King of Wishful Thinking by Go West is, in my opinion, a rather fine pop single. The singer, Peter Cox, has a fine set of pipes, but…he’s doing a bit too much. He must’ve been blowing like a Bloodhound after each take, such is the sheer welly he puts into each spit-flecked syllable.
Any other examples of vocal performances that just do a bit too much?
Vid in comments (note: turn volume down).
Meatloaf’s exertions were so extreme that he had an oxygen cylinder backstage to get him through gigs. A very sweaty man.
Pete Cox also perspires like a fire hydrant in the We Close our Eyes video.
I respect hard work and performers giving their all, but the front row must get drenched.
There was a trend a few years ago of performers giving themselves a sprinkling of glitter so that their sweat looked a little bit more magical.
Mr Cox well moist in this, and Mr. Vetesse displays exemplary keyboard stackage.
That is top notch. They were really good live.
I like them a lot. They had some excellent musicians playing with them, like Vetesse, and Alan Murphy on guitar. Real shame he died.
Most of Tony Hadley’s vocals were a bit lusty. Great voice but 80s vulgar.
Janis Joplin wasn’t known for her restraint.
Yebbut what about her…oh never mind.
Remember watching her doing Ball and Chain on film (was it Monterrey or Woodstock?). Felt like she kept something back for approx the first two lines before dialling it up to eleven for the rest of the song.
Didn’t Shirley Bassey collapse after recording her vocal for Goldfinger?
And she had to slip behind a screen and remove her bra before the final take, in order to get that bit more air in her lungs.
I’ve heard that – but is it apocryphal?
Wasn’t that Merry Clayton (Gimme Shelter) or Tina Turner (River Deep) or Barry White (the Macarena)
Wait, Barry White wore a bra?
You have a problem with that?
No no. It merely brings to the mind’s eye previously unthought-of scenarios. And I wish it didn’t.
Perhaps seeing him without one would be even more troubling.
In an old “Who The Hell…” Tom Hibbert is left waiting in a hotel suite for hours for an interview while the great man showers after a show. Eventually tiring of sitting around, he asks how much longer Barry will be in the shower. “There’s a lot of Barry to shower” he’s gently told.
Phil Collins might qualify here. He almost explodes at the end of Mama, whichever version of it you choose. He’s a fricking amazing singer and Mama is one of the weirdest songs ever. This is a good version:
There are plenty of “calm down, love!” moments in the category of complaint rock. This one is hilariously cross:
Apparently the singer is exhibit B in the turd museum.
What was it? I’m getting “video unavailable”…
The Dam at Otter Creek, by Live. It’s both a glorious racket, and a load of nonsense.
It’s a great album, although very much of its time. Did no-one offer him the decaff?
John Lennon was variously stripped to the waist, lying on the floor and sucking zoobs for his screaming the vocals on “Twist & Shout”…I expect Mr Lewinsohn will have it all sorted out in Volume 2.
Macca has form on both “Helter Skelter” and “Oh Darling”.
Hey Jude coda etc, a podcast I listen to describe it as “Paul histrionics” 🙂
Anything by Kurt Brandon? Not a criticism btw.
Brian Johnson was the choice for Bon Scott’s replacement in AC/DC because Scott had been so impressed with the intensity with which he hollered and writhed around the stage during a performance with his band Geordie. What Scott didn’t know was that Johnson was so intense due a severe case of appendicitis and he was rushed to hospital immediately after the show.
To be fair to Bon, Brian probably sounded like that in every show, appendicitis or not.
Another influencing factor is that Brian hung out with the crew while he was waiting to audition – and they liked him.
James. Brown.
Shamon! Michael Jackson, while still a child, knocks everything out of the park and is not lacking in spontaneous exuberance where required. Adult Mike becomes too fond of the vocal percussive tic. In moderation it’s both effective and distinctive, but it starts to take over around the same time he starts transitioning from his human form..
Pulp’s triumphant zeitgeist-grabbing last minute substitution for The Stone Roses at Glastonbury in ‘95 is one of the great pop stories of that decade.
In the moment, seeing a man who had waited and waited absolutely owning that stage was so thrilling. But watching Common People back now, one can’t help noticing Russell Senior’s violin is a tad too high in the mix and, realising this, he might have restrained himself rather than take the opposite course..
Russel’s violin level was nothing to do with the band. The TV sound was mixed live by a man in a van and, despite the band remixing it afterwards, iPlayer and all repeats have stuck with the original horrid mix.
The band mix finally came out on the 30th anniversary edition of Different Class.
Thanks Steve! Every day on here is an education..
Another Cocker:
Jessie J is a serial offender, especially live. She oversings everything to a ridiculous extent. “Too many notes, herr Mozart…”.
As I type this Black Box’s ‘Ride on Time’ is playing on TOTP, and well, she doesn’t let up all the way through. No light and shade, just pure up-to-11.
Loleatta’s vocal is a bit full on, but on the original song it’s riding* on a cushion of honeysweet backing vocals and a sort of luxurious Philly-esque arrangement, so I’m giving it five..
*yes, I know
I listened last weekend to the Black Crowes’ Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, first spin after a long time. While their musical stylings were just as good as I remember, by about 2/3 through I was pretty fatigued Robinson’s enthusiasm. A great voice for sure, but there isn’t a guitar solo that he doesn’t continue to yelp and wail over, and there are a few 6-plus minute songs where his vocal climaxes are unrelenting. Great record though.
Yes he does go on a bit doesn’t he.
Does anyone else think that Percy dials it up a bit much on Since I’ve Been Loving You?
Appreciate he’s been working from 7 to 11 but he does go on about that a lot (and also his worried mind)
Agreed – that’s just one of the reasons why Tea for One is the better studio-based Zep slow blues…
Yes
Due to the circumstances of making Prescence, I’ve always had a mental picture of the band absolutely emotionally wrung out and physically exhausted at 3am playing a last slow blues to close the sessions. A great way to end the album.
This may be considered sacrilege, but I have long thought that Aretha Franklin almost always does a BIT TOO MUCH, to the extent that she is the doyenne of Shouty Women everywhere and has enabled any female singer to demonstrate how much ‘soul’ they have by SQUAWKING and CATERWAULING to a tortuous degree and ruining whatever song it might be in the process.
Allow me to fetch your coat, BT.
(only joshing – all opinions are ..cough.. respected here..
Yes, as much as I like Aretha, I love Gladys Knight a lot more. Singing, building up and dialling it down as needed, giving it all when appropriate. Not just the same volume from beginning to end.
#MeToo
Mike Oldfield’s bass player in this performance of Moonlight Shadow on Italian TV in 1983. No idea what he’d taken before the show, but it was clearly coming up strong
Ah yes, Phil Spalding doing his thing, much missed, and noted for such unusual behaviour. To be honest I think Mike is considerably stranger than him in this one.
General observation: any one of the many hopefuls on Britain Might Have Some Voice Talent UK (On Ice).
Invariably trying to lever 27 notes into a single line (or sometimes just a single word)
I lay the blame for that at Whitney Houston, who took Dolly Parton’s song and sang the words to a completely different tune, and spawned a generation of imitators.
Mrs F is a big fan, but WH has always put my teeth on edge. The only track I like is It’s Not Right But It’s OK, which she more or less raps, but still manages to squeeze in a wail at the end.
Oh I like Whitney. I’ve got a live 12″ of “Didn’t we almost have it all” where she screeches her head off for 9 minutes and it’s magnificent.
I think that excessive melisma is more down to Maria Cary actually. WH is positively restrained compared to her.
Oh, I dunno – her singing of the word “magazine” at 0:42 here is the very definition of over-singing for me. I mean, she’s singing about a magazine…
Ah man up. One word?.Try this for size.
My god – they’ve slowed down an already slow song! Still, at least she’s not getting all “soulful” about a magazine.
I should say, I liked her from the start. I bought the debut album on the back of hearing “Saving All My Love For You” before it was a hit and before she broke in the UK, but “Love Will Save The Day” and the Isley’s cover aside, that second album doesn’t really do it for me.
I saw her live once, late in her career. She wasn’t great, not so much phoning it in as you got the feeling that she wasn’t trying because she didn’t think she could. Her arsehole husband came on and shouted over a drum beat for a bit then tried to get the crowd to shout Yo Whitney to limited success. The epic numbers everyone was waiting for were squashed together into a medley. I can also report she can’t dance for toffee, not that dancing is her thing but she tried and failed.
Terribly sad.
Excessive melisma – you can get an ointment for that.
It’s both messy and exhausting to use mind.
How Will I Know if it’s really working?
Ask a neighbourhood tomcat.
Excessive Melisma. TMFTL.
There’s a similar game for fans of Iain M. Banks, and his Culture novels, with TMFTL becoming ‘Mind’ names. Excessive Melisma is probably a GCU (General Contact Unit).
Is this Afterword Call My Bluff?
Excessive Melisma.
That’s when the current US President’s wife wears a hat with a brim low over her eyes and just stares at the camera, glowering, for the duration of her husband’s prattling on stage. Equivalent to the Eye of Sauron and has burned through countless camera lenses.
Quite agree with I Will Always Love You; Whitney’s version is like being smacked in the head while Dolly Parton’s is restrained and gentle.
Earlier on in her carer though, my word. Not many people have rocked up on TOTP and effectively bettered their own single like this:
For my 2 pennorth’ , Linda Ronstadt steers a very agreeable path between Dolly and Whitney:
Blimey that TOTP clip is fantastic, thanks. This was my entry song. A total banger and great video with the super cool TJ Stevens on bass.
Tony Hadley and this young lady should form a band: The Foghorn Leghorns. I wish her no ill, but this is, in my opinion, virtually unlistenable. Take it away, shouty trousers:
The difference between bel canto and can belto, as I’ve heard it described. I like Adele and Big Tone though.