Friday Five

[ericcoleman]

Top Five Favorite Rock Lead Singers
1 - Roger Daltry - The Who
2 - Michael Been - The Call
3 - Angelo Moore - Fishbone
4 - Chrissie Hynde - The Pretenders
5 - Maynard James Keenan - Tool

Comments

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

VAN MORRISON (he could sing the phone book & I'd listen), Ray Davies, Ray Thomas, Neil Young, Ann Wilson.

[ericcoleman]

We were just talking about Van right after I posted the list. Van transcends everything. There needs to be a list that is top 5 Van Morrisons, and he is all five.

I cannot stand Ann Wilson, she has yet to meet a song that she doesn't feel the need to yell through.

Ray and Neil will most probably be on my list of songwriters, Ray definitely, Neil probably.

I just can't take most of the Moody Blues stuff, it's gorgeous and amazing, but it's just too bland for me.

[rose1thorn.livejournal.com]

Van Morrison, absolutely! I can't believe you left him off the list. Although I suppose you can make the argument that he's more jazz than strictly rock in the sense of Daltry, for example.

I'm in total agreement with ericcoleman. I just do not understand why people think she's so good. If someone could explain...

[ericcoleman]

Freddie is on an upcoming list ... Greg ... I love Greg's voice, ELP just aren't high enough on my music radar for him to show up.

[mike46.livejournal.com]

Well, my list is off the top of my head, and probably influenced by what I've been listening to lately ... I'm definately missing tons of singers I like

1. Ronnie James Dio
2. Rob Halford
3. Blackie Lawless
4. Tony Martin or Alice Cooper
5. Noddy Holder

[ericcoleman]

Alice could be on another list that is coming up. Noddy could be on this list easily, depending on how recently I have been listening to Slade (not recently enough). I love both Dio and Halford, but don't like either band they are in enough to listen to them often enough. Tony has always seemed a little generic to me. I am hoping that the Blackie thing is a joke.

[coburnsteeth.livejournal.com]

Lisa Kekaula from The BellRays/MC5

MONSTER voice. Think Aretha Franklin fronting a punk band.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

Must I?

[bammba-m.livejournal.com]

i have no idea why i am so continually surprised by your musical tastes. but i totally am. and you rock, by the way.

[ericcoleman]

My comment on my record collection was Abba to Zappa ...

Name a genre and I am likely to have it in my collection ... this of course is the invitation for some gerbil to comment with some obscure sub-section of some sort of music that no one is really interested in, except people who are trying to impress other people with how diverse they are.

[wylderwolf.livejournal.com]

Gotta agree with Maynard, specifically. Of course, part of my love for him (aside from the brilliant music and vocal layers) is the fact that he's a complete freak of a minimalist. At least, he was at one point when I saw a "Cribs" show on him. Basically a good sized apartment that had a bed roll, a computer, some instruments, and not much else.

[ericcoleman]

The "of a minimalist" part just isn't necessary. This is the man who spent one whole tour singing from in back of the drum riser. He's just a complete freak.

Mine, In No Particular Order

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

1. Meat Loaf
2. Roger Daltrey
3. Annie Lennox
4. Steven Page
5. Alice Cooper (not much technique, but there is no better salesman of his songs)

Re: Mine, In No Particular Order

[ericcoleman]

Meat could make my list sometimes, as could Annie. Alice is a much better singer than folks give him credit for, but as I said elsewhere, he may make another list in a few weeks.

For what it's worth...

[rose1thorn.livejournal.com]

I'll throw in my $.02

1. Dave Matthews. I've never heard someone so completely vocally uninhibited, aside from...

2. Freddie Mercury

3. Meatloaf. You gotta love how he can belt out a song. He is amazing.

4. David Lee Roth. I'll just say I'm never bored by his vocals.

5. Tommy Shaw for pure clarity of tone.

edit to add something almost completely off topic: My dear daughter recognizes and loves your guitar work. :-)

Re: For what it's worth...

[ericcoleman]

Dave Matthews doesn't sound like he is singing, he sounds like he is coughing up a furball. I have never heard such mannered, throat closed mumbling in my life. I LOVE the band, incredible music, and if they had a decent singer I could stand to listen to them.

Diamond Dave is not a great singer, but he is very possibly on another list coming up soon.

Tommy Shaw, at least he isn't that castrati guy in Styx.

The rest I have commented on elsewhere in this thread

Re: For what it's worth...

[ericcoleman]

alymid described my style perfectly. She called it my "Hillbilly Punk Strum".

I'm not a great guitar player, but I am fervent.

[hardly-angelic.livejournal.com]

Elton - up until 1982-ish anyway, when the coke damage really became evident.

Robin Zander - criminally underrated.

Ann Wilson - through 1980. I quit listening for the most part after Private Audition, although Jupiter's Darling ain't half bad. And while I'm not exactly enamored of it, her solo disc, "Hope And Glory" is pretty damned understated.

Freddie Mercury - yeah, he lost his way eventually, but I don't care. There will never be another one like him.

Maynard - I actually like his APC stuff better than Tool, but wow, the Puscifier project sucks.

Yeah, I'm leaving Plant, Bowie, Steven Tyler and the Coop off, because I think they're better frontmen than singers, per se. Plant had completely blown his voice out around Houses of the Holy anyway, Bowie doesn't transcend his Anthony Newley fixation that often, and I haven't listened to much of anything Aerosmith's done since the invasion of the song doctors. I thought about adding Paul Rodgers or Steve Winwood to the list too, but I *hate* PR's stint with "Queen" and I can't stomach Winwood's AOR run.

And Daltrey? *snicker* And yet you complain that Ann Wilson bellows? There's a reason why Towser's demos tend to sound better than the band recordings. I like Roger enough, he's an icon after all, but truly, without Pete, he's nothing but a ham-fisted (ham-throated?) belter, and anyway he blew his throat out in, what - 1973?

[ericcoleman]

I pulled up Live At Leeds, the Who at their most excessive. I don't hear any of the yelling-in-place-of-real-emotion that Ann Wilson pulls. Yeah he can bellow with the best of them, but most of the time he sings. Ann sings like that one yell in Won't Get Fooled Again all the time. And he kept his voice up pretty well till the late 70s. Listen to the live stuff from the last show in The Kids Are Alright, that is a voice that is completely intact. And yeah, Pete is the band, his words and music are unbeatable, but ... there are things that simply don't sound right in his thinner voice.

There will be a separate front man list ... probably next week. Only two of the above have a chance of making the list as far as I am concerned.

Try singing Space Oddity like you were Littlechap ... it's hysterical.

I loved Free, Generally, I can't stand anything else PR did. Bad Company had some moments, odd since Mick was one of my favorite guitar players when he was in Mott.

All of Winwood's solo records are muzak, period.

I would put Elton a little earlier in the not worth listening to category, but only a few years. Tumbleweeds Connections is one of my all time favorite records

I am thinking about an underrated list ... Robin would definitely be on that list, he's incredible.

[druidsfire.livejournal.com]

Jon Anderson of Yes.

So other voice speaks to me anywhere near as emotionally, almost spiritually.

[ericcoleman]

I love his voice, and I do like a lot of Yes ... but ... those lyrics ...

My take

[ka-klick.livejournal.com]

Got to say I side w. the folks who'd take Ann Wilson over Roger Daltry, I really don't get your "yelling instead of emotion" thing, I never get the feeling she's out of control at all. I do think Heart lost it's way after the first couple albums, but her control is practically operatic (which I never got out of Daltry). That said I still love Roger, but I don't think I'd put him at the top of my 5 list. Hmm. I'll just leave both of them off the list.

Speaking of Opera, Pat Benetar needs at least an honorable mention.

Grace Slick
Danny Elfman
Chrissie Hynde (You got that one pegged)
Ike Willis (One of Frank Zappas shifting cast of great musicians, on several of Zappa's 70s and 80s records)
Elvis Costello

thought I'd mostly add new names to the discussion w/ these at least.

btw - once Steve Winwood went AOR I agree he's pretty unredeemable, but he did some pretty interesting stuff in the mid 70's w/ Stomu Yamashita and Chris Schreve and his stuff w/ Spencer Davis, Traffic and Blind Faith kicked some booty.

Along those lines I was tempted by Jack Bruce as well. Just showing my brit blues rock penchant I guess.

Some others I considered, but felt were too "outside" the category:

Kate Bush - probably the most amazing voice I can think of.
Tori Amos
Aimee Mann
Joni Mitchell
Glen Tillbrook
Steve Page & Ed Robertson (hard to separate them) BNL
Gwen Stefani (when she was with No Doubt)

That's enough. I have a hard time w. top 5 lists. And it's getting late.

Re: My take

[ericcoleman]

Notice I said Winwood's solo stuff ... ewwwww ... oh, and Mike Shrieve.
I like Jack Bruce's voice, but outside of Cream what did he do really?

I adore Kate, but I don't really consider her a rock singer. She is one of my favorites though.
Kate Bush Lite would never make any list of mine except worst of.
Aimee is brilliant, but would never make this list. I really haven't liked much except for Til Tuesday.
Joni ... rock ??? When ??? Brilliant, but not really part of the same game, she's like Van, in her own game.
Glen, wow, I don't listen to enough of him, one of the greatest pop voices ever, right up there with Paul McCartney and Neil Finn (there is three of a top five).
Steve and Ed, oddly enough when Tom mentioned Steve, I thought about mentioning the two of them as you did here.
Gwen, am I the only one who thinks, when she was in No Doubt, that she sounded just like Russell Mael?

Re: My take

[ericcoleman]

I'll give Pat the same mention ... one of the few who have managed to take the severe training and still have a (completely) credible rock voice.

Grace we talked about elsewhere in the thread. Her moments were astounding. Does anyone except raving Jefferson Whatever fans remember much of anything else except White Rabbit and Somebody To Love? How much more was the she lead voice on? Friggin Marty Balin ...

Danny could make my list if I was in the right mood.

Ike, I forgot bout Ike, mostly because he is in that rotating category. What else did he do?

Elvis is more of a songwriter to me ... he is a great vocalist, but I don't really think of him as a singer.