I picked up this great David Byrne quote from an interview with The Onion’s AV Club:
AVC: There’s that great faux-interview you did in Stop Making Sense where you say, "The better the singer, the harder it is to believe what he’s saying."
DB: [Laughs.] Oh, yes! Well yeah, I do still feel that way. When you see or hear a singer or a performer who has this incredible charismatic gift or this incredible voice—who could sing the phonebook and make you cry—they often fall into performing or recording substandard material, because it’s so easy for them to pull it off. Whereas somebody who has to try harder, and you can sense that in their performance, you kind of believe it a little bit more.
Given a choice between two records, one that sounds perfect and one that sounds human, I’ll take the one that sounds human.
The exception being Adele surely?
I think she is one of the best female singers out there at the moment. Great tone, great technique and so utterly involving when you listen to her sing you can’t help but believe it.
I agree with you there, Andrew. Adele’s a monster! She’s terrific.
And she does sing with conviction. She’s able to use her technique to create art, as opposed to some singers who use their technique to noodle and show off.
I still haven’t heard all of 21 yet–got to get my hands on a copy!