Your best backing vocalists
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Topic: Your best backing vocalists
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Subject: Your best backing vocalists
Date Posted: April 14 2007 at 18:24
Thanks Guigo good idea.
Iván ------------- 
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Atkingani wrote:
Replies:
Posted By: Atkingani
Date Posted: April 14 2007 at 18:33
Faster than moi... 
I also like Phil Collins backings for Gabriel and another one I can remember now is John Lodge (Moody Blues). For prog-related, George Harrison doing backings for John & Paul.
The main problem is that sometimes all members do "backing vocals" and you never know who does what in a particular song. ------------- Guigo ~~~~~~ |
Posted By: Camel_APPeal
Date Posted: April 14 2007 at 19:00
I'd go with Chris Rainbow (Camel, The Alan Parsons Project), influenced by the Beach Boys, he creates a wonderful wall of voices!  ------------- 
"After all, it's music what we're talking about here, so there's no best or worst; just what you like and what you don't" |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: April 14 2007 at 19:09
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After giving to Guigo what belongs to Guigo, here is my list:
The role of a backing vocalistt is very hard, they need to sing well but they must never overshadow the frontman, they must blend perfectly in order to support the leader where he/she is weak and that needs training
Iván -------------
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Posted By: proggy
Date Posted: April 14 2007 at 19:23
| For me, Chris Squire is the best. Espically on "Sound Chaser".... |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: April 14 2007 at 20:46
| I'd like to add the Shulman brothers & Kerry Minnear. Along with Gary Green, these guys had quite a vocal ensemble. |
Posted By: Evandro Martini
Date Posted: April 14 2007 at 21:30
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Chris and Steve are the best ones to me. Although Steve's voice alone is absolutely unpleasant, together with the others, it is marvellous. The "Coins and Crosses' part of And You And I is for me the quintessence of a good vocal arrangement, especially live on Yessongs. |
Posted By: Atkingani
Date Posted: April 14 2007 at 21:34
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Just remembered that some classic Genesis backing vocals were done by Mike Rutherford.
I recommend also if possible to check those bands that like to harmonize the 3 voices, like O Terço (Brasil) and La Máquina de Hacer Pájaros (Argentina). Both are great! ------------- Guigo ~~~~~~ |
Posted By: proglil49
Date Posted: April 14 2007 at 22:14
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Mike Portnoy has been great in DT, also Phil Collins when him and Gabriel were in Genesis. ------------- I want to be an astronaut |
Posted By: pogoowner
Date Posted: April 14 2007 at 22:38
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As has been mentioned, Robby Steinhardt did a great job with Kansas. Also, though they aren't prog, I'll mention Alice in Chains. Jerry Cantrell did an amazing job in conjunction with Layne Staley.
------------- And it might as well be raining, 'cause the sunlight hurts his eyes, And his ears will never hear the children's cries |
Posted By: Evolver
Date Posted: April 14 2007 at 22:46
I must agree with this post.
Echolyn does a fair imitation at times, as did Spock's Beard on occasion. ------------- Trust me. I know what I'm doing. |
Posted By: Topographic
Date Posted: April 14 2007 at 23:00
I have to concur about Squire. He blends perfectly well with Anderson. Heck, Howe, as much as I may not care for his voice by itself, blends well with Squire and Anderson. (I'd liken Steve's voice to cumin. It tastes great blended into something, but have you ever tried using cumin in place of salt? )On the subject of Yes, I'd also say Peter Banks was actually a very good backing singer, and he really gives the harmonies a very different character than later Yes with Howe--not better or worse (equal in my opinion), but different. I'd also say with the Moody Blues that Lodge backs Hayward superbly. Personally, Hayward is a better lead for my taste at least. -Topographic |
Posted By: Sasquamo
Date Posted: April 14 2007 at 23:04
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Hmmmm... best backing vocals? John Coltrane chanting "a love supreme" on Part 1: Acknowledgement |
Posted By: Arrrghus
Date Posted: April 14 2007 at 23:14
 ------------- 
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Posted By: walrus
Date Posted: April 14 2007 at 23:16
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HARRISON, MCCARTNEY AND LENNON BY THE BEATLES ARE GREAT, BUT ALSO ED OBRIEN OF RADIOHEAD... I love his backing vocals ------------- you and whose army? |
Posted By: dedalus
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 06:13
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John Wesley for PT
Schullman for GG
Nick D'Virgilio for SB
Tony Levin for PG and KC
Cheers
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Posted By: paolo.beenees
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 06:28
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It's got to do with backing vocals... the vocal harmonies by the New Trolls are really amazing. Nico di Palo and Vittorio de Scalzi used to have the lead role, but backing Gianni Belleno, Giorgio D'Adamo and, later, Ricky Belloni are also essential. ------------- 
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Posted By: fuxi
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 07:29
| Robert Wyatt joining Kevin Ayers for the chorus in WHATEVERSHEBRINGSWESING's sublime title track! |
Posted By: eddietrooper
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 10:30
| I second Chis Squire. Yes wouldn't be the same without his backing vocals. In fact the album "ABWH" sounds much less "Yessy" than Drama, for example. Trevorn Horn + Squire managed to sound much closer to classic Yes than Anderson alone, despite the poor vocal ability from Horn. |
Posted By: darksideof
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 11:30
I agree however I prefer Phil singing leads most peter's genesis songs any day. I love Second out.!!!! ------------- http://darksideofcollages.blogspot.com/ http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Darksideof-Collages/ |
Posted By: endlessepic
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 12:34
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Gentle Giant! Also, Greg Lake on lucky man...although that is with himself. |
Posted By: Passionist
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 12:40
Hm, obviously the whole Jethro Tull band on Songs From The Wood. You've all heard it 
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Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 12:42
If I choosed a JT song with great backling and chorus I would go with "Songs from the Wood" also. .
Iván -------------
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Posted By: King Zappa
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 12:45
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I'm quite partial to the combined lead and backing of Zappa, Willis, Keneally, Martin on Broadway The Hardway and The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life. ------------- Good, Better, Best. Never let it rest, Till your Good be Better and your Better, Best |
Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 13:43
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The guys from I Giganti on Terra In Bocca, and indeed: Yes has Squire (and Howe).
Non prog: the backing vocals on Donald Fagen's albums (probably it was himself again), CSNY and Beach Boys.
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Posted By: ProgFan
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 15:51
| Angela Gordon Goldthorpe by Mostly Autumn |
Posted By: stewe
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 17:56
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May, Taylor to Mercury Rabin, Squire to Anderson Shaw, Young to DeYoung D'Virgillio, A.Morse to N.Morse Wolstenholm, Lees to Holroyd A.Geffen and S.Wilson ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/trevorrabin/?chartstyle=basic10" rel="nofollow">  <a href="http://steveer.ic.cz" rel="nofollow" |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 21:17
STYX'S case is much me complex.
De Young: Rocking the Paradise, Come Sail Away
Tommy Shaw: Fooling Yourself, Boat on a River
James Young: Miss America, Snowblind
Are all lead vocalists in some tracks, and all where backing vocalists when others are singing, plus at least Chuck Panozzo's backing vocals are alkso very good.
Iván -------------
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Posted By: el böthy
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 23:27
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I would say the guys from Queen probably take the cake... May alone is a good singer, but of course he had to be in second place when he sung aong with the voice of all voices
------------- "You want me to play what, Robert?" 
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Posted By: puma
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 23:39
| Don't forget the amazing backing vocals Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth does on Deadwing |
Posted By: darksideof
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 23:41
My all the time fav' jethro tull album. It is such a wonderful album. The vocals parts are so especial.  ------------- http://darksideofcollages.blogspot.com/ http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Darksideof-Collages/ |
Posted By: BroSpence
Date Posted: April 15 2007 at 23:59
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Two of the best backing vocalists: Mike Mills (R.E.M), and Michael Anthony. So distinctive and they add so much. Mike Mills especially because he can sing lead and it still sounds awesome. |
Posted By: stewe
Date Posted: April 16 2007 at 05:00
That's right.. but still DeYoung is for me their most important singer maybe along with Shaw. Also BJH alternate lead vocals quite often. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/trevorrabin/?chartstyle=basic10" rel="nofollow"> <a href="http://steveer.ic.cz" rel="nofollow" |
Posted By: Heptade
Date Posted: April 16 2007 at 13:17
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Queen definitely stands out, especially Roger Taylor. I'd say the Moodies, but they don't seem to be able to pull it off live very well, a problem that Roger McGuinn claims the original Byrds lineup had. As mentioned earlier, Gentle Giant had some crazy group vocals going on, which, if the DVD is evidence, they could do live as well.
When Richard Sinclair was foolish enough to let Pye or Andy Latimer (both decent vocalists, though) handle the leads instead of himself, he was a great backing vocalist. All hail Richard! ------------- The world keeps spinning, people keep sinning And all the rest is just bullsh*t -Steve Kilbey |
Posted By: Yito
Date Posted: April 16 2007 at 13:42
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NICK D'VIRGILIO
Backing vocals in Spock's Beard in the Neal Morse era (now he is the lead singer). ------------- Psalm 96 1 Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. |
Posted By: Rolling Ronnie
Date Posted: April 19 2007 at 05:49
For me it has to be The Northettes  |
Posted By: Moogtron III
Date Posted: April 19 2007 at 06:01
If the Northettes were backing vocalists, I would have chosen them as well.
But are they? I can't remember that they back up a lead vocalist. |
Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: April 19 2007 at 06:31
Deacon doesn't sing at all Ivan, but May and taylot are excellent vocalists in their own right too. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Guillermo
Date Posted: April 19 2007 at 11:50
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-YES: Squire, Banks, Rabin, Howe and Sherwood. I saw YES in concert in two different tours with Sherwood. I almost never head his guitar during the concerts (except when he played Rabin`s lead guitar parts), but I could see and hear that most of the time he was singing very good backing vocals.
-Chris Rainbow: IMO, he is a very good singer. There is an Alan Parsons Project song called "Time". He recorded several excellent backing vocals in that song. He also sings very good backing vocals in most songs of Jon Anderson`s "Song of Seven" album. Other very good singers who alternated doing lead and backing vocals were Chris Thompson and Gary howard in Alan Parson`s "Live" album.
-The members of Queen. They are one of the best in Rock. I have a videoclip of them playing "Somebody to Love" in concert in 1978 or 1979. Deacon sang a bit, but most of the backing vocals were sung by Taylor (very good) and May.
-Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Not Prog, but particularly Crosby, IMO, has one of the
best voices. He and Nash appear in "On an Island" from David Gilmour. Also The Byrds as a band sang very good backing vocals with him.
-Collins, Banks and Rutherford in Genesis. Like Howe`s, Rutherford`s vocals as lead singer are not good, but as backing singer he does a good job. ------------- Avatar: Photo of Solar Eclipse, Mexico City, July 1991. A great experience to see. Maybe once in a lifetime. |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: April 19 2007 at 12:44
Maybe because I've seen their vocal exercises on DVD, but has anyone considered Gentle Giant's trio (sometimes quartet) of backing vocals. I always get a kick of watching Green, Shulman, Shulman, & Minnear do their Accapella tour de force. Precision, thy name is name is GG. 
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Posted By: Rolling Ronnie
Date Posted: April 19 2007 at 13:01
It's stretching the definition a bit, but let's call Robert Wyatt and Richard Sinclair the lead vocalists. It's worth it to get them a mention |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: April 19 2007 at 15:45
Snow Dog wrote:
I also thought that Ian, but a few months ago I was watching a special about Queen in History Chanell and Deacon was complaining why people never mention his vocal participation in some songs like Bohemian Rhapsody where he helped with the low ranges.
He recognized he's not a vocalist but he repeated they all helped with some backing.
I believe the band sounds perfect, but because I have the same douts as you I included the word EVEN before Deacon's name.
Iván -------------
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Posted By: prog4evr
Date Posted: May 29 2007 at 04:11
| Agreed on Steinhardt with Kansas, Squire with Yes, and Rutherford with Genesis... |
Posted By: Syzygy
Date Posted: May 29 2007 at 07:01
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Jon Anderson backed by Chris Squire and Steve Howe, as others have already pointed out, is probably the best combination of voices among the big prog bands.
Gentle Giant (Shulmans plus Minnear) - again, plenty of posters have gone for them, with good reason.
Zappa's band on Sheik Yerbouti also achieved a very rich and deep vocal sound, as did the slightly later line up with Ike Willis and Ray White.
Koenjihyakkei's current line up has some incredible vocal harmonies, something that Yoshida Tatsuya also incorporated into Ruins Symphonica.
Beating all of them, however, is the mighty Magma. The current line up with Stella Vander, Isabelle Feuillebois, Antoine Paganotti and Himiko Paganotti is absolutely amazing. ------------- 'Like so many of you I've got my doubts about how much to contribute to the already rich among us...' Robert Wyatt, Gloria Gloom |