Female vocal tracks

[Dave]

hi there, could anyone recomend me some artists tracks that include female vocal harmonics (prefably without instrumental acompanyment)

i realy liked the vocals used on pink floyds "dark side of the moon", i thought they were amazing and was wondering if there was any similar tracks or artists i could possibly listen to that are just recorded on their own.

thanks for your help

[Belson]

Seek out and search for;

Sweet Honey in the Rock

Gospel infused vocal harmonies usually performed without instrumentation. They did a couple of albums that used a backing band, but every album I have for them includes at least one accapella track.

Other artists worth checking for, although considerably harder to track down -

Novella Nelson
Sundays Child
Mildred Bailey
Howard Lemon Singers

Definately not , more !

Noice.

[wayne]

Hi Dave,

The Floyd track is voiced by Claire Torrey, who as far as I know worked wholly as a backing singer (she also appears on LPs by Serge Gainsbourg & Cerrone, among others) & there was a longstanding notion that soulstress Doris Troy was the singer for a while: her output's pretty interesting in its own right - but not acapella.

Zap Mama are pretty World Music-y, but in a similar vein to Sweet Honey in the Rock at times, & there are lots of odd tracks, either acapella or with very light guitar/piano accompaniment, from people like Nina Simone, Camille Yarborough ('Take Yo Praise', as sampled by Norman Cook), Neneh Cherry & Janis Joplin (Mercedes Benz). Some are mp3'd at www.acapella-heaven.tk.

For the best abstract vocals, though, check out stuff like the 4AD Mystere des Voix Bulgares & Hannibal Trio Bulgarka sets, middle Eastern stuff by women like Oum Kolsoum (spelling varies if you're searching for it - Umm/Om Khalsoum/Kholsoum/Qualsoum are a few of the variants) or the issues around of Corsican music (eg: Hector Zazou's Nouvelles Polyphoniques Corses on Phillips) which use mostly layered voices to pretty stunning effect.

If you don't mind actual words, folk & gospel albums can be rich seams, too, with people like Ann Briggs, June Tabor & the like all doing the odd acapella song on a record... Sure others sampling vocals round these parts will have many more to add...

[Sie Vulture]

just as an aside note...

... you'll also find that Clare Torrey was responsible for the vox on Harry Roche's "Spiral"...

sorry, just felt the urge to mention that!

[ladyboygrimsby]

Quote[/b] (wayne @ 02 July 2003,16:06)]Hi Dave,

The Floyd track is voiced by Claire Torrey, who as far as I know worked wholly as a backing singer (she also appears on LPs by Serge Gainsbourg & Cerrone, among others) & there was a longstanding notion that soulstress Doris Troy was the singer for a while: her output's pretty interesting in its own right - but not acapella.

Wayne, where did you find this out? It's always been credited as Doris and in a big piece in Mojo about the recording of the album there seemed to be no dispute that it was her. What's the source of your info?

[wayne]

Quote[/b] (ladyboygrimsby @ 03 July 2003,09:31)]Wayne, where did you find this out? It's always been credited as Doris and in a big piece in Mojo about the recording of the album there seemed to be no dispute that it was her. What's the source of your info?

Uh, actually I can't remember where the info came from, though if you listen (as Sie says) to Spiral the Great Gig vocal sounds more like Torrey than Troy (whose work on stuff like Kill 'Em All sounds quite different vocally). For years I thought it was Troy, but was disabused by something I read along the lines of 'Troy always gets the credit, but it was actually Torrey' - & sources like AMG confirm this. Maybe the mystery continues, then...

[wayne]

Well, just rechecked on AMG & a couple of other places (yes, very busy day...) & the issue turns out to be clear as mud! BOTH Torry & Troy are credited on AMG with vocals on DSOTM, Torry with 'vocals', Troy with 'backing vocals'. They're also said to have worked with each other, but I can't find out where, or when (though it's a good bet they were in the same studio for the DSOTM session, at least)... So could've been either, or both of them: who knows? Confused? Not 'arf...

[Lord Thames]

It was definitely Torrey on 'Great Gig In The Sky' - the 'Classic Albums' show confirmed it. She improvised the whole sequence, and found it rather embarrassing to do, though the Floyd were very impressed as she did it in one take.

Among Clare's other work was the theme tune to 'Butterflies' (her only solo lead??), and as a backing vocalist for Bruce Forsyth.

How many other people can say they've worked for Pink Floyd and Ronnie Hazlehurst? Not many, I'll bet!