Oh no, it's the Power Ballad thread!

[Excalibur]

Just when you thought it was safe to come back in here. Well idf anybody's gonna stick a head above the parapet, it might as well be me. There was another power ballad thread which was a punch up in all bar name, so I'm not claiming this is definitive, but it's a start.

Here are a few which fit my criteria, by no means set in stone, and definitely not the usual suspects. It's not exhaustive, and the AOR tracks are not the standard ones, no Meat Loaf et al.

Opinions please. :sofa:

Licence to kill-Gladys Knight.
Barcelona - Freddie Mercury and Monserrat Caballe
Piece of my heart-Big Brother and the Holding Company.
Son of a preacher man- Dusty Springfield.
First cut is the deepest-P P Arnold
Vienna-Ultravox
Broken wings-Mister mister.
Every day hurts –Sad Cafe
Clocks-Coldplay
Handbags and Gladrags – Chris Farlowe or Stereophonics
Go Now-Bessie Banks
( You've got to hear this. It's not a Moodies song originally ).
Hallelujah- Alexandra Burke
Stay with me till dawn-Judie Tzuke.
Simple Game-Moody Blues
Think twice-Celine Dion
Stay with me baby-Lorraine Ellison or Kiki Dee
And I’m telling you I’m not going—Jennifer Holliday
It should have been me- Yvonne Fair
( The true definition of passion. I urge anyone who has not heard them to do so )
She’s gone-Hall and Oates
It’s over –Roy Orbison
Stand by me- Ben E King or John Lennon
Am innocent man-Billy Joel
Feel like makin’ love –Bad Co
We’ve got tonight-Bob Seger
What about love-Heart
Pamela-Toto
Be my number two- Joe Jackson
Hairs on the back of the neck )
Lady-Styx
Dust in the wind-Kansas
( 's not a power ballad, but it had to go in )

[simon1969]

Good list play some of those myself, First cut is the deepest reminded me of the time someone said to me "can you play this and dedicate to my friend who has just had the snip".....
I played it :devil: :evelgrin: :evelgrin:

[STEVE HANLEY]

I couldn't understand where you were coming from at first Peter.

Then I re-read the post. Then the list and I have to say

PRETTY :Censored: AWESOME mate......Well done:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[rob1963]

Licence to kill-Gladys Knight.
Barcelona - Freddie Mercury and Monserrat Caballe
Piece of my heart-Big Brother and the Holding Company.
Son of a preacher man- Dusty Springfield.
First cut is the deepest-P P Arnold
Vienna-Ultravox
Broken wings-Mister mister.
Every day hurts –Sad Cafe
Clocks-Coldplay
Handbags and Gladrags – Chris Farlowe or Stereophonics
Go Now-Bessie Banks
( You've got to hear this. It's not a Moodies song originally ).
Hallelujah- Alexandra Burke
Stay with me till dawn-Judie Tzuke.
Simple Game-Moody Blues
Think twice-Celine Dion
Stay with me baby-Lorraine Ellison or Kiki Dee
And I’m telling you I’m not going—Jennifer Holliday
It should have been me- Yvonne Fair
( The true definition of passion. I urge anyone who has not heard them to do so )
She’s gone-Hall and Oates
It’s over –Roy Orbison
Stand by me- Ben E King or John Lennon
Am innocent man-Billy Joel
Feel like makin’ love –Bad Co
We’ve got tonight-Bob Seger
What about love-Heart
Pamela-Toto
Be my number two- Joe Jackson
Hairs on the back of the neck )
Lady-Styx
Dust in the wind-Kansas
( 's not a power ballad, but it had to go in )

Power ballads?

Have you been on the sauce again, Peter?

:eek: :D :D

[STEVE HANLEY]

Power ballads?

Have you been on the sauce again, Peter?

:eek: :D :D

I have to admit when I first saw the list. My idea of what a power ballad was went straight out of the window :confused: :confused:

[BeerFunk]

Yeah most of them don't tie up with my own definition of a power ballad... where's the power in Hallelujah??

I think a power ballad must have a strong arrangement behind the vocals, which is usually, but not always, a rock sound.

A few from me, which I most likely mentioned in the other thread a couple of years ago :

Aerosmith - Don't Want To Miss A Thing
Oasis - Champagne Supernova
Foreigner - I Want To Know What Love Is
Deacon Blue - When Will You (Make My Telephone Ring)
Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out)
REM - Everybody Hurts
The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
U2 - With Or Without You (could have chosen many more from U2)
Coldplay - Trouble
Keane - Everybody's Changing (just for Steve :sarc: )

[rob1963]

Yeah most of them don't tie up with my own definition of a power ballad... where's the power in Hallelujah??

I think a power ballad must have a strong arrangement behind the vocals, which is usually, but not always, a rock sound.

A few from me, which I most likely mentioned in the other thread a couple of years ago :

Aerosmith - Don't Want To Miss A Thing
Oasis - Champagne Supernova
Foreigner - I Want To Know What Love Is
Deacon Blue - When Will You (Make My Telephone Ring)
Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out)
REM - Everybody Hurts
The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
U2 - With Or Without You (could have chosen many more from U2)
Coldplay - Trouble
Keane - Everybody's Changing (just for Steve :sarc: )

That's a BIT more like it, Beerfunk.

Maybe it's my age, but when I think of power ballads, I think of certain songs from the likes of Foreigner, Whitesnake, Aerosmith, Scorpions, Cars, Chicago, Heart, Marillion, REO Speedwagon, Meatloaf, Mr Mister, Toto, Styx, Air supply etc.

[Corabar Steve]

Here's Wiki's take on a definition



Power ballads
Simon Frith (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Frith) identifies the origins of the power ballad in the emotional singing of soul artists, particularly Ray Charles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Charles) and the adaption of this style by figures such as Eric Burdon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Burdon), Tom Jones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Jones_(singer)) and Joe Cocker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Cocker) to produce slow tempo songs often building to a loud and emotive chorus backed by drums, electric guitars and sometimes choirs.[34] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad#cite_note-Frithpop-33) According to Charles Aaron, power ballads came into existence in the early 1970s, when rock stars attempted to convey profound messages to audiences.[35] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad#cite_note-aaron-34) He argues that the power ballad broke into the mainstream of American consciousness in 1976 as FM radio gave a new lease of life to earlier songs like Led Zeppelin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin)'s "Stairway to Heaven (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairway_to_Heaven)" (1971), Aerosmith (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerosmith)'s "Dream On (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_On_(Aerosmith_song))" (1973), and Lynyrd Skynyrd (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynyrd_Skynyrd)'s "Free Bird (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Bird)" (1974).[35] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad#cite_note-aaron-34) Other notable examples include Nazareth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazareth_(band))'s version of "Love Hurts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Hurts)" (1975), Foreigner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreigner_(band))'s "I Want to Know What Love Is (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Want_to_Know_What_Love_Is)",[34] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad#cite_note-Frithpop-33) Scorpions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpions_(band)) "Still Loving You (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Still_Loving_You)", (all from 1984), Heart’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_(band)) "What About Love (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_About_Love)" (1985)[36] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad#cite_note-35) and Whitesnake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitesnake)'s "Is This Love (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is_This_Love_(Whitesnake_song))" (1987).[37] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad#cite_note-36)
Make of that what you will

[Excalibur]

That's a BIT more like it, Beerfunk.

Maybe it's my age, but when I think of power ballads, I think of certain songs from the likes of Foreigner, Whitesnake, Aerosmith, Scorpions, Cars, Chicago, Heart, Marillion, REO Speedwagon, Meatloaf, Mr Mister, Toto, Styx, Air supply etc.

To quote myself:
Here are a few which fit my criteria,
My criteria Rob. Mine. Not necessarily yours. I also pointed out that I was purposely avoiding the usual suspects. ;) I could have picked a hatful from Speedwagon, Foreigner and Meat Loaf( with Jim Steinman thrown in for good measure). I avoided them for the reasons stated above. Even then, I still got 28% of your examples, by the way. ;)



Here's Wiki's take on a definition


Quote:
Power ballads
Simon Frith identifies the origins of the power ballad in the emotional singing of soul artists, particularly Ray Charles and the adaption of this style by figures such as Eric Burdon, Tom Jones and Joe Cocker to produce slow tempo songs often building to a loud and emotive chorus backed by drums, electric guitars and sometimes choirs.[34] According to Charles Aaron, power ballads came into existence in the early 1970s, when rock stars attempted to convey profound messages to audiences.[35] He argues that the power ballad broke into the mainstream of American consciousness in 1976 as FM radio gave a new lease of life to earlier songs like Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" (1971), Aerosmith's "Dream On" (1973), and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" (1974).[35] Other notable examples include Nazareth's version of "Love Hurts" (1975), Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is",[34] Scorpions "Still Loving You", (all from 1984), Heart’s "What About Love" (1985)[36] and Whitesnake's "Is This Love" (1987).[37]

Make of that what you will
Steve, you rise even further in my estimation than previously. :bowdown: That definition ties in with mine in ever so many salient points.

http://www.forum.mobilediscodirectory.co.uk/showthread.php?t=11935&highlight=power+ballad

Interesting point by one Mr Anderson in post #23, where he advocates a definition which is pretty much exactly the one I used to compile the list. ;)

Like I said, head above the parapet. ( But behind the :sofa: )