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Acts whose music is ruined by the vocals
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Popel Vooje
5373 posts

Acts whose music is ruined by the vocals
Feb 19, 2003, 13:17
Just been reading the Nick Cave thread. Whilst I am agnostic with regards to Cave himself - made a few good albums back in the late 80s/early 90s but has been coasting it ever since in my opinion - I'd be interested to know if other HHers have ever come across acts whom they feel they could like, if it wasn't for the fact that all bets are off once the bloody awful singing starts.

My nominations will possibly upset a few people here, which is not my intention, but as Fitter said during the Cave thread, each to their own and all that.

The first one would have to be Family. A couple of months ago, a friend copied me "Music In A Doll's House", telling me he thought it would be up my street. I admit, the first few bars sounded promising. But then ... this horrible, strangulated, bleating gargle (apparently emanating from the throat of one Roger Chapman) started bellowing out over the top, throwing the whole thing out of kilter and rendering it unlistenable to me. I've played that album five times so far and whilst the music is fine and dandy I'm afraid the voice still ruins it for my ears.

Joan Baez - Unlike some HHers, I've nothing against folk music per se. I could listen to Bert Jansch or Shirley Collins anytime. But this woman seems unable to open her mouth without emitting a tone shrill enough to crack wine glasses. Everything is bellowed out at the same histrionic, over-emoted level with no dynamics or contrast. You get the impression that if her producer instructed her to try singing quietly for once, she'd probably have an orgasm out of sheer frustration.

The Incredible String Band - Again, as with Family, some of the music is highly interesting and evocative, but try as I might I just can't stomach Robin Williamson's silly hippie burr (although Mike Heron's voice on it's own is not too bad).

Lou Reed's late 70s material. On the four highly uneven albums he recorded for Arista, Lou seems to have decided to experiment with becoming a proper singer for a change. Biggest mistake of his career, in my opinion. Should have stuck to the dry, half-singing, half-talking deadpan that helped make his early work, not to mention the "New York"/"Songs For Drella"/"Magic And Loss" trilogy so great. If you want a proper singer, look to John Cale.
Replies:
Re: Acts whose music is ruined by the vocals (PaulMakesMusic)
Re: Acts whose music is ruined by the vocals (Squid Tempest)
Re: Acts whose music is ruined by the vocals (grrr)
Re: Acts whose music is ruined by the vocals (Severin)
Re: Acts whose music is ruined by the vocals (Moon Cat)
Re: Acts whose music is ruined by the vocals (gm)
Re: Acts whose music is ruined by the vocals (23)
Re: Acts whose music is ruined by the vocals (Fitter Stoke)
Re: Acts whose music is ruined by the vocals (Serotonin)
Re: Acts whose music is ruined by the vo (pedanthonyqkiernan)
Re: Acts whose music is ruined by the vocals (Toni Torino)
Re: Acts whose music is ruined by the vocals (Vybik Jon)
Re: Acts whose music is ruined by the vo (Billy Milk)
Re: Acts whose music is ruined by the vocals (radagast)
Cradle of Filth (dizzyfarie)
Re: Acts whose music is ruined by the vocals (Lord Lucan)
Re: Acts whose music is ruined by the vocals (Stevo)
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