and ear pain on Pavarotti's.

In the end, it's really not what I see as a director. I rarely told any of the actors to do something except maybe adjust the stage positioning ... since I was more interested in their own developing exploration towards the role ... and it worked. It's not even about what I liked, or what he/she liked at all ... it was about making it all smooth, comfortable and very clean, so no one in the audience can doubt a single letter. 

And, in some ways, this is what is missing in a lot of rock music, specially when some folks go around making you believe that what they sing about is very important to add to their idea of themselves. In most cases it is badly delivered, because there is little, if any, external direction to help identify details that help the expression, instead of ignoring them, like so many rock folks do, because ... "it's the lyrics" ... and they are trying to convince you that the lyrics are important.

Originally posted by rogerthat rogerthat wrote:

...
The ones you mentioned like Morrison, Hammill or Kate Bush tick at least some of the above boxes.  If however you take someone like Donald Fagen, he was fabulous at acting out the lyrics but had by his own admission limited vocal ability which is why he is not regarded as a great singer. As such, what you call 'acting out' I call phrasing and it was usually not a problem with most of the well known singers up to the 70s because distinct accents and styles of speaking English still persisted. 
...

Donald Fagen, like many folks in rock music adapted to what he could do, and did it magnificently well.

I'm not sure there is a difference between "phrasing" and "acting out". It makes it seem like "phrasing" is slightly out of touch with the whole idea/concept of the piece ... and one sentence, is different than the rest. Jim Morrison is not about the "phrasing", per se ... it is about the LIVING PICTURE of his image or poem. AND, that is not just phrasing, as it takes more, and has to continue on to the next phrase and line.

"Phrasing" itself, might be valuable if you are reading a poem to an audience, and you want to accent ... "women come and go (pause) thinking of Michelangelo" ... and it makes more sense, but you should not do that at the expanse of the rest of the poem or Prufrock will come up out of his grave to get you! His Zen, will come alive in your cereal. (ehehehehe!)

Originally posted by rogerthat rogerthat wrote:

...
 But nowadays too many singers mimic Tony Martin/Lea Salonga respectively so there is an annoying uniformity and lack of character in the vocals.  Some of it is simply continental Europe taking over prog and people for whom English is not a native language singing in it (as opposed to their own language in the 70s).  But even the ones coming from Britain/USA (like Haken's singer for example) don't have much soul.

Different languages is another story, and there are times when it makes sense, and is the reason why I prefer them all singing in their own language, so there is less worry about what came about differently. I have had that issue for years, since going from Portugal to Brazil (same language but totally different everything!) and then to America at 15 without knowing a single word of English. It took me the better part of 10 years to start getting comfortable, and still my old roomie used to make fun of the fact I had no idea what he was saying or joking about ... it is very difficult, and something that is very tough all around, regardless of the circumstances.

Do I like Francesco singing it in Italian better than the English ... YOU BET I DO! Just like you would hate it if Jim M had to try singing something in French or Italian ... you and I would probably croak laughing at how different things sound and feel. ...

NOTE: Slight film joke ... "L'Aventura, Antonioni's film, in Italy the title also means in various parts of the country "the fling" (which we would associate with something else as well) ... where as within a literal translation, it means something else totally, and in fact the title would not exactly match the story of the film at all ... but in that particular section of Italy, it would. There is a lot of this in discussion on one of Pasolini's books ... Heretic Empiricism, which unfortunately is a prohibitive read for many of us ... it is insane and the discussion so detailed and studied as for you to go ... how much further can this go?
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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1. Peter Hammill (Van der Graaf Generator)
2. Robert Smith (The Cure)
3. Rob Halford (Judas Priest)
4. Kerry Minnear (Gentle Giant)
5. Karen Carpenter (The Carpenters)
Oh, for the wings of any bird, other than a battery hen
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Points: 27956 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 13 2023 at 09:09
^ yep Karen Carpenter bless her and a decent drummer to boot!
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Scott Walker
Dagmar Krause
David Bowie
Elaine Difalco
Christina Booth

Bubbling under:
Peter Jones
Phil Collins
Nicklas Barker
Tarja Turunen
Lynnette Shelley
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Points: 727 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hector Enrique Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 07 2023 at 17:17
Freddie Mercury
Peter Gabriel
Jon Anderson
Ian Gillan 
Steve Winwood
---
Peter Hammill
Greg Lake
Mariusz Duda
David Gilmour
Francesco Di Giacomo
Héctor Enrique
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Points: 526 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Big Sky Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 07 2023 at 20:38
No particular order:

Jon Anderson
Steve Winwood
Karen Carpenter (One Take Karen)
Greg Lake
Ann Wilson

Some Honorable Mentions:

John Wetton
Pat Benatar
Freddie Mercury
Phil Collins
Annie Haslam
Robert Plant
Peter Gabriel
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Michael Jackson
Phil Collins
Russel Allan
Peter Gabriel
The guy from Masterplan
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Jon Anderson
Greg Lake
Annie Haslam
Kerry Minnear
Karen Carpenter
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Points: 39917 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2023 at 02:23
I would've picked Karen Carpenter too, but seeing as we're in the Prog Forum, I'll go with these six outstanding vocalists (in alphabetical order). Smile

Jon Anderson
Heather Findlay
Annie Haslam
Greg Lake
Jane Relf
John Wetton
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Originally posted by Psychedelic Paul Psychedelic Paul wrote:

I would've picked Karen Carpenter too, but seeing as we're in the Prog Forum, I'll go with these six outstanding vocalists (in alphabetical order). Smile

Jon Anderson
Heather Findlay
Annie Haslam
Greg Lake
Jane Relf
John Wetton


Paul,

I thought about not including Karen Carpenter ( as well as others on my list) because she is not Prog. But, seeing how others had listed vocalists outside the Prog world, I was not going to leave off Carpenter. Phenomenal singer. Did Superstar in one take. The engineer on the session said it was only supposed to be a guide vocal. Not a easy song to sing. Boom, no Karen, that will do. Common thing in the studio with her.

The great session drummer Hal Blaine said Carpenter was a very good drummer too. However, most of the studio sessions did not have Carpenter drumming. Blaine stated that because most of her drumming came live onstage that Carpenter did not quite have the delicate touch needed for the songs in the studio. She could have developed those skills, but it was decided just to go with a session drummer. Karen and her brother Richard had a lot of respect for Blaine so were quite content to let him handle the sessions.

Oh and I neglected to list Roger Daltrey on my honorable mentions above.
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Points: 7849 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote progbethyname Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2023 at 13:02
Roger Daltry is such a nice choice.
Boy. Listen to the way he sings on this track ! It is magic.

https://youtu.be/GLQ6rpL_QLo?si=mHp0ZVKK8Gt4vASG
Gimmie my headphones now!!! 🎧🤣
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Originally posted by Big Sky Big Sky wrote:

Originally posted by Psychedelic Paul Psychedelic Paul wrote:

I would've picked Karen Carpenter too, but seeing as we're in the Prog Forum, I'll go with these six outstanding vocalists (in alphabetical order). Smile

Jon Anderson
Heather Findlay
Annie Haslam
Greg Lake
Jane Relf
John Wetton


Paul,

I thought about not including Karen Carpenter ( as well as others on my list) because she is not Prog. But, seeing how others had listed vocalists outside the Prog world, I was not going to leave off Carpenter. Phenomenal singer. Did Superstar in one take. The engineer on the session said it was only supposed to be a guide vocal. Not a easy song to sing. Boom, no Karen, that will do. Common thing in the studio with her.

The great session drummer Hal Blaine said Carpenter was a very good drummer too. However, most of the studio sessions did not have Carpenter drumming. Blaine stated that because most of her drumming came live onstage that Carpenter did not quite have the delicate touch needed for the songs in the studio. She could have developed those skills, but it was decided just to go with a session drummer. Karen and her brother Richard had a lot of respect for Blaine so were quite content to let him handle the sessions.

Oh and I neglected to list Roger Daltrey on my honorable mentions above.
I've just backtracked to Page 7 of this thread and this was my original choice:-

Top 5 male vocalists:-

Jon Anderson
Ronnie James Dio
David Gilmour
Greg Lake
John Wetton

Top 5 female vocalists:-

Christina Booth
Heather Findlay
Chrissie Hammond
Annie Haslam
Jane Relf
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Big Sky View Drop Down
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Originally posted by progbethyname progbethyname wrote:

Roger Daltry is such a nice choice.
Boy. Listen to the way he sings on this track ! It is magic.

https://youtu.be/GLQ6rpL_QLo?si=mHp0ZVKK8Gt4vASG


Daltrey is great. His best moment for me though is Love Reign Over Me. Great song off a great album.
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Originally posted by Big Sky Big Sky wrote:

Originally posted by progbethyname progbethyname wrote:

Roger Daltry is such a nice choice.
Boy. Listen to the way he sings on this track ! It is magic.

https://youtu.be/GLQ6rpL_QLo?si=mHp0ZVKK8Gt4vASG


Daltrey is great. His best moment for me though is Love Reign Over Me. Great song off a great album.


A great example of how he could sing tenderly and then "LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!" (ala "Behind Blue Eyes")
https://www.youtube.com/c/LoyalOpposition

https://www.scribd.com/document/382737647/MortSahlFan-Song-List
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