Bad singing ruins otherwise excellent album...

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

That album being "This is our Music" by Galaxie 500. The music is a gorgeous, dreamy wash, but it is RUINED by Dean Wareham's painful screeching. This begs a few questions:

1. Didn't they have enough vocal takes to get something that was at least OK out of him? I mean, lots of appalling live singers sound fine on record. If at first you don't succeed...

2. If this fails, why don't they get a proper singer in, so they can do their music justice? I mean, they can't have been PLEASED with Dean's vocals, can they?

3. Why didn't they let Naomi Yang sing more? She has an ok voice.

Anyone want to defend Mr. Wareham? Also, what other albums suffer from the old "great music, crap singer" problem?

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 5 September 2002 17:28 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't think Galaxie 500 was that professional a concern, even at the time. At least according to their self-made legend, that they were just three college chums making a go at a prettier version of the whole punk rock thing. Finding a "proper singer" isn't part of the DIY thing, and would've been weird that far along.

Besides which, I can't find anything offensive about Wareham's vocals on that record. Just regular-guy singing under the influence of Lou Reed (duh) and Ian Curtis. Seems to suit the music fine to me.

― wl, Thursday, 5 September 2002 17:41 (twenty-three years ago)

I too like the singing on that album and all G500 albums. But... I do feel this way about Felt, grate music, but it sounds as if Lou Reed took a sidetrip in the '80s and cut a Factory record--and not in a good way.

― Mary (Mary), Thursday, 5 September 2002 17:57 (twenty-three years ago)

I really like Dean Wareham's voice (I haven't heard This is Our Music in a long time, but I don't remember disliking his vocals on that album).

Regarding "bad singing ruins otherwise excellent album" -- I wouldn't call the album "excellent," but I'd like Radio 4's Gotham! a lot more if the singing weren't so whiny and partyboyish.

― Jody Beth Rosen, Thursday, 5 September 2002 18:27 (twenty-three years ago)

yea, i'm puzzled as to this choice Kilian. the vocals are fine! not wow, not terrible, it seems such a random choice. having said that i haven't played this album in ages, i like the previous one more, mainly because it has the wonderful Parking Lot on there

― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 5 September 2002 18:29 (twenty-three years ago)

"This is..." is the only album I've heard by Galaxie 500, so that's why I singled it out over their other material. I'm assuming the vocals are the same or similar on other G500 releases? Puzzzled you may be, but not as puzzled as I am that no-one else seems to hate his shrill, obnoxious voice. Listen to him strain excruciatingly on "Spook" and "Sorry" in particular. It could have been a thing of beauty...(sobs)

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 5 September 2002 20:03 (twenty-three years ago)

Galaxie 500 are nothing without Dean's voice, I'm sorry. There's hundreds of imitators with music just as pretty but it's not the same and will never be anything like as special.

As for the question.. I'll hafta think about that for a bit.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 5 September 2002 21:21 (twenty-three years ago)

I still like his vocals beter here than in Luna. The Luna stuff sounds very produced and processed.

― brg30 (brg30), Thursday, 5 September 2002 22:06 (twenty-three years ago)

wayne coyne's vocals come pretty close on a number of occasions to ruining "...bulletin" and "yoshimi...". yet on other occasions ("feeling yourself disintegrate") they sound so right.

― michael w., Friday, 6 September 2002 06:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Tom Verlaine - not necessarily Television (though there are some painful moments there), but some of his solo albums are ruined by his strangulated yelping. "Words from the Front" is one which immediately comes to mind.

― Andrew Norman, Friday, 6 September 2002 06:31 (twenty-three years ago)

haha I thought this was gonna be yet another Wilco YHF thread *ducks*

― zebedee, Friday, 6 September 2002 06:56 (twenty-three years ago)

Well this explains the crack shortage. "This Is Our Music" is easily the weakest Galaxie 500 album (the songs aren't as good) but still fairly wonderful in no small part due to Dean's raw and vulnerable vocals. On his later Luna albums his vocals are technically better but much less effecting for that.

Maybe Dean's shit is too real for you ... or maybe you just don't like his voice.

― tigerclawskank, Friday, 6 September 2002 07:22 (twenty-three years ago)

I second Michael's vote for The Soft Bulletin, which I bought this week after loving Yoshimi... The Soft Bulletin is musically much less interesting and the singing is frequently unbearable.

Also: every otherwise good Bob Dylan record.

― JoB (JoB), Friday, 6 September 2002 08:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Wayne Coyne = raw and vulnerable.
Dean Wareham = shrill, off-key and irritating.

Also, Soft Bulletin trumps "Yoshimi..." by being more sonically interesting, more lush, more beautiful and more consistent. "Yoshimi..." is still good on its own terms, though. To check out some really bad Wayne Coyne singing, try "Pilot Can at the Queer of God" off "Transmissions from the Sattelite Heart"

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 6 September 2002 08:25 (twenty-three years ago)

The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev both have some interesting music, but they both suffer from the vocals. I just haven't been able to get beyond those whiny voices.

Tim Midgett of Silkworm seems to have a knack for writing songs that are beyond what he can sing.

I've liked some of The Wedding Present's music, but David Gedge's vocals sound about the same on every song.

Vocals end up being the deal killer/glass ceiling for many indie rock groups.

― earlnash, Friday, 6 September 2002 10:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Stone Roses...how did Ian Brown get away with it???

― Jez, Friday, 6 September 2002 10:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Jez: By being a shaman. Argh, I can't get away with that, OK, but he is cool. And for all that he was sickening live, on record, it works. Reni's harmonies help mind, but Brownie just sounds great. He's a fool, but so what - most interesting, artistic people are.

― Roger Fascist, Friday, 6 September 2002 14:35 (twenty-three years ago)

Just wait til you hear the John Squire album. Peter Perrett doing Dylan, and it's isn't pretty.

― Snotty Moore, Friday, 6 September 2002 15:35 (twenty-three years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.