Although we foisted Celine Dion on the world it should be remembered that we also sent Sarah McLachlan to make amends for that transgression.
We should be forgiven.
Tori Amos is also a wonderfully gifter singer.
Why should we have to choose?
Okay… if I’m forced to pick I’ll take…
Diana Krall.
I’m such a rebel.
Did I hear “Bjork”?
Tori has a “prettier” voice, for lack of a better description, but I like Sarah’s work better.
Sarah is okay, but everything about her, from the style of her singing to the content of her songs, just sounds so generic. That’s not to say that I haven’t liked several of her songs. Same deal with Chantal Kreviazuk and Heather Nova, both of whose voices I like better than Sarah’s.
Tori, on the other hand, is unique. Her voice just screams raw emotion and it can be quite powerful. Sarah sounds like a trained professional who’s faking it (same reason I hate The Three Tenors and other crap like that).
If Tori Amos understood what comprised good vocalising, and stayed in key for more than a bar … no, sorry, Sarah McLachlan would still be the better singer by a mile. Amos’ career is one of musical history’s finest examples of sustained incompetence, made even worse by the fact that unlike the Avril Lavignes of this world, Amos has potential.
(Not that I like McLachlan’s songs, but that isn’t the issue being judged here.)