Weirdest Stevie Vocal

David · #1 05-07-2006, 09:41 PM

John Stew's comment about "Talk to Me" got me to thinking . . .

What Stevie vocal would you say is the least typical of her style? You can pick a vocal from anything she ever recorded or even from a concert you saw or heard. What I'm looking for isn't necessarily a vocal you love or one that you hate but one that you feel least exemplifies Stevie's general style. What's the one vocal you heard that you think, "Is THAT Stevie?"

For me, the weirdest, most un-Stevielike vocal I ever heard was her singing some of the stanzas of "Johnny B. Goode" at the Les Dudek concert at the Bodega Bay Club May 23, 1985. She kinda sounds like Tina Turner or something.

gldstwmn · #2 05-07-2006, 10:21 PM

Goldfish & The Ladybug. I don't know if it's tape drag or what but her vocal on this song is just plain weird.

PenguinHead · #3 05-08-2006, 12:53 AM

I would classify anything from her Tango In The Night period as atypical. Her voice was unchararistically and weirdly shrill. Perhaps the late 1980s production had some influence, but I think her personal issues played a part too.

SpyNote · #4 05-08-2006, 12:54 AM

The vocal on Maybe Love from the Glyn Johns sessions was pretty strange. She sounds stuffed up or something. The alternate version of Talk to Me (found on all the Sounds of 80s CDs) is an odd vocal too.

BirdInFlight · #5 05-08-2006, 08:14 AM

When I first heard God's Garden 12 years ago, I thought "WTF is Barry White doing singing this song?" (Not really. Just using this to emphasize my point.) It's as if they took a 45rpm recording and flipped it on 33rpm.

Also, early demos for No Questions Asked and Docklands rank up there as definitely not atypical of Stevie. Very slow and slurred. Thanks K.

Jyqm · #6 05-08-2006, 08:17 AM

I think the album version of "Edge Of Seventeen" features a pretty atypical Stevie vocal. She rarely sings with that kind of scratchy rock-tensity - she's usually either wailing or whispering.

carrie721 · #7 05-08-2006, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

Goldfish & The Ladybug. I don't know if it's tape drag or what but her vocal on this song is just plain weird.

you're right, she does sound weird on gf&tlb! something has always bugged me about that track, and i could never put my finger on it ... i also don't like how she attacks the word "bug" every time, like, "goldfish and the ladyBUG."

ummmmm ... aside from gf&tlb ... oh yeah! i thought it was really weird on bare trees how they had her read that poem at the end ... i mean, they didn't even let her sing, and then when she read the poem, it didn't even sound like her!!

Sahara · #8 05-08-2006, 01:44 PM

Goldfish and the LadyBug is a weird enough name, let alone a weird vocal...

cliffdweller · #9 05-08-2006, 02:11 PM

"Amber" (you know the daughter born a Gemini?) I've never heard her sing like that since. What WAS that voice?

amber · #10 05-08-2006, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cliffdweller

"Amber" (you know the daughter born a Gemini?) I've never heard her sing like that since. What WAS that voice?

I was going to say that, but was trying to think of something less obvious. It's that terrible, terrible Madonna accent...

cliffdweller · #11 05-08-2006, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amber

I was going to say that, but was trying to think of something less obvious. It's that terrible, terrible Madonna accent...

Yes, we all know how much you hate this song. Can you think of any others? I'm having a hard time as "Amber" keeps popping up in my head everytime I try to think about it.

amber · #12 05-08-2006, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cliffdweller

Yes, we all know how much you hate this song. Can you think of any others? I'm having a hard time as "Amber" keeps popping up in my head everytime I try to think about it.

Maybe it's really the most non stevie like vocal. When I read the title of this thread, I was thinking about one I thought sounded the weirdest, but it's harder to ascribe "non stevie like" to a song that Stevie is singing, if you see what I mean.
Wild Heart is a very strange vocal to me, but I have much more objectivity about it than most people, I think, as I just started listening to it regularly within the past few months.

elie · #13 05-11-2006, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jyqm

I think the album version of "Edge Of Seventeen" features a pretty atypical Stevie vocal. She rarely sings with that kind of scratchy rock-tensity - she's usually either wailing or whispering.

I agree. It does sound like her, however it is too hoarse and strange. When I was younger, I thought it was cocaine, but she doesn't sound like that on later recordings, Mirage, for example.

Also, in the LiB version of Silver Springs, at the end, where she sings "give me just a chance" etc, her voice always reminds me of Janice Joplin

And I mean this in a good way.

jwd · #14 05-11-2006, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carrie721

ummmmm ... aside from gf&tlb ... oh yeah! i thought it was really weird on bare trees how they had her read that poem at the end ... i mean, they didn't even let her sing, and then when she read the poem, it didn't even sound like her!!

You are soooo bad!

jwd · #15 05-12-2006, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David

What Stevie vocal would you say is the least typical of her style? You can pick a vocal from anything she ever recorded or even from a concert you saw or heard. What I'm looking for isn't necessarily a vocal you love or one that you hate but one that you feel least exemplifies Stevie's general style. What's the one vocal you heard that you think, "Is THAT Stevie?"

I think her vocal of "At Last" from Stormy Weather would be the one that was least typical or her style. I couldn't believe she sang that the way she did.