Do foreign vocalists ruin your prog experience?

Hey guys, I've been reading a lot of reviews on this site and a lot of CD's are getting 4 and 5 stars that have female vocalists, german vocals, italian vocals, Spanish vocals etc...

I sincerely wish I could be that accepting and get beyond it but I really seem to need my Prog sung in english. No matter how good the music is, as soon as the non english vocals come in it drops the whole vibe for me. Perhaps I haven't heard the right stuff? How do you guys feel about it? Do you actually seek out foreign vocals or do you just endure it in order to have good music?

Well, perhaps I'm not the right person to ask... Even though I don't like Italians who sing in English if they have a thick accent, I do think you speakers of English should try to be a bit more open-minded. I don't mean to sound judgmental or even confrontational, but as a speaker of five languages, and one who has met people from all over the world throughout her life, this attitude (though I am quite sure it is not conscious) smacks just a little bit of chauvinism. 

Why did you include women? Is it because they are from Venus?

Atkingani wrote: Hummmm... "English" is foreign for me... what about "non-English"?

English is foreign to me too..

I was educated in the south.... *cymbal crash*

Atkingani wrote: Hummmm... "English" is foreign for me... what about "non-English"?

Seconded (and to Micky - cymbal crashes are so unprog ).

On topic: in general, vocals to me are just part of the music - of the melodic mix. I hardly ever listen to the lyrics in prog (unless I have the lyric sheet available) - which is probably a shame for all the great symbolism and the story behind epics, but it's the way it works for me.

Two exceptions: first,  I get annoyed by singers who clearly have not mastered English language and still try to sing in it. Second, Premiata Forneria Marconi should never have re-released their early works in English on Photos of Ghosts - it simply didn't work out.

Still - I see your point here, and it's food for a good discussion. Keep it coming!


Edited by Angelo - December 16 2007 at 16:30

micky wrote: I was educated in the south.... *cymbal crash*

I believe that's a contradiction.




So was I.

ES335 wrote: The level of ignorance evident in this post is just appaling. Have you even noticed that a sizeable percentage of the posters on this site are not from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland or Australia? Given the demographics of the site, one would think that by "foreign" you mean "alien" as in from another planet.

That goes for yours as well - I'm sorry to say. Language is a difficult thing and a big issue for some people. It may very well be that the poster did not even recognise the flaw in the thread title when posting. There are other ways and words to get your message across here, Mr. ES335....

rileydog22 wrote: I actually prefer Kobaian vocalists to English ones.

Personally, I am not big on lyrics. Thus, I really don't care what language the singer sings in, though I am partial to whatever the vocalists native tongue is. For instance, PFM.  The vocals sound natural and full when sung in Italian. On their English sung songs, they sound thin, silly and cartoonish.  When it comes to singing in English as a second language, I think the Swedish and German do it the best.  But, again, I am partial to native tongues.

Edited by Tapfret - December 16 2007 at 16:40

schizoid_man77 wrote: Whats the language sigur ros sing in? Cause it rocks! French vocals arent bad either.

As far as I know, they sing in their native language, Icelandic.

@Rileydog: only one answer to that statement Da Zeuhl Wortz Mekanïk!