Cher and Bette

GaryAlan

Well-Known Member
I guess Sonny & Cher tried their hand at Top Of The World,
hey, perhaps those Carpenters' TV Specials weren't all that bad !
This is really not good (TOTW, first two minutes of clip) !:
 
^^ Sonny was bad uggh. :D I had forgotten that. But it was all part of their shtick. And yes, a bad cover of TOTW.
 
I guess Sonny & Cher tried their hand at Top Of The World,
hey, perhaps those Carpenters' TV Specials weren't all that bad !
This is really not good (TOTW, first two minutes of clip) !:


Wow! And OJ is in the lineup (pardon the pun)...

I never understood the phenomenon of Cher being considered a top vocalist. She has no range and her vocals are all kind of singsongy with a weird twang on the lyrics. Vastly overrated, IMHO. Their show, however, was very popular in the US and garnered huge ratings.
 
I never understood the phenomenon of Cher being considered a top vocalist. She has no range and her vocals are all kind of singsongy with a weird twang on the lyrics. Vastly overrated, IMHO.

Completely agree. I’ve never understood how she became as successful as she has. It certainly isn’t for outstanding vocal prowess.
 
Top of the world. An everyday listen for me.
Isn't Cher's new album an album of ABBA covers...so rumour goes.Due in September maybe..
 
I'm going to jump on the bandwagon of confusion of the love of Cher's voice. I think it's the magnitude of her charisma, strength of character, and flamboyance that has made her a legend. She's a symbol of empowerment for millions (aren't all divas in some capacity?) and unlike so many others her voice cannot be part of the core appeal. Any fan who loves her must be tricking themselves into thinking she sounds as beautiful as Karen. #sorrynotsorry
 
I'm going to jump on the bandwagon of confusion of the love of Cher's voice. I think it's the magnitude of her charisma, strength of character, and flamboyance that has made her a legend. She's a symbol of empowerment for millions (aren't all divas in some capacity?) and unlike so many others her voice cannot be part of the core appeal. Any fan who loves her must be tricking themselves into thinking she sounds as beautiful as Karen. #sorrynotsorry

I’m so lost right now. Why are we pitting one against the other? They’re two completely different kinds of singer. I’m also not sure why we’re saying that Cher can’t sing well. That makes zero sense to me, honesty. To my ears, she clearly can and saying she can’t is just odd.

Ed
 
I'm not a fan of Cher much at all. Some of her 70s hits were interesting at the time, but I could live without hearing them again. I find her singing to be slightly off-key much of the time, straining to hit certain notes. Not my kind of singer.
 
I'm not a fan of Cher much at all. Some of her 70s hits were interesting at the time, but I could live without hearing them again. I find her singing to be slightly off-key much of the time, straining to hit certain notes. Not my kind of singer.

I'm not a huge fan of Cher either but I'd never say she's not a decent singer. She has unique tone and phrasing and delivers lyrics well. You don't record as many albums as she has an been as successful on the music front if you can't sing. Can you give me an example of "off-key" singing from her?

Ed
 
I guess Sonny & Cher tried their hand at Top Of The World,
hey, perhaps those Carpenters' TV Specials weren't all that bad !
This is really not good (TOTW, first two minutes of clip) !:


Sonny is awful but Cher does fine with this. Again, two singers really couldn't be more different than Cher & Karen. Had Cher not sung this tune, no one would ever think to compare the two. Apples and donuts.

Ed
 
^^There are songs for which I love to hear Cher,
So, yes--two widely varying singers....thus, while
Top Of The World is ideal for Karen's voice,
it does no favors for Cher's voice here (imho).
S&C should not have attempted this song.
 
Cher, popular all-round entertainer. Can do a little of everything; comedy, acting, fashion, singing, etc. Acceptable in all but great in none. Especially singing. No range at all. Gypsys, Tramps, and Thieves (a #1 hit in 1971) a great performance? Not! Memorable? No. Much like Bette Midler, another extreamly over-rated vocalist. This is all IMHO by the way, and as we all know opinions are what make this forum go round...
 
Cher, popular all-round entertainer. Can do a little of everything; comedy, acting, fashion, singing, etc. Acceptable in all but great in none. Especially singing. No range at all. Gypsys, Tramps, and Thieves (a #1 hit in 1971) a great performance? Not! Memorable? No. Much like Bette Midler, another extreamly over-rated vocalist. This is all IMHO by the way, and as we all know opinions are what make this forum go round...

Now we're essentially saying Bette Midler can't sing?? We've officially gone off into outer space. I'm not mad in the least bit - I promise; just completely and totally mystified. I'll leave this alone now. Wow...

Ed
 
When your benchmark is Karen Carpenter, a lot of singers come up short. I think both Midler and Cher are adequate pop singers, nothing more nothing less. Both have ability to "belt-it-out", but in doing so, don't sound all that good.

Part of Cher's appeal has to be that she sang with Sonny early on. He can make anyone alongside him sound good!
 
When your benchmark is Karen Carpenter, a lot of singers come up short. I think both Midler and Cher are adequate pop singers, nothing more nothing less. Both have ability to "belt-it-out", but in doing so, don't sound all that good.

Part of Cher's appeal has to be that she sang with Sonny early on. He can make anyone alongside him sound good!

Of course, any female singer will come up short next to Karen. Still, to say that Midler and Cher are nothing more than "adequate pop singers" or "overrated" boggles my mind. I get that we all love Karen here (I certainly do) but trashing other female singers who can clearly do it and do it well is a bit much. Cher's vocal approach is nothing like Karen's. Bette has a lovely tone of her own and power that Karen never had. Karen's beauty was all in her tone and phrasing. No one had either quality in such abundance and we'll never hear its like again.

I get the feeling that the Bette trashing has to do with Bette trashing Karen at the height of her fame. That was decades ago and Bette has since apologized for it (no one knew what Karen was suffering through anyway) so likely best to let that one slide.

Ed
 
Bette is better than Cher. At least she usually reaches the note. I enjoyed her multi-tracking on "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy". Wasn't "auto-tune" invented to help Cher? :)
 
I enjoyed her multi-tracking on "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”.

Probably my favourite song of hers. She performed it in a TV special here in the UK with a trio of backing singers a couple of years ago and it sounded tremendous. I love the complex harmonies. Watch here from 2:14. I don’t know how people can say Bette can’t sing. Different style to Karen but she’s brilliant in her own right.



How did the Official Review for TOTW end up discussing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy? :laugh:
 
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Bette is better than Cher. At least she usually reaches the note. I enjoyed her multi-tracking on "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy". Wasn't "auto-tune" invented to help Cher? :)

LOL!!! Nicely done, Harry. Bette is a whole other thing than Cher is. Again, I'm no raging Cher fan but she's certainly a more than capable singer. She's far more a stylist than Bette or Karen but she can definitely sing, IMHO.

Ed
 
Bette Midler's "The Rose" is gorgeous. Also love "Shiver Me Timbers," "Hello in There," "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." Yeah, I have a Cher "Best of" too. Her voice is huskier, but she does quite nicely on "The Way of Love" and most of her later hits without Sonny. There's room for all of them.
 
Of course, this is my personal opinion, beauty in the eye of the beholder don't you know...Bette's Grammy winning #1 hit, from the emotionally charged movie "Beaches", The Wind Beneath My Wings, is awful! To this day, when I hear her sing "fly...fly...so high (etc)" I cringe :yikes:!! It's laughable...
 
Bette is light years ahead of Cher vocally. Bette's a fantastic vocalist even still (and her voice has matured gracefully with just as much feeling as in the 70s, as opposed to say Streisand who lost her magic touch emotionally) and there's certainly something special about her tone. Underneath her campy, cartoonish persona is a very dear, genuine soul and that comes through in that throaty voice. I just don't get anything special from Cher vocally, not a special nuance, inflection, crackle of emotion, warmth, etc It's perhaps the most unmelodic voice to ever be so widely loved.
 
Bette is better than Cher. At least she usually reaches the note. I enjoyed her multi-tracking on "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy". Wasn't "auto-tune" invented to help Cher? :)

Wasn't that her Believe single where she was auto-tuning?
 
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