Best Performances by Vocalists (17,067 views)

[halloweenjack95]

Eddie Vedder:

1. Release
2. Blood
3. Spin the Black Circle
4. Black (MTV Unplugged 1991)
5. Porch
6. Do the Evolution
7. Corduroy
8. Last Exit
9. State of Love and Trust

[Rodney Blazershorts]

1. Dirge
2. Like a Rolling Stone
3. Meet Me in the Morning
4. Jokerman
5. Lay Lady Lay
6. Just Like a Woman
7. Ballad of a Thin Man
8. Hurricane
9. Abandoned Love
10. Pressing On

This seems a bit off. Not a Dylan expert myself exactly, but I can say confidently that some of the songs listed here aren't even the best performances on their albums. "Peggy Day", "Outlaw Blues", "One More Cup of Coffee" strike me as very major omissions (I agree with "Dirge" though).

Mar 3, 2024 8:47:42 GMT halloweenjack95 said:

Eddie Vedder:

1. Release
2. Blood
3. Spin the Black Circle
4. Black (MTV Unplugged 1991)
5. Porch
6. Do the Evolution
7. Corduroy
8. Last Exit
9. State of Love and Trust

"Black" unplugged would be a live performance, no? Surprised not to see "Love Reign O'er Me", even though that is just a straight cover.

[Dark Star]

Updated Elton John live list:


1. Someone Saved My Life Tonight (Sheffield 1985)
2. Tonight (Paris 1979)
3. Sacrifice (Rainforest Concert 1991)
4. I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford) (Moscow 1979)
5. Levon (Philadelphia 1989)
6. Border Song (Riverside Church 1996)
7. Sixty Years On (Rainforest Concert 1994)
8. God Only Knows (Brian Wilson Tribute)
9. We All Fall in Love Sometimes (Winston-Salem 1997)
10. Have Mercy on the Criminal on the Criminal (Berlin 2017)

[Yojojo]

Tay Zonday's best performances... idk I'm bad at ranking but these are up there.

"Call Me Maybe" is his best for low singing, probably his most consistently good lows. "The Rains of Castamere" is a close second. "Sixteen Tons" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" are some good mid range singing from him, and his best highs come from a lot of his Sinatra covers.

(i'm leaving this here so i can use him for clip-off teehee)

[Dark Star]

Mar 30, 2024 16:56:10 GMT Rodney Blazershorts said:

1. Dirge
2. Like a Rolling Stone
3. Meet Me in the Morning
4. Jokerman
5. Lay Lady Lay
6. Just Like a Woman
7. Ballad of a Thin Man
8. Hurricane
9. Abandoned Love
10. Pressing On

This seems a bit off. Not a Dylan expert myself exactly, but I can say confidently that some of the songs listed here aren't even the best performances on their albums. "Peggy Day", "Outlaw Blues", "One More Cup of Coffee" strike me as very major omissions (I agree with "Dirge" though).

1. Dirge
2. Like a Rolling Stone
3. Meet Me in the Morning
4. Jokerman
5. One More Cup Of Coffee (The Valley Below)
6. Just Like a Woman
7. Ballad of a Thin Man
8. Peggy Day
9. Outlaw Blues
10. When He Returns

[Rodney Blazershorts]

Like a Rolling Stone was actually the exact song I was singling out as not really being top 10 worthy, certainly not above the songs I mentioned. Ballad of a Thin Man is an odd inclusion too honestly. I'm not familiar really at all with his later output, but it seems to me like his singing became better through the 70s and 80s so I don't know what else there is to mine there.

[Osmosis]

I don't know much of Dylan either but compared with the likes of Jokerman, I don't see how Like a Rolling Stone can be placed above it, let alone in the top 10. Love the song but the prechorus vocal always struck me as a little awkward

[queenfan11]

Apr 2, 2024 14:06:21 GMT Dark Star said:

Updated Elton John live list:


1. Someone Saved My Life Tonight (Sheffield 1985)
2. Tonight (Paris 1979)
3. Sacrifice (Rainforest Concert 1991)
4. I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford) (Moscow 1979)
5. Levon (Philadelphia 1989)
6. Border Song (Riverside Church 1996)
7. Sixty Years On (Rainforest Concert 1994)
8. God Only Knows (Brian Wilson Tribute)
9. We All Fall in Love Sometimes (Winston-Salem 1997)
10. Have Mercy on the Criminal on the Criminal (Berlin 2017)

Think there might be too many post-surgery performances on here. For example i'd personally replace the Berlin 2017 "Have Mercy on the Criminal" with the Anaheim 1980 performance:

[Dark Star]

Apr 15, 2024 23:57:49 GMT queenfan11 said:

Apr 2, 2024 14:06:21 GMT Dark Star said:

Updated Elton John live list:


1. Someone Saved My Life Tonight (Sheffield 1985)
2. Tonight (Paris 1979)
3. Sacrifice (Rainforest Concert 1991)
4. I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford) (Moscow 1979)
5. Levon (Philadelphia 1989)
6. Border Song (Riverside Church 1996)
7. Sixty Years On (Rainforest Concert 1994)
8. God Only Knows (Brian Wilson Tribute)
9. We All Fall in Love Sometimes (Winston-Salem 1997)
10. Have Mercy on the Criminal on the Criminal (Berlin 2017)

Think there might be too many post-surgery performances on here. For example i'd personally replace the Berlin 2017 "Have Mercy on the Criminal" with the Anaheim 1980 performance:

There are more post-surgery performances because Elton was a better live singer post-surgery than pre. How much of his live stuff have you delved into? Elton really only had three or four consistently good live years pre-surgery (1972, 1979, 1984, 1985).

He was a much more stable and smarter singer from 1991 onward, with a warmer tone and better control. He may go for higher notes on the 1980 version, but the 2017 version has impressive belting and sustains and a brief but great head voice passage.

[Dark Star]

Updated Dylan list:

1. Dirge
2. Hazel
3. Meet Me in the Morning
4. Jokerman
5. One More Cup Of Coffee (The Valley Below)
6. Seeing The Real You At Last
7. Tangled Up in Blue
8. Peggy Day
9. Outlaw Blues
10. Pressing On

[queenfan11]

Apr 16, 2024 13:19:21 GMT Dark Star said:

Apr 15, 2024 23:57:49 GMT queenfan11 said:

Think there might be too many post-surgery performances on here. For example i'd personally replace the Berlin 2017 "Have Mercy on the Criminal" with the Anaheim 1980 performance:

There are more post-surgery performances because Elton was a better live singer post-surgery than pre. How much of his live stuff have you delved into? Elton really only had three or four consistently good live years pre-surgery (1972, 1979, 1984, 1985).

He was a much more stable and smarter singer from 1991 onward, with a warmer tone and better control. He may go for higher notes on the 1980 version, but the 2017 version has impressive belting and sustains and a brief but great head voice passage.

Did he? From what i've heard the whole 1979-1985 period he was consistently strong live, and he had a number of great live performances before then as well. Though his mid/low-range tone was arguably strongest in the 1990s, I don't think i'd say he was a better live singer post-surgery than pre given from 1991 onward he barely if ever went for any falsetto or anything above G#4 or so, while he had no trouble doing that before 1986. 

It's not just about the higher notes. His tone is also stronger and he has more variation between cleaner and grittier passages.

There is one post-surgery performance not on the list I might include- "Talking Old Soldiers" from Paris 1998, which I feel significantly exceeds the studio version.

[Dark Star]

I can assure you, there are far better individual performances from his post-surgery output than his pre-surgery output. That Elton didn't use falsetto after surgery is a myth; he still used it pretty consistently up through 1993. His tone took on far more depth and warmth once he got sober. His control and consistency improved massively. Range is only one component, and what Elton works with in the performances I listed (which have all been lauded by the community of Elton fans I regularly interact with) is put to better use than most pre-surgery performances. I may replace Sixty Years On with Rocket Man from Paris 1979. I may also replace Levon with Los Angeles 1993, where he goes for the B4 on "he wants to go to Venus" for the last time (although Philly includes the last ever A4 on "go sailing").

There's also this 1993 version of I Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself, where Elton nails all the key falsettos.

1. Someone Saved My Life Tonight (Sheffield 1985)
2. Tonight (Paris 1979)
3. Sacrifice (Rainforest Concert 1991)
4. Philadelphia Freedom (Lille 1986)
5. Levon (Los Angeles 1993)
6. Rocket Man (Nice 1979)
7. I Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself (Ft. Lauderdale 1993)
8. God Only Knows (Brian Wilson Tribute)
9. We All Fall in Love Sometimes (Winston-Salem 1997)
10. Burn Down The Mission (Belfast 1986)

[hendrix94]

I would like to see a top of Van Morrison, John Lennon, Janis Joplin, Jeff Buckley and Kurt Cobain. Any proposal?

[Rodney Blazershorts]

Well we already have one for Lennon. Buckley has had ones in the past, and it wouldn't be difficult to whip another one up. I think someone made a list for Cobain on a previous iteration of the forum as well.

[Dark Star]

Someone did one for Van as well. I don’t remember much except number one was Listen to the Lion.

[hendrix94]

There is a list of Lennon, but his live performances are missing. My favorite Lennon live performance is Twist and Shout on NME 1964. What do you think is Cobain's best live performance?

[Rodney Blazershorts]

I'm not commenting myself, but here is the list drawn up previously:

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}Studio:
1. School
2. Big Long Now
3. Smells Like Teen Spirit
4. Pennyroyal Tea
5. Sliver
6. Heart Shaped Box
7. You Know You're Right
8. About a Girl
9. Lithium
10. Aneurysm

Live:
1. Lake of Fire (MTV Unplugged '93)
2. Dimension-7 (BBC session '90)
3. Heart-Shaped Box (MTV Live and Loud, Seattle '93)
4. Where Did You Sleep Last Night (MTV Unplugged '93)
5. The Man Who Sold the World (MTV Unplugged '93)