Male vocals

[pavuol]

Whan Amir says "jing", I say "jang". When Amir says "Venus", I say "Mars being smaller, it has something to offer too", what do you think?

Amir says in "Female vocals" thread:

This is what I hope to be one of a new of super valuable music threads where we highlight music that is exceptionally recorded and is a joy to listen to. The latter of course varies from person to person but let's only post music we really like, not just because it is "hi-fi."

So I think we can stick to this approach also in this thread.

I suggest each of your post to include Artist / Track Title / Album / Year. (media link only is nice, but it is not searchable and there is also some risk of being deleted, so at least the text entry should remain)

 

[pavuol]

May I start like this?
wiki trivia: It is also one of the few songs in which Mercury sings all the vocals in falsetto.

Queen - Pain Is So Close To Pleasure (A Kind Of Magic, 1986)

 

[pavuol]

Velvet voice, to me (considering the release year), Roy is here like "no matter current trends, I'll stick to my way." Which is, great, in my humble opinion..

Roy orbison - In the real world (Mystery Girl, 1989)

 

[pavuol]

Surely not my daily kind of stuff, but sounds very relaxing. I found this song on some "audiophile compilation", so I hope it bears some "demo/reference/test" potential. Nice colour of voice of an experienced singer.
(from certain point of my age, I don't like to use a word "older", it can always return to me like a boomerang.. )

David Munyon - Hollywood town (Pretty Blue 2011)

 

[pavuol]

Well, one of my favourite voices ever, one of the YT comments says it all:
The fact he’s still got such a good voice after decades is incredible.

A-ha - Take On Me (Live From MTV Unplugged 2017) - from the album Hunting High and Low / 1985

 

[whazzup]

This thread is so much sadder when compared to the female vocals.... like this next song...

Both Ham and Evans said they did not consider the song to have much potential at the time Badfinger recorded it, and the track was slotted to close the first side of their 1970 album No Dice. Badfinger's recording of the song, which is more brusque than its successors' versions, was not released as a single in Europe or North America.

The two writers of the song, Ham and Evans, later committed suicide due to legal and financial issues. In Evans' case, it was a dispute over songwriting royalties for "Without You" that precipitated his action. Songwriting royalties had become the subject of constant legal wrangling for Evans, and in 1983, following an acrimonious argument with his bandmate Joey Molland over the royalties for the song, Evans hanged himself.[8][9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Without_You_(Badfinger_song)


Badfinger - Without You - No Dice - 1970

 

[bigbag34]

Old Love - Eric Clapton Live at MTV Unplugged (deluxe edition)

Close mic’d Clapton sounds great, well recorded.

 

[A800]

 

[Buster]

 

[Sashoir]

Evaluating singers (as opposed to other instrumentalists) is an interesting excercise as they are the instrument-maker as well as the player. I may not have the equipment/ears to discriminate between "almost perfect" and "pretty good" recordings, so please excuse any proposed inclusions which don't sound quite so splendid with a real "audiophile" set up.
I'd suggest to add:
* Frank Sinatra / The Coffee Song / Ring-a-Ding-Ding! / (the latest re-mastering, which I think was 2010 or 2015)
For my money, Johnny Mandel's arrangements are even more perfect for Sinatra than all of the other first class arrangers with whom he worked. The song's range is perhaps a semitone too deep for his voice to remain perfect throughout, but if someone were to write a book on the best use of vibrato, I can't imagine it being anything other than an instruction to listen to this cut on repeat a bahzillion times.
* Kurt Moll/ Das Thal / Die Orchesterlieder (Strauss) / 199x?
As an "instrument-maker", I think Moll was the greatest bass I've heard. I find he scooped a bit more than I'd like, but the recording against an orchestra I think gives an impression of the sheer solidity of his voice in a way that his lovely recordings of Schubert's lieder, for instance, don't.
* Mel Tormé / It's de-lovely / at the Red Hill / 1962 (my recording may be a re-mastered one but I only patchily recorded some of my metadata when I ripped my compact discs a decade a go).
With all the respect due to one of the greats, I am not convinced that Tormé had the best taste/judgement when it came to his own recordings. Personally I don't think his timbre suited a big backing band, and I can't really enjoy a full 40 minutes of uninterrupted crooning, but with a smaller backing band and a more diverse mixture of sentiments and tempi, it's hard to go past "the velvet fog". I think this track really captures his tremendous technique and timing, and shows how beautifully his tone actually went with more up-beat numbers. His mic work perhaps wasn't quite studio-still, but that's live recording for you.
* Bobby McFerrin / Opportunity / Spontaneous Inventions / 1986
I don't think McFerrin is as great an "instrument maker" as some of the other suggested inclusions here, but his technique and technical innovations put him in a league of his own.
* André Minvielle / Flambée Montalbanaise / Paris Musette / 1990
Minvielle has, I think, the perfect musette voice: it sounds like a galoise. Unfortunately for my reactionary tastes, most of his recorded music is pretty avant garde.
* Darryl Hall / Do What You Want, Be What You Are / Bigger than both of us / 1976
I happen to love a lot of Hall & Oates more maligned 80s work, but I also love disco, so possibly I'm not the most tasteful person in the world. This song, however, demonstrates the best of their work, and Hall's pipes. The gimmicky L/R antiphonal effects on the echo at around 90 seconds also helps you identify if both of your speakers are working as a bonus.
* Kurt Elling / Steppin' Out / The Gate / 2011
There are many more tracks which showcase Elling's bop technique and sensibilities (I've had the pleasure of seeing him live a few times now, and I would not be surprised if he is actually a time-traveller from 1958), and I'm not a huge Joe Jackson fan, but I think this really brings out the tonal qualities of his voice, especially the mixture of resonant smoothness and then the slight husky prickle in his higher register, almost like 5 o'clock shadow.
* Barry White / I Found Love / The Message is Love / 1979
Everyone needs some sweaty disco/soul jams in their library, and from the sine qua non cheesy parlando introduction to the over-produced mille feuille of disco hooks, The Man's unqiue voice just fills this track.

 

[A800]

 

[Archsam]

* Kurt Elling / Steppin' Out / The Gate / 2011
There are many more tracks which showcase Elling's bop technique and sensibilities (I've had the pleasure of seeing him live a few times now, and I would not be surprised if he is actually a time-traveller from 1958), and I'm not a huge Joe Jackson fan, but I think this really brings out the tonal qualities of his voice, especially the mixture of resonant smoothness and then the slight husky prickle in his higher register, almost like 5 o'clock shadow.

I second Kurt Elling - my favorite male vocalist by a country mile.

I have also seen him live numerous times (nearly every time he visited London over the past 10 years). His earlier albums are particularly innovative in his scat singing techniques.

 

[Fledermaus]

Franz Schubert - Gesang der Geister über den Wassern, D714 - check the depressing lyrics by some Goethe guy :

Cheer up now, and have a beer :

 

[Sashoir]

I second Kurt Elling - my favorite male vocalist by a country mile.

I have also seen him live numerous times (nearly every time he visited London over the past 10 years). His earlier albums are particularly innovative in his scat singing techniques.

I took my wife (then fiancée) to see him at Ronny Scott's a few years ago, and ever since she's been much more interested in jazz: maximum score.

 

[Archsam]

I took my wife (then fiancée) to see him at Ronny Scott's a few years ago, and ever since she's been much more interested in jazz: maximum score.

I might be among the audience that night! I sat towards the right side of stage, 45 degrees out, if that make sense.

 

[Sashoir]

I might be among the audience that night! I sat towards the right side of stage, 45 degrees out, if that make sense.

Amazing and quite possible! I think we were on the left, probably about 25/30 It was the evening of his wedding anniversary (I don't know Mr. Elling (or Mrs. Elling); he just mentioned it in the context of being on the road a good deal) - just a phenomenal gig. I'd had the opportunity to do a masterclass with him when I was a student (many moons ago), and have as often as possible either gone to see him myself or bought a ticket for a friend: there aren't that many opportunities to see a true master/mistress at work, and even if the music isn't your bag (fortunately for me it is in this case), I really think you owe it to yourself to hear someone who's achieved that mastery.

 

[pavuol]

B.B. King - The Thrill Is Gone [Grammy track]

 

[ernestcarl]

This is a good "reference quality" male vocals album: The 5 Countertenors (2015)

Mini intro doc:

This style of singing is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but do give it a try!

Something a bit more "modern"

And if it's still not agreeable, please accept the ff. as consolation -- much more traditional classical operatic tenor vocals by Jonas Kaufmann:

 

[mhardy6647]

So -- not a whole album, but here's a good sounding track, top to bottom (so to speak) -- including the vocal.
From the superb covers album Deadicated.

 

[Moderate Dionysianism]

I use this