Prince, needless to say, tops my list. Who else do you feel belongs on it?
[Edited 7/29/05 8:24am]

off the dome:

Stevie
Prince
Me'Shell
Sly
Beck
[Edited 7/29/05 8:53am]

Bowie

namepeace said:

All of those are on point. Besides those and Bowie like lilgish suggested, I can't think of any more. Looking forward to who else other people bring up. Good and difficult topic.

Miles

Prince used to be..

Bjork
Beck

Hotlegs said:

Wonderful.

sosgemini said:

I agree about Prince. He isn't as versatile as he used to be. And Bjork, another great one.

Thanks for the responses people. All good choices as far as I know.Me'Shell and Beck are the only names that really pop up that came into prominence over the last decade or so. God willing, we'll get a few more new names to add to the list some day.

sitruk7 said:

Agreed.

Legs, I don't really see Kravitz as a versatile artist. But please, make your case. I can be swayed.

Amel Larrieux

Ashford and Simpson

Roy Ayers

Fertile Ground

MeShell

Yahzarah

namepeace said:

Just disregard the last two crappy albums he released and look at his body of work in his catalogue. There are diverse styles in his catalogue especially with the 5 album which was my favorite.

Amel Larrieux, I love her. Eclectic artist.
[Edited 7/29/05 9:28am]

Parliament/Funkadelic.



In the mood for dirty funk? Smooth soul? Rippin' rock 'n roll? Maybe some fun disco? George and company have got you covered.

Heavensgirl said:

Hmmm. I'll have to familiarise myself with these people.

Heavensgirl said:

Now, for alot of us Old Schoolers, we can understand the wisdom in your two choices. Ashford and Simpson have written countless bodies of music for Motown. And Roy Ayers is a jazz extraordinarire with such classics as Running Away and Everybody Loves Sunshine.

FunkMistress said:

Of course!! Go 'head girl. You right on tha money.

FunkMistress said:

Preach

namepeace said:

When I think of Lenny, I instantly regard his mixtures of R&B and rock. In some cuts, you can hear his soulful R&B side while in others, you get a more rock oriented side.

Yes, for example, It Ain't Over Til It's Over sounds reminiscient to an old school Smokey Robinson song where as Rock and Roll Is Dead has more of a Led Zepplin sound to me.

Lenny may not seem very original at times but at least he is versitile. I'm hoping he'll finally someday release that funk album he mentioned years ago.
[Edited 7/29/05 9:41am]

Idais said:

sitruk7 said:

Fair points. sitruk7, I share your hope. While he has done songs in several genres, it often sounds like he's aping or imitating someone else. At his best -- "Always On The Run," "Are You Gonna Go My Way." "If You Can't Say No," etc. -- he's as good as anyone. But he's made some garbage too, IMHO. Sometimes his genre-crossing sounds forced, as if to say, "hey, Prince isn't the only guy around that can do this . . ." He's not as smooth in that respect as Prince or Me'Shell.

Lewis Taylor


Ya knew I was gonna throw it up there eventually....



....

Well, if you're talking about versatile as far as their music is concerned, I would go with:


Prince
David Bowie
Elvis Costello
Stevie Wonder
Paul Weller
The Clash
Peter Gabriel
The Cure
Fishbone
Talking Heads
Miles Davis
Adam Ant
Scritti Politti
Beck
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Sly Stone
Outkast
Sheena Easton
The Dismemberment Plan
Miles Davis
Roxy Music
Siouxsie & the Banshees
The Beatles
Cake

Oh, yeah, and Led Zeppelin too.

sosgemini said:

It's all about Wendy and Lisa, ainnit

To this list I'd add Earth Wind & Fire, they could be jazzy, funky, soulful, rockin', sometimes all at once.

Duke Ellington-he could make music for the church, the opera, the dancehall, the club; wrote music for kings and queens as often as he wrote catchy tunes that the common man could dig. He could be classy and elegant while still being able to swing with the best of them. He made music drawing from influences of cultures all over the world, worked with huge orchestras as well as in simple trio format, worked alongside everyone from coleman hawkins, to louis armstrong, to john coltrane and charles mingus. Not to mention he wrote thousands of songs and has been covered by nearly every performer in jazz at some point.

The Beatles-Almost as soon as they broke up, the age of hyphen-rock was born. No longer did groups embrace as many styles and sounds as they could, everything become fragmented into several insular sub-genres. To be sure, there were some eclectic artists in rock and soul that followed, The beatles worked in more diverse strands of music than just about anybody.

CinisterCee said:

did i include wendy and lisa on this list?

NWF said:

Definitely. And I think a lot of people don't realize that.