Who are the greats that you admire?

There are a lot of great musicians that I admire, but honestly the one I admire and respect most is probably Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails). In terms of instrumental ability, piano is where he actually shines, while he claims to be a poor guitarist. He's a great singer (IMO), great lyricist, great composer / songwriter, he can play every instrument on an album and remix it all himself as well. He also uses lots of other sounds and effect in well crafted harmony (or dissonance, just as often). His music is so layered yet elegant to my ears, I really think he's just a genius.

And then when NIN tours, he gathers his live band and they basically reconstruct the songs on the setlist to fit what a 5-person band can do. You end up with something completely different and just as awesome.

I know NIN might not be the style of music that most people here are into, but I love it. :)

Edit: Oh yeah, and +1 to Rush. To me they are like a Dream Team of a band. And I'm seeing them live on Saturday, alright!! ;)

Chris Thile has a great clear tenor voice, he is probably the best mandolin player in the world today, though there are many other great players. He is also one of the top composers in traditional, classical, and experimental music. He writes instrumentals and songs with words. He puts on a great show every time also. You should check him out.

This speaks for itself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6JBFnhPIAU

I realise that he is not in the "Mozart great realm" but one of my favorites is John Fogerty! Every song that either CCR or John solo plays sticks in my memory bank. There are so many cool tunes I can't remember them all, plus I get to see him live on July 26th. Nice little riffs and cool lyrics.
Robbie

Dizzy Gillespie
Louis Armstrong
Michael Hedges
Jimi Hendrix
John McLaughlin
Jimmy Page
David Gilmour
Bela Fleck
Chuck Leavell
B.B.King
Muddy Waters
Eric Clapton............that's enough

Everyone has something special about them!

Ditto on Dylan*, Beatles* (if solo, I'll go with Harrison) , Stevie*, Pete Towshend, Billy Joel, Richard Thompson, Stephen Stills ...

Add in no particular order, except gods of the craft get an "*"

Lyle Lovett*
Finn Brothers (Crowded House, Split Enz)
Beth Orton
Joni Mitchell*
Paul Simon*
Neil Young
Frank Zappa
Junior Brown
Don Henley
Prince
John Hiatt
Duke Ellington*
Jaco
Dave Matthews
Duncan Sheik
Jeff Tweedy (Wilco)
John Fogerty
Diana Krall
Elvis Costello
David Bromberg
Arlo
Steve Goodman
Gordon Lightfoot

Anyway, who do you think are the artists that have just about everything down?

The ones that are
1. are phenomenal singers.
2. are great on their instrument- be it piano, guitar etc.
3. write great songs.
4. write great lyrics.
5. have great stage presence, entertain the stadiums packed with a sea of people with their charisma.

What do you guys think?

This is a tough one to answer. There are so many. Since mostly everyone hit on the tride and true artists..Beatles, etc...I'm sticking with the more contemporary artists.

Roger Waters- I think the man is a genius. "1- phenomenal singers."- He dosn't have the grestest voice but he uses it to like an instrument. His vocals capture the mood of a song. His inflection can be matched by no other artist I have heard. 2. are great on their instrument-Well, he plays bass, guitar and piano. 3. write great songs.- write great lyrics. Waters' music demands that you pay attention. It creates spaces for you to enter and allows you to move with the music. 5- Stage precence...Ever seen him live? Its a great show.

Edwin McCain - This guy is the real deal. His singing is so herartfelt and he is one of the best guitarists I've ever heard.

One more- just to keep my list short. Dream Theater. Music is just on a different level. The lyrics are works of art within the songs.

Geez...I forgot Waters, Neil Young and Zappa. I always loved Zappa the singer besides the monster guitarist he was...for example in the excellent Uncle Remus he sings in a rare soulful and highly sensitive way.

But no one mentioned The Band (Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Richard Manuel,Garth Hudson and Robbie Robertson) who were the best of all in their prime time- after being Dylan band-. Robertson made beautiful songs, A+ lyrics,and he is and excellent guitar player. In Hudson we had a wizard in the keyboars and saxo , Manuel and Helm shared the drums (when Helm played the drums Manuel played the piano, and when Manuel was the drummer Helm played the mandolin), Danko was the incredible bass player, and besides he played the violin..and altogether Danko, Manuel and Helm were passionate singers, giving us incredible beautiful harmonies.

Last but no least I have to mention the great Warren Zevon. Excellent baritone vocalist, guitarist, pianist extraordinaire, a beast on stage and an intelligent songwriter .I miss him so much.

Geez...I forgot Waters, Neil Young and Zappa. I always loved Zappa the singer besides the monster guitarist he was...for example in the excellent Uncle Remus he sings in a rare soulful and highly sensitive way.
I'm a HUGE zappa fan. Have seen him a bizzilion times. Each and every musician that's ever played with him has been exceptional in his own way....(Steve Vai, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Aynsley Dunbar, George Duke...the list goes on...)

Anybody like ELVIS anymore ? i thought he was great! 8)

Anybody like ELVIS anymore ? i thought he was great! 8)
Directly or indirectly, anyone who admires quality music, has been influenced by Elvis in some way shape or form, or does admire him in some way.

Anybody like ELVIS anymore ? i thought he was great!

Loved the early songs, when he was truly the undisputed king of rock'n'roll - hated the films, or at least most of them. After the big comeback concert, he'd started making some good music again - "Burnin' Love" and "Way Down." But stuff like Rock-a-hula-Baby and GI Blues just turned me right off. So yeah, early stuff till he went in the army, and from about 68-69 onwards.

He may not have invented r'n'r but he certainly made it popular!

:D :D :D

Vic

YAAAA, his movies did suck, but he had an incredible voice and he was a showman, and he gave away money and cadillacs like
they were concert t-shirts, the first time i saw graceland i thought , " ok, so where did elvis stay" i mean its SMALL, sometimes i wonder if he
gave away 3/4's of his money :(

Nothing to disagree with in the lists above. :)

To save writing half of them out again I'll just agree with you all and then tack on a couple more personal favourites who I didn't spot already:

Roy Orbison - Still one of the most awesome voices of all time, any genre. Wrote some great songs too. Might not exactly seem 'current', but Roy never died, he simply relocated. 8) That's actually Roy in the cool smilie.. 8)

Mark Knopfler - Always liked his stuff. Versatile writer and lyricist too.

Tom Waits - In a class all by himself. :wink:

Cheers.,

Chris

A Big +1 to The Big R.O. 8) 8) 8) 8)

Whenever Melody was working late, and I had to put Harmony to bed (9 at the time), I always sang her 'In Dreams'
for a lullaby.
I only intended to do the begining, though she would always beg me to do the whole song :D
It was the only song I could come up with for a lullaby, and she never got sick of it. :)

Ken

she never got sick of it. :)

Ken

Me neither. :)