From: test_account@comcast.net   
      
   now see personally i really like dirty work. i never had the chance to hear   
   carolyn sing solo before and i was impressed.   
   "diane"  wrote in message   
   news:1157668472.404807.188130@m79g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...   
   > musicwerk@gmail.com wrote:   
   >   
   > > She's certainly talented and attractive, but she mauled "Dirty Work".   
   > > It was the worst kind of American-Idol-style oversinging...   
   >   
   > I feel ya. I like the backup singers, and I can't sing at all, so I'm   
   > aware that they are MUCH more talented than me or most people, both now   
   > and in past configurations. But Walter rarely introduces them based   
   > upon their vocal talents. He has referred to them as the bare-midriff   
   > section, angel choir, babe choir, visual relief, etc., and I don't   
   > know, but I tend to listen more for the quality of the voice than the   
   > pulchritude of the singers, boy or girl.   
   >   
   > I posted a while back that I really wish the girls didn't do Dirty   
   > Work, not only because I don't like their version (even with Jeff Young   
   > singing the low harmony, which no one ever mentions or seems to   
   > notice), but because it just isn't a song a woman should sing. It's   
   > almost a mirror of the brilliant Buck-Henry-penned,   
   > Dustin-Hoffman-personified film of 1968 or so, "The Graduate," and   
   > loses its effect if the main character isn't a man being a boy toy to   
   > an older, moneyed socialite.   
   >   
   > That "American Idol" routine you refer to I'm guessing is that tendency   
   > to sing way too many notes in a lame glissando (yawn) while pointing in   
   > the air at the next note they intend to sing... please stop, just sing,   
   > dammit.   
   >   
   > There are, traditionally, backup singers so great they've gone on to   
   > have solo careers, and backup singers who were so great their sound   
   > really adorned the music of a lot of greats and helped make them great.   
   > Some of these singers spring instantly to mind; the others I had to   
   > search for on the internet. But they include: The Raelettes, The   
   > Jordanaires, Marvin Gaye doubling himself, Donald Fagen nth-ing himself   
   > (Maxine), Mike McD singing behind anybody, Sting on "Money for   
   > Nothing," Emmylou Harris, Della Reese, Carole King, Sweet Pea Atkinson,   
   > Jennifer Warnes, Arnold McCuller, Linda Ronstadt, Francine Reed, Brasil   
   > '66, Sam Cooke, all of Aretha's backup singers, The Fireballs, Joni   
   > Mitchell in multiples, Chaka Khan, all of the Beach Boys, the   
   > Teenagers, and all the doo-wop groups, all the African-American backing   
   > choirs and/or combinations, plus many of the Sixties girl groups   
   > (including the Supremes backing Diana Ross) and a lot of the folk   
   > singers (Kingston Trio, etc.) the collegiate groups (The Letterman and   
   > the Four Freshmen) and on and on and on... Great backup singers could   
   > make the corniest novely tunes sound amazing.   
   >   
   > And none of them did this annoying thing, which only Patti Labelle can   
   > really pull off. It's such an obvious affectation, people who do it   
   > come off as embarrassingly unoriginal.   
   >   
   > I think the backup singers Donald and Walter choose are virtually all   
   > talented, and those combinations may have peaked in 2000 with Cynthia   
   > Calhoun, Victoria Cave and Carolyn, although most of the response here   
   > and all over the Dandom was about their eroticism, not about their   
   > vocal chops. I guess that means there was something for everybody. They   
   > certainly could hold their own, and were used to great effect   
   > (goosebumps on their call-and-response thing on "Cousin Dupree," live.   
   > and on "Pretzel Logic," to a lesser extent). They were arranged, for   
   > that tour, as if they were an instrument, not as soloists or even as   
   > human voices. They were like a choir of French horns or something.   
   >   
   > Perhaps the era of amazing backup singers has also passed, gone the way   
   > of the brilliant guitarists' showcase. Is pop music evolving into   
   > something previously unknown, including the music of Steely Dan?   
   >   
   > I'm just happy so much great music has been recorded for posterity.   
   >   
   > diane   
   >   
   > np: Soul Bossa Nova, Quincy Jones (SD should do this in concert)   
   >   
      
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