Best Guest Vocalist?

[Automatik]

Hopefully there isn't a thread on this already. I looked but couldn't find one. Apologies if there is.

Obviously excluding the audio clips, the spoken word pieces by Patrick Jones, and the remixes which feature e.g. Saint Etienne or Ian Brown's 'rap', who has been the best guest vocalist?

I'll come right out and say Nina Hoss for me. No contest. I was a big fan of Hoss from the first time I saw A Woman in Berlin (2008), and I never dreamt one of my favourite actresses would end up singing on my favourite band's latest album.

Not just that, but Hoss' vocals on Europa Geht Durch Mich are utterly, utterly perfect in every conceivable way. A masterpiece. Better than I could have ever hoped.

After Hoss, it's the mysterious, mesmering vocalist on The Last Time I Saw Paris. Outstanding.

Unfortunately the poll only goes up to ten options so I'll have to leave Ms Anonymous out.

[usagainstyou]

My top 5:

1. Traci Lords
2. Richard Hawley
3. Sophie Ellis-Bextor
4. Cate Le Bon
5. vocalist on The Last Time I Saw Paris

[Automatik]

It's a multiple choice poll, incidentally. You can vote for more than one favourite vocalist.

[Bathtub]

1. Nina Hoss
2. Richard Hawley
3. Cate Le Bon
4. Georgia Ruth
5. Green Gartside

Although my all time favourite is Ian Brown on the Let Robeson Sing remix: JDB IS FLYING THE KITE!

[Automatik]

Originally Posted by Bathtub

Although my all time favourite is Ian Brown on the Let Robeson Sing remix: JDB IS FLYING THE KITE!

Haha. That line never fails to cheer me up. I do wonder what the band thought when they heard it.

I imagine Sean and Nicky ribbed James mercilessly about kites for a year after.

[hummingbird]

voted for multiples. Couldn't possibly pick a favourite

1. Richard Hawley cos he oozes Cool and i don't think i'd notice if James didn't sing on it at all
2. Cate Le Bon cos it's a beautiful song and she doesn't get much love on here
3. Lucy Rose cos she does lift the song to new heights
4. Georgia Ruth because she was so thrilled to be singing at the roundhouse
5. I voted for Nina Pearson but i meant to go for Green Gartside cos he seems a Very Nice Bloke. Wish i'd got him to sign my album aswell at Rough Trade


Oh and great Mystery Woman vocalist on the Last time i saw paris.. i love that song to pieces

sorry if these reasons aren't what you were after

[Automatik]

Originally Posted by hummingbird

sorry if these reasons aren't what you were after

They were perfect!

[hummingbird]

Originally Posted by Automatik

They were perfect!

I appear to have voted for Nina Hoss aswell.. can't think of anything special other than the song totally rocks

[centralscrutiniser]

It has to be Traci, but Nina a close second.

[Automatik]

Georgia Ruth would be my third choice. Her vocals on Divine Youth are, well, divine.

[centralscrutiniser]

I didn't read your first post properly, but if the mystery voice was an option I might well have gone for her

[Automatik]

Originally Posted by centralscrutiniser

I didn't read your first post properly, but if the mystery voice was an option I might well have gone for her

There were only ten options allowed on the poll, unfortunately, and eleven guest vocalists.

If it's any consolation, there have been three 'votes' for her vocals in the thread so far, so that puts her in joint third place.

[Bambi]

Traci Lords gets my vote. What (I think) Simon Price described as a surprisingly great, Belinda Carlisle-esque bubblegum voice. Or something. Dovetails with James's voice perfectly.
I'm slightly drunk so will rate them all.
Traci - 9/10
Sophie Ellis-Bextor - 5/10. Poorly served by a hilariously bad song.
Nina Persson (Your Love Alone Is Not Enough) - 8/10.
Ian McCulloch (Some Kind Of Nothingness) - 6/10 Too low or TOO HIGH. Thanks for putting it in the wrong key, MSP.
Lucy Rose (This Sullen Welsh Heart) - 7.75/10.
Richard Hawley (Rewind The Film) - 8/10
Cate Le Bon (4 Lonely Roads) - 8/10. This is the song stuck in my head while writing this.
Nina Hoss (Europa Geht Durch Mich) - 7.5/10
Georgia Ruth (Divine Youth) - 7/10
Green Gartside (Between The Clock And The Bed) - 3/10. That last 20 seconds. Eugh.

[slop101]

I like all of the duets, except for the one with Georgia Ruth - I just cannot stand her voice - don't care for that song either.

*edit (oops, I meant Georgia Ruth, not Sophie, who I'm fine with)

[gabo86]

Rating a guest vocalist is difficult because you have to merge the rating of the voice "alone" with the rating of the song, and you don't always like them both.

For example, I like the voice of Sophie Ellis-Bextor but I don't like that much Black Holes For The Young, so I can't rate it high. For the same and opposite reason, I like Little Baby Nothing but I don't like Traci Lords' voice; I like Some Kind Of Nothingness but I don't like Ian McCulloch's voice; and I like This Sullen Welsh Heart but Lucy Rose's voice is not under the spotlight, so for me isn't memorable.
For the other songs, I adore Nina Persson (the only artist among these whose solo - and Cardigans - career I love) and her performance in Your Love Alone Is Not Enough, I am overwhelmed by Richard Hawley performance and from Rewin The Film itself, I love Cate Le Bon's voice on the fantastic 4 Lonely Roads, I like Georgia Ruth's voice and the song she sings in and, even I'm unsure about Nina Hoss, her performance in what I consider the best Futurology song is great. So I go for it.
And no, I don't like neither Green Gartside's voice nor Between The Clock And The Bed itself.

And...yes, I love the "French song", even though we don't know who's singing it.