Roger Daltrey vs. Eric Burdon vs. Robert Plant *

Daltrey for me. He can still do it too. I personally have Paul Rodgers above any of them with Steve Marriott in there as well.

 

Frank Sinatra

 

The modern day Robert Plant.

 

The OP stated "soulful vocals". I vote for Eric again, because as proficient as they are, neither Daltrey and especially not Plant are "soulful" singers. Powerful, shrieking, sure.

 

No way. You may as well put Ray Charles and James Brown with the likes of Dylan and Jagger. The difference between Dylan, Jagger, etc. and Burdon is Burdon could actually sing. Dylan sounded like a dying cat, although for some people that works because he's a folk singer, I guess. Jagger was basically just changing his dialect and doing melodic shouting. Burdon did that sometimes, and he sucked after he "turned on," but he could also sing blues/jazz/soul so well that he was basically an honorary black man.

I think people are in denial when they claim Burdon is still good, though. His voice is shot, and he killed many of his prime years with drugs.

 

Actually, I put Burdon in the same category as Dylan, Jagger, and Tom Waits.
Certainly nothing close to Daltry and Plant.
And not good as Jagger, perhaps on par with Dylan and Waits.

 

Townshend says in his book that Daltrey got the Who out of a few tight spots in their early days. He said even mean drunks knew not to **** with Roger.

 

Roger Daltrey's recent collaboration with Wilco Johnson is the best new stuff I've heard from someone of his generation in a long time. I was surprised how intact his vocals were. He sounds incredible.

 

Listen to Eric's recent CD. He's at the peak of his vocal powers.
Great stuff. I guess.
Melodic shouting? An honorary black man?
Jeez.

 

Eric is awesome. Always has been.

 

Roger Daltrey

 

On another note, a lot of people talk about Burdon in the context of being a blues singer, but I think that's a bit off the mark. Burdon's background was actually primarily in jazz (he went to an art school prior to The Animals' formation), and I think that was the basis for his approach to most of his singing. Notice how comfortable he is singing here (or was in the studio when it was recorded, as this is obviously a lip-sync...which he is visibly rolling his eyes about, as he despised lip-syncing):

 

steve marriott. end of discussion.

cheers,
rob

 

Not. Even. Close. Eric Burdon!

 

Thanks for the info, I was recently talking to a fellow music fan and he said Burdon had a jazz background. I did a search and saw this...
I love those old Animals records.

 

Steve Marriott

 

Freddie Mercury.

 

Robert Plant, for Zeppelin and his solo stuff.

 

Makes perfect sense to me.

 

Eric Burdon. He's my favorite singer of all time.

 

Por que? Por que pig!

Imaginary boxing match:

Here we are in round four of the super match up. Burdon is just an animal,out there. It's as if he's at war out there. Plant better get the led out and throw more punches and Daltrey still wants to know who's on first.

 

Rod was pretty good too back in the day with Jeff Beck, the Faces and his early solo career....