one more POLL nightmare - King Crimson vocalists

boz ftw

RIP
http://www.intuitivemusic.com/images/C-boz-burrell-09-06.jpg

i was listening to some lizard tracks on youtube last night, inspired this poll
man, that is some crazy sounding stuff, haskell's vocals are objectively awful but kinda cool and well suited to the the music

Wetton every time. His vocals on LTiA, S&BB and Red have a wonderfully yearning, expressive quality. Plus, he's actually singing a decent fistful of lyrics (by Richard Palmer-James), as opposed to Pete Sinfield's absurd ramblings and Belew's incomprehensible goo.

wetton gets this only because belew has had to sing on the last three or four albums which are all awful. if he'd disappeared after the the 80's records he'd get my vote

\m/ WETTON \m/

Def going for the Easy Money here.

Also they sure need a new singer more than they need another go at 2 drummers.

I hate them all. In my heart of hearts I can't, in all conscience, vote in this poll. Therefore, gentlemen, I abstain.

I love Belew's stuff... How awesome is this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWNkOr2ZxzY

Belew

Daryl Hall

belew is such a horrible vocalist yuckie

an ex of mine once asked robert fripp who was the best vocalist he ever worked with and his answer was daryl hall

wetton is my least favorite thing about my favorite crimson album

My first thought is 'Belew! and then Wetton' but why did I go 'ugh' when I saw Greg Lake's name there? I really love Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and I'm trying to figure out why he sounds so awesome in (ELP's) "From the Beginning" and so lousy and embarrassing on 'Court of the Crimson King.' I think for all their alleged bombast, ELP has kind of a 'clearer' sound than early King Crimson, maybe? By which I mean, fewer quantities of instruments going on that KC's first album. The song 'In the Court of the Crimson King' sounds (nobly) like a closet full of fashionably arty instruments falling on one another in the most graceful manner possible. I am a near-Geir level stan for insanely stupid prog & psych lyrics but not even I can handle, over all that cacophony, Lake trying to summon back the fire witch. Maybe that's why I like 'I Talk to the Wind' the best – the song works with Lake instead of competing against him.

I love, love, love KC, but hate, hate, hate all of their vocalists. I have to tune them out.

belew is perhaps the least objectionable.

Belew sings in a v pretty way!

He also pulls off stuff like 'Elephant Talk' better than any of the others on this list cld.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew7v3jmi4nA

lake is fine in crimson, and i mostly don't like ELP
really good on in the wake of poseidon, cat food is hilarious

that grey whistle test clip is kind of amazing: it's like they were chairing a seminar presenting the fruits of their research into the absolute most horrible guitar tones available to musicians using the latest technology

haha disregard that i voted lake

Can I vote for the laugh-box in "Easy Money"?

man tony levin looks like a b-movie russian gangster

Or hey, what about Judy Dyble?

it's like they were chairing a seminar presenting the fruits of their research into the absolute most horrible guitar tones available to musicians using the latest technology

Would srsly have voted for Judy Dyble, that cut of her singing "I Talk to the Wind" on "Young Person's Guide" is lovely.

From the singers listed, I'd pick John Wetton for the same reasons as anagram's

Would vote for "none" if it was an option, but I'll go with Belew for the '81-'84 albums.

hearing dyble try to sing 21st century schizoid man would be lol

Belew takes it for me too, though Wetton is a close second.

"and so lousy and embarrassing on 'Court of the Crimson King.'"

oh man i love him on this album. he makes me swoon. his voice is so beautiful. it's a justin hayward kinda thing. i love that sweeping epic romantic crooner style. greg lake could have been a great solo ballad singer.

lol his voice is totally dreamy on the crimson albums, it's true

And that psychotic "Cat Food" laugh!

to be perfectly honest I can't tell the difference b/w lake and anyone else until wetton, they all sound the same to me.

i had to go with Wetton, since he sang in my favorte KC era, though Lake is definitely my favorite, if stuff done outside of KC could be included. Wetton tried sooo hard to hit those high notes, it's kind of a sympathy vote.

i haven't actually heard any crimson between the debut and the wetton/cross/bruford version of the band. mb i should! i didn't know judy dyble had ever had anything to do with them. that is cool imho. island records ppl stick together. is the giles giles and fripp album any good?

no, it's not

i remember lizard being a pretty crazy album, haven't heard it in like ten years though. 70s/80s are my favorite versions.

I actually really like the Giles, Giles and Fripp album. Totally unlike KC, more Syd Barrett/early Soft Machine.

Hard for me to pick a standout KC vocalist. I think each fits pretty well within the musical framework of the record(s) they're on. "Islands" is one of my favorites, but not particularly because Boz is a great singer on it. Wetton's always seemed a little overly-stentorian to me, and I'm not a big fan of the Belew-era band.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

wow

Makes sense to me.

of the records b/w the debut and lark's, I think islands is definitely the best. I hated it the first time I heard it but I don't know why, it's very much a run through of the sort of think they'd do on Lark's but with a different band.

Really? I always thought "Lizard" and "Islands" were the two Crimson albums that sounded like pretty much nothing else besides themselves...Of course, the respective singers never appeared on any other albums, so I could be letting that cloud my judgement.

Voted Lake btw (not an easy choice)

controp, but Belew is the best. never understood why he's so hated, even if he does bray/warble a bit the higher he goes.

I like Wetton too, but I hate that reverb/chorus sheen that vocalists were always coated in on 70s records.

Boz is the most underrated, his tone on the title track of "Islands" is delicate and sweet. He should have been dissuaded from scat singing on Earthbound though.
Belew is a fine and talented singer who wears me out if the songs aren't really great.

amazed that Wetton dominated this, his voice was definitely right for Crimson but I think Belew is better technically and Lake is probably the most astounding

I found Jakko pretty uninspiring from the one live album I heard. Limited range and not much personality.

true but he does actually sound like an amalgam of all of KC's singers so I can see why they used him

No idea if I voted in this poll, but I think I would have thrown Belew a vote. I don't know that he has the best voice, but I think the 80s era songs have a catchiness to them that wasn't really there in the 70s and he's a big part of that. His contributions to that band overall were pretty huge.

shoulda hired a hair metal vocalist IMO xpost

yea without Belew KC never come have come back, he was basically the only songwriter even in the double trio lineup

had no idea Haskell had a hit with this in 2001. I dig the song, he's pitchy af but i like the earthiness of his voice here compared to how he sounded like he was stroking out on Lizard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNhfdZe5njk

Robert Fripp pays a moving and heartfelt tribute to John Wetton