The thrill is long gone

[ladyapple27]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1877372-1,00.html

Robotic vocals have no emotional impact. Some of the greatest vocal recordings of all time featured less-than-perfect vocals. Percy Sledge was out of tune on "When a Man Loves a Woman." Ben E. King was straining in the upper limits of his vocal range on "There Goes My Baby." Hank Williams' voice wasn't capable of vocal gymnastics, yet his songs pack a powerful emotional punch. The trick is to know when a flaw enhances a performance.

Comments

[sirtobybelch.livejournal.com]

Some of my favorite musicians have less-than-perfect vocals. Tom Waits has an amazing voice or Jonna Newsom they both have beautiful voices but they are not perfect and that is what is wonderful about them. I often wonder if it is really worth having the best technology if it means we give up or lose the human factor. With out imperfection there is no beauty if that makes any sense to you.

[ladyapple27.livejournal.com]

What a coincidence! One of my friends an d I were talking about Tom Wait's "Cold, Cold Ground" which was used very effectively in an episode Of Homicide: Life on the Streets, the detective show that led the way for integrating pop music into TV series.

I'll check out Jenna Newsome. Can you suggest a song or album?

[sirtobybelch.livejournal.com]

This is from the album the milk-eyed mender and her other album is Ys. I have both of them and if you'd like I could burn a copy and send it out to you.

[ladyapple27.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that a harp could sound like that. Thank you for your kind offer, but I just discovered that my friend Cat has the albums.

[eqfe.livejournal.com]

Some voices are so bad they're good, Hank Williams is a good example. Other artists have angelic voices and no ability to choose decent material (Anne Murrey with the exception of "Snow Bird"). But its hard to beat a great voice and good material, Pat Benatar for example.

Of course in the latter case, she's classically trained. I always found it interesting that if you listen to a rock, pop, R&B artist live, they are rarely half as good as the recording. On the other hand every performance of an opera is within a hairsbreath of the same artists recordings. Of course live music has its own appeal.

[ladyapple27.livejournal.com]

Many of the older R&B artists were great live because the studio tricks that exist today were unavailable during their heydays. Some of these artists are still out there touring. B.B. King and Bobby "Blue" Bland come to mind.