I’ll agree on Amy Lee and Evanescence sounding great. I have some videos from a Rock Am Ring performance, and I have to say they didn’t sound too bad there, either. Lee’s voice started to sound weak as the show goes on, but it’s nothing some better voice exercises couldn’t fix in the long run. I think she’s a helluva talent, and I hope we’ll be seeing her in the future.
I started listening to them, apparently, right after they came through San Francisco, but if I remember Tars Tarkas correctly, that show ended up canceled. Bah.
eh…her voice is sort of thin and nasally. I think it stands out because it (her voice) is virtually alone in the realm of mainstream hard rock music. A beautiful female voice and crunching guitars are sort of an odd juxtaposition, and it just doesn’t work for me in this case - especially with the Flava Flav dude adding the rap-rock style weaksauce to the recipe.
As far as female singers go, I prefer a richer, fuller voice like that of Fiona Apple or Tracy Thorn (who also appears on a massive attack album).
Weird, their song “Bring Me to Life” was just on. I love that song–I’ve only started liking it recently. But I know a lot of people on the boards like it–there was that thread about it a while back, back before I loved it.
My first thought was Margo Timmins of Cowboy Junkies. And she sounds absolutely astounding in concert. And she has a meet ‘n’ greet after the show with the fans. It’s awesome.
Also, Karin Bergquist of Over the Rhine is the most impressive voice I’ve ever heard live. She’s a classically trained singer and she is so good that technology cannot capture what she actually sounds like. It makes your heart drop into your stomach from the first note. And she’s gorgeous and generous with the fans, of course. I attend every show I can of theirs. Easily four or five a year.
Yeah, it’s really, really bad. I wish Amy Lee would find someone that could write half-decent lyrics, along with a better band.
On the other hand, Amy Lee isn’t my favorite female singer. Not even close. I myself can’t get enough of Beth Gibbons, or that girl from Stereolab (name escapes me at the moment). And a lot of interviews I’ve seen make her out to be very pompous.
Best female singing voice I’ve heard yet is Lara Fabian. There’s not a single song on her self-titled debut album that I can’t happily listen to over and over again.
What? You don’t get the stunning, poetic simplicity of “Love, love me do. You know I love you, so love me do”?
I would like Evanescence a lot more if the damn radio station would play a different song. There’s only so many times Ican hear “Bring me To Life” without wanting to drive a fork into somebodys brain.
Hear, hear! And the interplay of melody, harmony, and rhythm beneath the simple “hold me / love me” repetition in “Eight Days a Week” gives it shockingly profound emotional weight. Or maybe it’s just me.
Tarja’s pretty amazing, but she can’t hold a candle to Floor Jansen (After Forever)–on the other hand, perhaps that’s no great shame. Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation) also has a pretty voice, but she’s not better than Tarja. The woman from Lacuna Coil is good, but not in the same league as any of those three.
As far as Evanescence…I like 'em. They’re not great, but they’re not bad, and they’re certainly better than most of what you hear on alt-rock radio. It’d be nice if they had better lyrics, but that’s not really what I’m listening for.
Someone described Evanescence as ‘Linkin Park if the singer really was a chick’.
I don’t see what the big deal with her voice is…it’s very generic. She was probably chosen for her looks, anyone can sing on tune with some studio trickery. Margo Timmins, Sarah McLachlan - they can sing, and their voices have character.
I do have to admit that, even if I did like Evanescence’s music, I would dislike them for their hypocrisy. They started out as a Christian band, played at Christian events, and were on a Christian record label, but as soon as they started getting mainstream success they not only went secular, they denied that they were ever a Christian act.