Somebody mentioned Carole king, not a bad voice at all, great on her one good album. And Roy Orbison had a voice like a song bird. Funny he's on here.
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If you like Bob Dylan then Tony Bird needs to be on this list. I've mentioned him several times over the years on these posts. Nobody ever commented on him. It;s a shame. He was a GREAT stage act. He was a white guy from Africa who moved to NYC. Paul Simon consulted him when he was working on the Graceland LP. Bob Dylan visited one of his shows. Harry Belafonte included a Tony Bird song in his repertoire. Check him out people! Joe |
What constitutes a "golden" voice? I'm gobsmacked at a large number of singers mentioned on this thread that are absolutely superb vocalists. From what I can infer, a lot of focus seems to be on vocal timbre and to a lesser extent, range. But the world is full of "X Factor" voices that have zero character. Golden voice?
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@ticat To my ears, David Bowie possessed one of the finest singing voices ever. Tone. Diction. Range. Emotional expression. To be sure, there were a number of albums where he went to places his voice perhaps should not have gone, but being unafraid of pushing boundaries was an essential aspect of his genius. |
Superlative female vocals: Lady Gaga Roxanne Potvin Marina Celeste The Buzzhorn, Course of Nature, Pulse Ultra - absolutely stellar alternative rock bands. For the record, Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World and Five for Fighting - 100 Years:are atrocious...the vocals. What a wonderful world the song I’ll play when I’ve got a week to live on my death-bed; and 100 years is the only song that can make a person feel guilty for being alive...reminding them that life is short and we’re all going to die one day. |
I have come very late in life to an appreciation of Agnetha Faltskog of ABBA. Aside from being gorgeous, in her prime I think she had one of the finest voices in pop music. Such bell-like purity of tone, incredible range without over singing, incredible versatility. And of course when combined with Frida the famous ABBA “third voice” arose. Both girls were talented singers to start out with but Benny and |
I thought I'd revisit my guilty pleasures with how guilty they are Louis Armstrong 9 albums alone and duets & 5 album Autobiography Rod Stewart 2 Jeff Beck , 4 Faces , 5 Rod Stewart - not including second copies John Prine 9 on self and 3 in storage Billie Holiday 7 albums Bob Dylan 2 & 4 album biograph Neil Young 1 C.S.N & Y & 4 solo & 1 Stills Young Band in storage David Bromberg. 3 albums and I'll add Janis Joplin. 1 solo and 3 with Big Brother and the Holding Company I am very guilty of having guilty pleasures . |
^^^ Whoah, I managed to post this in the wrong thread. I meant this for the thread about favorite female singers! |
Haven't been posting here lately but this is too good to miss. There are lots of people who have technically great voices but there are far fewer who know how to sing. Technical perfection is a skill, singing is an art! As far as artists who are great singers but don't have a golden voice: John Prine Towns Van Zant Kris Kristofferson Lucinda Williams Janis Joplin Dylan of course Cyndi Lauper Warren Zevon Guy Clark You'll notice one common thread besides my musical taste...they are all great songwriters, so maybe they know how to communicate the emotion and the essence of their songs because it comes from deep inside them. Of course that's not to say that there are not great singers with golden voices who are not songwriters. Linda Ronstadt and Eva Cassidy come to mind, immediately
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Tom Verlaine David Bryne Win Butler Joe Strummer Robert Smith Satomi Matsuzaki David Sylvian Mary Timony John King Iggy Pop Gary Newman John Foxx Robert Forster Howard Devoto Ian Dury Jim Reid Lloyd Cole Robyn Hitchcock Patti Smith Jon Langford Ian Hunter David Thomas Roger Waters Snakerfinger The Residents Carrie Brownstein Matt Johnson Guy Kyser Gordon Gano |
When it comes to popular music hardly anyone can be called a great singer. Cilla Black is ok on gentle ballads, as almost everyone else is too, but on anything more physically challenging she transforms into 'Killa' Black as her voice turns into an unmelodic screech. Thankfully she still has some material worth listening to, as opposed to the likes of Billie Holiday or Adele whose voices seem mainly designed to inflict pain upon the listener.
Even worse, some of the very best lyricists and songwriters seem to have unpleasant voices which get increasingly unbearable when they're called upon to sing louder. Elvis Costello Bob Dylan Bruce Springsteen Bono
But then again not again everyone can be a Roy Orbison or a Robert Plant.
With Bob Dylan it's particularly bad on some of his live albums and 1980s work.
As an example you can compare his official release of 1975s Idiot Wind with the unreleased 1974 version.
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