Just watched a bit of the 10cc documentary and they were probably a better band than given credit for. Not least by me.
What struck me listening to songs like I’m Not In Love and I’m Mandy Fly Me, for the first time in ages, was how good a singer Eric Stewart is.
Control, phrasing and sweetness of tone. Possessing a soulful quality , with a hint of husk and a touch of break. I’d compare him to Colin Blunstone and even Paul McCartney. He’s that good.
Apart from singing, Eric Stewart is an accomplished producer, writer and guitarist. Good looking too. Dormant man crush rising.
When great singers are mentioned, you never hear much about Eric Stewart – but you should. He’s a great singer
Any thoughts on who else never gets a mention as a great singer, but is one?
I’ve always thought that Phil ‘Shiva’ Jones of Quintessence was, and is, an astoundingly underappreciated great singer – pitching, phrasing, tonal quality – from the glory days of the rock era.
From In Blissful Company (1969), ‘Manco Capac’:
Forgot to mention – baritone to falsetto, sounding great at either extremity and all points in between…
Good call.
I bang on about him a bit, but Jeff Lynne has a great voice that no one ever really pays any attention to.
http://youtu.be/hXWGGgh-GN4
Yep. Still is…
Great tonsils are truly rare.
Always nice to hear Jess but whenever great singers are talked about on this site you can’t really say he’s rarely mentioned.
Big fan of JR – but he does get a nod from the cognoscenti on a regular basis.
As does Terry Reid:
Terry Reid
Seed Of Memory
Good call.
I love Terry Reid’s “Seed of Memory.” It’s just a terrific album.
He has a certain level of recognition as a frontman, but it’s rare that anyone talks about David Johansen as an actual singer. (He probably doesn’t help himself by encouraging others not to take him too seriously.) But listen to this – he really sells it. His phrasing and sense of dynamics are spot on.
Agree – that’s good in the vein of non-singing singers of which Tom Waits is patron saint. At the risk of some kind of Afterword apostasy, i’ve never been that big a fan of his. So, I don’t mean to damn DJ by association whose voice has acquired the patina that age and experience give it allied to a study of the singer’s craft.
Somebody mentioned him recently here but Russel Mael doesn’t usually make the “great singer” list – but he so is.
Hang on, I hadn’t finished. Lots of pop stars were inspired by Sparks and without Russel I doubt we’d have had Billy McKenzie for one. Great voice and unique talent.
Was (Not Was) had not just one but two great singers.
Sweet Pea Atkinson and Harry Bowens.
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qblX4Qs8s9U
Where Did Your Heart Go? (Sweet Pea)
.
Somewhere In America There’s a Street Named After My Dad (Harry)
When great singers are mentioned, you never hear much about…
Ian Brown.
And no wonder.
He’s not very good.
Yes – have to say my approbation of Stone Roses and attendant material is more than somewhat dampened by the singularly undercooked vocal.
OK, not a ‘great’ in the company of Ella, Sarah or Aretha, but when she isn’t getting her knockers out, I think this lass is a fine singer.
http://youtu.be/Io-fgDPm5go
http://youtu.be/2mjvfnUAfyo
Runs for the hills…
Not something I’d considered previously but on that evidence I’d agree.
Already mentioned Paul Carrack once today on another thread, but I think he belongs on this one. Here he is doing the Boss – I think it’s gorgeous.
I’ve often thought if I had a music career I would like Paul Carrack’s. Hugely respected by his peers with a significant number of loyal fans. Making a reasonably tidy living without the pressure of mega stardom.
Above all else, that voice, which if only I sung to myself, would be joy sufficient.
Everybody’s voice sounds different inside their own heads. You might not like it.
His 80s albums don’t stand up very well, they’re just too damn, well, 80s, the sort of music you can imagine him singing with his jacket sleeves rolled up. But his more recent stuff is great.
PC has that ability associated with Lowell George. That seeming quality of letting a song just fall from his lips, plangent tone and without artifice. Like this
It Ain’t Easy To Love Somebody
Little Village. It was the dream team of Ry Cooder, John Hiatt, Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner. On paper it looked perfect, but in the event they never got past a low key debut album before falling apart.
But I’ve got bootlegs of a few concerts they did and the were simply great live.
Three of them could all sing well, but here’s the vastly underrated (as a vocalist) Nick Lowe taking lead vocals on Fool Who Knows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQI5ISfh-fg
I’m thinking that maybe Dion DiMucci is indeed mentioned when great singers are discussed so maybe he does not qualify but what the heck!
Here he is doing the Boss as well.
Good call. Here’s another favourite, from the era between his teen idol phase and his get-serious phase.
David Gilmour rightly gets loads of kudos for his guitar playing, but I reckon he has a fab voice too. Much like his guitar playing, it’s very tasteful and understated. On the recent documentary thingy he spoke about how he taught himself to sing and play guitar at the same time and they were equally important to him. I remember Roger Waters being reluctant to join him for a tongue-in-cheek recital of To Know Him Is To Love Him after they’d made up and everything, cos he reckoned David could sing anything and it would sound great, whereas Rog thought he’d make an arse of himself.
My favourite example of David’s singing is his vocal accompaniment to his guitar at the end of Wish You Were Here. A sort of scatting-type-thing that he does really well both on record and live. It’s a neat trick and one that he might have exploited more often had he not an abundance of other talents.
This is an interesting one. I’ve never been a Floydinista, mainly because I find them curiously cold to the touch. Partly, because I find the vocal delivery a little anodyne and uninvolving.
Eddie Hinton and Jason Molina.
Chess mainstay Mitty Collier. one of the most powerful, honest – and woefully neglected – female soul singers of the Sixties…..
Can honestly say I’d never even heard of her, let alone heard her – but that was great. I loves me some old school soul. That track put me in mind of a female James Carr.
I’d have to say Bob Dylan, at a certain age. Not before, not after. I grew up with his stuff and must admit to not getting him for ages, certainly not in the 60s. By Time Out Of Mind, however, he had developed a mellowness and had dropped much of his croaky cockiness to become a moving and authentic vocalist. That was late 90s. What was he? Mid 50s?
It obviously wasn’t to last. Seeing him live in the late Noughties, his voice was already shot to hell and he had stopped playing guitar too. Still a great man though and a fabulous DJ.
Dylan’s voice and its quality, or lack thereof, is probably a thread in its own right.
Well indeed @fin59 but not much chance of his voice being called great, eh?
Mitch Ryder. He had his moment in the sun but is now largely forgotten. Big influence on Bruce apparently.
https://www.youtube,com/watch?v=KEGS-pAEvCA
Bollocks! Let’s try this version (of Little Latin Lupe Lu)
Like that
Was dragged along to see Simply Red in Brighton last week. I/You may not like the man or many of his songs, but the man still has a great voice.
A great voice.
Mick Hucknall
Farther On Up The Road
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKtqjnoT7Sw