Who are some of the best vocalists in prog?

 

Mariusz Duda (Riverside)

Rikard Sjöblom (Beardfish)

Ian Kenny (Karnivool)

Sel Balamir (Amplifier)

Mike Vennart (Oceansize)

I don't think so and that is why I cited the example of Dio. He had such a long career and so many shows under his belt but there was barely a dent on his voice through the years.  Bruce Dickinson's voice too held up well over the years.  Halford and Tate ran into problems but that was on account of their lifestyle, particularly excessive drinking.  That is what I have tried to emphasize on this thread. What sounds throaty to the listener may not be so at all, it may be controlled and "safe" singing.  Anyhow, long story short, rock singers going over C5 definitely switch to head voice just like other singers.  What you are suggesting might have applied to Freddie Mercury who apparently contracted some voice problems later on in his career (and again, whether THAT was the cause or something else, I don't know). But high singing in rock/metal from 80s onwards, especially the Allen/Hansi types, is controlled and 'correct'. 

I mean, the bloke has to be the most ORIGINAL vocalist in prog, right?

 

Nice to see Francesco mentioned ... he is indeed very special.

 

It's hard to not think that Peter Hammill is probably the best, but his best work is behind him, and I am not sure that he is being as vital today as he was way back, when his use of the "voice" was unreal, and totally had many people wondering ... wow ... how can he do that? ... you can if you "live" your music --- and it's not just a song!

 

I would consider Freddie as well ... even though a lot of Queen's music might not be considered "progressive", but a lot of the work they did was far more progressive than most of the bands we list in the top 100! And not just a repetition either which tells you that they were about a lot more specific on the content and work they did, than most bands ever consider!

 

From the women's side, the best and worst is in one person, that is really hard for many folks to accept. Renate, from AD2 is an acquired taste, as she can be soft and gentle and then you listen to "Mozambique" and all you can say is ... ohhh my gawd ... it is down right vicious and so Peter Hammill like that it is scary ... not to mention that the lyrics are absolutely unreal and with it on top of it. She used her voice in many different ways and did a lot of different things, and you can see her operatic ability in "Yeti" and some other nice addons in other pieces through out. She is a totally non-conventional singer, and the kind of singer that we're likely to say ... gawd ... she's horrible, but that's like saying that the early days of Iggy were any better!

 

Annie Haslam has the range, but is, otherwise a very conventional singer on an excellent band that helped showcase and back her voice. Not sure how progressive that really is, other than ... just excellent musicianship and composition instead.

 

I have a hard time not including Roy Harper in these lists ... he is a fabulous singer and he can drone and groan and scream and shout with the best of them, and like Peter Hammill, he knows how to accentuate what he is saying ... on his later years he is losing that a bit, but he's still an excellent artist and his period from the mid 70's through the 80's is on par with PH's material and then some. We simply do not have the ear for music and poetry ... and we consider Peter progressive and Roy not ... simply because he uses an accoustic guitar instead of a keyboard.

 

Peter Gabriel is ok in my book. I think he got too infatuated with his fame and wanting to doll himself up with some girls here and there, and I hope that he comes back around and worry less about looking fabulous and instead do more music. He has experimented enough and heard enough, that I think that he has not figured out how to work with or use all that stuff ... but he really could use writing something like The Lamb again ... to help explore his insides better ... and get off the pop routines and material.

 

Jim Morrison is probably the best of them all, though ... there never has been as expressive and poetic a voice as his in rock music, and no one could dally from the weirdest to the most beautiful in such a poetic way. His band is not quite listed as "progressive" and it should be one of the bands that we should look at and appreciate the most. That kind of imagery, poetry, lyrics and creativity to color the words, is what "progressive" was all about ... the rest is not worth discussing!

 

Wait a minute ... you guys making an assumption that "progressice" this or that, actually knows and understands "resonance" ... ??? 

 

I'm not sure this is necessary ... since in the end, the restrictions and a lot of the defined details tend to restrict expression and say ... "you can't do that" ... and in the end, the fact of the matter is that the 60's was a time when "voice" was explored ... and this was extremelly visible in the theater circles and there is no reason to see that it was not happening in the music circles, because it was ... many of these people and bands were around a lot of these things and explorations ... and it helped music tremendously, when you see someone like Jim Morrison do his l=poetry on many pieces of music with the excellent use of his voice.

 

Other vocal things were also done, with a lot of modern writers involved with more than one artist, and Mr. Nekkid Lunch has more band connections directly than PA will ever list! And it triggered different music being done and created in the same style that he used to discuss ... which was called 52 stentence pick up ... and the order? ... who cares! ... and you know that the emotional content in that sequence is ... messed up and ... how do you interpret it?

 

Now discussing vocalists is an issue when you get into some of the Eastern voices, that have far more range, and depth than ANY rock, or opera singer out there ... to the point that almost NONE of them have the guts to try different things in the other countries. And western music is easy for many of these eastern singers because the scale is simple by comparison to their scales and notes!

 

But let's not get into "preferences" as the dividing line as to what good singing is ... because 95 out of 100 Western singers ... rarely come close!

 

As for some opera singers ... there are some differences. You can catch Renata Tebaldi and Birgit Nilsson duke it out in Turandot ... and Tebaldi is very soft and smooth, and Nilsson is very powerful and not as smooth and I keep thinking that Nilsson's is more Germanic style of singing, specially Wagner, where the ability to make it through and last out a long time is way more important than otherwise ... most opera singers do not do Wagner, and it becomes an endurance test! Tebaldi, like many Italians is very smooth and clean and it is very much in line with the Italian music, which is expressive and romantic and emotional.

 

I had a name for the men opera singers, the version of Tosca that we have in Santa Barbara, and he is extremelly smooth, while Pavarotti is almost all power ... and I always thought that he lacked the subtlety that softness could add to singing. He was good, mind you, but not complete for my tastes? Just an example ... I'll find out the name of that other singer and update this post.