Great songwriters who shouldn't perform their own songs

ToneControl

Skarloey said:

I completely fail to get past Dylan's voice. I don't mind too much everything up to 66ish and his bike accident. It's mannered but not too off-putting for me.

But what on earth is going on with that weird singing voice on things like Nashville Skyline?

Even a song I like such as Tangled up in Blue can be a hard listen for me. On that he intones like a cross between a hoover and bee.

Add Richard Thompson to the list as well. He sounds like a middle class North Londoner doing Dylan impressions on the faster stuff. Quite nice on the slower ballads though.

Even Dylan's early stuff sounds tone-deaf to me

A hoover sound is part of joke impersonations I've heard since the 80s

Richard Thompson sounds too polite to me, just my taste that one though. 

Roger Waters is the worst for that - just sounds like someone reading out poetry in an angry voice

Tom Waites is unlistenable for me, and Cohen

I find JJ Cale sounds fine,

and Neil Young is strange but it works for me

Same with 70s Geddy Lee

I won't include people where their voices have changed with age

Samgb

ICBM said:

richardhomer said:

Skarloey said:

Add Richard Thompson to the list as well. He sounds like a middle class North Londoner doing Dylan impressions on the faster stuff. Quite nice on the slower ballads though.

I'm okay if you want to add Elvis Costello to the list - but I'm afraid I will need Ricardo to come off it.

Though he is by no means a 'good' singer in the classic sense, his voice always seems to get inside the lyric in a way that touches me.

I'd keep him on the list for his Strat sound though. It's so irritating it distracts me from listening to the song.

WHAT?!?! GET OUT!

Samgb

Shows how subjective this is. Everyone hears different things. 

*Translation* - you people have terrible taste in singers

thecolourbox

HAL9000 said:

thecolourbox;636528" said:

Stock, Aitkin, and Waterman

The thread title mentioned 'Great songwriters'.

Sorry, read it as grate

I would also like to add:

Jake Bugg - decent enough songs if you don't mind it sounding like a rehash of old stuff, but a really annoying accent. Ok maybe not great either. Hmmm

I think I might quite like the songs of Mumford and Sons, but only if they would stop pretending to be a folk group and change their entire vocals

ICBM

Samgb said:

I'd keep him on the list for his Strat sound though. It's so irritating it distracts me from listening to the song.

WHAT?!?! GET OUT!

Probably the most annoying recorded guitar sound I've ever heard. Thin to the point of completely lacking any tone at all, just horrible clicky chinky awfulness. It's sad because I think I actually like *what* he's playing, but the sound just drives me to distraction and makes it unlistenable. I think it's got worse over the years, I've got an old compilation of some of his stuff with Linda and it's not as bad.

I like Roger Waters though .

Kebabkid

EricTheWeary said:

Kebabkid said:

James Taylor has a certain charm and I like him but I never thought the quality of his voice matched the quality of the his songwriting and guitar playing.

I was listening to Art Garfunkel on Radio 2 talking about learning to sing again and he held up JT as his example of a gifted, pitch perfect singer. He's not somebody I normally listen to but that seemed a high recommendation. What don't you like about JT?

@EricTheWeary - the main thing is I actually find that he's slightly out of tune, even on record, and he certainly is live and that's got worse over the years, but I suppose that can't be helped. His voice is a little whiny and he cuts notes off but I do like him and thoroughly enjoyed the televised concert he did with Carole King.

Philly_Q

It's an interesting thread, but I can't actually think of anyone. 

Most of the bands/artists I listen to do write their own songs, but to me the performances and the overall sound of the band are at least as important as the quality of the songs so I'm never really thinking "good song, but so and so could do it better". 

Which isn't to say I don't care about songwriting, but I don't really listen to "singer-songwriter" music.

Dave_Vader

rlw said:

Dave_Vader said:

Why has nobody mentioned Joni Mitchell yet? She is whinier than Dylan

Madness. Whiney?  Who the fuck else could sing those songs?

I wish I knew, I like most of them, but have never yet heard any versions that don't make me want to rip my ears off. 

Cirrus

If anything's come of this thread, it's that I've just listened to Bob Dylan for the first time (barring hearing him incidentally in some way or the other).

EricTheWeary

im 

Kebabkid said:

EricTheWeary said:

Kebabkid said:

James Taylor has a certain charm and I like him but I never thought the quality of his voice matched the quality of the his songwriting and guitar playing.

I was listening to Art Garfunkel on Radio 2 talking about learning to sing again and he held up JT as his example of a gifted, pitch perfect singer. He's not somebody I normally listen to but that seemed a high recommendation. What don't you like about JT?

@EricTheWeary - the main thing is I actually find that he's slightly out of tune, even on record, and he certainly is live and that's got worse over the years, but I suppose that can't be helped. His voice is a little whiny and he cuts notes off but I do like him and thoroughly enjoyed the televised concert he did with Carole King.

I'm unfamiliar enough with JT to not have an opinion really. Just funny that you'd said that less than 24 hours after I'd heard Art hold him up as an example of pitch perfect. Although I find Art's voice very reedy,TBH. 

EricTheWeary

ICBM said:

Samgb said:

I'd keep him on the list for his Strat sound though. It's so irritating it distracts me from listening to the song.

WHAT?!?! GET OUT!

Probably the most annoying recorded guitar sound I've ever heard. Thin to the point of completely lacking any tone at all, just horrible clicky chinky awfulness. It's sad because I think I actually like *what* he's playing, but the sound just drives me to distraction and makes it unlistenable. I think it's got worse over the years, I've got an old compilation of some of his stuff with Linda and it's not as bad.

I was going to say yes it was very harsh in his days with Linda but...

Quite suprised you think it's got worse. But I do like quite plinky guitar tones like early Rory Gallagher or Jim Campilongo. 

xSkarloey

Richard Thompson's guitar sound is fabulous.

As for the other bloke whose name has been bandied around here, I advise the curious not to bother and paraphrase the old proverb: Tom Waits for no man.

Samgb

ICBM;640030" said:

Samgb said:



I'd keep him on the list for his Strat sound though. It's so irritating it distracts me from listening to the song.





WHAT?!?! GET OUT!





Probably the most annoying recorded guitar sound I've ever heard. Thin to the point of completely lacking any tone at all, just horrible clicky chinky awfulness. It's sad because I think I actually like *what* he's playing, but the sound just drives me to distraction and makes it unlistenable. I think it's got worse over the years, I've got an old compilation of some of his stuff with Linda and it's not as bad.

I like Roger Waters though .

A lot of people don't like in between strat sounds I guess. He is a truly unique player though.

ICBM

Samgb said:

A lot of people don't like in between strat sounds I guess.

Not really, no. I can stand them sometimes - Knopfler, for example. Thompson seems to have the most extreme of them all, which I assume is why some people (those who like horrid thin chinky tones ) love his sound, and some hate it.

Samgb said:

He is a truly unique player though.

I know, and I'd really like to be able to listen without that sound grating so much, but it just does.

Phil_aka_Pip

IMO JT doesn't sing out of tune - or if he does, I don't notice it. I do notice Dylan signing out of tune, but I think that's part of his "charm", it wouldn't stop me listening to him. JT is a little nasal in tone quality, but nowhere near as much as Dylan. I think JT has a warm tone to his voice coupled with a gentle American accent which I rather like.

sticker

Jimmy Webb ...always preferred other people's versions of his stuff.

Jez6345789

Don't think Joni is Whiney Few people do good Lenny covers Jennifer Warnes album was a nice homage and she did a good job. But most miss the irony and humour. So many Dylan songs sound better by other but only because he can craft a brilliant song but most of the time he spits them out and leaves others to polish them. Dylan live I managed 90 mins and left . the place was packed with celebs. He was truly either a genius or con artist.

historyisjunk

Some interesting opinions & thoughts here. I've come to the conclusion that Tom Waits just isn't for me, so I'll opt out of that one.
I have no problem with Dylan- at least as far as I know him, I quite like his voice & I'd say his versions are usually the best. Martin Simpson's version of Masters Of War is maybe an exception.

I don't think anyone gets close to JJ Cale's originals- singing playing, anything. I also find that the most famous covers are the songs I probably like least anyway (Cocaine, After Midnight). Never heard the cover of The Sensitive Kind, though I can imagine it...
I know he probably is repetitive & I quite like that, same with Jimmy Reed, it doesn't matter.

I can think of a couple of people who's covers I prefer to their originals- Eric Clapton, by & large anyway (certainly don't like Cream). I think he can be really good doing the old blues covers (e.g Floating Bridge), songs like Tulsa Time etc & very good backing people (especially Howling Wolf). His own stuff I'm generally not keen on. For the record I think he's more good than bad & don't get the level of dislike he generates.

Martin Simpson, much prefer his folk/blues covers to his own compositions.

richardhomer

historyisjunk;642076" said:

I don't think anyone gets close to JJ Cale's originals- singing playing, anything. I also find that the most famous covers are the songs I probably like least anyway (Cocaine, After Midnight). Never heard the cover of The Sensitive Kind, though I can imagine it....

You don't need to imagine it; it's here....


And I say this as a fan of Carlos - it's awful....

ICBM

That's a hard one to decide because on the one hand the J.J. Cale version sounds exactly like every other J.J. Cale song, and on the other the Santana version sounds exactly like every other Santana song… even though he's playing a Strat, which I have never seen before! So is it 'variation', or not?

I think on balance I prefer the Santana version.