Review: Michael Buble

Subject: BS: michael buble has no talent
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 12:54 AM

He can stay on key and has an average voice. But those old ballads are pretty easy to sing and other than the fact that everyone else who ever bothers to do that music that way is either Harry Connick, dead or at a very advanced age, he has nothing that makes him unique.

Subject: RE: BS: michael buble has no talent
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 01:01 AM

If Jimmie Fallon likes him, then he must be okay. Wait for the ad to end.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: michael buble has no talent
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 01:42 AM

Jimmie Fallon likes Bob Dylan and Neil Young.

Subject: RE: BS: michael buble has no talent
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 02:11 AM

It's all about the songs. If you want to hear those songs, who else is there to sing them?

Well, I can think of a few that have the chops:

Norah Jones, Bonnie Raitt (but she does mainly blues), Carole King (but she does only her own songs),
Willie Nelson (but he does mainly country), Tony Bennett, Harry Connick, Jr., Paul Simon (but he does only his own songs)

There are a few more whom I don't particularly like.

And there must be some others that I haven't heard of yet.

But the field isn't really very big, is it?

Anyway, I'd rather hear people talk about what they do like, instead of what they don't like.

Subject: RE: BS: michael buble has no talent
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 03:13 AM

I saw him on SNL and I asked myself "Why?"

Subject: RE: BS: michael buble has no talent
From: Tunesmith
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 03:26 AM

Jim Dixon named a number of singers who could sing the Buble repertoire; well, forget Carole King, Nora Jones and Paul Simon. They are just not up to the job.
Willie Nelson is an interesting singer, but he hasn't got a big voice.
Harry Connick? I'm not a fan of his.
Bonnie Raitt? Well, she CAN do anything.
And, of course Tonny Bennett is the man!
But, Michael Buble is a fine singer who gets the job done with a lot of style and class.

Subject: RE: BS: michael buble has no talent
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 04:09 AM

I buble has a bigger voice than Willie Nelson, he has kept it well hidden. Buble is pretty mellow.

Subject: RE: BS: michael buble has no talent
From: MartinRyan
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 05:15 AM

I remember my first reaction to hearing a Buble recording some years ago - "Jeez! That's a nice tight band!". Heard him live in Dublin a while back and had the same reaction. For me, his singing, stage presence and persona are fine - but the band are great.

Regards

Subject: RE: BS: michael buble has no talent
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 05:25 AM

Sour grapes Jack.

My daughter who is 20, surprised me, by asking for a Michael Buble CD for her birthday last July. She think he is brilliant.

She also likes Folk Music, in case you wondered.

If you don't like him, why moan. Just don't listen to him.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 06:00 AM

Shouldn't this be in BS?

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: MartinRyan
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 06:32 AM

Shouldn't this be in BS?

Why? Just because he "has no talent"? If that were the criterion... ;>)>

Regards

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 07:30 AM

To be as succesful as he he is, I would say he was very talented.

I suppose some people get a bit jealous becuase they are not as good.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: fat B****rd
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 07:51 AM

Don't miss Mickey's Bing Crosby style Christmas tv show tonite, folks. (ITV UK, sorry US 'Catters)

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: tonyteach1
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 08:39 AM

Mr Buble is a crooner not a singer - ie he needs a mike near his gob to make the voice work
He also writes music and arranges, I do not like his voice which is different from saying he cannot sing, Me and Mrs Jones which he does requires a fair old range But then I hate Russell Watson Andrea Bocelli - Tony Bennet was lousy on the Royal Variety Show in my opinion

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Tunesmith
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 10:43 AM

tonyteach says, "Mr Buble is a crooner not a singer - ie he needs a mike near his gob to make the voice work"
How do you know that?
There have a number of singers down the years who had very "small" voices; Karen Carpenter was one, as was Julie London.
I suspect Roy Orbison also had a voice that was greatly enhanced with microphone technique.
I would be surprised if Michael Buble belonged in that group, but I must say that when he did his "Audience with..." Tv show in the UK, there was a heck of a lot of "presense" added to his singing voice

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 11:13 AM

here's an interesting read for a few spare minutes...


google "Michael Buble autotune"

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Crowhugger
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 11:38 AM

Is there a thread title prefix for "invitation to bicker"?

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 12:02 PM

Prefixes are optional...

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 12:12 PM

Not really my stuff but I like Buble well enough! Of the crooners I liked Bing Crosby, Dean Martin and Perry Como best. I never liked Sinatra, not because of his voice, but I always regarded him as an arsehole.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,999
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 12:15 PM

I have never liked crooners at all.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 12:16 PM

He can't even spell Bubble.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Tunesmith
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 01:01 PM

Well, Buble is different.
Any singer who has grown up post-Swing era is going to be different than the old crooners.
Buble's listening experience is so different than the classic crooners
The swing era crooners - at least the white ones- were not influenced by gospel music or earthier blues.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 01:23 PM

Oh tunesmith! not true! Listen to Bing with Whiteman's orchestra. treat youself yo the Bix Beiderbeck collection - lots of crooners there trying to do negro!

Its an oldfield of contention
      whether Mike Buble
rhymes with bells tubule

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: tonyteach1
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 01:43 PM

Crooners need a mike to make a sound - cannot be heard unaided - may have pleasant voice but no volume and not much carrying power - the ping or resonance you hear in a big or trained voice is not there

Singers can make themselves heard in medium sized rooms and project their voices whether trained or not without a mike - stand further back from mike as it only assists

How do I know 47 years of singing plus working as a teacher and singing everything from country music to jazz - cabaret - musical theatre and classical stuff

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: pdq
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 01:49 PM

Bing Crosby had to re-invent his singing style because he almost ruined his vocal cords singing with Whiteman's Rhythm Boys.

From 1931 on he is quite a different singer.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: tonyteach1
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 01:56 PM

Just checked crooning on Wikipedia - yep he is in there with Bing and Frank
The first crooner was one Rudy Vallee who used a megaphone in the 20s His singing was supposed to induce sexual frenzy among female listeners Never worked for me but then I am an ugly bastard

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Tunesmith
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 02:29 PM

No! No! Bing had his "negro influences" flittered through white musicians.
God, you only have to listen to him to hear that!

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,Eric Armstrong
Date: 18 Dec 11 - 06:08 PM

Buble is yet another Vancouver boy who has been pushed to international fame by the considerable promtional talents of Bruce Allen (Canada's answer to Col. Tom Parker) who was also the force behind Brian Adams, The Guess Who and Lover Boy.
Without this he would be nothing more than a very ordinary singer with a limited range who does those great standards no justice whatsoever.
However he surely has made a lot of money

Eric Armstrong

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Genie
Date: 19 Dec 11 - 01:08 AM

Jack, I'd say "having no talent" and "not having anything unique" are two very different things.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Brakn
Date: 19 Dec 11 - 02:48 AM

A sad thread.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 19 Dec 11 - 04:22 AM

nah ! just revenge for all the times you switch on the telly and Mr Bubble is grinning back at you with that gee wizz! I'm so glad i'm a real hunk of sexiness! I think I'll Hug myself! smirk on his clock.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Darowyn
Date: 19 Dec 11 - 04:27 AM

Originally, I had dismissed Michael Buble as a Sinatra tribute act, but it turned out that I was wrong.
OK, so he does do a lot of covers of the classic crooners' songs, but more recently he has recorded several of his own songs, and they are good.
"I Just Haven't Met You Yet" has a wonderful melody and a very clever lyric, and he sings it with an energy that he has kept well reined-in when he's been doing the Bing Crosby songs.
As far as the power of his voice is concerned, we were watching a TV show last night in which he was singing with Gary Barlow (of Take That).
GB stayed within three or four inches of the mic. MB was up to two feet away. That takes power.
I would never have expected to be defending a MOR singer, being biassed towards the wilder side myself, but to say that Michael Buble has no talent is ridiculous. He's paid his dues and learned his trade, writes well, has a good, accurate voice, with a decent range and some vocal tricks, and a superb rapport with an audience.
As for that insane comment that "those old ballads are pretty easy to sing" Yeah! Right! Let's hear YOU then!
We do a few with the band, and I don't sing them. I can do folk and Pop, but the classics, I leave to Karen, the real singer.
Cheers
Dave

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Dec 11 - 06:22 AM

I couldn't be less interested in Michael Buble's music.

But he clearly has talent: he can sing well.

And what's this nonsense about crooners having small voices, and needing a microphone?

There's some footage of him singing on some TV show, where a post-production engineer added autotune, Glee-style. Utterly unnecessarily, and nothing to do with his singing.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 19 Dec 11 - 06:49 AM

From Wikipedia:

Crooner is an American epithet given to male singers of pop standards, mostly from the Great American Songbook, either backed by a full orchestra, a big band or by a piano. Originally it was an ironic term denoting an emphatically sentimental, often emotional singing style made possible by the use of microphones.

[snip]

This dominant popular vocal style coincided with the advent of radio broadcasting and electrical recording. Before the advent of the microphone, popular singers like Al Jolson had to project to the rear seats of a theater, as did opera singers, which made for a very loud vocal style.

So it would seem to me, "small voices" as compared to opera singers, etc. But I'd think there are plenty of other singing styles where most singers would not make that sort of volume.

---

I'd not even heard of Micheal Buble until this thread. I've just had a listen to a few bits of him singing on youtube. Personally, I'd be more inclined to describe him as "run of the mill" than talentless.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 19 Dec 11 - 06:54 AM

Possibly hugely talented - but still irritating.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,matt miltion
Date: 19 Dec 11 - 07:45 AM

"Originally it was an ironic term denoting an emphatically sentimental, often emotional singing style made possible by the use of microphones."

That's hardly the same thing as stating that crooners by definition have small voices. It's simply saying that, at the time, they were dismissed by some people in that regard.

(It's also typical Wikipedia-ese, in that it doesn't actually make any semantic sense. "Emphatically sentimental", "emotional" singing is equally possible with or without a microphone. And what does "often emotional" mean anyway? You can't trust anything writing that inept is telling you.)

When you actually look at singers described as crooners - Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jnr - they did not have small voices.

Again, while I'm utterly uninterested in Michael Buble, anyone who sings can hear that he can sing, and probably has just as "big a voice" as the next successful professional mainstream singer who makes a living out of his vocal chords.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 19 Dec 11 - 07:50 AM

That's hardly the same thing as stating that crooners by definition have small voices.

Who's suggesting it is?

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 19 Dec 11 - 07:57 AM

Although on thinking again. I think opera singers tend to have "huge voices" so I guess it might be relative.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Tootler
Date: 19 Dec 11 - 08:13 AM

I think the OP is being more than a little unkind. I'm sure he is an excellent singer and thoroughly professional in his approach.

However, his music is just not my favourite style which is an entirely different matter.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 19 Dec 11 - 08:21 AM

anyone who sings can hear that he can sing...

I think Wikipedia might edit that to read

anyone [who?] who sings can hear that he can sing [citation needed]...

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,matt milton
Date: 19 Dec 11 - 09:28 AM

Well, to be pedantic again, you're just plain wrong in the first instance. That's a standard use of the English word "anyone": the "[who?]" has already been answered by "who sings".

One might equally pointlessly point out that your post above could be "edited" in exactly the same way: "I" [who?] and "might" [citation needed] etc etc.

But the crucial difference is that both my comment and your reply (by and large) did at least make sense, unlike the inarticulate comment on Wikipedia about crooners that mildly irritated me in a Lynne Truss-like fashion.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: pdq
Date: 19 Dec 11 - 12:33 PM

There are many singers who do older Pop Standards almost exclusively.

Michael Feinstein, Josh Grogan and Harry Connick, Jr, come to mind.

They can play the big clubs in Vegas and entertain an audience of older, more conservative patrons that have just as much right to be accomodated as the Rock, Soul and Country fans.

They are an improvement over the sewer sludge that has oozed into Pop music in the last 20 years.

We really had a good thing going, as a country, when great Pop singers like Bing Crosby, Jo Stafford, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Wilson, Perry Como and Nat Cole brought people of all backgrounds together.

Music right now is dividing people into distinct tribes. Not good for this country's future.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Acorn4
Date: 19 Dec 11 - 02:10 PM

Big voices ? Small voices? Size isn't everything!

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 21 Dec 11 - 08:37 PM

But the crucial difference is that both my comment and your reply (by and large) did at least make sense,

Perhaps according to structure, yes but does

"anyone who sings can hear that he can sing, and probably has just as "big a voice" as the next successful professional mainstream singer who makes a living out of his vocal chords.

mean that someone stating,

"Mr Buble is a crooner not a singer - ie he needs a mike near his gob to make the voice work"

can not sing?

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Bert
Date: 21 Dec 11 - 09:01 PM

Gawd, If talent was a requirement, I'd never be able to sing anywhere.

Once someone said to me (at a songwriters circle) 'You don't have a very good voice and you don't play the guitar very well....


....But you're the best one here'.

I think it comes down to

If you want to sing
and if you have a good repertoire
and if you sing like yourself (not some Dylan soundalike)

Then go ahead and bloody well sing, 'cos no one else can do it for you.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Genie
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 12:41 AM

As for talent as a singer, vocal power (being able to fill a large concert hall sans amplification) is just one of several important factors.    Range of pitch, precision of pitch, ability to "carry a tune" (which is not the same thing as just being on pitch), tonal quality (resonance, etc.), phrasing, interpretation of the songs, connection with the audience -- all these are important aspects of being a good singer.   Since people don't always have to sing live in large rooms and since excellent vocal amplification tools are pretty standard these days, I'd say that sheer vocal power (volume) is maybe the least important.

If you don't care for Bublé's music, fine. But if his unamplified voice is rather soft (a "crooner"), that seems a poor justification for dismissing his talent as a singer altogether.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 12:42 AM

To say that a crooner is not a singer defies logical description! They may sing soft and low and vocal power may play second place to smooth and mellow but sing they do, and do it damn well!
If Jim Reeves was not a country icon his style would be called "crooner". The same goes for Eddy Arnold and Red Foley. Where would you place Bill Anderson? Crooners are singers of course, Bubble included!

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Bert
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 12:48 AM

You are right Genie, but I would put 'connection with the audience' way near the top. If you can't hold the audience then what is the point of singing?

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 01:12 AM

·····! just revenge for all the times you switch on the telly and Mr Bubble is grinning back at you······ Big Al
,.,.,.

But WHY 'revenge', Al? What harm has he done to you just by being there and doing what he does that so many, incomprehensible as it may seem to you, enjoy & appreciate? Hasn't your telly got on off-switch or a channel-changer?

As somebody who, like one above, had never even heard of him before this thread, I can only say after U-tubing that he sounds to me no better or worse than so many others at doing the sort of music I don't all that much care for anyhow ~ tho prefer pre-rock to post-rock on the whole; I should have thought him rather old-fashioned to appeal to enough people to make such an impact and such a living, but I suppose there must be some huge nostalgia market that he is tapping. As to 'talent', if he has the 'talent' to convince so many that he is something special and earn all those million $$$ from it ~~ an enviable talent in itself ~~ then good luck to him.

I ask again ~~ what harm is he doing to incur the sort of animus that this thread, and its title, imply?

Emma likes him anyhow.

~Michael~

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 01:55 AM

Well I and my family watched Michael Buble last night in a Christmas program. We all thought he was very good.

Why do people have to slag off a performer publically, just becuase they do not like that person.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Brakn
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 02:54 AM

This thread says more about Mudcat than it does about Michael Buble - perhaps people are bored or just boring. ;-)

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 03:19 AM

I don't have any opinion about his talents. he looks good, sings in key, and he knows the words.

Theres just something about the bloke that irritates me.

As George Harrison almost wrote:-

Something in the way he smirks
Annoys me like no other singer.....

Its that smirk.... it turns the subtext of every song into.....my god! I can't wait to get home and kiss myself all over....and I can really get down to it....

Seasons Greetings!

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 04:43 AM

He's very good at what he does. If anyone doen't like what he does.....fine, horses for courses! I like him, and Mrs. Fenswoman is turned into a quivering wreck by the sound of his voice.

Al, if you don't like the smirk, just do what I do when he's on the telly - read a book and just listen! :-) :-)

FWIW - if there's anything about MB's performance that gets on my wick, it's his speech-impediment, which I hear very, very clearly, although others don't seem to. But I can forgive him, because he's so good otherwise at what he does.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: DrugCrazed
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 05:27 AM

Meh, Rick Guard is better.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 07:56 AM

He doesn't do anything for me it's not my kind of thing but it doesn't mean to say that he hasn't got talent. I've noticed that he has shown a little bit more versatility with 'I haven't met you yet' but as with other singers or stars who irritate I just wouldn't buy it.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 10:31 AM

I don't get much enjoyment out of listening to Michael Buble, because it's not my kind of music.

However, unlike the OP I recognise that the fact that I don't like a genre doesn't affect the validity of that genre or the talent of it's proponents.

It is a statement about me, not Michael Buble.

It took me over ten years to teach my son that his dislike of a musical genre did not make it (as he was wont to say) Crap!

Don T.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 10:54 AM

I guess I'm very fortunate Don, I love all kinds of music, as long as the performer is good at what he/she is singing/playing. I prefer certain genres to others, but I can enjoy any kind of music. Folk and Americana are my preferences, but I can listen to pretty much anything else.

And I personally enjoy Michael Buble as much as I enjoy any other crooner, and more than some (he can at least sing in tune, which is more than can be said for certain others - one or two of them having almost been elevated to the status of a deity).

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Raptor
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 11:15 AM

I find it interesting that JTS was watching SNL and expecting to see any talent on it at all."I saw him on SNL and I asked myself "Why?" "

That show has been devoid of entertainment since the mid Eighties.

I have found this thread amusing though, so if you take requests Could we get an entire thread of things JTS doesn't like?

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: banksie
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 11:45 AM

I'm afraid I do tend to think of Michael Buble as a Mel Torme tribute act.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,999
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 12:04 PM

Well, I want the whole world to know that I don't like this stuff.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,Herbie the Dachshund
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 12:24 PM

Well...I have to say it tasted better going down than it did coming back up.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 12:29 PM

BLEAUGH!!!!!! That'll teach you not to eat overage food, Herbie.

That's just disgusting, 999.

This may come as a shock to some folks, but I've never even heard Michael Buble. I guess I've really missed out on something, eh?

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Raptor
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 12:44 PM

I love Mel Torme.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 12:48 PM

Holy shit Michael Buble and Mel Torme.

Mel's musicality was so great that you never noticed what he looked like.

Mel and George Shearing were fabulous together.


Nil comparison. Mel Torme was a jazzer, used the servants entrance. Monsieur Bubble -n a couple of years, he'll be on tv eating witchety grubs, on I'm a celebrity, please let me get up your arse and into the living room via the tv screen.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 01:06 PM

Thinking about it here...I've probably heard Michael Buble over the radio in some restaurant or something...but I wouldn't have known it was him, that's all.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Genie
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 01:06 PM

Calling Michael Buble a Mel Torme tribute act is supposed to be an insult?

Mel Torme was extremely talented, both as a musician and as a songwriter/composer.   Bublé isn't a "tribute act" in the sense of just doing covers of Torme songs, of course. And I'd say that even when he does "cover" the songs of crooners like Sinatra, Dean Martin, Carmichael, etc., he puts a more contemporary stamp on the arrangements.   (Compare Bublé's "Sway," for instance, to Dean Martin's.)
Plus, Mel Torme is no longer adding to his own list of compositions and Bublé is writing some of his own. So I'd say it's more a matter of Bublé carrying on the growth and evolution of the jazz/pop music of the '40s, '50s and '60s. Not quite the same thing as a purely "tribute artist."

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,999
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 01:23 PM

Sing like you mean it.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: gnu
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 01:38 PM

The Velvet Fog... now we're talkin!

As for Buble, Jack has no requirement to at least recognize his talent on accounta Jack is not a Canuck anymore, eh. An if ya wanna slpit hairs, Jack is from tha Granite Planet, Tha Rock, T'Island (Newfoundland fer them what don't know). Right there, he has arguable cause.

Big Al... man, you crack me up! >:-D

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 01:52 PM

is the smirk drug induced? Its not natural. It's set in, like rigor mortis.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: gnu
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 02:10 PM

It's NOT a smirk. It's an uncontrollable slight grin when he thinks about how much he is getting paid. You'd have one too. I know I would. Probably from ear to ear.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 02:13 PM

Why don't you all just switch him off and go and watch a nice video of The Bride Of Frankenstein? It's just too sad to watch you all, sitting there glued to your sets, obsessing over how much you hate him!

☹☹☹☹☹☹☹☹☹☹

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: gnu
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 02:48 PM

Hehehee. Good one.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: fat B****rd
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 03:24 PM

Bruce, my man. That child has obviously been listening to her grandparent's Wild Man Fisher LPs.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 03:26 PM

Hate him???? I still don't even know who he is! Hell, if I bumped into him on the street, I wouldn't know it was him unless someone told me. But if they did, then I'd say to him, "Do you know that people are dissing you on Mudcat Cafe, man?"

And he'd probably say, "On what????"

;-D

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 03:36 PM

well personally i'm just passing on my years of experience as a performance artist, and suggesting I'm a Celebrity -Get me oUt of the Jungle - might be the career path to take when everyone hates him as much as I do.

No mailce involved.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Genie
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 06:30 PM

Good one, Hawk!

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 11:53 PM

Okay, I've now watched a couple of Michael Buble videos. I think he sings just fine. The one where he lets the lady's son come on stage and sing with him is really cool. Michael Buble is okay with me.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Raptor
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 12:02 AM

I have become a fan because of that video. For those who didn't see it youtube search "Buble gets heckled" and watch what happens.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: JohnB
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 01:01 AM

I do not greatly like him, however, he has a distinctive sound edge to his voice, sings on key from what I have heard. Plus he is worth more than all of us here put together, so he can't be all bad.
Plus he is a Canuck. Why anyone would want to start this is beyond me, he is not even remotely Folky. The prior video shows some class to him too.
JohnB

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Genie
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 01:17 AM

Good question, John. Why bring up a pop/jazz singer on a folk/blues website to single him out for criticism?

But taking the original question/contention at face value, I would add that Michel Bublé's talent includes not only singing and at least some songwriting but instrumental skill as well. I know that he plays guitar - pretty decently at least. He may also play piano, but I'm not sure of that. He is also an actor. Even if he were only halfway decent at singing, songwriting, acting, and guitar playing, I'd say the total package amounts to a good deal of "talent."

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 01:51 AM

I have to say that I object to the first message referring to Harry Connick, Jr., as being "dead or at an advanced age." Despite what it says in The Onion about him dying in a piano fire, Harry Connick, Jr., is very much alive. Wikipedia, says he was born in 1967 nineteen years after I was born. Hey, JtS, I'm not all THAT old (and I hadn't realized that Connick was THAT young).

Michael Bublé was born in Canada in 1975. Hey, I've got kids his age. Maybe I'm older than I think. I listened to some of his recordings - "Mack the Knife" and "Cry Me a River," to be specific. They were good recordings, but he's no Bobby Darin or Julie London. I'd say he's on a secondary level, like Connick and perhaps not quite so good.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,999
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 04:46 PM

I just heard him on Youtube. He ain't at all bad, imo.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Big Mick
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 05:08 PM

Buble doesn't strike me as being a dynamic performer, but he certainly is a very good performer. I am sure that I would enjoy a show of his. He is a far better than average interpreter of this music in my opinion, and a very good entertainer. I wouldn't purchase his CD's, but mostly because his music isn't my cuppa. But I would receive one as a gift and I am sure I would enjoy having it around.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Banjo-Flower
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 06:20 PM

Yet another thread where the original poster disappears after making a controversial statement

Gerry

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Big Mick
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 07:56 PM

Yeah, Gerry, I agree. Speaks volumes about One's motives in starting it, doesn't it? I am proud of the posters who have turned this from an exercise in "taking the piss" into a decent discussion.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 08:50 PM

I think maybe you Americans like people who smile a lot - more than we do in England. I remember Berkley had an an English annexe near our college when we were kids and we used to gaze in wonder at the Americans - particularly the girls - keeping up a fixed grin while they were dancing. It was a bit Stepford Wives.

I expect its a cultural thing. Buble is always doing chat shows over here, smirking away for for the Great American Smirk title like his life depended on it.

If we had the 1500 metres Smirking as an event in the Olympics, that guy would win the gold medal. Probably the Marathon Smirk as well.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Jeri
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 08:53 PM

Joe, please tell me you missed the poing for comedic effect!
EITHER Harry Connick Jr, OR dead OR at a very advanced age.

Still, the whole premise of this thread sounds like those two old geezers on the Muppet show or a caricature of a clueless parent. Maybe every one of us either had one of those parents or had a friend who did. Ridicule is what some people use when they have absolutely nothing else going for them.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 08:58 PM

Yup. Missed it.
Duh....

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,999
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 09:23 PM

Also, in the event anyone wants to know, he's a Canuck.

His high voice range is way beyond normal. Accurate, a bit cutting bland, but he means it.

I want to thank Jack the Sailor for starting this thread--even with the unfortunate title--because I was able to find a performer with something new and good.

OK, if he's a crooner, I take back my remark from way earlier. I was wrong! (I didn't want to make an ass of myself twice in one thread, so I used a [!] instead of a [?]. A . was out of the question/statement/.......got it: averment. Now,

say goodnight, Gracie . . .

#####################################################

Mick, where are you and wherever you are, doing what? I understand music is very much in the mix, and I want to hear some, pardon me for being blunt.

If you no longer have my e-mail address, message me.

The Phantom

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: gnu
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 09:45 PM

Well... if ya watched that vid where he gets the kid up on stage... sorry to say this, but, he's definitely a Canuck. The language, the style, 100% just a nice guy.... yes, I know that's the way most people all around the world are, but it seems to me Canucks go out of their way to be "nice". Of course I would. I am a Canuck.

Of course, people are people wherever they come from or whatever they are... and there are exceptions, of course.

I think Buble is a cool dude. And, he can sing.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 10:32 PM

Canuck

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Little Hawk
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 12:04 AM

Big Al - Well, of course we North Americans smile more than you Brits do. After all, it's damned hard to smile while maintaining a "stiff upper lip", eh?

;-D

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 03:10 AM

I like Buble and I love Bobby Darin

Here is a comparison of them both doing a live broadcast of Mack The Knife.

On this occasion, Bobby Darin wins hands down.

Bobby Darin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qrjtr_uFac

Michael Buble http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8pdlxlJFxg&feature=player_embedded

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Little Hawk
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 10:36 AM

I don't care much for that particular style of music (swing)...never did...but Bobby Darin certainly does "Mack the Knife" extremely well in that video clip.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 12:47 PM

Bobby Darin does indeed do Mack The Knife well but nobody can match this:
Satchmo

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 12 Oct 18 - 03:08 PM

All these years later, Michael Bublé is still selling records.

Dining out in my area often takes me to Bertucci's, an Italian-cuisine franchise.
The overhead music speakers are always playing singers
with a certain repertoire, the American Songbook standards
that are easy on the ear
and far more difficult to execute than they sound.

That means that Michael Bublé's voice is regularly heard
along with Bobby Darin, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra,
Ella Fitzgerald with or without Louis Armstrong
(I think their duets are simply grand),
Rosemary Clooney ... a few voices I don't recognize,
but always recognizable repertoire.

So unless I switch restaurants -- and I really love
a Bertucci's baby arugula salad with grilled chicken --
I have to listen to Michael Bublé whether I want to or not.

It is interesting for me to make a specific comparison:
Michael Bublé and Perry Como.   
Both have voices and repertoire that go down well
with a large group of consumers;
the repertoire is largely if not entirely the same;
both have been wildly successful in the material sense;
and both have got people who sneer at them.

It sets my teeth on edge when people sneer at Perry Como.
You have heard the taunts: he sounds like he is singing in his sleep.
That's the one that drives me nuts.
Actually Perry Como combines two different approaches.

One approach concerns diction, and delivery of a lyric.
This approach absolutely requires a sense of closeness and intimacy,
because the diction is very quiet and subtle.
It is not the declamatory diction of a Wagnerian heldentenor.
Rather, it is one of the hallmarks of the "crooner" genre:
as they used to say of Frank Sinatra,
"he knows how to get in bed with a popular song".
So the consonants are not projected as in the theater, with considerable force;
the consonants are carefully amplified by a microphone
as if the singer were murmuring endearments right into the audience's ear.
Bing Crosby was highly practiced at doing this, although
it took him a while to get it right;
Crosby ultimately did it so well that Perry Como made a role model of him.

Perry Como's other role model was Enrico Caruso. Como used to say
that he listened to Crosby and Caruso and modelled his singing on theirs.
And there is the secret of Perry Como's own style and technique.
By Caruso's technique, I do not mean belting out La Donna è Mobile.
I mean that very physical, athletic approach to supporting the singing voice
with what the teachers like to call "a column of air."
I use the word athletic because, as with a physical sport,
a discipline is required, the sort of discipline and coordination
with which one is rarely born,
that has to be practiced, corrected, refined, and mastered over years of work.
Perry Como's singing combined those intimate, gentle diction manners
with an extremely robust core of vocal sound.
Never mind if his singing puts some people to sleep
because they don't hear him being as expressive as Sinatra.
To sing as Como sang --
listen to the conclusion of "Some Enchanted Evening" with its
rising notes and volume --
you have to work expletive-deleted hard for a long time
to make it sound that easy and available.

Michael Bublé does not have Como's vocal technique.
His technique is different, and what seems more paramount to Bublé
is that the core of his voice has a shiny, polished, clean quality
even under the scrutiny of microphones and amplification.

My background with classical-music singing
predisposes me in favor of Perry Como,
even though his repertoire included the god-awful lyrics and tunes
which were rejected by Sinatra and his rat pack.

I'm not happy with Michael Bublé's
smooth-and-blank-as-a-mirror soundscape of a voice,
but that is a matter of taste;
he too is making something challenging sound very easy
and it does not surprise me that others look up to him.

It is false to say that he has no talent.
His sound is annoying and irritating to me, though, that much is true.

Subject: RE: Michael buble has no talent
From: gillymor
Date: 12 Oct 18 - 03:14 PM

It's become a tradition around here to
watch his Xmas specials. I kind of like his laid-back, unpretentious style. He makes it seem effortless.

Subject: RE: Review: Michael Buble
From: robomatic
Date: 12 Oct 18 - 11:07 PM

Big Como fan since I was in diapers. He doesn't seem to have been as much played in the modern era as his contemporaries Tony Bennett, Dean Martin and Andy Williams. Most often I hear him when the movie "Odessa File" gets aired. Perry is singing the Christmas song on Jon Voight's car radio. Good song. Good singer. Even Jon is smiling.

No comment on Michael Buble. I have not really been exposed to him. Starbucks' playlists don't have him, although they have many songs that I really don't like, or are overplayed. But that's for another thread.

Subject: RE: Review: Michael Buble
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 13 Oct 18 - 02:10 AM

I like Michael and he has really studied his craft.
The Youtube clip below gives an insight into how he has analysed the vocal mannerisms of the singers that he admires.

Youtube Clip

Subject: RE: Review: Michael Buble
From: Acorn4
Date: 13 Oct 18 - 03:53 AM

This Christmas wandered I unsure
Into that CD megastore
Among the shelves I the did slope
To that small section labelled "folk".
With Steeleye Span I made my way
Unto the ckeckout for to pay.
I handed my CD at which
A 'cool' young man began his pitch:
Would I like from this display
Christmas songs by Michael Buble
All for two pounds ninety nine-
Special offer for Christmas time.
I'm sure these songs so old and cheesy
Will make your Christmas listening easy.
A strange look came into this young man's eye
When I gave him my reply.
"Would this Blooblay bloke blee my desire
When I'm clutching Maddy Plyor?
One could hardly miss them after all
With a pile of the bloody things nearly three feet tall
Rather than buy this disc compact
The norovirus I'd contract
Such clooners are just not my thing
Neither clave I Criff nor Bing.
So may your Christmas bring you cheer
And hasten in a good New Year
And keep us all from toil and trouble
Torment us not with Michael Blubble;
And keep us free from very ague
Especially from Blublonic plague!

Subject: RE: Review: Michael Buble has no talent
From: keberoxu
Date: 14 Oct 18 - 06:21 PM

Well, I added to this thread,
just in time to discover

"This is my last interview. I'm retiring"