The worst vocals ever Options

[Terry]

Just listening to Radio Dismuke and up comes "Paul Whiteman Orchestra - How About Me".

Who is the vocalist on this? It must rank near to the worst ever, along with Wes Vaughn on I'll Be a Friend, and Seger Ellis on Bix and Trams' Blue River.

Any more candidates ?

[gregoryagogo]

Paul Whiteman Orchestra - "How About Me"... he seems to be doing a 'trick' or 'style' that resembles the male equivalent of Helen Kane with that Betty Boop style! Moving the voice up then back down... he's trying to be 'modern' in his styling, but just sounds out of tune! Another 'fail' in this recording is his voice is too far in the background and the orchestra overpowers him.


"I'll Be A Friend With Pleasure" isn't too bad... that was 'the style' in vocals at that point.

Personally, I'm not a fan of vocals at all in music! If there must be a vocal, it should be only one chorus! I do love vocal trios, and and groups though. I find too, that in the music of the 20s and 30s there is a 'fail' in the vocal, and takes away from the great musical styles. I have gone as far as to edit a vocal out completely.

This post has been edited by gregoryagogo: Aug 19 2012, 01:41 PM

[Bob from Pa]

Just listening to Radio Dismuke and up comes "Paul Whiteman Orchestra - How About Me".

Who is the vocalist on this? It must rank near to the worst ever, along with Wes Vaughn on I'll Be a Friend, and Seger Ellis on Bix and Trams' Blue River.

Any more candidates ?

I nominate almost any song about Lindbergh (like "you flew into my heart") to be rather bad--even the best vocalists of the day sound terrible when singing these songs. Vaugn De leath even.

Bob

[2nd Sax Bb Tenor]

"I'll Be A Friend With Pleasure" isn't too bad... that was 'the style' in vocals at that point.

Well, it was "a" style. Wes (Weston) Vaughan recorded a good bit with Ted Weems and acquits himself a little better, but damn, not much.

I find too, that in the music of the 20s and 30s there is a 'fail' in the vocal, and takes away from the great musical styles. I have gone as far as to edit a vocal out completely.

Tell 'em about Sam Sanders. (I hope, for his sake, that that wasn't his real name.)

[2nd Sax Bb Tenor]

Still lousy, but probably meant to be lousy, is trumpeter Frank Zullo's turn on Old Yazoo with Fred Waring in 1932. With the band way in the background, he overloads the new ribbon microphone like a frustrated Cab Calloway wannabe, shrieking and carrying on like a man who has alighted from the choo-choo at old Yazoo only to be told that his luggage has been sent on to Duluth.

This post has been edited by 2nd Sax Bb Tenor: Feb 17 2013, 03:33 PM

[2nd Sax Bb Tenor]

(double post, because smartphones are not always that smart)

This post has been edited by 2nd Sax Bb Tenor: Feb 17 2013, 12:05 AM

[gregoryagogo]

I found this song recently, and definitely this IS THE WORST VOCAL EVER!

Sam Sanders - More Beautiful Than Ever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgga3-Dk9xo

[gregoryagogo]

Soooo bad it was, that I removed the vocal!

Sam Sanders & His Orchestra - "More Beautiful Than Ever" (NO VOCAL!)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-wLogX6wUo

[Terry]

You did a nice job there Gregory, it is now a very presentable recording.

However I still think the vocalist on the Whiteman 'How about Me' is about twice as bad as Sam Sanders

Listen again: http://www.redhotjazz.com/songs/whiteman/hwboutme.ra

Damn good job that Bix was not on that record !

[2nd Sax Bb Tenor]

I can't play redhotjazz files any more, but I'm going to guess that Jack Fulton is singing.
Here's another one of Jack for comparison's sake, a rather nice 1932 thing called 'Til Tomorrow.

Jack actually was a normal human being, a trombonist(!), with a normal voice, as you can hear on this bit of hokum called Sunflower, recorded in 1949.

[gregoryagogo]

You did a nice job there Gregory, it is now a very presentable recording.

However I still think the vocalist on the Whiteman 'How about Me' is about twice as bad as Sam Sanders

Listen again: http://www.redhotjazz.com/songs/whiteman/hwboutme.ra

Damn good job that Bix was not on that record !

Yep, that's bad!

So bad, that I removed the vocal! This one was tricky... not sure it's perfect, but there it is:

Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra - "How About Me" [No Vocal]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ILtVY2Cqg

[gregoryagogo]

I can't play redhotjazz files any more, but I'm going to guess that Jack Fulton is singing.
Here's another one of Jack for comparison's sake, a rather nice 1932 thing called 'Til Tomorrow.

Jack actually was a normal human being, a trombonist(!), with a normal voice, as you can hear on this bit of hokum called Sunflower, recorded in 1949.

This guy sucks too... He sings at the end... don't think I can 'fix' this one!

[2nd Sax Bb Tenor]

This one was tricky... not sure it's perfect

At 1:23 there's a measure with an extra beat in it (3/2 in cut time).

[Terry]

However, that is such a vast improvement that I can now listen happily to it without squirming, thanks Greg.

Jack Buchanan was a British star of stage and film in the 20s and 30s, debonair with a cane and a girl on his arm, but he couldn't really sing, not the worst by any means, but his Goodnight Vienna folds me up as he goes up and down an octave:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o38Qwz1j8KQ

[gregoryagogo]

At 1:23 there's a measure with an extra beat in it (3/2 in cut time).

Hows this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M4oKe0fTlQ...eature=youtu.be