come on guys, Joni Mitchell. I can't think of anyone in popular music with a better voice than Joni Mitchell.
I think her voice is the worst aspect of her music. I put her in the same boat as Gordon Lightfoot: Artists with superior song writing and sub-par voices.
quote:
Also, Chris Cornell has a great voice even though the recent Audioslave stuff hasn't been that good. It really shone through during the Soundgarden years.
Agreed on this one. If you haven't heard his solo album, check it out.
Posts: 1206 | Location: Hunting in the Korengal | Registered: 04 January 2006
Originally posted by MoviemanRMM: come on guys, Joni Mitchell. I can't think of anyone in popular music with a better voice than Joni Mitchell.
Also, Chris Cornell has a great voice even though the recent Audioslave stuff hasn't been that good. It really shone through during the Soundgarden years.
The thread isn't asking who has the best voice. For that, you can post Joni and Brian here.
Posts: 3130 | Location: FoCo | Registered: 07 January 2005
Originally posted by paxsoprano: Patti Smith has also always been one of my favorite vocalists. Very sultry.
I was listening to Patti today and realizing how sexy her voice is. I think especially on Horses she takes pretty insane risks with her voice, especially given when it was released and the fact that it was her first album.
As for me, it doesnt really get better than Allison Krause. Her voice can sell bad music, bad lyrics and thin melodies, but thankfully her stuff with Union Station is wonderful on music and melody and only mediocre in the lyrics department. The only detractor is that when she isn't singing, Union Station on its own gets really boring and very typically folky
come on guys, Joni Mitchell. I can't think of anyone in popular music with a better voice than Joni Mitchell.
I think her voice is the worst aspect of her music. I put her in the same boat as Gordon Lightfoot: Artists with superior song writing and sub-par voices.
Also I don't think i could agree with you less. I'm a big Joni fan, and she has one of the most perfectly emotive voices of all time. She's one of the few people who i think can subtely and almost imperceptibly change the tone of her voice on one line of a song and chhange the whole song's meaning. And that range, damn.
Linda Ronstadt. An amazing vocal range over a wide range of genres and styles. Of course she's basically an interpretive singer but she's introduced many (me included) to singer/songwriters who might have slipped by some of us had it not been for those pipes of hers doing justice to the songs she covers. She turns 60 today and she hasn't lost too much of those amazing vocal abilities.
Posts: 8777 | Location: State of Insanity | Registered: 22 September 2005
I love Neil Finn's voice (Crowded House). He seems to combine the best features of Paul McCartney and John Lennon's voices...he can belt it out with abandon a la "Twist And Shout," sing strong but controlled, or sing wispy ballads, or any number of variations inbetween.
He's also got a pretty wide range...low and gravelly up to a full, round falsetto. He tends to jump around his registers a lot, going from throat to falsetto to chest without much effort. As "traditional" as his singing style can seem sometimes, no one else sings quite like him, and his voice itself is distinctive and not likely to be mistaken for someone else's. His singing walks that fine line between being invitingly familiar and idiosyncratic.
Originally posted by SanchoPanza!!!: Oh yeah, forgot about Serj Tankian from System of a Down. Growls, screeches, whispers, vibrato...you name it. Great voice, could be an opera singer if he wanted.
Serj Tankian (system of a down) is a former opera singer... in his home country I think.
He has an insane voice, just listen to Holy Mountain from the last album "Hypnotize".
Chris Cornell (Audioslaves, formerly soundgarden) has a great voice too, but I dont think its as good as Serj's, or Ronnie James Dio (Rainbow, Dio, Black sabbath... yea seriously!)...
Bruce Dickinson (iron maiden), thats a great voice as well!
Eddie Vedder (pearl jam) is one of those great singers also.
Best: Ronnie James dio tied with Serj Tankian
This message has been edited. Last edited by: lewis,
Originally posted by in limbo: I don't know if she fits under the rock category, but Bjork has the greatest voice of any woman ever. Angelic and divine are words that spring to mind when I hear her sing anything.
I would say Bonnie Tyler would give her a run for her money. From the jusky 'It's a heartache' to the to amazing power ballad of 'total eclipse of the heart' her voice is just amazing..
Meat Loaf as well has one of the most powerful vocies around. It just carries such majesty and force.
- Jeff Buckley's singing in "Corpus Christi Carol" has got to be one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. Not only is his range astonishing, but the way he switches between octaves in this song is heartbreakingly beautiful.
- Thom Yorke's falsetto just kills me. Especially on songs like "Black Star" and "Street Spirit" (The Bends) and "The Mess We're In" (his duet with P.J. Harvey on her album "Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea"). And, speaking of, P.J. Harvey has probably my favorite female singing voice, ever. At least from the last two decades.
- Rufus Wainwright has a particularly beautiful voice, too. I especially like his voice in "The Maker Makes" (from the "Brokeback Mountain" soundtrack) and "Greek Song" (from "Poses") is probably the best example of his impeccible range that I can think of.
- From this year so far, the best vocals on an album has to be Zach Condon (Beirut), especially his wordless-wail on the title track and his singing on "Mount Worclai."
- Lastly, Smiths-era Morrissey. I especially liked his vocal acrobatics on songs such as "Headmaster Ritual" and "Barbarism Begins at Home" and at the end of "The Boy With a Thorn In His Side."
"Be yourself. Unless you suck." -Buffy, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
Posts: 60 | Location: Midwest United States | Registered: 03 August 2005
Eh, most of the best vocalists have already been mentioned. However, there's been a distinct lack of love for Maynard James Keenan. I'm not sure how good his range is, but the man has a great "rock voice" and a beautiful singing voice to boot. Other favourites of mine (already mentioned, I know) would be Chris Cornell, Mike Patton, David Bowie, Jeff Buckley, Thom Yorke, Matt Bellamy and Serj Tankian.
"I like pleasure spiked with pain and music is my aeroplane"
Posts: 15 | Location: Newcastle upon Tyne/Manchester (Uni.), England | Registered: 17 August 2006
Originally posted by dano: Jeff Buckley had a 3 or 4 octave range. He could change his voice pretty effectively in other ways as well.
Jeff Buckley had a 4 octave range and is probably one of the most talented vocalists in rock music ever. He could go from a shattering bass thrust to an orgasmic falsetto pitch.
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