Now you guys got me going here. Many years ago we saw the Manhattan Transfer in Sacramento, CA. They were excellent in harmonizing songs. Here they sing Route 66:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQwb4SpNuKo For the record, I've been to some of the towns mentioned in this song, namely Barstow, San Bernardino, and Kingman, AZ. ---In fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com, <authfriend@...> wrote: The harmony in those videos is pretty much all standard, not some inspired creative serendipitous epiphany. It's fine harmony; I'm not criticizing it, but any musicians familiar with the genre would be likely to sing virtually the same harmonies, whether they'd rehearsed them or not. The Beatles wrote original harmony in many of their songs, but that isn't what this is. (P.S.: Anybody know why each of Barry's videos appears three times in the same post?) John wrote: Most people like to hear harmony in a song. But I don't believe the singers in the clip were singing in harmony spontaneously. They've rehearsed the songs and had cues on which part of the song they will sing in unison and which part the lead singer will take the solo. Nonetheless, it is a delicate art to create a song that can deliver a tune with the right balance of solo, harmony, beat and melody. When the balance is right, a great hit is born. ---In fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...> wrote: Given the response to my recent posts about Crosby, Stills, & Nash, I shall continue on the general theme of vocal harmony. It's to some extent a "lost art" in modern music, and that, to my way of seeing, is a pity. It's a high art. One of the best harmonists I know of in music is Emmylou Harris. In her taste for this artform, she continues in the footsteps of her mentor, Gram Parsons, and his love for the country harmonies he grew up with and introduced her to. Although I appreciate the more formal art of musical composition, and "charting out" harmonies on sheet music before attempting to perform them, for me, there is nothing quite like "spontaneous harmony," the thing that happens between two or more musicians who suddenly find themselves on the same musical wavelength during the performance of the same song, spontaneously. Here are a few examples. With Rodney Crowell (pure Louvin Brothers harmony): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g8EqgRk-nw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g8EqgRk-nwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g8EqgRk-nw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g8EqgRk-nw With John Starling (from the folk group Seldom Scene): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYs2RbCcKsk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYs2RbCcKskhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYs2RbCcKsk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYs2RbCcKsk With Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnieh0Y1V-o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnieh0Y1V-ohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnieh0Y1V-o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnieh0Y1V-o With Mark Knopfler: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsMO0A1iE0I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsMO0A1iE0Ihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsMO0A1iE0I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsMO0A1iE0I With Gram: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO8C9fqC3uk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO8C9fqC3ukhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO8C9fqC3uk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO8C9fqC3uk
