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Rednight View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Wetton's Vocals
    Posted: May 16 2017 at 09:29
Heard a DJ recently on a local classic rock station bring up John Wetton's death some three and a half months ago and got to wondering: What would the brethren at P.A. think is his best vocal performance. Sure, there's so many of them, and I thought it might not fit the occasion to list several in a poll. So what do you think?
"It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 09:50
Exiles for me. Many will say it's one of Wetton's worst vocal performance but this song is speical to me in part due to his voice.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 10:03
I'm not much of a fan of Wetton's vocals generally - bit on the histrionic side for my taste, not helped by the fact that the lyrics were often terrible - but I do like his singing on Book of Saturdays. His voice has a certain plaintive charm on that one.

Big fan of his prodigious bass playing in KC, though

Edited by Mascodagama - May 16 2017 at 10:04
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 10:11
The Night Watch. I simply love that track.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 10:14
Anything on those 3 albums 1972-73.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 10:36
Starless. Maybe it's that gorgeous melody, but he sings wonderfully great on this one.
I think his worst (for me, anyway) was Mental Medication (U.K. debut album) - don't like his bluesy falsettos.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 11:49
Starless for me......
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 11:54
I guess I tried to show you how...
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 12:31
His performance on One More Red Nightmare matches the anxiety of the lyrics.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 12:56
Originally posted by lazland lazland wrote:

The Night Watch. I simply love that track.


That, I must say, is another good one.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 14:51
I adore the romantic mood of Books of Saturdays and The Night Watch too! Not all of his vocals are amazing but some defenitely are.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 15:24
This kind of made me whimper a bit.  Cry I'm so broken with his passing.  It would be so hard for me to pick a track where his voice really resonated with me because I love all of his stuff so much.  Just a few picks off the top of my head I would say:
  • The bridge/harmony vocals he sings on Spanish Tide by Family always makes me sing along.  I really enjoyed hearing him in that band.  Perfect contrast to Chapman's craziness.
  • Rendezvous 6:02
  • The Night Watch
These would be my immediate 3 favorite moments.... but man... just sooo hard to choose.  I've read somewhere where he was called the "Don Pardo of Prog Rock".  I don't know if that was an insult or a compliment, but it made me smile and appreciate Wetton's voice even more.  A lot of times it sounded like he was really stretching himself to hit some notes and maybe ran a little flat, but that added to the humble charm of his powerful voice.  Just such a landmark timeless talent with the bass playing and singing.  Incomparable.


Edited by cemego - May 16 2017 at 15:27
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 16:14
Too many to choose. He was a great vocalist.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 16:32
I dropped the needle on my 1st Crimson album on a warm autumn Saturday afternoon back in 1977 and "Health food fa**** with a bartered bride..." blasted from my speakers and I was hooked for life.  I honestly can't think of a single Crimson song Wetton sang that I don't love his vocals - and bass for that matter.  If forced to choose a single favorite, it would have to be the live version of Exiles on USA.  His singing evokes such sad loneliness and longing that it's just the perfect fit for the words and music.  Second place goes to his performance on One More Red Nightmare...another perfect match of words, music and voice.

RIP
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 16:53
Originally posted by lazland lazland wrote:

The Night Watch. I simply love that track.

The Night Watch is one of the few King Crimson tracks I actually like. 

Wetton's vocals are generally excellent, and one of his best performances is on The Time and the Season from Martin Orford's brilliant swansong The Old Road.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 18:02
I'm not a Wetton fan , but I vote in Book of Saturday !
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 19:03
UK "30 years" and "Nevermore". The best representation of his range.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 19:33
I'd say Night Watch if it wasn't for Exiles.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 20:36
Originally posted by lazland lazland wrote:

The Night Watch. I simply love that track.

Yes! Outstanding piece!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 16 2017 at 21:55
I have found it very difficult to apreciate his singing. Even now I don't really enjoy his singing in King Crimson... but the songs are so good that I don't really care (and of course, I do love his bass playing). And his vocals are an important reason I wasn't able to really get into UK. On the other hand, his singing on Asia was actually good (too bad the songs aren't nearly as great as King Crimson)... until I heard Asia live... and then there's the same problems I found with him on King Crimson. However, his singing with Steve Hackett on "Tokyo Tapes" was really great. I guess my favourite performance of him is on "Watcher of the skies" (I was never able to get into that song by Genesis, but this performance is much warmer, in great part thanks to Wetton's singing, who rather fixes the original singing for me)... and also, his singing on some of Lake's originally sung songs somehow has worked fine for me (strange, since I consider Lake a much better singer).
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