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Topic ClosedSonja Kristina Vs Annie Haslam

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Poll Question: Which female prog singer do you prefer?
Poll Choice Votes Poll Statistics
8 [18.60%]
33 [76.74%]
2 [4.65%]
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Rick Robson View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Sonja Kristina Vs Annie Haslam
    Posted: October 22 2014 at 19:46

I open the thread with a vote to the beautiful Sonja, her exotic style shines higher for me no doubt, well I have to admit that Curved Air has become one of my favourite prog bands so far.
   
I'd appreciate pretty much your comments about the favourite performances of your favourite female singer. As one of my favourites, I'd like to know which is the show I watched on YouTube (link below, thanks dr wu23!) - Sonja's performance in 'Piece Of Mind' was nothing but astounding! It seems to be from 1972, as she was damn beautiful there!, to say the least. And what a good news that she is still gigging live with Curved Air this year 2014.
  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuKpnqr3y2Q

  
Annie's best performance for me, hands down, was singing my favourite Renaissance track 'Touching Once (Is So Hard to Keep)' on the show 'Live In Royal Albert Hall With Royal Philharmonic Orchestra' - by the way that show was really amazing!
  


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 22 2014 at 20:46
Haslam by far.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 22 2014 at 21:31
Cannot help you about the show from which you linked that Curved Air performance as I am not that clued into their work.  Prefer Haslam by far.  Also agree about Touching Once at Albert Hall.  But she also gave some incredible performances of Ashes are Burning, especially from the late 70s onwards.  There's the one at Chicago in 1983 that probably every Renaissance fan knows of.  But music vault allow you to view this great performance from a 1979 concert.  Audio/video are both pretty dire.  But the vocal pyrotechnics at esp the 18 1/2 minute mark are incredible.  




Edited by rogerthat - October 22 2014 at 21:32
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 22 2014 at 22:52
Annie
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2014 at 00:48
Undoubtedly 2 great singers here. Voted Annie because she is just soooooo pure. Sonja is almost there, but not quite.....
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2014 at 01:03
Nothing against Sonja, she has a great voice and all, but Annie is, well, Annie.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2014 at 01:24
Sonja had a bit more of a punk thing going while Annie is a prog angel. I love both although Sonja is the one I would have liked to meetWink
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2014 at 03:43
I cannot stand Annie Haslam's singing, never could. Something about them that makes me cringe everytime. Like finger nails on a blackboard.
I do like some of the early Curved Air releases, so I guess my vote is for Sonja.

I deliberately chose to stay away from the 'other' option, as I felt it was a bit of a cop out. Safe to say, I'm more of a Diamanda Galas, Pascal Son, Catherine Ribeiroux, Dagmar Krause, Anna Meek, Renate Knaup and Annisette Koppel fan

Edited by Guldbamsen - October 23 2014 at 06:35
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2014 at 04:19
Sonja is a great singer, but Annie is a god.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2014 at 04:20
...............if I could, I would vote for the amazing Christina Booth..........
.........whom incorporates the best traits of both these gorgeous Prog angels.............
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2014 at 04:30
Annie is indubitably a great singer and there is no denying her influence on later female Prog singers who are mere imitators by comparison. While I prefer the Renaissance (and Renaissance Illusion) albums with Jane Relf, Annie was the ideal voice for the more successful version of Renaissance and it could be argued that they changed their sound to better suit the tone of her voice and her vocal range, which in turn resulted in their increased popularity.

But for me it's Sonja by quite a long way. She is a one-off talent that has no comparison or equal and few imitators. There is a certain indescribable essence and character to her voice that I find more interesting and more appealing. Unlike Renaissance, Curved Air didn't adapt their sound to fit Sonja, she adapted her voice to fit the music they were playing, which was a lot harder and louder and required a voice that could rise above the music rather than fit neatly in it. This means we didn't get to hear just how good she really was or discover the range and depth that we get when listening to Annie and Renaissance, but we do get to hear that in Sonja's post-Curved Air music.

I saw Sonja in a one-woman show in 1979/80 performing folk songs and acoustic versions of Curved Air favourites and she was wonderfully good, giving a warm and engaging performance that was a far cry from the 'rock-chic' image that graced the cover of NME and Sounds in the 1970s. I couldn't find a live performance video from that time (there are some acid folk vids of Sonja on YouBoob but they are more recent), but here is a track from her début solo album from 1980:

I'm going to be cheeky and post another video, (because there isn't enough Sonja-love in this thread). This one is more recent, from Sonja's collaboration with Marvin Ayres called M.A.S.K (Marvin Ayres Sonja Kristina)

What?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2014 at 05:54
Annie Haslam, but there are lots more that I like, strictly from this list Annie Haslam
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2014 at 06:12
Two of my favourite singers, a tough choice but Annie just nicks it.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2014 at 06:18
Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

 Unlike Renaissance, Curved Air didn't adapt their sound to fit Sonja, she adapted her voice to fit the music they were playing, which was a lot harder and louder and required a voice that could rise above the music rather than fit neatly in it. This means we didn't get to hear just how good she really was or discover the range and depth that we get when listening to Annie and Renaissance, but we do get to hear that in Sonja's post-Curved Air music.


That 1980 track actually sounds a lot like Jane Relf/Maddy Prior to me, so I am not surprised you voted for her.  Wink

And while I'd agree that generally speaking, Curved Air's music was louder and harder, Annie's voice rises above a full orchestra when she vocalises with strings on Scheherazade, even in the live performances.  Was it that the bed was always nicely made for her (I doubt it, given their struggles from the 80s onwards) or that she simply had a powerful and flexible voice?  More likely the latter, I think.  Camera Camera (the track) is about as far removed as can be from the glorious pastoral beauty of Ashes Are Burning but Annie's singing is about the only thing that makes the track worth listening to at all, to me (and I am pretty sure I am not alone in saying so).  
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2014 at 07:00
Seeing as there is the 'other' option, I thought it was fair play to show a clip of the aforementioned Diamanda Galas. Talk about range - and not only that, a will to stretch her own vocal chords to the edge of torture. This clip floors me every time - for quite different reasons no less. Captured on the Jon Stewart show waaay back in 1994 you get to see Diamanda with legendary Zep bass man John Paul Jones performing a tune off the joint venture they'd just recorded. The performance is earth-shattering, literally. 
It blows my mind each and every time - mostly because the music is sooooo experimental and mad for an American mainstream tv show, but perhaps even moreso because the musicians know this.....and then purposely take it up a notchLOL
Man I would do anything to have been a guest at that show (I was 12 at the time and had already purchased my first Samla Mammas Manna album, so I was no stranger to music with a twist of the bizarre.)

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2014 at 07:28
I'll take Haslam Annie day.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2014 at 07:33
Cute
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2014 at 07:59
Wow! Seeing here so many references to check out that I'm literally driving knots!  LOL
But hey, can you believe it? the God damned internet connection here at my work is gonna continue forever denying any YouTube access for all of us... OK I get it, this is the so called third world 'bankers' administration politics hahahah


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2014 at 10:34
Originally posted by Guldbamsen Guldbamsen wrote:

Seeing as there is the 'other' option, I thought it was fair play to show a clip of the aforementioned Diamanda Galas. Talk about range - and not only that, a will to stretch her own vocal chords to the edge of torture. This clip floors me every time - for quite different reasons no less. Captured on the Jon Stewart show waaay back in 1994 you get to see Diamanda with legendary Zep bass man John Paul Jones performing a tune off the joint venture they'd just recorded. The performance is earth-shattering, literally. 
It blows my mind each and every time - mostly because the music is sooooo experimental and mad for an American mainstream tv show, but perhaps even moreso because the musicians know this.....and then purposely take it up a notchLOL
Man I would do anything to have been a guest at that show (I was 12 at the time and had already purchased my first Samla Mammas Manna album, so I was no stranger to music with a twist of the bizarre.)


Very entertaining performance with a great demonstration of vocal prowess. She's a female Mike Patton for sure.  Like Patton, she never does anything for me emotionally but it, intentionally or otherwise, sounds funny enough in a weird way that I still enjoy it.  
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 23 2014 at 10:39
Sometimes Annie sounds a little too sweet at times, but it's Annie easily over Sonja. I can imagine Curvrd Air without Sonja but not Renaissance without Annie.
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