In the subways in NY, where buskers come into subway cars and perform briefly for tips then move to the next car, I’ve encountered a black group doing mostly-a-capella rap but with really nice harmony refrain bits. Old-fashioned sound, like soul harmony from the 1960s. It would be nice if that would catch on. The lack of vocal harmony and of instrumental richness is a big part of why rap doesn’t do much for me. Having those chorus refrains come around with such a contrast to the rap verses, that was nice.
Pomplamoose has Nataly harmonizing nicely with herself on their version of “Mr. Sandman.”
Nice. The Civil Wars sound great - too bad they don’t seem to find away to get along well enough to keep it together…
There’s the pretentious-indie-band-that-still-somehow-hits-the-top-40-and-is-mainstream group fun. (Yes, “fun.”, it starts lowercase and the period is part of the name). I’ve heard their song Some Nights called “their Bohemian Rhapsody”. It definitely has a very busy vocal harmony going on, though perhaps not the most complex one. They do definitely use some autotune in there, but not everywhere, and where it is used it’s clearly a deliberate stylistic choice (at one point they literally use autotuned vocals as what amounts to a guitar solo). I don’t know, I usually am not fond of pop music and like “busier” music (lots of different parts going on at once) which includes vocal harmonies, but I really like that song.
Edit:
Oh, also Van Canto’s cover of The Bard’s Song. Just 'cause. They’re an a capella band so vocal harmonies are sort of their thing.
Actually, Nataly’s self-harmonzing is even better on Pomplamoose’s cover of Lady Gaga’s Telephone.
Not really. You may be able to find acapella mixes of some of their songs, but they basically always performed with accompanying instruments.
I’d replace “always” with “usually.”
“Their Hearts Were Full of Spring” – the song also appears on their Live in London album.
You can also find some unreleased studio rehearsals with them doing some acapella stuff, but that’s just not what they were known for.
I still think Brian Wilson was a damn genius for creating the stuff he did.
One of the best groups of modern era was the collaboration between Ronstadt, Parton and Harris on tunes like Mr. Sandman. Also, the collaboration of Ronstadt and Aaron Neville on songs like Don’t Know Much.
I would say that Crosby Stills Nash and Young were our best harmonizers since the Beach Boys, Suite Judy Blue Eyes being a fine example, though The Eagles could give them a run for their money, for example, Seven Bridges Road. But I can’t think offhand of any more modern examples of great harmonizing being popular.
Agreed :smack:
Capt
For that matter, The Eagles were no slouches in the harmony department, nor were other groups with more than one voice like Chicago, ELO and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
I hate to bring this up, but what about One Direction? I think I’ve heard only one song of theirs, but surely they don’t have five members for their health. They’re a textbook boy band, they’re all singers. They almost certainly have to have vocal harmonies in their songs, right?
I mean, sure, maybe they’re not good harmonies, but surely they don’t just all have them sing in unison or in turn all the time, right?
Rockapella. Most famous for a cover of “Zombie Jamboree” in 1988, and the theme song for “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” in 1991.
IIRC, bands like Fun, Of Monsters and Men, and Mumford and Sons have some good harmonies.
From what I can tell, they all sing the same part. Granted, my exposure to them is rather limited.
Check out ‘The Bobs’ - A Capella with a wild sense of humor and no Autotune. Rockin’ it since the mid-80’s and still going strong. If you haven’t heard their take on “Purple Haze”, “White Room” or “Light My Fire” you’re missing a vocal treat.
Got to see them twice in Portland and they totally killed.
Ah, the Bobs! I had forgotten them, with their a capella harmonizing. Are they still around? I saw them at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica years ago. Just the right size venue for their music.
The title on that video is “HALLELUJAH , (shrek song)”. So they got the name right and also noted the song was heard in Shrek. I don’t see a problem here.
The Beatles -Medley from Abbey Road with the instrumental tracks stripped away. Now THAT’S vocal harmony.