smoothcriminal12 said:

LiLi1992 said:

Any list without the Beatles is biased.

Um.

Every list is biased, with or without the Beatles.

[Edited 3/25/12 13:10pm]

Pretty much

Beatles

Prince

Bruce Springsteen

Bob Dylan

Elvis

Willie Nelson

Garth Brooks

LiLi1992 said:

Any list without the Beatles is biased. No one has so many great songs as the Fab Four.

Who has the highest concentration of great and good songs (and not the total number), the list looks like this (first names, which I thought)

The strongest group:
The Beatles
Stevie Wonder
Led Zeppelin
Pink Floyd
The Rolling Stones
--------------
Strong group (the great catalogs, but there are weaknesses):
Prince (he produces too much filler, so not in the highest group)
Michael Jackson (Michael's problem is completely the opposite, he has released solo material is too small, even though most of his songs are good).
Metallica
Queen
Depeche Mode
Guns and Roses
Scorpions
David Bowie
Elton John
The Bee Gees
Bob Dylan
James Brown
--------------
Good group (decent catalogs with some great classics songs):
Marvin Gaye
R.E.M.
Elvis Presley
Aretha Franklin

Jimi Hendrix
U2
Bon Jovi
Madonna
ABBA
Frank Sinatra
Tupac
Whitney Houston
Lionel Richie
Nirvana
Bruce Springsteen
Gelrge Michael
Enigma
Bob Marley
Van Halen
Nightwish
Supremes
a-ha
The Temptations
Sting

Excellent post!

*with a country twang* PRAAAANNNCCEEEEE.

Editing to add that I kinda have to agree with Hall and Oates too - so many of their songs are good, they do seem to have less filler or turds than most other artists do.

[Edited 3/25/12 16:20pm]

[img:$uid]http://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h434/kpilkerton/Elvis%20Presley/4f68c69c.jpg[/img:$uid]

On top of my head, these two women comes to mind,,,

[img:$uid]http://www.israbox.com/uploads/posts/2010-08/1281958551_dinahwashington.jpg[/img:$uid]

[img:$uid]http://songbook1.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/sarah-vaughan-2.jpg[/img:$uid]

Why, you ask? Because I've yet to hear an artists who possessed such a versatile body of work that spanned for many decades and still sounded fresh and good. These ladies emobided a chameleon spirit, and it never came across as contrived AT ALL.

I would've mention Dearest Chaka & Prince, as they are my two fave artists. But speaking objectively, I'll have to go with Queenie & Sassy.

[Edited 3/25/12 17:43pm]

Harlepolis said:

On top of my head, these two women comes to mind,,,

[img:$uid]http://www.israbox.com/uploads/posts/2010-08/1281958551_dinahwashington.jpg[/img:$uid]

[img:$uid]http://songbook1.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/sarah-vaughan-2.jpg[/img:$uid]

Why, you ask? Because I've yet to hear an artists who possessed such a versatile body of work that spanned for many decades and still sounded fresh and good. These ladies emobided a chameleon spirit, and it never came across as contrived AT ALL.

I would've mention Dearest Chaka & Prince, as they are my two fave artists. But speaking objectively, I'll have to go with Queenie & Sassy.

[Edited 3/25/12 17:43pm]

Love this post

Michael Jackson

Prince

David Bowie

Sade

The Beatles

Bruce Springsteen

Led Zeppelin

Jimi Hendrix

Marvin Gaye

Billy Joel

had another memory spurt

list continued...

Wes Montgomery -

The most influential guitarist of the latter part of the 20th century; yes, more influential than Jim Hendrix. Genre is a moot point.

Louis Armstrong

Joe Pass

Antonio Carlos Jobim

Clifford Brown (very short catalog but brilliant known the less)

Oscar Peterson

Chet Baker

Dizzy Gillespie

Count Basie

Mary Lou Williams

Thelonious Sphere Monk (a must have)

Art Tatum

Carmen McRae

Big Joe Turner

Louis Jordan - the man pioneered damn near music single handedly.

MJQ

Nina Simone

KoKo Taylor

Willie Dixon

Little Milton

Odetta

Dolly Parton

Glenn Cambel

Al Green

Elis Regina

Gap Band

Oliver Nelson (this is who wynton marasalis wants to be and never will be)

Kool and the Gang

The Ohio Players

Johhnie Taylor

Cannonball Adderly

Yusef Lateef

As everyone know I'm a big fan of Sarah Vaughan. She didn't make my list because to be blunt, Vaughan had periods in her disography that are forgettable. That has nothing to do with her voice, it's the material. That's a topic for another thread; if you want to hear her at her very best anything between 1958 to 1969... the mid 70's till her passing.

Bob Dylan - Has anyone put out more albums than that man?

TD3 said:

[if you want to hear her at her very best anything between 1958 to 1969... the mid 70's till her passing.

What? No love for the Billy Eckstine/Columbia era?

Harlepolis said:

TD3 said:

[if you want to hear her at her very best anything between 1958 to 1969... the mid 70's till her passing.

What? No love for the Billy Eckstine/Columbia era?

The stuff with Billy good but Vaughan's disography from the start and through much of the 50's has to be picked over... because some of the stuff was subpar. Especially her time at Columbia, a lot of her music is still out of print. The music from Mecury/EmArcy was excellent to OK. If she had started with Roulette Records, I think Vaughan would have had a more successful career... which she so desperately wanted. Roulette did well by her, they put her in ever type of ensemble big and small and she shined, her voice shined. Where as sometime during the early part of her career, the band/the music/the production got in the way of her voice.

Toofunkyinhere said:

Bob Dylan - Has anyone put out more albums than that man?

Yes. This man easily:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merzbow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merzbow_discography

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Merzbow

According to Wiki he's put out an astounding 263 albums. That's some real dedication to one's craft.

This lady beats them all

Nana Mouskouri has sold nearly 400 million discs worldwide, recording about 1,500 songs in 15 languages on 450 albums. She has more than 230 gold and platinum albums worldwide, making her a candidate for the best-selling female recording artist of all time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nana_Mouskouri