Pop/Rock Singer of the Day thread (I wanna hear you scream)

[Cool Chris]

When Roger Daltrey came up, we talked a lot about a band's "front man." Mick is the quintessential front man. Enough so that he jacked the band away from its intended front man Brian Jones. His live performances were always terrible, but he was good enough a vocalist to help make their albums legendary. At least until 1974 or so.

[TAC]

A living legend.

[Imaginos]

Over the past year or so I've really fallen in love with The Stones after not paying them much attention for years. I agree that Mick's not the greatest singer, but I'd say nobody in the band is really phenomenal or anything, it really is the sum of everything that makes it so good, and Mick's voice is an integral part of that. Love in Vain is just fantastic, I haven't been able to get it out of my head the past couple days.

Are Mick's solo albums worth listening to? I've never really felt the urge to check them out.

[jingle.boy]

A living legend.

Great way to put it.

[King Postwhore]

I was never fond of Mick's voice but the man has charisma on stage.  No doubt.

[Podaar]

I love Sympathy for the Devil. I can't imagine it sung by anyone else. 

[TAC]

I only have three Stones' CDs: Tattoo You, Emotional Rescue, and Some Girls. I'm good with those. Have never felt the need to get anymore.

[bundy]

Until I was about 30, I much preferred The Beatles to the Stones. Over the past 2 decades though, I've done a full 180. Much prefer the Stones, particularly from Aftermath through to Let It Bleed. Even though I don't rate Jagger as a great vocalist, he is brilliant on tracks like Paint it Black, Mother's Little Helper and Under my Thumb. As I posted earlier in the thread when discussing Roger Daltry, for me, Jagger is certainly one of the great front men of any band. 

[KevShmev]

James LaBrie



For as much as the fan base bags on him for his live performances, which can be pretty inconsistent at times, LaBrie is always money in the studio, and in the 90s was one of the greatest singers in the world.  Images & Words has to go down as one of the best vocal performances ever from a full album standpoint.  He is the voice of Dream Theater, and I cannot imagine them having been nearly as successful with any other singer.  All hail JLB!

[TAC]

Totally. I & W is one of my Top 3 vocals ever. (You already have 2 of the 3 in the thread!).
He could be Inconsistent live. He can be both karaoke and on the money. But out the course of DT's discography, he has proven himself without question. Even on albums where they didn't ask a lot of him, he was flawless.

[KevShmev]

Hmmm, now I am curious as to what your number 1 vocal performance is (you said Mindcrime and I&W are both top 3, so we are missing number 1).... I would guess something from Maiden.

But yeah, about JLB, you are correct.  Even though it is impossible to nail live, I would put Take the Time up there with just about anything as far as greatest rock vocal studio performances go.

[TAC]

Well I have a Top 3. O:M and I&W are two of them.

Not Iron Maiden!

[Cool Chris]

I had to google what song that was from. Thought it would be Neal Morse.

Anyhoo, first heard DT/James in 1992(?) with Pull Me Under on the radio. Never heard a vocalist deliver like that. Been a fan ever since. JLB's last 3 solo albums are great too! Never cared for the Mullmuzzler ones.

[TAC]

I feel the exact opposite about JLB solo. Muzzmuzzler albums awesome. Last three not so much.

[Stadler]

Huge fan of LaBrie; when I bought Images and Words back in '92, it was Portnoy's drumming and LaBrie's singing that hooked me, and to this day, that is a top ten all time album for me.   

As for Jagger, huge Stones fan - I have almost the complete catalogue which is saying something - and you have to see him live to get it.  I know it's easy to mock him for a lot of things - his solo albums are forgettable, as are most Stones videos - but I saw them on the Bigger Bang tour, two and a half hours in a stadium, and yet, when the entire place was bathed in red, and he was out on the catwalk singing "Sympathy For The Devil" it was captivating.  Almost dangerous (I can only IMAGINE what that was like seeing that in '71 or '72...), or at least as dangerous as you could feel watching a 60+ year old man in a football stadium in Connecticut.  He also has - and this isn't to be underestimated - an amazing knack of channeling the music he's playing.  He can sing blues - Delta blues, British blues, Chicago blues - rock, dance, disco, punk, country...  few singers have that level of breadth without sounding out of place or like a cheap caricature (which he also has on rare occasions). 

[hefdaddy42]

Obviously a big fan of James.

Jagger?  No thanks.

[Mladen]

Yep, James is great. 

[Anguyen92]

For me, James LaBrie's best vocal performances (studio and/or live) did not involve DT, but more on his performance on Ayreon's The Human Equation.  He was really on point with the emotions and mannerisms that locks into the character of Me.  He killed it in the studio album and he shined really well in the opera-like setting of The Theater Equation and the surprising part was that a month prior to The Theater Equation, we saw that he had a rather subpar performances in the Wacken Live stream.

[KevShmev]

Annie Lennox



I probably cannot name more than 6-7 original songs Lennox ever sang, but her voice has always stood out to be as being pretty awesome.  Here Comes the Rain Again has been a longtime favorite of mine since I was 10, largely because of her wonderful voice (and the bad ass synths), and out of all of the singers Queen brought out for the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert, Lennox was in the handful who knocked it out of the park.  Great voice, great singer.

[Podaar]

I'm a big Lennox fan. Her voice is fantastic and I really like her style.

[Stadler]

I love her voice too.  Not as keen on her style - too Bowie-ish for me - but the woman can sing.   I'm old school, so I'm partial to the earlier, Eurythmics stuff like "Would I Lie To You?" than her more sparse solo stuff. 

[hefdaddy42]

Annie Lennox can do no wrong.

[KevShmev]

Chris Cornell



I was never much of a fan of Soundgarden or grunge in general, but Cornell was obviously a really good singer.  Even a grunge disliker like me could tell that.  That's all I got.

[Cool Chris]

I was in the PNW when grunge took off in the early 90s, and was never a big fan of it. *shrug*

[Stadler]

I'm a huge Soundgarden fan, and even had tickets for the...  I think it was the Down on the Upside tour, and the show was cancelled.  I've seen too many dodgy performances - there was one on SNL where Chris sounded like he was singing a different song - and so he was always a personal favorite but I never thought him to be among the "greats".

Then I saw "Temple of the Dog" in Madison Square Garden.  I was far back on the floor and when the lights went down I did the mad dash (even hopped a barrier, and I'm almost 50!) and got to within about five rows of the stage.   Cornell blew me away.  He sang the Temple songs - recorded 25 years ago - note perfect, he sang about five Mother Love Bone songs (and Andrew Wood has a VERY different voice than Cornell) and covered Ozzy, Robert Plant, Paul Rodgers, David Bowie, Harry Nilsson, AND Robert Smith (The Cure).   Their version of Achilles Last Stand is possibly the best Zeppelin cover I've ever heard (the only one close is the Kennedy Center "Stairway..." by Heart that made Plant cry) and that was in large part to Cornell's vocals.

Plus, his recent acoustic album is just STELLAR.  Really good stuff.   

[hefdaddy42]

Cornell has a phenomenal voice, but I never really cared for a lot of the music he has made (Soundgarden, Audioslave).

But Temple of the Dog was mostly awesome.  Say Hello 2 Heaven remains one of my favorite songs ever, and his vocal there is tremendous.

[Podaar]

Cornell is a personal favorite.

I'd probably enjoy listening to him sing the phone book, but I'd much prefer him singing his bizarre lyrics. Black Hole Sun is so weird it's wonderful. Evocative. I also really like the lyrics to Outshined, "I just looked in the mirror, And things aren't looking so good, I'm looking California and feeling Minnesota". Hell, for that matter, all of Badmotorfinger is just fantastic, lyrically.

[Stadler]

Cornell is a personal favorite.

I'd probably enjoy listening to him sing the phone book, but I'd much prefer him singing his bizarre lyrics. Black Hole Sun is so weird it's wonderful. Evocative. I also really like the lyrics to Outshined, "I just looked in the mirror, And things aren't looking so good, I'm looking California and feeling Minnesota". Hell, for that matter, all of Badmotorfinger is just fantastic, lyrically.

One of my favorite moments in music is the beginning of "Searching With My Good Eye Closed".

"A rooster says... here is a pig... the devil says..."  and then this epic scream by Cornell into a midtempo verse, then the prechorus of "Is it to the sky?" that repeats three times, rising higher each time ('to the sky')...   that song gives me chills every time I hear it.   

[cfmoran13]

Cornell is amazing! 

Personal favorite performances of his are "Birth Ritual" and "Jesus Christ Pose".  Seeing JCP performed live by them at NY's Roseland Ballroom on the Down On The Upside tour was amazing.
 
Audioslave was "hit or miss" for me.  He was fine enough on the releases.  It was more the songs not doing it for me. 

Of his solo albums, I only have Euphoria Morning, which is great. 

And, Temple of the Dog was incredible.  The album is solid enough.  But, the MSG show Stadler was at was one of the best shows I've ever been to.  The stage was bare-bones.  But, the music, especially Chris' vocals was so powerful.  And, as Stadler said, their performance of Achilles Last Stand is probably the best I've ever heard someone else rock a Zeppelin tune live.

[Art]

Chris Cornell is one of my favorite singers. I saw soundgarden live in Hellfest 2014 and he nailed the show. Great performance. Aside from the most known stuff, 4th of July is one of my favorite performances by him, the doubled vocal lines in it sounds amazing.

[Nel]

I was sold on his voice with "Jesus Christ Pose". He just goes all out in that song.

Always been more of an Audioslave fan than a Soundgarden one, honestly, but Chris Cornell's great.

[mikeyd23]

Always been more of an Audioslave fan than a Soundgarden one, honestly, but Chris Cornell's great.

This is me too, I feel like most people are the other way around (they like Soundgarden more), but for me, I dug Audioslave's stuff and never could really get into SG.

Chris is great though - the first Audioslave album is just fantastic.

[cfmoran13]

Aside from the most known stuff, 4th of July is one of my favorite performances by him, the doubled vocal lines in it sounds amazing.

Actually, Superunknown has a few hidden treasures.  4th of July, Limo Wreck and Like A Suicide are pretty great.

[Stadler]

As an aside, is it just me, or is putting Pearl Jam in the RnRHOF first ballot while Soundgarden stands by watching a bit of a crime?  I know, I know, Eddie Vedder, but c'mon. 

[King Postwhore]

I think the longevity and how Pearl Jam is in the public eye that pushed them ahead of Soundgarden.

BTW, I love Cornell but his style of singing is not conducive to father time.  Has anybody heard his solo work  where he doesn't sing the hard falsetto?  He's got a wonderful voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaxI41Oqdfw