Word: vocals
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Marvin Gaye, soul music was something you could not only hear but also feel: rhythm without blues, emotion without sentimentality. Then in the '80s a few big record companies discovered they could rack up sales by substituting hyperactive beats and overdressed arrangements for soul's honest impact. Subtle vocal stylists gave way to crooners; soul gave way to dance music, marketed mainly to black listeners. Even powerful singers like Whitney Houston were steered into this aesthetic dead...
Though convincing acting compensates for occasional vocal weaknesses, McDonell's choreography seems slightly limited in order to maximize vocal potential. With the exception of Jonathan Ebel as the Boy, the main characters deliver inconsistent vocal performances. Songs whose lyrics imply lively dancing, therefore, often disappoint. When the Girl sighs "I'm so tired" at mid-song, one wonders why, since her singing was never coupled with strenuous movement...
...Captain Fantasy," from The Pod, was tremendous. Gene skipped the electronic effects in favor of vocal stunts, sliding his voice up into falsetto and filling the spaces between lines with fake echoes, mugging theatrically all the while. For all the irony and foolishness, he can actually sing. And Dean can really play guitar. That's kind of their dirty little secret, and it's what makes the whole rock star act work. It was like hanging out with your buddies while they play some songs in the garage, and you're all pretending it's the Meadowlands. Only there...
...start to finish, a perfect act, and a perfect parody of a rock concert. We ate it up. Dean thrashed his head in headbanger circles as he played. Gene wandered to the rear of the stage and set up his microphone. "I'm doin' backup vocals on this one," he explained. They did "Tick," noisier and faster than the album's version. They did "Marble Tulip Juicy Tree," with more vocal tricks by Gene. They did songs nobody knew, and songs everybody was requesting. They talked to the audience the whole time. We talked back...
...city's most vocal defender of rent control mounted attacks against the most vocal opponent of rent control when he was indicted for bank fraud...