The Hell With the “Experts” – You Are Your Own Critic – Post Your Top Ten Favorite Vocal Performances – IOTW Report

The Hell With the “Experts” – You Are Your Own Critic – Post Your Top Ten Favorite Vocal Performances

Wednesday, 4 January 2023, 10:14 BFH Uncategorized 56

(Please! No links! Just list the names and song titles.)

Who cares if they are technically sound, trained or even famous (or not)? Post your Top Ten Favorite vocal performances. There are songs you just can’t explain why they hit you the way they hit you. Let us know what they are and we can check them out and maybe expand our horizons.

56 Comments on The Hell With the “Experts” – You Are Your Own Critic – Post Your Top Ten Favorite Vocal Performances

  4. Some of my favorite vocal performances:
    Gregg Allman:
    – Midnight Rider
    – Sweet Melissa
    – Live at the Fillmore East album

    James Dewar:
    – Bridge of Sighs album

    Greg Lake:
    – ELP’s Pictures at an Exhibition album

    Jim Morrison:
    – The Doors’ Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine album

    Steve Marriott:
    – Humble Pie’s Street Rats album

    5

  7. Freddie Mercury and Maria Callas singing “Barcelona”

    Sting and Luciano Pavarotti singing “Panis Angelicus”

    Marion Williams singing “I Shall Be Released” (without Bob Dylan)

    I could list more for a top 10 but they would be a fair distance behind these 5 singers in these 3 performances.

    3

  14. No particular order but I could listen to any of them all day:
    Van Morrison
    Issac Hayes
    Frank Zappa
    Kate Bush
    Teddy Pendergrass
    Geddy Lee ( can’t explain it, love his sound)

    1

  15. Tina Morrissey singing ( Michael Collins ) is a particular favorite favorite. You have to search it on YouTube. I would post a link if I could.

    Tina Morrissey or Mulrooney now has released a few albums.
    The Hills of Sweet Mayo is another one you can find on the net

    I was at The Cliffs and heard Tina singing and was mesmerized. I finally caught up with my mother an hour later carrying a fist full of CDs. She had lost track of me and wondered if I had climbed over the edge by then.

    FWIW, John McCormac the Irish tennor was my grandmother’s cousin.

    3

  17. CCR: I Put a Spell on You
    Betty Everett: You’re No Good
    Tommy James and the Shondells: Chrystal Blue Persuasion
    Al Stewart: Year of the Cat
    Jane Osbourne: If God Was One of Us
    Brian Ferry: Don’t Stop the Dance
    Roxy Music: Avalon
    Mark Cohen: Walking in Memphis
    Sade: The Sweetest Taboo
    Tim Hardin: Reason to Believe

    3

  20. Andy Williams, Ave Maria
    Steve Perry, Lights
    Darius Rucker, While I Still Got the Time
    Karen Carpenter, Rainy Days And Mondays
    Dean Martin, When You’re Smiling
    Phil Collins, You Can’t Hurry Love
    TobyMac – Feel It

    3

  21. Amigo the Devil – Hell and You
    Orange Goblin – Lies the crown
    Robert Smith,The Cure – Boys Dont Cry
    Bill Monroe – Everything he recorded
    Corrosion of Conformity- Clean my wounds

  28. I like a lot of so many things it would be hard to come up with a list of ten, but one I must mention is Joan Osborn singing What Becomes of the Broken Hearted from the Funk Brothers movie. It is something when someone takes David Ruffin’s fantastic version and leaves it in the duds.

  31. kd lang: Hallelujah (live at the Vancouver Olympics)
    kd land & Roy Orbison: Crying
    Aretha Franklin & George Michael: I Knew You Were Waiting For Me
    Tom Jones: I’ll Never Fall In Love Again
    Steve Perry: Foolish Heart
    Frank Sinatra: Come Fly With Me
    Rod Stewart: I Don’t Want To Talk About It
    Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush: Don’t Give Up
    Luciano Pavarotti: Nessun Dorma
    Ella Fitzgerald: Everything she ever recoded!

    2

  32. No one has mentinoned Art Garfunkle – especially on Bridge Over Troubled Waters. Bridge Over Troubled Waters has consistently been listed as one of the 100 best songs, and Garafunkle’s live version is about as good as the recorded version.

    9

  34. Johnny Cash, Hurt and Ring of Fire, Why Me Lord, Kris Kristofferson, all of John Prine’s music, anything by Emmy Lou Harris as well as Irish female singer Delores Keane, Frank Zappa, Take A Pebble by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Thick As A Brick, Jethro Tull, Time Has Come Today, the long version by the Chambers Brothers, Green Grass And High Tides by the Outlaws, Asleep At The Wheel and Bob Wills, I love country swing, Hank Williams and many, many more. These may not be vocal songs but I love Benny Goodman’s music and Rhapsody In Blue by George Gershwin.

    3

  35. Meh.

    My list wouldn’t mean anything to anyone but me. It would take too long to explain, and when *I* say something would take too long, you KNOW its wayyyy up in TL:DNR country.

    I am a creature of my times and my experiences. I have liked different things at different stages of my life, and my context would not be yours. I like church singing, but not at a party. I like heavy metal, but not at dinner. I like Wagner, but not at a funeral. Savvy?

    Just as we all enjoyed the musical styings of Sesame Street when we were 4, taste change with age. I was not raised on rap so I don’t particularly like hearing a guy telling his niggaz about how he gives hos good dick, but if that’s what was piped into someone else’s crib when Moms was entertaining, that has meaning and context for you, just as the German polkas my father listened to when I was growing up have context for me.

    But those things are not comparable in any meaningful way, they are just too different and their audiences are too different for them to be on the same list and say one is better than the other.

    …TL;DNR, I know.

    Well, in the words of Pink Floyd,
    “The time is gone,
    The song is over,
    Though I’ve something more to say…”

    2

  36. 1. Benny Mardones Into the Night 2. Meat Loaf For Crying Out Loud. 3. Bobby Hatfield Unchained Melody 4. The Bee Gees To Love Somebody, How Deep is Your Love, Bodyguard. Or just pick one of a thousand. The order is just how they popped into my head.

  37. Clare Tory – Great Gig in the Sky – Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
    Sheryl Crow – One of the few performers I listen to because of her vocals
    Dusty Springfield – see previous
    Ann Wilson – heart – the perfect female rock ‘n roll voice
    Shirley Bassey – the original voice of 007 – History repeating
    Florence Walsh – Florence and the Machine -skilled vocalist

    Steve Walsh – founding member of Kansas, another voice I’ll listen to anytime
    Gord Downie- Tragically Hips lead singer / stylist – there will never be another an original voice impossible to duplicate
    Simone Le Bon – Duran Duran the wedding album hits – Ordinary World and Come Undone two of the greatest rock ballads ever
    Don Henley – The Eagles – one of the reasons they were a 70s super group

    Those are just the ones that I didn’t see on anyone else’s list that I could come up with- I agree with many given here and I’m sure there are plenty I’ve missed

  38. Search
    Okna Tsahan Zam – Edjin Duun

    I located this watching hunting vids and found it as background music on the YouTube video titled: hunting wolves with a golden eagle in Mongolia. Kazajstán-Ky.

  39. “Because the Night” Natalie Merchant/10000 Maniacs (live)
    “Break on Through” Jim Morrison/Doors
    “Ball and Chain”, “Summertime” Janis Joplin/Big Brother

    Some others: Gregg Allman, Ian Anderson, Van Morrison, Stan Ridgeway, Eric Bloom.

    1

  41. Floor Jansen – Nightwish – Ghost Love Score
    Timothy Schmitt – Eagles – I Can’t Tell You Why
    Patty Smyth & Don Henley – Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough
    Glenn Campbell – By The Time I Get To Phoenix
    Robert Plant – Ship of Fools
    David Gilmore – Comfortable Numb
    Clare Tory – Great Gig In The Sky
    Whitney Houston – Star Spangled Banner 1991 Super Bowl
    Stevie Nicks & Don Henley – Leather & Lace
    Ray Charles – Georgia On MY Mind

    1

  42. Bobby Hatfield (Righteous Brothers) – ‘Unchained Melody’
    Janis Joplin (Monterey Pop Festival) – ‘Ball & Chain’
    Frank Sinatra (Piano only rehearsal) – ‘One For My Baby (& One More For The Road)’
    Gregg Allman (Allman Brother’s Band – At Filmore East) – ‘Whipping Post’
    John Lennon (With The Beatles) – ‘Twist & Shout’
    Robert Plant (Led Zepplin – Presence) – ‘Achilles Last Stand’
    Van Morrison (Moondance) – ‘And It Stoned Me’
    Patsy Cline – ‘Crazy’
    Emily Lou Harris (Piece Of The Sky) – ‘Boulder To Birmingham’
    Hank Williams – ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’

    1

  43. A few I’m not crazy about:

    Roy Orbison: Love To See You Baby
    John Lennon: Bullets Won’t Stop Me
    Bee Gees: Down Underwear
    America: A Girl With No Boobs
    Frank Sinatra: My Boys (Will Kill You)
    Rod Stewart: Do Ya Think I’m Not Sexy?
    Everly Brothers: All I Have To Do Is Wet Dream
    Eddie Kendricks: Booger Down
    Freddy Mercury: I’m A Bucktooth Man
    Walter Egan: You’re A Vagina, And I Am A Dick

    4

  45. Karl. Blue Swede Shoes ( he admitted in ’58 he did not know how to spell) HAD A PAIR YEAR BEFORE KARL WROTE IT, 2 YEARS BEFORE THE RECORD. Not “hip” today but 70 years ago.

    Ellvis: All Shook up. you’re so Square, wear My Ring, Hound Dog, Ol Shep (after 10,000 listens still tear up! Love dogs!), Santa Claus is
    C
    omen, Peace in the Valley

    Fogarty: Lokin out my Back Door, Bad Moon,Down on the Corner, Zantz Can’t Dance

    Conway Its only Make Believe

    Pat: Bernadine, Love Letters, Crazy Little mamma. HAD A PAIR OF WHITE BUCKS MY SOPHOMORE YEAR.

    Bill: See Ya later Alligator, Rock

    yes I’m old!

  46. And anything by Eva Cassidy –who did every kind of music in her short life, which is why she never made it huge in one genre.

    Also: agree with comments about the great voices of Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Mark Knopfler. They make every song sound like a love song.

    As for the bad boys and girls of rock ‘n’ roll, I’d nominate Dee Snyder, Tom Petty, Patti Smith, and Cyndi Lauper. Their voices and their songs feel like you’re gonna get in trouble and it’s gonna be worth it.

    1

  49. Honorable Mentions:

    Emmie Lou Harris – ‘Pancho & Lefty’
    John Hyatt – ‘Icy Blue Heart’
    John Prine – ‘Dear Abby’
    Brian Setzer (Stray Cats) – ‘Please Don’t Touch (Live)’
    ZZ Top (Tres Hombres) – “Waitin’ for the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago”
    Frank Zappa (Apostrophe) – the whole ‘A’ side
    Jay & The Americans – ‘Come A Little Bit Closer’
    Toy Caldwell (Marshall Tucker Band – Grand Opera House 1973) – ‘Can’t You See?’
    Everly Brothers – ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’
    Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots) – ‘Plush’
    Jeff Healy Band – ‘Angel Eyes’ (nice rendition of a great J.Hyatt song)
    Eddie Vetter (Pearl Jam) – ‘Yellow Ledbetter’ (dunno why; guess I just like to hear a guy singing in a drunken stupor every once in a while, … or maybe just like to hear an imitation of my youthful misspent weekends)

    damn, I’m in a mood tonight … trippin’ on some good music!

    2

  51. I’m going to throw in a Christian folk song by Peter Paul and Mary called Very Last Day covered by The Hollies in 65. I just discovered two of their earliest albums and they are fantastic. Allan Clarke and Graham Nash started out singing together in church in Manchester. The anti God Is Dead Beatles in 65.

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