Let’s have some more examples of this, the inverse of the other thread.
Exhibit A: “La China Leoncia Arreo la Correntinada Trajo Entre la Muchachada la Flor de la Juventud” by Argentine saxophonist Gato Barbieri. The beginning introduces the main melodic theme slow and rubato, then gradually builds up, until it bursts out into a wild free-for-all of ecstatic Latin melody and rhythm, muy caliente, all kinds of native South American instruments thrown into the mix, quena, siku, Indian harp, charango, bombo indio, an atonal whistle, what must be a horn off some animal’s head blasting untunable honks, and through it all Gato’s sax eloquently screaming the passionate melody. The melody that had been so slowly introduced before is now hurled out of Gato’s throaty sax with fury and abandon as the band careens full tilt to the explosive final note. He’s not so much on the beat or off the beat but rather the beat has grown so intense it engulfs all the notes. They all play as if possessed by demons; it’s too caliente for finesse. It’s outrageously sloppy and one of the most beautiful, masterful, and heartwarming goddamn things I’ve ever heard.
I wouldn’t characterize Dylan’s voice nor his guitar playing as anything near “sloppy” (some may disagree about his voice, but I’ll fight you over that). “Everyone” covers his tunes because he is an outstanding songwriter, and, really, songwriting is the only reason to cover someone’s songs.
I’m going to propose Keith Richards as sloppy but great.
Jimi Hendrix. The greatest electric guitar player ever, but the special and unique way he played and attacked his guitar, also very sloppy, especially on stage. But it blew everybody away anyway.
Oh yes, I was also thinking about Neil Young, maybe the sloppiest electric guitar player ever (not so when playing acoustic, he can play surprisingly lyrically). But let’s not forget that there are whole musical genres defined by sloppiness, like garage, punk, grunge and noise rock, all genres Neil has influenced.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is considered to one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time due to his tremendous charisma, his promo ability and his ability to work the audience.
BUT he was notorious in pro wrestling circles for being a sloppy in-ring performer
I got to see Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson (on one of the free stages at Summerfest). Told my kid “Damn! These guys aren’t worrying about image or technique, hell, they don’t care if their guitars are in tune, they’re just emoting!”
They’re also both the best examples of real non-singers, both only have their own style of stumbling through the tunes without any range, but it always sounds charming. Dylan, heck, even Lou Reed, could sing rings around them.
A friend of mine who saw Willie in concert said he had a weird habit of leaning way into and then away from the mic, so half the lyrics were inaudible and the other half were deafening. (“mumbleROAD AGAIN!!!mumble mumble mumble mumbleROAD AGAIN!!!”)
I would put Dan Brown in this category. He’s not a very good writer. Every time I read one of his books, I keep getting stuck on how he really needs an editor (for example, he really loves to say characters “felt” things, instead of showing them doing the feeling).
But the man can tell a story! I used to lump him in the same category as E. L. James (Fifty Shades) - but then I picked up The Da Vinci Code on a 99-cent BookBub deal and read it, and… liked it. Surprised the hell out of me!
I don’t have high expectations for books to be literarily amazing - in fact, too much literary navel-gazing bores me and makes me put the book down. What I want is a good, compelling story that will keep me turning pages and entertain me. For me, Brown succeeds at that.
Is this only for performers? Because both Randal Munroe (XKCD) and Rich Berlew (Order of the Stick) can do some pretty great things with stick figures.
Interestingly enough, I was listening to an interview recently with an engineer who worked quite a bit with Keith Moon. He said there was a song where they needed to use a click track (metronome). The engineer said he was very nervous about whether Moon could do it or not. He said they did 3 or 4 takes and every single note that Moon played was exactly with the click track. Moon demonstrated absolutely perfect timing despite his reputation for being sloppy. I found that to be remarkable.
Louis Armstrong’s gravelly voice made a fuzzy shape in sonic space, but if you listen closely, at the center of that sonic fuzzball, he hit every note perfectly in tune.
