Profondo Rosso
Well-Known Member
Fair enough, Macky. My choices probably are boring, because I guess I've never really listened to genres with traditionally great vocalists before. Don't get me wrong I think technical ability and vocal tone are myths with regards to singing, I think singing is all about simply about getting emotions across. Personally I find singers with undoutably great technical voices like Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant to be completely bereft of soul and emotion in their voice and as such bland singers (though doesn't artists of high technical ability who chern out incredibly bland music based on flaunting technical ability over actual substance just about sum up Queen's and Led Zeppelin's music to a tee?) and much prefer many singers who have an untraditional tone and would probably be voted off in the first round of the X-Factor, like Tom Waits for example, because I think he expresses a lor more through his vocal delivery.
But (I know starting a new paragraph with "but" is poor grammar, but a new paragraph is needed at this point to stop it being one big block) I'm still guessing I think most people would agree that blues and soul music is generally the genres with the best vocalists (perhaps because they were traditionally sung by black artists in the deep south of America who expressed their supression through their music, which is hardly something that is pretty easy to feel angry and injust about and needs little faux emotion to help their vocal display) judging by your choices (all of which I enjoyed) I think you would agree (though maybe not on the reasons). However, soul is only really a genre I've been checking out recently. Because of a lack of spotify and downloaing for the past 2 or 3 months coupled with laziness of not wanting to actively check out music online and just having it in the background, I've basically only been able to listen to CDs and MP3s I already had on my iPod, which means I've only really got into the staple canon soul artists so far. Just because if I'm actually spending money on music without really listening to it beforehand I'd rather go with an artists that a lot of people whose tastes I respect like (so it's just going to be the canon: James Brown, Otis, Aretha, Marvin, Curtis Mayfield etc.). And as for blues, well that is something I have neglected for ages.
I love discovering music, be it old or new, but I am aware there are huge blindspots in my tastes and I know they still largely consist of what John Peel would decry as "white boys with guitars." That was what I got into music via though (like a lot of people I imagine), so all my "go to" artists consist of that. Not really had the ability too much to really search out new stuff though recently. When I get my new laptop around the new year I'm definitely going to try and dig into different genres a lot more.
Anyway - as I just remembered you don't like long posts Macky, making the previous David Gwilliam-esque ramble virtually obsolete, to sum up: My music tastes still revolve too much around "white boys with guitars" and other music which traditionally has more emotive vocalists is something I am well aware I need to explore a lot more, as I only know the basics.
But (I know starting a new paragraph with "but" is poor grammar, but a new paragraph is needed at this point to stop it being one big block) I'm still guessing I think most people would agree that blues and soul music is generally the genres with the best vocalists (perhaps because they were traditionally sung by black artists in the deep south of America who expressed their supression through their music, which is hardly something that is pretty easy to feel angry and injust about and needs little faux emotion to help their vocal display) judging by your choices (all of which I enjoyed) I think you would agree (though maybe not on the reasons). However, soul is only really a genre I've been checking out recently. Because of a lack of spotify and downloaing for the past 2 or 3 months coupled with laziness of not wanting to actively check out music online and just having it in the background, I've basically only been able to listen to CDs and MP3s I already had on my iPod, which means I've only really got into the staple canon soul artists so far. Just because if I'm actually spending money on music without really listening to it beforehand I'd rather go with an artists that a lot of people whose tastes I respect like (so it's just going to be the canon: James Brown, Otis, Aretha, Marvin, Curtis Mayfield etc.). And as for blues, well that is something I have neglected for ages.
I love discovering music, be it old or new, but I am aware there are huge blindspots in my tastes and I know they still largely consist of what John Peel would decry as "white boys with guitars." That was what I got into music via though (like a lot of people I imagine), so all my "go to" artists consist of that. Not really had the ability too much to really search out new stuff though recently. When I get my new laptop around the new year I'm definitely going to try and dig into different genres a lot more.
Anyway - as I just remembered you don't like long posts Macky, making the previous David Gwilliam-esque ramble virtually obsolete, to sum up: My music tastes still revolve too much around "white boys with guitars" and other music which traditionally has more emotive vocalists is something I am well aware I need to explore a lot more, as I only know the basics.
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I don't like many female vocalists, much prefer male ones.
