I'm over 'Duet' songs/albums.

The last 10/30 years, this has become a thing more than ever.
Why do so many 'artists' release new albums and always feature duets?
Also, artists re-recording their hit songs with the current latest trend acts?
Artists making complete albums of re-recorded hits with new artists with 'in my opinion',
very poor and embarrassing results.
I imagine it's a money making appeal situation, trying to hone in a wider audience appeal too.
It seems every artist I like ends up down this road.
I'm not anti 'duet', but it seems sometimes, they find the most unlikely of artists completely
and throw them together to record something that is total 'garbage'.
It sometimes works, but very seldom, and I do mean very seldom does it work successfully.
New artists and old, doesn't seem to matter anymore, everybody is doing this now.

I know it's been going on since recorded music, but while the boundaries have become more diverse,
the thing that seems to be missing to me is the 'meeting' of genres and artists.
To me (just my own speculation), since Sinatra brought out the 'Duet' albums in the early 90's,
it's been more of a 'thing' for artists to do.
Yes, before you tear me down, I'm aware of the early 'duet' stuff like 'Bing and Les',
'Louis and Ella', but those sorts really played and worked in a synchronized matter.

Everything for the most part now, sounds like how a lot of it is recorded.
One artist records a section in this country, sends it to another in another country, add a bit,
and then try and get it to blend like they really want to make this recording really sound authentic.
But the results are prevalent and pathetic a lot of the time.

On a smaller scale....
I'm 'over' wanting to buy a new artists new music, only to find at least 3 or 4 songs
are duets with somebody I've never heard of or really dislike, and get to this point where I
think 'WTF' were you thinking?
Who's idea was this?

So many examples of terrible 'duet' recordings as well.
Please add whatever thoughts you have on all of this....

Just to add something that should be obviously brilliant and of interest
around these parts.
The great Paul McCartney and great Brian Wilson did a 'duet' that is
better forgotten and never heard again.....
A Friend Like You
It's so bad that even Youtube won't allow it.

 

What. You don't like RockWiz ?

 

Nah.
I love The 'Travelin' Wilburies' though.
Pretty diverse there, and they sounded 'uniform'.

 

I could take The 'Travelin' Wilburies much more easily if they had left Jeff 'coat everything in sugar' Lynne out of the equation.

 

Are duets albums even much of a "thing" anymore? Seems like that was a fad a while back - not sure if it's still a big enterprise!

 

Here's a recent one, a 'Country' one
Brooks & Dunn Teaming With Kacey Musgraves, Jon Pardi + More for 'Reboot' Duets Album
Exactly what I mean.

 

I miss the old Cyrus where it was just him and his mullet.

 

So you've had enough have ya?
Barbra Streisand / Donna Summer - No More Tears (Enough is Enough) (Extended Version)

 

Well, I can somewhat see where you're going with this, however the concept can be done right and lead to worthwhile entries into discographies. Take Van Morrison's "Duets: Re-Working The Catalogue" from four years ago; I take an LP like this for what it's worth: great alternate versions that provide a fresh spin, recordings that were never meant to replace the originals. Of course, Morrison, never one to jump on bandwagons (such as how we're understandably perceiving the whole duets trend here), most likely took great care in selecting his collaborators as well as the arrangements on this album.

 

Lil Nas X ....... (featuring Billy Ray Cyrus of course....)
Old Town Road

 

I guess hip hop's strong influence banalized duets/collabs. I also preferred when duets were something unusual, and most artists' discographies were composed of solo songs. Madonna is one of the big examples of overdoing it nowadays; most of her collabs are unnecessary and/or cringeworthy.

 

Well this post has drawn my attention to something that annoys me more than duets. It's the "Lil".

There are over 500 rappers whose names have the prefix "Lil'". FIVE HUNDRED. What's that about?

 

Here's an example that puzzles...?.....
I wonder who's complementing who?.....
Rikki and Daz ( featuring Glen Campbell)

 

This is the best album of duets. Example #1.

 

Maybe “Lil Rap” is actually a genre unto itself.

That would explain why it all sounds the same to me.

 

Another one that's tastefully done is Ray Charles' final LP, Genius Love Company. I don't think there's a single sensation of "man, this is cheesy" over the duration of that duets album. I'm also hearing positive things about Paul Simon's In the Blue Light; I haven't heard it yet myself but it's high on my list to check out.

 

Here is an example of what I think doesn't bring much to the party.
John Fogerty and friends.
John is A - Class here.
He and the songs are just superb. His vocals outstanding.
I don't see what the rest of the crew bring here, and I really like some of these other artists.

1. "Fortunate Son" (with Foo Fighters) 3:29
2. "Almost Saturday Night" (with Keith Urban) 3:17
3. "Lodi" (with Shane Fogerty and Tyler Fogerty) 4:19
4. "Mystic Highway" 6:04
5. "Wrote a Song for Everyone" (with Miranda Lambert featuring Tom Morello) 4:01
6. "Bad Moon Rising" (with Zac Brown Band) 2:54
7. "Long as I Can See the Light" (with My Morning Jacket) 4:49
8. "Born on the Bayou" (with Kid Rock) 4:46
9. "Train of Fools" 4:40
10. "Someday Never Comes" (with Dawes) 5:16
11. "Who'll Stop the Rain" (with Bob Seger) 3:11
12. "Hot Rod Heart" (with Brad Paisley) 4:59
13. "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" (with Alan Jackson) 3:17
14. "Proud Mary" (with Jennifer Hudson featuring Allen Toussaint and Rebirth Brass Band)

 

This one is most certainly a winner for guitar players.
Mark Knopfler and Chet Atkins - Neck & Neck.
Precision all the way.

 

Features in contemporary pop and hip-hop are not duets, and don’t really draw off the pop duets of yesteryear. Featured artists are usually providing a small contribution (as in just the hook, bridge etc) or are just out on their own separate verse, vs having equal contribution and billing.

For the most part outside of novelty singles the duet is dead. One major advantage of the feature form is artists can be added and subtracted at will (see “Old Town Road”) rather than needing the whole song to be built around the collaboration.

 

Not all duets are bad.

 

It's interesting that in Brazilian music, duet albums had always been a thing, e.g., Elis and Tom, Jorge Ben & Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento & Lo Borges, etc. It seems like the Brazilians sincerely wanted to combine talents and make interesting music.

The duet fad in the English-speaking world strikes me as much more of a drive-by photo op for the artists involved.

 

Definitely. I thought the same thing about this "album" of duets and have stopped going to see Fogerty altogether since he started bringing his "fortunate son" out to sing and play. Having seen Fogerty on his tours during the 1990s and into the 2000s when Johnny Burnette was with the band, I still don't believe Fogerty's son adds anything to the performance apart from conveying a positive "family man" image.

 

Was never a fan of them anyways. Only one I can think of tolerating would be Ozzy Osbourne & Lita Ford's song: Close My Eyes Forever.

 

Not over it, just out of it.