Best vocal on each album

[KarmaContestant]

Bella Donna: How Still My Love - it has all of the best characteristics of Stevie's voice in it.
The Wild Heart: Sable On Blonde. Again, lots of range, like How Still My Love.
Rock a Little: I Can't Wait. She sings it like she really meant it. Joe Walsh was, if anything, a huge inspiration to Stevie.
Other Side of the Mirror: Ghosts. Most of the OSOTM vocals are pretty monotone. Ghosts stands out a little bit.
Street Angel: Greta, because it's so energetic, and she sings it like it's her favorite.
Trouble in Shangri-La: Love Is. Much of TISL is monotone.
In Your Dreams: Moonlight. It's all about the range for me. I like songs where the vocals go up and down, narrow and wide.
24 Karat Gold: Mabel Normand. I wish for an entire album of Mabel Normands.

[brad975]

This is an interesting exercise, because Stevie's voice seemed to change considerably from album to album.

By 1981 (BellaDonna), she seemed to be adjusting to a deeper voice damaged by years of drugs and touring. To compensate, she seems to be making a concerted effort to force her voice down into a powerful, rock-n-roll place. But I question how healthy her technique was. She's consistently good on this album, but I'll pick a personal favorite ("Kind of Woman"). Note "Sleeping Angel" would have taken honors had it gotten its rightful place on the album.

By 1983 (Wild Heart), she was entering her heavy, rumbling vibrato period, when otherwise fine performances could enter some goat-like territory (the word "fearlessness" on the title track springs to mind). I love this album start to finish, though it's bittersweet in that this was the last album of Stevie's artistic prime, in my opinion. Best vocal: "If Anyone Falls."

By 1985 (Rock a Little), time-space had really taken its toll on our gal. She was snorting coke and smoking Kools in earnest, and it sure sounds like it. Best vocal (tie): "Imperial Hotel" and "No Spoken Word."

By 1989 (OSOTM, Stevie was entering a Klonopin haze where she was hitting lots of flat notes that spoiled otherwise okay songs. Best vocal: "Juliet," even though those "blues" at the end give me the blues. I also just like that song.

By 1994 (Street Angel), I wasn't even interested in buying this record. It would be seven years before I finally acquired it in a used bin. I'll have to go with "Blue Denim" (because it's a nifty rocker and she sounds half-awake), though I must admit I've never made it all the way to "Jane."

By 2001 (TISL), work with the vocal coach seemed to have helped, but she was also too nasally on too many numbers. She's said she's feared fixing the hole in her septum would hurt her voice, but what if it helped? Best vocal: "Planets of the Universe" (extended preferred).

By 2011 (In Your Dreams), our expectations of Stevie had to adjust given her age and history. I like most of these songs, and even though she sounds a little off here and there, I'm going to say she sounds most committed on "Annabel Lee" and pretty on "Moonlight" (a tie).

By 2014 (24K Gold), she's still rocking along, admirably maintaining what's left of her range without pushing it into dangerous territory too often. Best vocal: "Belle Fleur" because she sounds great without sounding strained (and sounds like she's into it).

Of the Mac albums:
Fleetwood Mac (75): Rhiannon and Landslide (tie). Not much competition when the group only gives you two leads.

Rumours (77): Dreams

Tusk (79): Sara

Live (80): Fireflies

Mirage (82): Gypsy

Tango in the Night (87): her background bit on "Little Lies"

Behind the Mask (90): her harmony on "Skies the Limit" (I'm stretching)

The Dance (97): Landslide

Say You Will (03): Thrown Down

[BLY]

BD- Kind of Woman
WH-I Will Run to You
RAL- If I Were You
OSOTM- Two Kinds of Love
SA- Greta
TISL-TISL
IYD- For What Its Worth
14 KG- Mabel Normand

[secondhandchain]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Pretty self-explanatory thread. Which song on each solo album do you think is sang the best?

Bella Donna: Edge of Seventeen. Her voice is awesome on Edge, the growl, the power, there's a reason we all love Edge. The Highwayman was a close second for me though, I think she sounds simply stunning on that one.

Wild Heart: Sable on Blond. Something about her vocal on this song just captivates me, her vibrato is there (and is glorious) but it isn't as over-the-top as it is on Wild Heart and Beauty and The Beast. And those "This time"s just sound glorious.

Rock A Little: No Spoken Word, by a country mile. Her voice has such power and rage in this song, and it hardly ever turns into the coke induced fabulously warbley mess that is the Rock A Little era.

The Other Side Of The Mirror: Long Way To Go. I really love her voice on here, it sounds so passionate and she just sings the hell out of it. Doing The Best I Can is a close second though, I think she does some really clever vocals on that song. Though I don't know how much of that is due to the production.

Street Angel: I guess I'd have to say Blue Denim. She seems to be a little alive right at the end when she does some overdubs. Really, this album is the laziest album for Stevie's vocals in my opinion. Well... Solo anyway (Say You Will says hello).

Trouble In Shangri-La: Sorcerer. Those high notes! How gorgeous. It was such a shock, the first time I heard TISL after the mess that is SA, the Stevie from SA could never sing Sorcerer so beautifully.

In Your Dreams: For me, Ghosts are Gone. I think it really shows off her power and skill with her now very-diminished voice, it's such a rocking song and she pulls off a fantastic vocal. Moonlight is a pretty close second, I love her softer voice, and I always love it when she uses that falsetto!

24 Karat Gold: The title track. WHERE was she hiding that voice? All The Beautiful Worlds is pretty darned good too, she sings the crap outta it.

I got news for you when sorcerer was around, SO was pro tools.

[sorcerer999]

Originally Posted by secondhandchain

I got news for you when sorcerer was around, SO was pro tools.

...and I've got news for you. The vocal on "Sorcerer" has not been tampered by pro tools. If you can find a copy of the rough, unedited, unmixed and unmastered version of this song, you will hear that the vocal is the exact same.

I really don't think Stevie is a "pro tools" artist, clearly evidenced by the raw (and yes, sometimes flat or sharp) vocals on a lot of songs from "24KG". "Lady" is a great example of this...but it's saved by the fact that the emotion outweighs the vocal mistakes. And I'll take emotion over a "perfect" vocal any day.

The two times I've ever heard a Stevie vocal with blatant pro tools was A.) the TISL version of "Thrown Down", and I have a feeling that she didn't like it at all, hence the reason she scrapped it and redid it for SYW...and B.) her "fixed" vocals for certain songs on "The Dance"...and THANK GOD "Gold Dust Woman" wasn't one of those.