CarnivalOfLightFan050167
Sir Ringo
"I just want an ergonomic method of shoving beef in my mouth." - Dave-O aka Dilly Dipshit
Posts: 614
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Post by CarnivalOfLightFan050167 on Aug 13, 2021 2:00:32 GMT
British Blues always bad: am I crazy?
Somehow I ended up with that first Fleetwood Mac album on CD. Probably from some relative dumping their belongings in a move. What a fucking snoozefest. It's like having 11 different takes of the same fucking song. The only song that stood out on there was the one they recorded before McVie joined. The bass playing on that one track being the only thing that differentiates it from the rest of that shit.
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Post by The Discerning Consumer on Aug 13, 2021 4:22:32 GMT
The Yardbirds guy was a terrible singer. Wasn't he an asthmatic with one lung or something? Or is that story just too Dickensian and too good to be true? Eric Burdon did a slightly more convincing imitation. Phil May was probably the best of the British art school "R&B" (in quotes) singers. Here is something to think about: who was the weediest British "R&B" singer? Off the top of my head, I think of those insanely laughable R&B covers that the Zombies did. That band was so white they were practically hemophiliacs. There are also some really shitty early Kinks covers that are truly embarrassing as well, with Ray and Dave sounding like pre-pubescent English schoolboys who had never even actually seen a black person in their lives. Their cover of "Long Tall Sally" is hands down the worst version of that song ever made. Damn, Cola, this is a vast topic that deserves its own thread where we can all exhibit our own least favorite examples.
Of course the Kinks "Long Tall Sally" is bad. Wasn't that their very first single? Even more controversial is the Martha & The Vandellas cover on their second album. Their great stuff within a year or two of that record helps us to forgive all of this as well-intentioned youthful folly.
The Zombies? I've always laughed at their covers of Ray Charles ("Sticks and Stones") and Solomon Burke ("Can't Nobody Love You") and others. Colin Bluntstone became a good singer, but his adenoidal yelps are pretty embarrassing here.
Laugh if you want, but my favorite British "R&B" singer in this era is Mick Jagger. He never once betrays anxiety that he doesn't sing as well as his sources (cf. Eric Burdon), and he never betrays that he might give a shit (cf. Eric Burdon again.) The rock and roll attitude had to come from somewhere, pals, and here you have it.
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Post by mintyjackhole on Aug 13, 2021 5:50:58 GMT
The dude from The Action is my fav of the white guys, but he stayed in his lane and stuck mostly to Motown, so a different beast. In general I think the mods faired better than the blooze dudes, as neither Marriott didn't embarrass himself until so.etime during Humble Pie, and Daltry was great minus the aforementioned JB covers.
Phil May is great. As was Van in his Them days.
Worst? Zombies for sure. But I had forgotten just how bad John Mayall was.
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Post by Talky Tina on Aug 13, 2021 8:33:58 GMT
How can you guys overlook the first Moody Blues album? Makes the Zombies sound like John Lee Hooker by comparison.
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Post by Talky Tina on Aug 13, 2021 12:40:44 GMT
Well, i think you guys are wrong about John Mayall. He did some fine singles, like this one:
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Post by hoffa_nagila on Aug 13, 2021 14:35:19 GMT
There's a lot going on here. First off, Keith Relf was not a good blues singer. At all. Even worse was when he started doing vaguely religious and preachy lyrics. But he was better suited for the pop fluff that the band did during the Page era.
The early Moody Blues with Denny Laine recorded some good shit. But I love Days Of Futures Passed. And then can't stand anything after that.
John Mayall is excellent. His voice is certainly an acquired taste (the same goes for Graham Bond and Chris Farlowe.) Mayall has always been inventive and adaptive, going from line up to line up, always keeping it interesting. And plenty of original songs too. I got to see him twice, the second time celebrating his 80th birthday. Half of the set featured Sonny Landreth and the peak was a 15 minute plus rendition of Congo Square.
I don't know what the fuck any of this has to do with Bobby Whitlock. I guess he invented white boy blues or something?
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daved
Better than Steve
Posts: 10,616
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Post by daved on Aug 13, 2021 15:16:23 GMT
I don't know what the fuck any of this has to do with Bobby Whitlock. The same can be said about the All Thing Must Pass thread over there.
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Post by graucho on Aug 13, 2021 20:09:26 GMT
I'd give the edge to Phil May as the superior of the two, but Jagger was good at what he did. They are both coming from the same angle, though. Jagger doesn't get annoying until the end of the decade when he starts imitating white C&W cracker singers. Phil May doesn't get annoying until he starts singing arena rock shrieking cocaine boogie shit-style in the early 70s. I think Roger Daltrey was rather decent on the first Who album and early B-sides as well. That is, if you ignore the shameful James Brown covers. Completely agree re May/ Pretty things. I'd throw in Steve Marriott for that early period of Blues-influenced whitey boy UK singers. I always thought of Daltrey as the weak link in the Who, but on balance now, he seems like an OK guy, when compared to the utterly pretentious and miserable latter-day Townshend Here is something to think about: who was the weediest British "R&B" singer? This is pretty awful. Wasn't surprised to hear that the singer went to Harrow school. Warning - the wussiness is off the scale in this next one
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Post by hoffa_nagila on Aug 13, 2021 20:45:36 GMT
In this house, we believe in Paul Jones supremacy.
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Post by audiopro on Aug 20, 2021 17:35:21 GMT
My vote for weediest voice goes to Jeremy Spencer. He did so little with so little in his 15 minutes of fame.
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Post by hoofyflipflops on Aug 21, 2021 3:14:06 GMT
I guess he was probably 3 brandy bottles gone, and a raging alcoholic mess, but is that any excuse? Strangely, I think this was the same year that Bowie was doing Seig Heils. He tends to get a pass, or some of his misdemeanours get conveniently forgotten cause, you know - it's Bowie. So what's the deal - should Bowie get a pass. Or does Jimmy Page get away with stuff, cause he's Jimmy Page, but Gary Glitter a pariah? David Blowie liked 'em young as fuck, too...
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Post by papak on Aug 26, 2021 6:56:20 GMT
That Layla coda is a nice enough piece of music if you remove the fucking slide guitar. That Layla coda is a nice enough piece of music if it accompanies the discovery of Mafia gang members in a freezer truck.
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Post by Chicken in Black on Aug 26, 2021 12:07:44 GMT
Or this.
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Post by sₚⲁᵣₖydₒg on Aug 26, 2021 16:54:08 GMT
That Layla coda is a nice enough piece of music if you remove the fucking slide guitar. Not trying to go all Johnny Moondog on you but I would like to hear someone like Giles Martin or Steven Wilson or even one of the BSN Forum guys attempt to fix the out of tune guitars on Layla.
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