[MrWookie]

All,

I've gone through and listened to some of these artists, and I'd like to post some honest thoughts. Hopefully no one will be offended if I don't dig their favorite artist, but here are some brief takes on what I've heard thanks to this thread.

Sarah Brightman - I enjoy Phantom, but the "Time to Say Goodbye" video rubbed me the wrong way, mostly due to my training in classical singing with a world-renowned opera singer. What bugged me about her singing here was how she was basically singing in two different styles for this song. At the beginning of the English section, she's singing in a bright, sweet, spread, almost pop music style without much vibrato, but then for the loud high notes, she switches to a vertical, focused, dark, operatic style with lots of vibrato. In part, that's good, because the high notes would probably sound terrible if she was singing them in the first style. Still, it rubs me the wrong way for a couple reasons: one, I'd kind of like her to keep the more operatic style throughout the piece -- I like that sound better, and two, the high notes, after the lighter section, sound by comparison overly melodramatic, showy, and out of place. To me, it's kind of like watching a basketball player who has difficulty making layups, but then all of a sudden he takes off from the freethrow line and dunks it. He spent all his time practicing how to show off, but he doesn't have his fundamentals in order. For me, that performance was no slam dunk.

Patricia Barber - I dug her voice and her piano playing, but they style of jazz she seems to play, especially in the second video, is pretty far removed from the styles of jazz I enjoy most. I may investigate for stuff of hers that's in a style I like, but otherwise I'll just have to note her as good, but not really pick up any of her music.

Kathleen Edwards - Certainly sounds like a decent female pop artist, but again it's not my style of music.

Utada Hikaro - Same idea as Kathleen

Iris Dement - Even farther removed from the styles of music I like.

Fiona Apple - I generally liked the songs Extraordinary Machine and Paper Bag from a composition standpoint, but I wasn't big on the performance. Unfortunately, her voice sounded a little scratchy in each. The part of EM where she goes way up high and is extra breathy and scratchy just was not pleasing to my ear. I'll look into some of the other videos or recordings there and see if there are any other tracks I like.

That's all I have for now. Again, I know some people can take trashtalk about their favorite artists personally, but I mean no disrespect to the people who like these women. These are just my personal impressions.