| Author | Message | ||
     Charles Member Username: Charles Post Number: 11 Registered: 04-2006 |
Couldn't help wondering where the women were at? It seems that in most of the catigories discussed, female musical artists are acknowledged way less than the blokes. I Know I've only got two Cds by women that I listen to often, Jonie Mitchell "Blue" and Everthing But the Girl "Tempremental". Who are the great woman songwriters and singers? Do you think that because most of us (it seems) are male, we just relate better to songs written by men, or are the women artists just not as good? | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 302 Registered: 03-2006 |
Excellent topic for a thread, Charles. And, I agree most heartily 'bout Blue - it's a real landmark. For other female singer-songwriters getting it done now, Lucinda Williams is my woman. Her songwriting is just brilliant. All of her records are great, but "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" is a stone classic. Other female artists that blow up my skirt are: Neko Case Aimee Mann Sam Phillips Jenny Lewis Chrissie Hynde Gillian Welch Leslie Feist Katell Keineg I think all of them are just about as good songwriters and artists as any men you'd care to name. A lot of it for me, too, is I think that sometimes it's just pleasurable to hear a great female singer sing... On that subject, there are some women whose work I enjoy just on the basis of their vocal prowess: Ella Fitzgerald Aretha F. Linda Thompson Sandy Denny Irma Thomas Emmylou H. Billie Holiday | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 330 Registered: 05-2005 |
PJ Harvey has a good array of albums and I used to love Siousxie back in the day. Nico has a great voice, and I enjoy female country singers like Emmylou, Lucinda Williams etc. My favourite female vocalist of all time is Mimi Parker from Low, that girls voice just sends a shiver down my spine. As regards your 2 questions Charles, the first one I just havent a clue, and the 2nd I think you have hit the nail on the head. As an aside, but on fairly similar ground I have a confession to make. As soon as I see a females name at the bottom of an album review I shamefully striaght away feel a tinge of disappointment because I think women rock writers opinions basically suck - sorry. One honourable exception is the wonderful Sylvie Simmons whose opinions I greatly respect. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 71 Registered: 01-2005 |
Good topic! Everything But the Girl (Idlewild & Amplified Heart) Julia Fordham Aimee Mann (Whatever is great, last 2 are subpar) Kate Rusby Kate Bush Lucinda Williams Sandy Denny Linda Thompson Jazz/Pop Sarah Vaughan June Christy Karrin Allyson Tierney Sutton Stacey Kent Nancy Wilson Diana Krall | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 351 Registered: 05-2005 |
PJ Harvey Patti Smith Rickie Lee Jones Caroline Trettine (my favourite modern Sandy Denny!) Aimee Mann Chrissie Hynde The girls from Nouvelle Vague Yokn Ono The gorgeous singer from The Cardigans Sandy Denny Regard the question well put by Kevin, do us males relate only to male orientated songs, I think that's true, its one of our manyt traits, its also that we have always dominated the sexes (much to my annoyance), so there's less room for women, however, I feel like Asian people playing football in England, they are there but there should be more!!! | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 276 Registered: 04-2005 |
So many great ones--I probably listen to more women singer/songwriters then men, actually. Here's my top ten: Kristin Hersh PJ Harvey Amy Rigby Rebecca Gates (Spinanes) Neko Case Patti Smith Carol van Dyk (Bettie Serveert) Joni Mitchell Corin Tucker/Carrie Bernstein (Sleater-Kinney) Georgia Hubley (Yo La Tengo) In terms of just singing, the top five: Christine Collister Neko Case Dusty Springfield PJ Harvey Marti Jones | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 303 Registered: 03-2006 |
D'oh! How could I have left out PJ Harvey and Amy Rigby? Both friggin geniuses who've truly expanded the range of subject matter in songwriting, and who mean a lot to me as a fan, as well. Good calls. Rigby and Marti Jones are performing as the "Cynical Girls" at McCabe's Guitar Shop this month. Guess I need to get my happy ass up to Santa Monica. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 277 Registered: 04-2005 |
Hardin, I'm jealous--I hope Amy and Marti bring that show to Seattle. Marti's career kind of fizzled out, but she made some good records in the '80s with her hubby Don Dixon producing. At her best, she was the Dusty Springfield of '80s indie-pop. I saw Marti and Don live sans band once in SF and it was a real delight. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 262 Registered: 08-2004 |
Bjork Harriet Wheeler (The Sundays) Kim Deal Siouxsie Sioux Grace Slick Janis Joplin Danielle Dax | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 306 Registered: 03-2006 |
Should be great - Amy gives great value for money. I saw her last year in Birmingham, Ala., of all places. The "Cynical Girls" revue features the redoubtable Wreckless Eric of yore on some of the stops. Don't know about Seattle, but they are playing in SF, in case Mr. Jeff is interested. Some of those MJ records were wonderful and I loved that Don Dixon record with "Praying Mantis" and "Swallowing Pride" on it, "Some of the Girls...". | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 279 Registered: 04-2005 |
I just checked Amy's Web site--no Seattle show. Damn! I didn't realize Wreckless Eric was part of the show...now that's a cool lineup. I didn't like Dixon's solo stuff quite as much as Marti's records because it was a bit too "white soul" for me, but "Praying Mantis" is a classic. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 354 Registered: 05-2005 |
singer from Shellyan Orphan | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 26 Registered: 05-2005 |
Suzanne Vega Tracey Thorne Harriet Wheeler Aimee Mann Fiona Apple Françoise Hardy Bebel Gilberto Natalie Merchant | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 305 Registered: 05-2005 |
My current favourite female artist is Mariam of Amadour and Mariam; whom I'm hopefully going to see on Tuesday in Sydney. A wise, older, friend said to me over 20 years ago that I would know I was getting a good, broad taste in music when I started to listen to women singers (at the time The Jam and Madness were where it was at for me and I was just about to give Dylan a chance. Female singers meant Bananarama, whom I hated - though, ironically any time I hear their songs now I always think "That's a great pop song"!). My friend was right. Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell and Suzanne Vega were the first female artists I really listened to and there have been a great many others since. Kate Bush's The Hounds Of Love is in my Top 5 albums ever. Her current album Aerial is also fantastic. Tori Amos' Little Earthquakes and PJ Harvey's debut are other great favourites of mine. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 323 Registered: 03-2005 |
Glad to see Kurt remembered Dusty Springfield. Nobody else sounds like her. To the names given by others I add Singer/songwriters: Jackie De Shannon Kate McGarrigle Syd Straw Carla Olson Tanita Tikaram Other great interpreters: Esther Phillips Marianne Faithfull Shirley Horn Timi Yuro And judging from some things I've heard in the past half year or so, Cyndi Lauper, of all persons, is shaping up to be another. female voices you cannot confuse with anyone else who have made a decent number of great records: Ronnie Spector Lulu Gladys Knight Tina Turner Aretha. Somebody had to mention her. | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 61 Registered: 01-2006 |
Patti Smith julee Cruise Hope Sandoval Kim Deal | ||
| Matt Ellis Member Username: Matt_ellis Post Number: 99 Registered: 11-2004 |
Some of my faves which haven't been mentioned yet are: Lisa Kekula (of The Bellrays and Basement Jaxx) If you've not heard The Bellrays then imagine the 'female James Brown' singing in front of a punky lo-fi Garage Rock band. Brilliant! Shingai Shoniwa (of The Noisettes) - Punk/Garage/Funk I imagine this new band to go really big in the UK very soon (although I'm often wrong!) I'm suprised nobody has mentioned Beth Orton. She has written some fantastic songs but I think live her band is missing something. Are there any Canadians on the forum? Does anyone like a Canadian band called 'The Organ' ? They are an all female five peice band. Imagine if you can: a very early R.E.M trying to play like The Cure with a female Morrissey on vocals. WOW! I went to see them last night in London: very big crowd in a 'lower key' venue. It made me realise how rare it is to see an ALL female band. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 309 Registered: 05-2005 |
Speaking of Canadians... Mary Margaret O'Hara's Miss America is another of my favourite ever albums. I saw Throwing Muses support REM in Boston in 1989 and they were great. Tanya Donnelly was still in the band at the time. I subsequently saw them again in Dublin after she left and they were still great. In fact that was an even better show as I know some of their music by then. I also saw Kristen Hersh play a solo gig, just her and a guitar, in Texas State University in 2001. That was one of the most powerful, moving shows I've ever seen. And funny! Her self-deprecating banter was hilarious. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 310 Registered: 05-2005 |
I'm listening to Belinda Carlisle's Heaven Is A Place On Earth right now! Maybe I should have saved that one for the Guilty pleasures thread! What an awesome pop song. I got it on 7" when it first came out. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 73 Registered: 01-2005 |
Padraig, I had Belinda listed in my Guilty Pleasures list. It's been 10 years now since she last released a solo album. In regards to Kate Bush, I prefer The Dreaming to Hounds of Love by a tad. Kate was my favorite female singer in the 1980's. I still have yet to pick up The Red Shoes by Kate though. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 283 Registered: 04-2005 |
Padraig, thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Muses and Kristin Hersh. As I've made abundantly evident in a few posts, I'm a big fan, though I'm a latecomer to her music, and was drawn in more by her solo albums than the Muses albums. You're right about how funny and self-deprecating she is, despite her haunting and sometimes scary songs. She's the nicest person you could ever want to meet too. I was lucky enough to speak with her briefly a couple of times and she treats all her fans like old friends. Her husband Billy is really cool and friendly too. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 327 Registered: 03-2005 |
Matt, I can't believe you came up with the BellRays! I blundered into them about 7 or 8 years ago playing in a small Silverlake guitar shop. Somebody was selling their "Let it Blast" CD on the sidewalk. I bought it in a flash. I haven't listened to it in years; I should re-acquaint myself. I have yet to actually hear Beth Orton. I get such mixed comments about her from people. A friend tried to sell me on Kristin Hersh recently. He played about 3 songs or so. None really grabbed me. On the subject of all-female bands, early Salem 66 fits that description (before Jeff's acquaintance joined) and their early recordings are really their best and most distinctive. Moving all the way back into the 60s, there was Michigan's timeless Luv'd Ones. Sundazed released a magnificent compilation of their relatively small handful of professionally recorded sides and some rough-sounding but very worthwhile home recordings. Almost all the material was written by their own Char Vinnedge and holds up a LOT better than most of the U.S. garage rock of the era, no doubt at least partially because of the against-all-odds environment in which they worked. | ||
| Bob Mail Member Username: Bob Post Number: 25 Registered: 03-2006 |
two more to add that are favs alot of my other ones have been mentioned Judee Sill June Tabour Laura Nyro oh and speaking of Belinda Carilsle :-). I picked up a smithereens compliation at the weekend and their song Blue Period is there - very good it is too- its a duet of sorts between the singer and Belinda. | ||
| Bob Mail Member Username: Bob Post Number: 26 Registered: 03-2006 |
Doh make that three to add! | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 334 Registered: 03-2006 |
Got to second your emotion on the Judee Sill, Bob. She was an amazing talent that probably can stand up to any female singer-songwriter ever. I'm a recent convert: a good friend, music-buddy kind of gal I know has been nagging me to check her out for years, and when I finally did I became a die-hard fan all too quickly... The re-issue of Heart Food (eeuww, what a title, didn't think I could come to love a CD titled as such) comes with extremely loving liner notes from Andy Partridge. | ||
| Matt Ellis Member Username: Matt_ellis Post Number: 103 Registered: 11-2004 |
Randy, this board has now ceased to amaze me with the amount of seemingly obscure bands that fellow Go-Betweens followers also enjoy! I'm guessing your from California like the BellRays? The BellRays are actually currently on tour in the US and have a new album out in May. I've actually seen them 4 times live in London but unfortunately it doesn't look like they are coming to the UK this time around for some reason. Strangely, they seem to be playing everywhere else! i.e. Finland, Australia, France and Spain. Stranger to shun the UK as Lisa Kekaula was a long time collaborator with Brixton's Basement Jaxx. Altough the BellRays are wonderful live, I've found that their albums tend to be disjointed - e.g. poor sequencing of tracks and dissapointing minute long instrumental noodles between the 'real' songs. The production is always lo-fi - some of the earliest albums sound a very muddy as if some of the tracks are live recordings. Some trivia I picked up about the band (which you may know already) Bassist Tony Vennum was the original guitarist and is married to Lisa Kekuala. | ||
| Matt Ellis Member Username: Matt_ellis Post Number: 104 Registered: 11-2004 |
Sorry, It just occured to me that my choices for fave female singers have only included singers who could be regarded as having a naturally 'musical' voice. By that I mean they essentially have a conventional voice: good range and can 'hit the notes'. Does anyone else agree that male singers get away with being less 'musical' i.e. the likes of Mark E. Smith, Ian Brown, Lou Reed etc I can't think of many female singers of this ilk, maybe someone like Ari Up or Courtney Love? One 'less musical' female singer I really enjoy is Vanessa Briscoe-Hay of Pylon. Is anyone else a fan of the band? Their claim to fame is that they were adored and covered by fellow Athens, GA residents R.E.M. I love Briscoe-Hay's singing style: she sounds derranged and as if English is her second language (both of which are untrue!) I would have loved to see them live. | ||
| David Matheson Member Username: David_matheson Post Number: 86 Registered: 12-2004 |
Indigo Girls Suzanne Vega P J Harvey Debbie Harry Penny Flanagan Tracy Chapman Michelle Shocked | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 75 Registered: 01-2005 |
I forgot to add a singet that I discovered last year, Laura Cantrell. John Peel loved her 2000 release Not The Tremblin' Kind. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 344 Registered: 03-2006 |
This is probably not going to be very shocking, given some of our shared tastes, Michael, but I, too, think Laura Cantrell is wonderful. I have all three of her discs, but think the first one, "Tremblin' Kind" is the best. Very cool, very sublime. She's sort of like Nanci Griffith, that is, if Nanci was cool and didn't sing like a chipmunk on helium. Plus, Laura's a bit of a babe, which never hurts. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 314 Registered: 05-2005 |
I really like The BellRays too, though I don't listen to them very often. I only have one album, but it had an EP on a second disc with it. I also downloaded about 10 tracks from their website. Lisa Kekaula has a great voice. I got interested in them through the vocals she did with Basement Jaxx. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 80 Registered: 01-2005 |
Hardin, I have all three of her discs as well. Laura is also in the bonus material of Kate Rusby's live DVD. Kate and Laura sing a lovely duet version of Iris DeMent's "Our Town" in a beer tent from a English folk festival a couple of years ago. Kate's Live at Leeds DVD is an excellant intro to Kate's music. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 352 Registered: 03-2006 |
Bet that was great, Michael...Our Town is a great great, loverly song, though it's enough to make you weep if you actually listen to the lyrics... | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 116 Registered: 07-2005 |
I must check the Kate Rusby DVD again as I missed the Laura Cantrell bonus, both great singers by the way. just bought tje Neko Case this lunchtime and really liked it ,als ordered the Caitlin Cary from them.Also bought the latest Calexico LP. |