David Bowie is one of my favourites. The chameleon that he was allowed me to consider singing one of his songs. His late 70's, early 80's stuff from Low onward suits me best. Being a baritone is not great in the Rock sphere. In terms of production though, it was a gas. There were 24 vocal tracks used. It was more listening than singing on this. Seriously!
This classic came to me from the wild internet. I suspect somebody EQ'ed the vocals out of this song. Growing up this was always a talisman for air guitar and proto Heavy Rock. Don't ask me what it's about though.
Go big or go hoarse. This song is way out of my range but I always loved Roxy Music and especially Bryan Ferry. Distinct with a taste for style and great songwriters. Why this was released as an instrumental, I have no idea. I am grateful though. My friends guffaw when they first hear it. Full falsetto for the whole thing!
During the depths of Covid, I was bored of the routine. I was looking for instrumental and coming up short. I found none I could or wanted to sing. One day I came upon a DJ called Thylacine. I liked his hypnotic groove and got the crazy idea of putting words and conjuring a melody to a track of his called Journey.
Iggy Pop is everything that is rock. Always pushing the envelope and living the life. He shows up in the most unexpected places too!. Like here, on an unlikely instrumental from Ryuichi Sakamoto that needed a vocal to become a single. Sakamoto was a pivotal electronic pioneer like Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and others who mad synths real. I am Iggy on this one. (there are so few baritones in rock)
Jellyfish was an early 90's American rock band from San Fran. A blend of Classic 60's pop and early XTC style power pop. 2 albums later, they were gone. vocal harmony, orchestration and plenty of bombast. . One of their B sides was a gift for me to score an instrumental of one of my fav groups of that era. I had some fun with it. (no, Jimmy Cagney was not in the group, i made that narrative up...)
Mike Scott of the Waterboys has had a career. From Gaelic Troubadour (those superb early Waterboys albums) to what do you do for an encore in the next 30 years. He keeps pushing and sometimes scoring with a more conventional pop/rock style. This song is a B side from a recent disc that was probably released as a favour to his then girl pal back in 2017. She is all over his later CD's as a bg vocalist. My wife likes me singing this song so ....... If I was Your Boyfriend... what would I do?
I felt good about the Thylacine experiment and used the title of the next song to inspire me to write lyrics and weave a melody around something that should have already had words. Zero 7 had always been 50/50 on vocal vs instrumentals. Usually on tracks like Destiny they would employ a great vocalist. Well, this time it was me giving it a go and having some Kovid kind of fun.
AND THEN IT HAPPENED ...
During Covid I searched high and low for "instrumentals" of songs I loved. (Yes, I surely know Karaoke tracks exist but a MarsBar isn't Belgian chocolate is it?)Then by chance, i found an AI app that could rip the vocals cleanly out of any track. In fact it is way more powerful than that, It can reduce original mixes to 4 "stems" of Voice, Bass, Guitar and Drums. Essentially return any recording to it's primary elements. Another application for AI guaranteed to accelerate the changes in licensing and the music industry in general. In any event what this means is with any song you can take out the vocals and lay yourself in there... It isn't perfect but then again neither am I! It does mean the sandbox to play music in is a LOT bigger... Karaoke on steroids.
When I was a teen living from song to song, I never imagined I could ever take out the singer from my favourite band and replace him with ... me? For someone who memorized Thick As A Brick in his early teens... this is easy pickin'. Thank you Ian Anderson for taking me on your journey. THis is from Aqualung.
With this new AI ripper, every song I heard was a possibility. I started listening with different ears. I got more ambitious and began thinking outside the Baritone box I live in. I have an OK falsetto and I fell in love with this melancholic film noire type album called The Two of Us from Goldfrapp. Until this album, the band had flown under my radar... The lyrics make no sense, but it sounds meaningful.
When Portishead came out, the focus was on the distinct vocal palate and musicality of singer Beth Gibbons. It is hard to stand out in a copycat world but she does to this day. She released a solo album in 2024 and her previous effort with members of Talk Talk was called Out of Season. It came out in 2002. I don't go for "what is your favourite" music but most days this disc would be in my top 10. This, from a guy who literally has had hundreds of thousands of songs slip through his ears in his life. I love Beth Gibbons.
If you're musical and you came through the 80's, you know the Talking Heads...probably not as well as I do, but it was my job to know...Anyway, this is a cover of the song Heaven by Iva Davies... leader of the Australian band Icehouse. He is a Heads fan too. Some very tasty 80's covers on his album. the Berlin Tapes.
Del Amitri have always been a favourite. They deserve much more attention than their few Chart moments grant them. Justin Curry is funny, literate, jaded and all things Scottish. Twisted is an album of theirs from 1995, My favourite. This is a typical male insecurity type of song where the Dels shine.
My personal tastes rather than the limited pool of instrumental bed tracks became the driver of choice. I love the humour and the social commentary that Divine Comedy was known for. Tuneful to the max as well. They are a 90's Northern Irish band led by Neil Tennant. It's not easy being as droll as he but I gave it a go.
I was an young On Air jock when the MTV 80's were happening. That era is deeply ingrained as you might imagine. Like the Bowie track, I know these songs front to back. With a little production polish I can even pretend I belong in this Depeche Mode cut.
Radio was a ton of fun. I sang briefly in cover band. Believe it or not we rocked out a lot more than this grouping of K songs would suggest. I quit because I read for a living and each gig, I was blowing my voice out... which I did again taking a run at this Psychedelic Furs gem from TalkTalkTalk.
When I think of bands that I loved that were slightly outside the format I worked in radio, this would be top of the list. I took a shot at recording the vocals for this in one take after listening to it 1/2 dozen times to remember how much I loved Echo and the Bunnymen and this album.
Neil Diamond is one of those songwriters all performers and wannabe writers tip their hats to. Like Willy Nelson, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, etc, people line up to cover their songs. In this case I put a voice over Chris Isaak's rendition of Solitary Man which is suits his personae perfectly. This is not me doing Chris...( who can!) It's just me trying the song on with a great band behind me.
Through the miracle of Eric Clapton who had the good taste to record a few of his tracks, JJ Cale made a decent living I might imagine. JJ Cale's own recordings were always murky and hard to decipher but the songs were there for sure... ask E C.
You never know when you first see them (or meet them!) if a band will survive the test of time. The vast majority make a little noise and then fade away. Simple Minds made many great albums and were often at the production vanguard especially in the 80's. Jim Kerr's voice has not endured the endless touring but his impact on me and my K Series choices sure has.
Punch Brothers. Now that is ambitious. Yes, I could fly under the radar here as most people don't know the Punch Bros. It's not like I'm giving La Bamba or Born in the USA a go is it? Chris Thile is simply a genius. A music monster not of this world. He surrounds himself with and involves himself only with the highest level of talent. In this case, his band the Punch Brothers. This is easily the toughest song I tackled. I am not sure how well I did. The harmonies, the dynamics... a workout for sure.
Going back to the days of the Brill building and the early 60's for this one. Bacharach and David were an amazing team and generated many great memories in their long careers. This song is best known through the incredible Dusty Springfield. I gave it my best "Bryan Ferry" ennui vocals from his recent disc. Oh the pain & loneliness of it all.
All that Jazz - and Henry Mancini. When I was in campus radio (way back when) I was in way over my head. Jazz was a world that was new to me and opened up my mind to so much. I have always had a fondness for movie soundtracks and one of the best was Henry Mancini. Paired with the voice of Sarah Vaughan. Can't beat it. Somebody should have said no Mike, you are in too deep.
Speaking of great backing bands, Bruce Springsteen's E street band has to be right up there. No one can do Bruce justice. I've seen him 9 times and place him in the top 10 of the hundreds of shows I've witnessed. I can't sing Bruce either so I picked a quieter softer song and gave it my spin.
Hard to believe that he made it through to fog of fashion his band Japan was about in the 80's. Always stylish and terribly of the time, somehow David Sylvian grew into a great recording artist. He eventually disappeared into the creative netherworld chasing some elusive muse. Along the way, he made amazing records and I made great memories. I still have the posters.
I chose to sing a lesser known Snow Patrol song for a few reasons. One, to see how I would approach a song I didn't know and also to test the listener reaction to a non hit. Even my own wife might compare you to Gary Lightbody if she knew the song. How is that fair? I also like the lyrics ;)
I have know this Nick Drake song for decades. I found his version a bit dense in terms of production but there are plenty of covers of this song. In this case a trumpeter named Till Bronner (known in his native Germany as the German Chet Baker). I have a soft spot for this type of smooth jazz but Till's vocals are so processed and autotuned that it lacks the emotion his trumpet play delivers.. It's produced by Joni Mitchell's ex husband Larry Klein who should know better.
I chose an Elton John song that always makes me sing along to it. I jokingly told a friend " this one is for the ladies and mums" in my life. My taste is all over the place but I am a sucker for a great melody.