The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #46268   Message #686174
Posted By: GUEST,Owain
09-Apr-02 - 11:19 AM
Thread Name: Eva Cassidy...was she the best?
Subject: RE: BS: Eva Cassidy...was she the best?
Will look up Jo-Ann Kelly. As for the tag 'best', I disagree...I think one 'can' make a case for Eva. Most 'great' singers can, usually sing in one or two styles well and simply 'approximate' others. She did it all. She never oversold herself at the expense of the lyrics or was tentative where a push was called for. What I'm speaking of here is versatility...while I've never heard a classical recording of her I would think had she tried she would have nailed that genre as well. The fact that she would be 'so' uncomfortable with the tag 'best' only adds to MHO. While Mary Black and Sandy Denny are/were great I can't imagine either of them being able to come close to what Eva does on "Golden Thread". She 'out Aretha's' Aretha for goodness sake. Can you imagine Streisand's take on 'Fields of Gold'? She'd butcher it. Or Cleo Laine singing 'Songbird'? I'll give you a dead heat on Garland's 'Over the Rainbow', but imagine Judy doing 'Wayfaring Stranger'?...OUCH!! Beverly Sills on 'Wade in the Water'?...off with your heads! All things considered, she was the best. God rest her soul.