The Sopranos

Is there anything more thrilling, more hair-raising or more arousing than a male singer reaching into the depths of his soul, finding his inner woman and letting it fly in a swooning fit of high-pitched beauty? Not for me there isn’t. Blokes singing in high voices are great.

Let’s pass over the all too obvious falsetto recordings of the likes of The Bee Gees and Freddie Mercury (and, indeed, his bizarre-to-the-point-of-upsetting modern-day ‘inheritor’ Mika) and move quickly on to the classic 1976 Junior Murvin hit Police And Thieves, later covered of course by The Clash. A steady beat, a soulful voice and a bit of Lee Scratch Perry production and the result is reggae perfection. Never has civil unrest sounded so sweet. Get Junior’s Greatest Hits from here.



Junior Murvin – Police And Thieves


Tim Buckley was by all accounts a bit of a swine – were he still alive his estranged son Jeff could probably attest to that – but boy, could he sing. Here is perhaps his finest track, Sweet Surrender, taken from the album Greetings From L.A. (buy it here, it’s great). Genius string section on this one, too.



Tim Buckley – Sweet Surrender


Greetings from L.A. also from Sparks, the legendary pop duo who formed there in 1970. Gaining their big breakthrough here in the UK, the flamboyant stylings of Russell Mael alongside the mad staring eyes of Hitler look-alike Ron Mael on Top Of The Pops gave them instant fame. Russell’s vocals leap about like a man possessed on the simply perfect glam stomp Amateur Hour. They’re still recording to this day I believe, and still looking a bit like Hitler as well – confirmation of that is here.



Sparks – Amateur Hour


It’s hard to talk about mid-80s Norwegian boy band heart-throbs A-Ha without facing accusations of being nostalgic or ironic, but please buy the album Hunting High And Low immediately. Get over the cheesy synthesisers and you will find that this album is quite simply pop perfection with song writing far greater than they were given credit for at the time. In keeping with the high-voiced motif I should post Take On Me (the ruin of many a karaoke night as drunken man realises that no, he can’t reach that note after all) but you’ve all heard that a million times so here’s Living A Boy’s Adventure Tale instead. For most of this you’ll be thinking hang on Crisp, he’s not singing that high on this one – don’t be deceived, dear Morten is simply building himself up to the point when at 3:52 he lets forth a yelp of startling soprano genius. Best played as loud as possible.



A-Ha – Living A Boy’s Adventure Tale


For sheer highness of boy voice though, surely the crown has to go to German maniac and tragic AIDS victim Klaus Nomi. Check out Death, culled from the Morrissey curated Under The Influence album. It’s almost impossible to describe this slice of baroque synth opera so I’ll merely issue a warning – don’t play it in front of the kids. If I’d heard this when I was a lad I’m sure I wouldn’t have grown up normal, like what I am. More adult material here.



Klaus Nomi - Death


Of course, even the highest of high man voices can never compete with that other bunch of people, the ones with bumpy bits. As evidence please relax to another reggae classic – Silly Games by Janet Kay. She hits a note on this one that I’m almost certain will be the sound the universe makes when it collapses in on itself at the end of time. More armageddon here.



Janet Kay – Silly Games


Crisp Debris


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