Bands who give other members a go at singing

more expressive? liam's voice has an incredible texture, noel sounds like a busker.

..And Yo La Tengo proves that it can be done well.

Fair enough, but I always assume the rest of the band has some musical input anyway(unless they're a session band) without them having to sing!!!! Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon don't do this for instance.

Indeed. i would cite teenage fanclub as a good example of democracy working well, too.

Diggle - Buzzcocks - "Autonomy"
Conley - Mission of Burma - "That's When I Reach for My Revolver"

Lee Ranaldo's speak singing is much prefered to Kim Gordon when she starts wailing like she has her foot caught in a trap. "Hey Joni" and "Eric's Trip" are two of my favorite Sonic Youth songs.

As for REM, the thing I think some of their later songs really misses is how they would arrange some songs where Stipe, Mills and Bill Berry would all sing like on "Fall On Me" or "Harbourcoat". It was one of most distinctive things about their sound and it has been for the most part abandoned.

Worse case scenario was when they let the old bass player from Soundgarden sing. That one song on Ultramega OK really sucks.

I think Greg Norton sang on at least one Husker Du B-side - one of the singles from "Warehouse" if I remember correctly. Not very successful.

peter prescott sang the least - only on "learn how" as far as i can remember.

Both Andy Wranch (guit) and Joe Patt (drums) sang in the sorely missed Them Wranch, one of the best rock/roll/garage/whatever bands of the 90s. It was fan-fuckin-tastic. Seriously.

Rob Morgan of the Squirrels has a couple of good singers in the regular lineup like Joey Kline and they take appropriate bows as needed.

Depeche Mode if only Dave Gahan sang -- would still be great and all. Depeche Mode with both Dave and Martin Gore singing -- damn well heaven on earth. (Admittedly it's more Martin give himself a go but anyway.)

Surely Orr sang more that just those two songs. One could also argue he had a superior voice to Rik O's.

All my favourite DM songs are sung by Martin Gore.... A Question of Lust, Somebody, Home......

Hey now, Russ, read above. ;-)

Gahan's voice on Freelove is beautiful, actually. But Gore still has more range and passion.

Black Sabbath - "Swinging the Chain" from Never Say Die is sung by Bill Ward (!).

Jimi Hendrix Experience - "She's So Fine" from Axis: Bold as Love and "Little Miss Strange" from Electric Ladyland both sung by Noel Redding.

Then you've got the (bad) Creedence Clearwater Revival Mardi Gras album where Fogerty let Cook and Clifford take turns singing a couple tunes.

The Goo Goo Dolls will occasionally let the fat non-poster boy bass player sing. It worked when they were still a garage punk type band, not nearly as well now that they're now the VH1 Artist of the Month Goo Goo Dolls.

"The Other WIndow" was Bruce Gilbert but, agreed, Graham Lewis on 154 is great.

"June"?! "Seabird"?! "Light Command"?! "AFTERNOON TRAIN"?!!! (look at my email address) Sorry, I disagree. "June" is one of the best Unrest tracks ever.

On the Oasis issue, I can't imagine those songs without
Liam, but Noel does have a nice voice. Keep in mind that
Oasis are thoroughly forgettable, but _Be Here Now_ was the
first CD I personally bought, so I have a soft spot for
these guys.

I'd proffer The Band as an example of 1. not only does the
democratic process work well but 2. the drummer actually has
the best and most expressive voice.

oh yeah, it's a testament to Georgie's easy-goingness that he put up with being sub-Ringo for so long. I find his stuff a lot more, uh, engaging than I do the L/M (or M/L these days) stuff. But that could also be because my mom played the shit out of the L/M stuff when I was growing up, so to me, the Beatles have always been sort of in the same category as Raffi and nursery rhymes.

You just know that when Radiohead break up, Ed O'Brien is going to pull a Dave Grohl, start a straight ahead rock band, and they will sound like a darker version of Coldplay. You just know it.

I agree with XTC being an example where this works, although I think their idea isn't "we're letting Ringo sing" -- more, "we're Lennon and McCartney". Also I think the quality of Colin Moulding's (singing/songwriting) contributions has fallen rather precipitously off while Andy Partridge still strikes gold now and then.

More Bands That Should Know Better:
The Loud Family, Everything But the Girl

dave davies, do you mean? i kinda like his singing ... a nice counterpoint to his bro's.

then there was the bassist guy (NOT pete quaife, but quaife's replacement) who sang "willesden green." AFAIK, the only time he sang on any Kinks song.

Graham Coxon's turns at the mic on Blur and 13 strike me as the high point of those albums.