Good vocalists, bad material (lyrics, singer, funk, pop, favorite song)

lucifer_sam · 01-06-2009, 11:03 AM

Peter Gabriel (post-Genesis material): I find it ironic that Peter Gabriel earned most of his fame AFTER he left Genesis with derivative pop singles. There's just not enough good material to go around. It's rather obvious that he and Phil Collins always needed Steve Hackett to succeed.

Art Garfunkel (solo): Absolutely stunning vocalist, but a poor songwriter.

James Brown: Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I think he was an atrocious songwriter (did he write songs?). Obviously there's Live at the Apollo, but just because he could hold an audience's attention doesn't mean he's worth listening to. I give him credit; what James Brown did influenced generations of soul artists to come. I just don't think he's got anything worth hearing.

MSPaintClock · 01-07-2009, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucifer_sam;574285
[B

James Brown[/B]: Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I think he was an atrocious songwriter (did he write songs?). Obviously there's Live at the Apollo, but just because he could hold an audience's attention doesn't mean he's worth listening to. I give him credit; what James Brown did influenced generations of soul artists to come. I just don't think he's got anything worth hearing.

No it was Fred Wesley who composed the songs. Fred Wesley rules, I'm starting to not like you Lucifer_Sam!!!!

boo boo · 01-07-2009, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucifer_sam

Peter Gabriel (post-Genesis material): I find it ironic that Peter Gabriel earned most of his fame AFTER he left Genesis with derivative pop singles. There's just not enough good material to go around. It's rather obvious that he and Phil Collins always needed Steve Hackett to succeed.

His earlier solo material is really great, his first few albums were still in the prog style, and it probably helped a lot that Robert Fripp and Tony Levin where on those albums, he started going pop in the 80s. And though I do like some of his pop material, I downloaded So and found it to be pretty boring.

Really loved that song he did for Wall-E though.

I also confess to liking Collins era Genesis.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucifer_sam

James Brown: Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I think he was an atrocious songwriter (did he write songs?). Obviously there's Live at the Apollo, but just because he could hold an audience's attention doesn't mean he's worth listening to. I give him credit; what James Brown did influenced generations of soul artists to come. I just don't think he's got anything worth hearing.

Well I can forgive you for that, when you have such appallingly bad taste I guess there's nothing you can do about it.

lucifer_sam · 01-07-2009, 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boo boo

His earlier solo material is really great, his first few albums were still in the prog style, and it probably helped a lot that Robert Fripp and Tony Levin where on those albums, he started going pop in the 80s. And though I do like some of his pop material, I downloaded So and found it to be pretty boring.

The first few albums were good, but they deteriorated thereafter rather quickly. The last hip-hop collaborations that he did fucking BLEW. Basically, I feel that by the time Peter Gabriel lost its touch Genesis had as well (which coincided with the loss of Steve Hackett).

WaspStar · 01-08-2009, 05:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucifer_sam

James Brown: Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I think he was an atrocious songwriter (did he write songs?). Obviously there's Live at the Apollo, but just because he could hold an audience's attention doesn't mean he's worth listening to. I give him credit; what James Brown did influenced generations of soul artists to come. I just don't think he's got anything worth hearing.

Good call there. I do like Try Me (a song that's pretty unrepresenative of his style), but I can live without the rest of his stuff.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

You know Eponymous is just a "best of" collection of their IRS years right? If you've never heard the actual albums those songs are taken from they're really worth a listen. REM's earlier albums are far superior to their later albums IMHO.

Yes, I've heard the original albums, but for me, REM is one of those bands that's best represented by a decent comp. I only mentioned it because it's the only REM album I own and listen to on any sort of semi-regular basis.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gavin B.

Dusty Springfield was a great vocalist but most of her producers had absolutely no idea what to do with her extraordinary talents. Many of her albums were overproduced and the middle-of-the-road cover songs chosen by her producers were trite and derivative. The brillance of Dusty Springfield was that she managed to transcend the even the most cliched material and deliver heartfelt vocals.

The closest she came to a perfect album was Dusty in Memphis because co-producers Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd were brilliant producers and had the expertise at showcasing uniquely talented R&B singers.

To be honest, I've never really understood what the fuss was about Springfield's voice. She sounds like another generic 60's pop singer to me.

01-06-2009, 11:03 AM	#1 (permalink)
lucifer_sam Unrepentant Ass-Mod Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3,921	Peter Gabriel (post-Genesis material): I find it ironic that Peter Gabriel earned most of his fame AFTER he left Genesis with derivative pop singles. There's just not enough good material to go around. It's rather obvious that he and Phil Collins always needed Steve Hackett to succeed. Art Garfunkel (solo): Absolutely stunning vocalist, but a poor songwriter. James Brown: Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I think he was an atrocious songwriter (did he write songs?). Obviously there's Live at the Apollo, but just because he could hold an audience's attention doesn't mean he's worth listening to. I give him credit; what James Brown did influenced generations of soul artists to come. I just don't think he's got anything worth hearing. __________________ first.am