Music: so who don't you like?

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: GUEST,Jed
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 06:23 PM

I can't stand Rick Fielding, really dreadful to my ears

Jed

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: BanjoRay
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 06:21 PM

We used to have Stan Hugill at our club in Aberystwyth in the sixties. The world expert on shanties- what he didn't know about them wasn't worth knowing - a lovely guy and a great character - but what a dreadful voice! If one of the nineteenth century shantymen had a voice like his, he'd have had to walk the plank tarred and feathered.
Your mileage may vary, of course
Cheers
Ray

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: CraigS
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 05:45 PM

The difficulty with some people is that it is hard to sing their songs without imitating their voice and styling, so that anyone else doing those songs unintentionally parodies them. The prime candidates are Dylan, Baez, Neil Young and Elvis Costello. I don't like listening to any of these, because it makes my voice do funny things when I don't expect it. Axel Rose, on the other hand, is not even worth imitating unintentionally. I've heard better-sounding squeaks from Ford axles without lubrication, and one look at Mr Rose in performance will tell you he's lubricated!

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: bernil
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 05:04 PM

I've got one record with the Dubliners and I like the music but... I can't stand the singer's voice! I can listen to one tune now and then, mixed with other music but listening to many songs with him is very boring! I don't know how old that record is (can't find it now but I still have it somewhere) and I don't know if he's still singing with them. I ought to know his name but I don't.

Berit

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: Raptor
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 03:38 PM

Ruffus wainright will drive me to the clocktower with an m16 within 3 notes!

Raptor

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: greg stephens
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 03:18 PM

I can't think of any performers I dislike who make what I would call folk music, because I think folk-music has an underlying philosophy/cultural background which makes it work every time. But I can think of a hell of a lot of people who perform material of folk origin who drive me up the wall.

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: Cluin
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 03:07 PM

Oh yeah, and Leonard Cohen bores me stiff. Funny... he's a great lyricist, but for some reason, I can't stand him.

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 10:29 AM

So I guess I agree with those who have said they hate Baez (for me, it is her fake vibrato), and high, whiny girl singers--I agree with that, and especially the Irish trad Oireachtas/Comhltas sickeningly sweet high whiny girl voices (give me Dolores Keane any day of the week!). I also agree with Fred Miller about the stridently earnest and sincere voices of many a male folk singer.

I do appreciate a certain sort of off key traditional singing voice if it isn't fake sounding, I guess. Which is what I consider the high whiny female and stridently earnest male "folk" voice to be. Which is why I can listen to Dylan in small doses, singing his own songs that he still cares about. But if I had to listen to an entire Dylan CD of folk covers, well...you'd lose me there.

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: Wesley S
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 10:18 AM

Another vote for Richard Thompson.

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 09:48 AM

I really dislike Baez.

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: Barney the Fifer
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 09:36 AM

I'm a big Gordon Bok fan. But his frequent partners, Ed Trickett and Ann Mayo Muir, have to be among the blandest singers I've ever heard.
Margaret MacArthur is another singer who is much too bland for my taste.

As for Dylan, I'm a huge fan of his stuff dating from about 1961-1976 and from about 1990 to now. I didn't like his stuff from the late seventies and through the eighties.

Personalities that have turned me off their music are Don McLean and Michael Johnathan.

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: GUEST,Fred Miller
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 09:34 AM

I don't like Pete Seeger singing. There, I said it. Don't like Joan Baez, but don't hate it--she can do a song, but the voice doesn't interest me. Dylan is a terrific singer, has got more musicality out of his basically ugly voice than makes any sense. Some people have said they hate folkies who don't put feeling into it, I can't stand those who ooze sincerity and aggressive earnestness all over the place. I'm tired just thinking of it.

Positive side, the Wattersons are the only a cappella stuff I'll buy, their harmonies are addictive. And I keep trying to learn what it is exactly that Taj Mahal does with simple tunes that makes them come out so interesting.

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: Bullfrog Jones
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 09:01 AM

Love Iris, Kris, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, The McGarrigles Dylan (the early and late voices --- you can't talk about 'one' Dylan voice), but I can understand why other people don't. Can't think of anone I hate but Nanci Griffith gets up my nose sometimes (the Beloved can't stand her at all, especially that word 'ling-ah' in Hard Times), and I don't like the passionless blandness of Eva Cassidy and Nickelcreek.

BJ

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 08:12 AM

Dylan. At his worst, he can have the same effect on me as someone running their finger nails down a blackboard does. It is far worse than the simple matter of me not enjoying a voice.

I'm pretty much with NicoleC on his ability as a song writer.

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: Bagpuss
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 07:15 AM

I *would* really like Cara Dillon, except for that slightly sickly sweet quality to her voice which just touches a nerve.

I also seem to be in a minority for not liking Eva Cassidy - not because of her voice which is pleasant enough, but I just find her totally uninspiring.

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: GUEST,Geordie
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 07:14 AM

I LOVE the MacGarrigle sisters but I cannot listen to Christy Moore, The Pogues, Tim Hart , Enya but my all time favourite dislike is Phil Ochs. I know he has written some grand songs, but I hate his singing. All a matter of taste I guess.

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 07:07 AM

Fakes. I won't mention names, but those who "do" folk, trad, blues and so on but who don't supply the feeling that this music requires.

I once went to a live performance where one of the four performers was stoned solid. Three gave a great performance, and I've noticed that the quartet has quietly become a trio. Being stoned doesn't automatically make a good performance.

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 06:08 AM

Anyone who puts no heart into their music. I can't abide bland reproductions of songs that are note-correct, but lack any communication of feeling at all. The worst kind are those that are bland and not even note-correct. Blurggghghghghgh.
I can stand any (almost) amount of technical lack so long as its done from the heart. (but then I have more passion than technique, so I would say that wouldn't I?)
But I would say that its the individual renditions I dislike, and that same singer might excel in another song or genre. Sometimes a singer does something god-aweful and then goes on to produce something wonderful (and vice versa) - people change, so I'd hate to condemn anyone absolutely.

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: Auxiris
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 06:01 AM

Ah well, no one's yet mentioned the McGarrigle sisters. Can't stand any of them.

cheers,

Aux

Subject: RE: Music: so who don't you like?
From: Cluin
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 04:34 AM

Yep, those Rankan girls harmonies get on my tits too. Like a goddamn dentist drill. Don't know why Ian Tamblyn was singing about Cookie's voice. She bugs me the most.

Like Jimmmy though.

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 01:57 AM

Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, Richard Thompson, Tom Waits.

Seamus

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 01:10 AM

^5's Cluin!

John A Cameron played one of my locals last year, and a bigger faded, drunken, has-been I've never seen... And his choice of music is so pedantic as to be painful...

Stompin Tom... That he sang ONE song at all is one song too many in my book...

The 'women' from The Rankin Family... Ya... I can sing through MY nose too...

James Gordon... Man oh man, that guy can write the hell out of a song or 12, but his little pansy voice just buggs me...

Oh ya... 98% of EVERYTHING on mp3.com! Especially in the 'folk' section...

And, as a thread not too long ago will tell you... my own!

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: rangeroger
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 12:20 AM

Greg Golgart

rr

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 11:38 PM

All mudcatters...who's names deal with death, dying, or critters.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Their names ...and thoughts...all share a "herd mentality" and a complete ingornace to the "Heard Mentality" of folk music.

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: mg
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 10:10 PM

I can't listen to Dougie McLean..or his songs either for some reason...don't know why. I love Iris Dement...mg

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: curmudgeon
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 09:45 PM

I fear that my subconscious has erased his name, that "rock and roller" who got the Chieftains to help him demolish a batch of trad songs. Abomination!

I also dislike his singing intensely -- Tom

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: John Hardly
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 09:36 PM

Judy Collins.

Sorry, but it is so monotonous to me.

She was Rita Coolidge before Rita was Rita.

They could extract the excitement out of any song, dump it down the drain, and give you all that's left.

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 09:19 PM

I have a set of **records** of John Jacob Niles, and they are MINT..meaning I listened to them approximatly once! Maybe I am keeping them for research, cause I sure can't stand what he does with his voice. Loreena McKinnet goes WAY beyond tolerable...I'm not sure whether she CAN sing...but she doesn't.

I can tolerate Martin Carthy or Bellamy ok...and I love the Coppers...so..*shrug* ..de gustibus and all that...

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: SDShad
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:58 PM

Iris played here at the University of South Dakota campus 'bout a year ago. It was her first public gig since September 11--she commented on that from the stage, and how nervous it made her, and how she was wondering what good these little songs really were in the wake of what had happened. And you could tell she was nervous. Her voice was, I'm sorry to say, painfully off the first 4 or 5 songs. But as her confidence grew (and fans of Iris know that confidence is sometimes a bit of a problem for her) and the crowd really got behind her, it ended up being a very good performance. Her take on "Fifty Miles of Elbow Room" was stunning. But even off, her voice is still somehow compelling and authentic, and OMG what a songwriter. She makes my short list on the strength of "Sweet Is the Melody" alone. Doesn't hurt that she's cute as all hell either.

As for Kristofferson, what I've always said is that he can't sing a bloody note, but isn't he good at it! :-) His voice does get on my nerves sometimes, but sometimes it's just the right thing (his verse on "The Highwayman" for instance).

Chris

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: RangerSteve
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:57 PM

I like Iris, Dylan irritates me to no end, but mostly I'd like to add to the list John Jacob Niles. Maybe someone can explain his appeal, if there is any.

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Malachy
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:56 PM

Geri Halliwell..........she makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up !! Oh and Martine McCutcheon....anyone noticed that sometimes she sounds like Mary Black..only not as good?
Mal

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Paul G.
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:51 PM

I see both Iris Dement and Greg Brown mentioned here -- as they were married (yes, to each other) about a week or so ago, you're gonna love the kid's voices!...I'm with you , Joe -- saw Iris live and she was wonderful. Greg on the other hand is one voice I could manage without.

P.

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Cluin
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:39 PM

JJ, I agree with you on the Axel Rose call (besides, he stole all his dance moves fro Davy Jones), but definitely not with regards to Kristofferson. The man's a genius. Sure, he needs both hands and a pair of vise-grips to hold onto the key, but I'll overlook that for sake of his lyricism.

Now, who I really can't understand the appeal of is John Allan Cameron...

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:31 PM

Yeah - I think you need to see Iris Dement in person to learn how to like her. I'm deeply in love with the woman, and it really hurts to see the rest of you diss her like you do.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: SDShad
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:20 PM

Rambling Jack Elliot. Sorry.

But I love Iris DeMent! No accounting for taste.

Chris

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: M.Ted
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:19 PM

Not folk, exactly, but I can't listen to Tom Waits singing, at least his most recent stuff, without experiencing extreme distress--

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Jazzyjack
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:05 PM

Kris Kristofferson and Axel Rose; 2 complete musical fakes.

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: michaelr
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:03 PM

Guest, if Donovan is not folk, what would you call him? Bel canto? Dixieland?

We've dragged poor Iris DeMent over the coals at length here, so I hesitate to whack her again... but I just can't stand her singing.

Jimmie Dale Gilmore is her male equivalent in the nasal department.

Although I love Irish song, I'm not a big fan of the Clancys/Dubliners "fine gerrl ye are" sound, but perhaps that's more style than voices.

I'd rather talk about who I like... whatever happened to Mary Dillon, the singer with Deanta? Her rendition of "Lone Shanakyle" gives me shivers.

Cheers,
Michael

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Snuffy
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:03 PM

Bert Jansch

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Jazzyjack
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:01 PM

Kris Kristofferson and Axel Rose; 2 complete musical fakes.

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Bobert
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 08:00 PM

Cris Kristoferson has never been on key in his life. Nice guy, good song writter, but tone deaf.... er somethin'.

At least Dylan is on key. BTW, I love the guy. Any of you folks who think Dylan can't sing, just put on your head phones and try to get where he goes. You may not like his voice but he can flat-out sing.

Gillian Welch? A little off, too...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: NicoleC
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 07:58 PM

I don't like a single song that Bob Dylan has made. But I think the remakes are invariably awesome... which is a tribute to his writing abilities, if not his performing ones.

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: dorareever
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 07:52 PM

I don't like much Karan Casey,Loreena McKennit,Cathy Jordan...I'm also not too fond of Joan Baez....Enya is boring,her sister is so much better but not my thing.
Vocally speaking I guess you must say I don't like "modern" folk voices...if we talk about British and Irish folk I'm for Maggie Barry,Dolores Keane,Lorna Campbell,Linda Thompson.
I like Iris Dement voice a lot,and he can't sing but listening to Dylan is a pleasure.I would rather listen to him that one of those ethereal gals I listed.And I know they can sing.I saw Dervish three years ago or so and Cathy is really good at singing,but I don't like her voice much.It doesn't have much character...don't know...it's just a matter of taste but give me Lorna Campbell everyday!


I can't think of a man I don't really like.

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Alice
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 07:46 PM

Coincidentally, I noticed a survey of Americans online regarding likes and dislikes of voices. It seems Americans don't like sopranos. So, that's one more thing that makes me different than the mainstream... a high voice can be pleasing to me. It isn't the range of a voice that would make me cringe. This survey of course wasn't about folk singers, just speaking and singing voices in general. The results are here:

http://www.bgsm.edu/voice/bestandworstrelease.html
The Best and Worst Voices in America
Americans Speak Out, Select the "Best and Worst Voices in America"
in Online Polling by the Center for Voice Disorders of Wake Forest
University

Alice

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 07:24 PM

I'm another one for the loathe Peter Bellamy camp.... Not overly fond of June Tabor recordings either... she's better live. Her recordings to me always sound over produced.

I remember heartily detesting the singing voice of a folk club member... he was Irish, had a London accent and sang from the back of his nose in a strangled sort of whine, the sort you hear from sawmills, with - to me - excessive amounts of drool. I can cope with almost any voice really, just so long as they don't drool whilst singing.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 07:05 PM

BILL, I love you so, you'll always know...
Wedding Bell Blues

I agree, Bruce.
Laura Nyro really grates on me.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 06:54 PM

I can't think of anyone in the folk vein whose voice or delivery I really dislike. I'm willing to give folkies a lot of leeway. If I do start to get overly critical I just turn on the tape recorder and listen to a little of my own singing. If people can listen to me without throwing fruit, then I should be able to listen to just about anyone else.

In fact, the only singer in any genre that I absolutely cannot abide is Laura Nyro. If my wife gets tired of me hanging around the house she just puts one of her old Laura Nyro LP's on the turntable and I'm off to chop firewood or something.

Bruce

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 06:10 PM

Well, the only musicians alive who get a really violent reaction out of me these days are Sheryl Crow and Greg Brown. I have no idea why.

But you aren't alone Morticia. I like Martin Carthy well enough, but don't care for Nic Jones. And gnomad, I dislike Peter Bellamy's presentation so much, I'm afraid I couldn't even admire his skill.

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Amos
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 06:10 PM

That's one of the reasons I don't like his stuff, Oh Unidentified One!!

A

Subject: RE: BS: so who don't you like?
From: Don Firth
Date: 03 Dec 02 - 06:06 PM

I find Bob Dylan a little hard to take. I know Richard Dyer-Bennet's light tenor gets on some people's nerves, but I like it. I'd trade throats with Gordon Bok any day.

Don Firth