Queen, “The Prophet’s Song”, on A Night at the Opera. A kickbutt ostentatious heavy prog-rock anthem with spectacular harmony interspersed throughout. (Why the heck “Bohemian Rhapsody” gets all the airplay instead, I’ll never understand)
Let’s not overlook the obvious. The Temps, 4 Tops, The Miracles-- also Take 6. Ray, Goodman and Brown (The Moments) have a song called Special Lady that gives me goosebumps.
Excuse me? The Beach Boys, on every freaking song they ever recorded. Start with Surfer Girl and Sloop John B, then move to Surf’s Up.
I think the Moody Blues deserve some mention here. To throw a few songs out, consider “Ride My See Saw” and “Gemini Dream”.
One harmony moment that always gives me chills is in R.E.M.'s It’s The End Of The World As We Know It, after the third verse, when the repeat the chorus in that minor dirge, before it get’s all happy again. It feels like a glimpse of the real pain underneath some peppy facade and it get me right there. Just beautiful.
Also, I like the chorus for Van Halen’s Dance The Night Away, though it feels like all facade, so whatever.
The voices of Exene Cervenka and John Doe of the band X sound heavenly together.
Frank Zappa’s Mothers usually had a stable of highly skilled singers. Near the end of Billy The Mountain, they go into “A mountain is something you don’t want to fuck with,” and the tight harmonies are just lethal. Several other spots in that album, Just Another Band From L.A. are the aural version of watching high wire artists doing backflips.
Trio, with Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris is pure treasure. The Pain of Loving You, To Know Him Is To Love Him, and Farther Along are seminars in vocal harmony.
TLC
The Dixie Chicks
Queen is one of the best, for sure.
For single artists, Happy Rhodes is way up there. Queen were very influential to her because of their harmonies. Listen to this early song from 1988 (authorized mp3 link). She was all alone in the studio for her first 4 albums, and so did multitudes of overdubs and vocal harmonies with herself. She still does it on just about every song. This is a new song, and it’s all her (in fact, it’s called “Queen”)
Eddie From Ohio are a folk band with some amazing vocalists in the group - there are four of them, and three of them have lead vocals on different tracks. When they put down tracks like Gravity or The Three Fine Daughters of Farmer Brown, the lead is nice, the harmonies on the chorus are even better, and then suddenly near the end of the song you realize that they’ve layered in four-part work that’s like a tapestry, the instruments have stopped, and you’re sitting in this valley of sound that’s just unbelievable. The first time I heard “Three Fine Daughters” I didn’t even finish the track – they got through the a cappella section and I just dialed right back to that moment and listened to those fifteen seconds of music over and over.
The Indigo Girls’ earlier work had some incredibly dense harmonies, especially their song Airplane where the Banshees (of Siouxsie and the…) join them for the backing vocals.
Oh, and some of the better college a cappella groups in the country have graduated alumni who form semi- or professional recording groups. For obvious reasons, the harmonies in these groups are exceptionally tight and well-written. Da Vinci’s Notebook has a few songs that deserve recognition here, but if I had to pick one, it would be Liposuction. Superfast syllables, moving bass and tenor lines that you can barely keep up with, and funny lyrics that your kid would probably like.
If you’re into vocal harmony, you’re missing a trick if you haven’t listened to The Nutmegs. Unfortunately, that collection I linked to doesn’t have their best – Down in Mexico. I can’t find a link to a sample of it.
The category of Doo-Wop in general has a great deal of beautiful wonderful vocal harmonies. Check out:
Lee Andrews and the Hearts, particularly Try the Impossible.
The Moonglows - Most of All.
The Zircons - Silver Bells.
The Pardons - Diamonds and Pearls.
Six Teens - A Casual Look
Well, and a whole lot others.
I came in to make sure the Beatles’ “Because” got its due (listen to the version on Love for an a capella version), but since I’m here:
Almost anything by Moxy Fruvous , an obscure (and defunct) Canadian band. Totally worth seeking out.
Speaking of Matthew Sweet and vocal harmonies, mention must be made of The Thorns, his side project with Pete Droge and Shawn Mullins.
And the men of Trip Shakespeare sang background vocals on one of Matthew Sweet’s albums, which was nothing special IMHO, but Trip Shakespeare’s own album Lulu may just be the perfect pop-rock album, thanks to its wonderful vocal harmonies among many other reasons.
Coincidentally or not, many of my favorite bands have multiple lead vocalists, and such bands (including some already mentioned in this thread) often (though not always) are the ones with the great vocal harmonies.
I can’t believe that no one has brought out Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin brothers band. All these guys did was harmonize. Their lyrical skill were weak, and the music was cheesy, but listen to the vocal on All the Gold in California or “Wish you were someone I love.”
SSG Schwartz
While it is probably “cheezy” to most listeners who don’t like Bluegrass music, the harmonizing of groups such as the Stanley Bros. and THe Country Gentlemen(forerunners of The Seldom Scene) sends chills up my spine. Maybe because I grew up in that period. And the continuation of such harmonies in the early Folk Music world also produced classics which have already been named.
God Only Knows - Carl singing lead.
God Only Knows - Brian singing lead.
I will but these guys up against anybody, any style, any time. It’s a pity they are all dead, crazy or assholes now.
I’ve really enjoyed some of the YouTube links on this page. I’ve spent the last half hour or so bouncing from live peformance video to live performance video, and it’s now occurred to me that there is a glaring omission in this thread
The Grateful Dead
OT: We spent the afternoon at a local festival that included lots of bluegrass. Frosty Morning is one to catch if you have a chance. They’re really good.