Gladys
Vs.
Mavis
Which do you prefer?
Simple question. Not a request for you to namedrop other female soul singers (nobody’s impressed) - just which of these two do you like best?
Gladys Knight vs. Mavis Staples
- Davey the Fat Boy
- Posts: 24007
- Joined: 05 Jan 2006, 02:55
- Location: Applebees
Gladys Knight vs. Mavis Staples
“Remember I have said good things about benevolent despots before.” - Jimbo
- fange
- 100% fangetastic
- Posts: 14171
- Joined: 20 Jan 2010, 11:30
- Location: 香港
Re: Gladys Knight vs. Mavis Staples
Gladys for me. Love her voice, and so many songs that are deep-down faves too, like 'Just Walk In My Shoes' and 'Friendship Train'.
Jonny Spencer wrote:fange wrote:I've got my quad pants on and i'm ready for some Cock.
By CHRIST you're a man after my own sideways sausage, Ange!
- Rayge
- Posts: 15303
- Joined: 14 Aug 2013, 11:37
- Location: Zummerzet
- Contact:
Re: Gladys Knight vs. Mavis Staples
Mavis
In timeless moments we live forever
You can't play a tune on an absolute
Negative Capability...when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason”
- Ranking Ted
- Posts: 12751
- Joined: 03 Feb 2004, 22:13
- Location: Northern Britain
Re: Gladys Knight vs. Mavis Staples
fange wrote:Gladys for me. Love her voice, and so many songs that are deep-down faves too, like 'Just Walk In My Shoes' and 'Friendship Train'.
That’s probably it. Mavis has had a remarkable career, still going strong now, collaborating with a whole different generation of artist. But I guess it’s down to those Gladys songs for me.
- fange
- 100% fangetastic
- Posts: 14171
- Joined: 20 Jan 2010, 11:30
- Location: 香港
Re: Gladys Knight vs. Mavis Staples
There are no losers here for me; both arr wonderful singers with super back catalogues, though i'm sure Ray will disagree as he has a personal dislike for Gladys' singing.
Jonny Spencer wrote:fange wrote:I've got my quad pants on and i'm ready for some Cock.
By CHRIST you're a man after my own sideways sausage, Ange!
- Rayge
- Posts: 15303
- Joined: 14 Aug 2013, 11:37
- Location: Zummerzet
- Contact:
Re: Gladys Knight vs. Mavis Staples
fange wrote:There are no losers here for me; both arr wonderful singers with super back catalogues, though i'm sure Ray will disagree as he has a personal dislike for Gladys' singing.
Oh, I don't dislike her, fange, I just get ansty if she (or for that mattrer Aretha) is put forward as the acme of soul vocalising, partly because I always saw her as an R&B/pop singer, without many soul characteristics to her records (the Pips don't help), but mainly because black American female voices of the 1950s and 1960s is smack dab in the middle of my wheelhouse and I think there are several others more deserving of that crown. She's near the top of my second division. As is Mavis, whose Raysoul credentials are impeccable. But I'm not supposed to talk about that.
In timeless moments we live forever
You can't play a tune on an absolute
Negative Capability...when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason”
- Davey the Fat Boy
- Posts: 24007
- Joined: 05 Jan 2006, 02:55
- Location: Applebees
Re: Gladys Knight vs. Mavis Staples
Rayge wrote:fange wrote:There are no losers here for me; both arr wonderful singers with super back catalogues, though i'm sure Ray will disagree as he has a personal dislike for Gladys' singing.
Oh, I don't dislike her, fange, I just get ansty if she (or for that mattrer Aretha) is put forward as the acme of soul vocalising, partly because I always saw her as an R&B/pop singer, without many soul characteristics to her records (the Pips don't help), but mainly because black American female voices of the 1950s and 1960s is smack dab in the middle of my wheelhouse and I think there are several others more deserving of that crown. She's near the top of my second division. As is Mavis, whose Raysoul credentials are impeccable. But I'm not supposed to talk about that.
That is interesting to me. Not so much from the genre distinction angle, which is valid but sort of pedantic at this point. But to of either of these women as second division among their peers.
The reason I started this thread is that I DO put both of these women up as exemplars of great singers in the larger r&b/soul/gospel realm. They are the two female singers I have seen the most times (over the greatest span of years) - and the ones I think of first when I think of the power of great ____ (whatever you want to call the larger genre they both fall into) singers.
Of the two, I think Gladys is gifted with the more beautiful instrument. Whatever you think of her records, to my ears, her voice may be the platonic ideal. Meanwhile Mavis is the more interesting stylist. So I thought it would be fun to compare and contrast.
I still don’t get either as “second division” in any paradigm. But we all know the names of the other contenders - and they are all worthy.
“Remember I have said good things about benevolent despots before.” - Jimbo
- Rayge
- Posts: 15303
- Joined: 14 Aug 2013, 11:37
- Location: Zummerzet
- Contact:
Re: Gladys Knight vs. Mavis Staples
Davey the Fat Boy wrote:Rayge wrote:, I just get ansty if she (or for that mattrer Aretha) is put forward as the acme of soul vocalising, partly because I always saw her as an R&B/pop singer, without many soul characteristics to her records (the Pips don't help), but mainly because black American female voices of the 1950s and 1960s is smack dab in the middle of my wheelhouse and I think there are several others more deserving of that crown. She's near the top of my second division. As is Mavis, whose Raysoul credentials are impeccable. But I'm not supposed to talk about that.
That is interesting to me. Not so much from the genre distinction angle, which is valid but sort of pedantic at this point. But to of either of these women as second division among their peers.
The reason I started this thread is that I DO put both of these women up as exemplars of great singers in the larger r&b/soul/gospel realm. They are the two female singers I have seen the most times (over the greatest span of years) - and the ones I think of first when I think of the power of great ____ (whatever you want to call the larger genre they both fall into) singers.
Of the two, I think Gladys is gifted with the more beautiful instrument. Whatever you think of her records, to my ears, her voice may be the platonic ideal. Meanwhile Mavis is the more interesting stylist. So I thought it would be fun to compare and contrast.
I still don’t get either as “second division” in any paradigm. But we all know the names of the other contenders - and they are all worthy.
I think it's entirely to do with my age and nationality. When I started to get serious about music, in 1962, only things that got into the top 100 in the US, or were on labels with special licensing deals with British labels, were released over here, and precious few of those were ever played on the radio, my love affair with black American female voices was conditioned by the lead vocalists on girl group records, hits by Bacharach-David and various Brill Building alumni, and so on (although they were singing pop or R&B, most of them had serious soul choos, although soon branched out and began actively tracking down more difficult to find things. But Gladys and Aretha just weren't around to be appreciated.
Also, both of them presented themselves to me when I did get to hear them as basically uptempo singers, which wasn't necessarily what I liked the best at the time. And while I have heard some great sides from them, others haven't moved me a bit, perhaps because I was no longer the innocent teenager who could be destroyed by Darlene Love, Ronnie Bennet, Ruby Nash, Earl-Jean McCrea, Shirley Alston, Margie Hendrix and the Warwick Sisters along with the usual soul suspects. I'm not saying that any of them were better than Aretha or Gladys (a small part of my problem is that I had an Aunt Gladys who was a bit of a pain ) , just that their records were more important to me.
I don't pretend to any notion of objectivity - ain't nothing to see here but us opinions
In timeless moments we live forever
You can't play a tune on an absolute
Negative Capability...when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason”
- mission
- Posts: 2246
- Joined: 04 Apr 2008, 13:39
Re: Gladys Knight vs. Mavis Staples
Oh, it's Gladys today and every day.
I agree wholeheartedly with Davey. The little catch in Gladys's voice, the tears, just before and after she decides to swoop and push at the edges of her range - that's my very favourite stuff.
I agree wholeheartedly with Davey. The little catch in Gladys's voice, the tears, just before and after she decides to swoop and push at the edges of her range - that's my very favourite stuff.
Goodness gracious me.