Soul vs Technique

[datura800.livejournal.com]

I hope he won't mind me quoting him, but I read an interesting assertion in Alex's review of the new Mariah album (today's Guardian):

"Carey's voice has been mocked, bizarrely, as being a triumph of technique over soul - an argument that fails to comprehend that technique and soul are intertwined, that technique primarily exists as a means to convey emotion".

I thought this would be a good discussion to have here - it's a point I quite strongly disagree with (generally, not specifically with relation to Mariah), but I'll wait to see if anyone is interested in commenting before launching into it.

Comments

[mcarratala.livejournal.com]

One of the reasons I think that Fantasy is by some way her best song is that her vocal trademarks act as noise rather than the-singing-of-lyrics (more like Tim Buckley maybe? Or Liz Fraser? Even though I'm no fan of either). You get something of the same effect on classic Destiny's Child songs, much less so on Beyonce stuff.

I'm largely uninterested/unmoved by the claims for intention on the part of singers – it matters little whether she means it, man. I find Mariah's big ballads deadly, but no more or less so than if the same songs were sung by Celine, Babs etc... As I've said, I love Fantasy, and have plenty of time for Heartbreaker, All I Want For Christmas and the odd other song.

The weird thing about Mariah is how much like the Am Idol kids she is – she seems so desperately to want to be liked. It's like the lack of clothes – in some weird way, I'd like to fancy her, but it's just impossible.

Old Man Sinker's arguments just come back to prog, surely.

[mcarratala.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, I meant deadly as in deadly dull, not "it just kills me" [exit sobbing, etc].