In Honour of Michael Dunford

[jkahane]

In honour of the death of Michael Dunford of the musical group Renaissance earlier this week, I present this video from YouTube of "Mother Russia", one of the greatest songs recorded by the band at a live concert back in 1977. Savour the music, because he won't be writing any more of it. :<

Click to view

Comments

[baron_waste]

After the beautiful instrumentals, that “vocalist” was jarringly bad. She needs to take her off-key nasal passages back to the karaoke bar and let these guys work.

[jkahane]

Completely differ with you on this. Annie Haslam is one of the best female vocalists out there, and her vocal skills and range have vastly improved over the years, and she has lost none of her singing abilities through age. One of the most crystal clear female vocalists around in the world of classic rock.

Uh huh.

[baron_waste]

But see, when you then encounter an actual singer, you realize why such as this are called merely “vocalists.” [So is a cat if you step on its tail.]



The next one might seem a bit saccharine (and the video imagery is pointless & annoying), but I include it as an example because the vocal track was not going to be used. Understand that: Had this song been completed she would have come back and recorded a new vocal track. She could have stood there and repeated “Watermelon, watermelon, watermelon” more or less with the melody and it wouldn't matter…

But because she's a singer, not a “vocalist,” listen to what she did even when she knew that it didn't matter at all.



No, Whatsername there could definitely stand some lessons - even Linda Ronstadt realized this, and the result was magnificent. Had she done that in her early days, there's no telling how high she'd have climbed…

Re: Uh huh.

[jkahane]

I've always adored Karen Carpenter's voice, too, but that said, I think we're just going to have to disagree on this. :)