Why even american prog bands dont have good vocals

infocat wrote: Have your heard about Fish? How about Peter Gabriel? And what do you say about Peter Hammil? The problem is that american vocalists are well tuned and etc, but there is a lack of expressiveness, in my opinion. When i listen Spoks´s Beard, for example, i feel that im listening a Creed´s song... its too ``pop rock oriented``

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Listen to any jazz singers.

I have a friend who dislikes vocals, period.  Perhaps that is really your issue?  There is nothing wrong with that, since the human voice can be less precise than an instrument, and have less of a range of expression.  Of course, for myself I think the human voice can often be the best instrument in the mix, and many American singers have this quality (prog and otherwise).  Others have mentioned "generic" sounding singers, and I think all you have to do is watch American Idol or whatever is the European version of that to hear plenty of that type of vocal.  Spock's Beard does get slammed (well, I think it's mainly Neal Morse) for their "pop" vocals.  This used to bother me too, and still does on some tracks.  I think though, that that is just their influences showing, they are inspired by far more than just prog rock.  I find that admirable, and I think there is certainly a place for such vocals in prog.

Many of my current favourite singers are American.

They don't play prog, though, but at least we can rule out the fact of them being American as one of the potential explanations of your issue.


Edited by harmonium.ro - September 28 2011 at 19:44

Brad Delp is American, but he is a wonderful singer. Is Ray Gillen American? He can sing. Mickey Thomas, Ronnie James and Sammy Hagar are all great singers, but they are not progressive. 

NotAProghead wrote: desistindo wrote:   And ´till now i didnt listen a catchy american prog singer, thats all.  There was a guy called Jim Morrison.  And the Doors were damn progressive for their time.

You got me. But i have to admit that i was thinking about contemporary prog when i start this thread. By the way, in classic prog time, even Mirthrandir´s vocals were better than nowdays. And for God´s sake, why they aren´t in Symphonic Prog instead of Eclectic?

Epignosis wrote: Tasha can too sing.

This  Tasha:



Or that?

harmonium.ro wrote: Many of my current favourite singers are American. They don't play prog, though, but at least we can rule out the fact of them being American as one of potential explanations of your issue.

Maynard Keenan, Mike Patton, Geoff Tate, Warrel Dane, Russell Allen, John Arch, Ray Alder, Devon Graves, Mike Baker (R.I.P.) Steve Walsh, all are great and unique vocalists

I really like Chris Phelps from Chaos Code, Gavin Hayes from Dredg and Casey Crescenzo from The Dear Hunter

Henry Plainview wrote: This whole thread is alarmingly incomprehensible.

cstack3 wrote: We DO have quite a bit of domestic prog in the USA, but it is my experience is that it tends to be more instrumental,  jazz-rock fusion and avant garde vs. symphonic.   Fareed Haque's "Math Games," California Guitar Trio, the newest version of Return to Forever etc. are stunning in their creativity and talent level, but nary a syllable to be heard....

Good point.Prog is such a genre, where vocals are somewhat seconday to the music. That's not true for other genres: for example for heavy metal band, classically trained vocalist who can take high register, is a must.  For death metal, the one who can growl is a must. For blues music, low-key gritty voice is desirable .
These genres are vocal-centered, so they can hire a dedicated vocalist.

Professionally trained vocalists usually came from musical college. They probably want to get some paid job after this. Who wants to get a job in not-very-popular music genre ? ;-)

So, quite often, prog rock band couldn't afford to hire professionally trained vocalist.
That's why in prog it's quite common to have dual roles: some musicians play some instrument, and also handle vocals


Edited by awaken77 - September 29 2011 at 03:47