Head-Fi.org › Forums › Misc.-Category Forums › Music › Your 12 favorite vocal performances (all genres allowed)
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Your 12 favorite vocal performances (all genres allowed)

post #1 of 35
8/28/09 at 1:11am
Thread Starter 
Sometimes my favorite vocal performances are not by technicians, but rather by people who I know mean what they are singing......

I'd love to see what others feel are their favorite vocal performances......


Here's mine in no particular order:

1. John Lennon (The Beatles) - A Day In The Life
2. Jeff Buckley - Grace
3. Louis Armstrong - Stardust (1931 Version)
4. Ray Charles - You Don't Know Me
5. Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come
6. Art Garfunkel (Simon & Garfunkel) - Bridge Over Troubled Water
7. Aretha Franklin - Amazing Grace (1972 version)
8. Billie Holiday - Autumn In New York (1953 Verve version)
9. Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone
10. Jeff Buckley - Lover You Should Have Come Over
11. Otis Redding - Try A Little Tenderness
12. Bob Dylan - Idiot Wind
*13. Paul Westerberg (The Replacements) - Unsatisfied
*14. Ray Charles - Georgia On My Mind
*15. Willie Nelson - You Were Always On My Mind
I've been talking headphones with you for years. Now I can help you with your purchase:) Sales Specialist & Headphone Guru @ Headphones.com
Reply
post #2 of 35
8/28/09 at 2:14am
completely impossible for me
Reply
post #3 of 35
8/28/09 at 2:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by n3rdling View Post
completely impossible for me
+1
Reply
post #4 of 35
8/28/09 at 2:22am
+2

I'm envious that you can pick!
Reply
post #5 of 35
8/28/09 at 2:44am
I'm too lazy to recall 12, but I wholeheartedly agree with these four:

2. Jeff Buckley - Grace

6. Art Garfunkel (Simon & Garfunkel) - Bridge Over Troubled Water

*13. Paul Westerberg (The Replacements) - Unsatisfied

*14. Ray Charles - Georgia On My Mind

Plus, I'd throw in the woman who does the wailing on Dark Side of the Moon. That is beyond description.
Reply
post #6 of 35
8/28/09 at 3:32am
Loleatta Holloway - "Hit and Run"
Esther Phillips - "Home is where the hatred is"
Brainstorm (Belita Karen Woods) - "Lovin' Is Really My Game"
Lou Rawls- "Dead End Street"
Aaron Neville - "Hercules"
Toots and The Maytals (Frederick Hibbert)- "Funky Kingston"
Abey Lincon- "Bird Alone"
Leon Thomas- "Prince of Peace"
Nina Simone- "See-Line Woman"
Stereolab (Latitia Sadier?)- "Miss Modular"
Tom Waits- "Step Right up"
Joni Mitchel- "California"

That's 12 off the top of my head.
(and I can think of a bunch that could just easily be in there)
Reply
post #7 of 35
8/28/09 at 3:36am
Mine is either

Mick Jagger in Carly Simon's "You are So Vain"

John Lennon in David Bowie's "Fame"
Reply
post #8 of 35
8/28/09 at 3:53am
Greg Lake (King Crimson ) - Epitaph
Reply
post #9 of 35
8/28/09 at 5:20am
John Lennon - Mother (or almost any song on Plastic Ono Band)
John Fogerty - Wrote a Song for Everyone
Joan Baez - Diamonds and Rust
Lou Reed - Pale Blue Eyes
Joni Mitchell - River (again, or almost any song on Blue)
Rajaton - Jos Sanot (Finnish a cappella group)
Kurt Cobain - Pennyroyal Tea (MTV unplugged version)
Björk - Joga
Nick Drake - Saturday Sun
David Bowie - Five Years
Yoko Ono - Why
Thom Yorke - No Surprises


Yes, it´s impossible to make an absolute list but surely you can make a list of some of your favorites? Free your mind for a second and just let it out "Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup....."
Reply
post #10 of 35
8/28/09 at 8:19am
Far too difficult - love all the tracks from you Mr Mahler, and add a few off the top of my head:
Marvin Gaye - Lets Get It On
Van Morrison - Ballerina
Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark
Otis Redding - Ole Man Trouble
Prince - Sign O'The Times
Jeff Buckley - So Real
D'Angelo -One Mo' Gin
Michael Jackson - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

RnB is a fertile field for picking great performances...
Reply
post #11 of 35
8/28/09 at 8:22am
My favorite out of my still young music-listening journey:

Robert Plant- so many but I have to pick Gallows Pole
Temple of the Dog- Chris Cornell in Say Hello 2 Heaven
The Who- Robert Daltrey in Baba O'Riley
The Rolling Stones- Brown Sugar
Little Richard- Ready Teddy
The Faces- Rod Stewart in You're My Girl (I Don't Wanna Talk About It), live version
Steve Tyler in Nobody's Fault
Ray Charles in Hard Times
Sam Cooke in Bring It on Home to Me
Elmore James in The Sky is Crying

those are the songs I regularly listen to and really liked the vocal bits.
Reply
post #12 of 35
8/28/09 at 10:21am
I don't know if they are my favorites but I come back to these vocal performances pretty frequently:

1. Anita O'Day - Sweet Georgia Brown
2. Frank Sinatra - I Got Plenty O' Nuttin'
3. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Don't Be That Way
4. Tony Bennett - I Wanna Be Around
5. The Moody Blues - Nights in White Satin
6. Sarah Vaughan - Misty
7. Waylon Jennings - Honky Tonk Heroes
8. Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
9 . Roy Orbison - Only the Lonely
10. Cat Stevens - Wild World
11. Mel Tormé - Fascinating Rhythm
12. Maria Callas - Habanera (from Carmen)
*13 - Judy Garland - The Man that Got Away
*14 - Van Morrison - Moondance
*15 - Cowboy Junkies - I'll Never Get Out of These Blues Alive


If I thought about this topic again a few hours from now I am sure I could come up with a list with 12 different performances that were equally important to me.

--Jerome
Reply
post #13 of 35
8/28/09 at 10:33am
I particularly like Cat Stevens in Can't Keep It In and Where Do the Children Play- both display his energy and emotion. He's such a great songwriter.
Reply
post #14 of 35
8/28/09 at 10:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jsaliga View Post
I don't know if they are my favorites but I come back to these vocal performances pretty frequently:
I couldn't possibly narrow my list to 100, never mind 12. So, like jsaliga, I'll just list some of my faves:

Aretha Franklin -- "I Say A Little Prayer"
The Righteous Brothers -- "Unchained Melody"
Frank Sinatra -- "The Way You Look Tonight"
Billy Holiday -- "Sophisticated Lady"
Eva Cassidy -- "Fields of Gold"
Jackie Wilson -- "Danny Boy"
Smokey Robinson -- "Being With You"
Van Morrison -- "The Way That Young Lovers Do"
Deneice Williams -- "Gonna Take a Miracle"
Willy Nelson -- "City of New Orleans"
Whitney Houston -- "I Will Always Love You"
Tina Turner -- "River Deep, Mountain High" (RIP, Ellie Greenwich!)
Reply
post #15 of 35
8/28/09 at 11:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidMahler View Post
6. Art Garfunkel (Simon & Garfunkel) - Bridge Over Troubled Water
x2!

There are lots of choices and I haven't got time atm to build a list of 12, but three more that I have always liked:

Pearl Jam - Black
Roy Orbison - Crying
Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody

Yes, two are moldy oldy, but they still stir a chill.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Music
Head-Fi.org › Forums › Misc.-Category Forums › Music › Your 12 favorite vocal performances (all genres allowed)