What makes the human singing voice appealing? There are plenty of vocals by artists whose sounds are not “pretty,” yet I like to hear them sing. Bob Dylan falls into that category.
Somewhere – Tom Waits. I heard this song for the first time near the end of the 1997 movie Afterglow with Julie Christie and Nick Nolte. I saw it on the February 2018 holiday weekend. In the context of the movie, I wept.
Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) – Melanie with the Edwin Hawkins Singers. I think it’s the juxtaposition of her rough sound with the majesty of the choir.
I had an office mate some years back, and there were only two artists she wouldn’t allow me to play because she absolutely HATED their voices. Naturally, I need to link to them here:
Old Man – Neil Young
Always on My Mind – Willie Nelson
There are countless rockers and soul shouters who’d be on the list:
Black Dog – Led Zeppelin (Robert Plant)
Star – David Bowie
Respect – Otis Redding
I Got You – James Brown
I’m leaving off the Beatles and Motown and the Beach Boys…
The first songs I thought of, though, were these:
Stand by Me – Ben E. King, a great song written by him, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
Maybe – Alison Krauss. I’m a sucker for the harmony vocals.
Dimming of the Day – Bonnie Raitt. There are LOTS of versions of this song, and I love most of them.
A Case of You – Joni Mitchell. From the great Blue album.
A Ballata Of Francesco Landini (ca. 1335-1397) Lasso! Di Donna – Judy Collins. When I think of my favorite Judy Collins album, it bounces between Wildflowers, from which this song comes, and Who Knows Where the Time Goes
Rolling in the Deep – Adele. I’m old; she the only artist whose first release was in the 21st century whose whole body of work (that’s more than one album) I own.
One of my favorite vocalists is Harry Nilsson. His vocals on the Nilsson Sings Newman album are beautiful.