Name your lame duck artist........

02-08-10: Viridian
Cassandra Wilson seems to pay homage to the great vocalists of the past, not that she is in their class, while still having her own style and voice. Some of her material has been variable, but at her best, she has a lot to recommend her.

I'm right there with you in regards to Cassandra. She actually has a voice on the level of the greats when she's on, it's just undermined by the majority of crap music she chooses.

Her '83 disc "Blue Light 'Til Dawn" has some great music and phenomenal vocals on it. "New Moon Daughter" has a few, too. But, I don't have much patience for most of her other stuff - especially the New Agey crap. She seems to have trouble picking or sticking with a single coherent style.

That's 1993 for "Blue Light 'Til Dawn"

Long ago, Wilson recorded for JMT in Japan, direct to two track tape. The records are available on CD and there is even a sampler. The sound is direct and stripped down and very, very good. The singing is straight ahead mostly standards. The LPs of these sessions are long out of print, but show up from time to time.

conceptually, i'd divide the foregoing into specific categories:

1. artists of no discernible musical ability who nonetheless have value as image makers, trendsetters etc. (madonna,bon jovi, cher)
2. especially annoying ass clowns who nonetheless have musical ability (rod stewart, sting, u2)
3. artists who don't have much musical ability but aren't especially annoying ass clowns and have some visceral nice-guy appeal to their misguided, though harmless fans (jimmy buffet, phil collins)
4. artists who play execrably bad music skillfully (norah jones, dave matthews, john mayer)
5. completely worthless "artists" who have neither charisma or visual appeal and whose derivative, addle-brained product is wholly unlistenable (nickelback)

ergo, by careful analysis you must arrive at the conclusion that the single most worthless performer extant is, in fact, nickleback. who, according to billboard, have sold 30 million records, most of anyone in this decade. consider the karmic implications...

Loomis, Great "analysis"!. I agree wholeheartedly.