The brothers Davies, Ray and Dave both have great inspiring/hard edged solo albums and of course their original band the KINKS were the founders of political rock, inspiring such groups as the Misfits, Greenday, the Smiths, etc. and their most potent poli-rock album was 1994's Phobia.

Also try some Moody Blues (their 80's work is very underrated), some Alice Cooper, Heart, Lynard Skynard, Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, Smash Mouth, etc etc. There are some great poli-rockers in every generation just have to look.

I can't believe that I forgot about the Kinks and Moody Blues! I haven't heard Dave Davies' solo work, but I can vouch for Ray's. Awesome stuff. As for the Moody Blues, check out their Live at Red Rocks album. It has a variety of their older stuff and their 80s material.

Oh, and a few more recommendations: Chris Cornell's material (Soundgarden, solo, Audioslave) is always great. Chris's voice, in my opinion, is one of the best voices in the past fifteen years.

Finally (for now, at least :D), the Animals. They're excellent.

Wow, I assumed this thread had died off...

I spent some time listening to almost every band/artist suggested, and I've come to a strange conclusion: I don't like "rock." Extremely heavy music appeals to me and so does ambient/electronic/avante-garde stuff, but I can't get into the more mild world of rock.

Bands that seem to have a universal appeal, such as Led Zepplin, The Beatles, etc. can't hold my interest for more than a few minutes. I know that the thread is based around "lovely vocals" but my focus as I listened to the suggested music gradually shifted from "do these vocals strike me as lovely?" to "why the hell don't I enjoy this, it seems as though most people can at least tolerate it." So there you have it.

Purchases I made as a result of this thread:
Mr. Bungle - s/t
Fantomas - The Director's Cut, Suspended Animation, Delirium Cordia
Sigur Ros - Ágætis byrjun, (), Takk...
Ulver - Perdition City (really need to get the rest of their releases)

I'll continue to listen and search, but these cds should do the trick for now.

I, as well, can find the appeal of this thread and the recommendations made here.

Thank you, all, and now I have new bands to discover. :D

Simon and Garfunkel

Rhapsody! Hell yes! I just found them out last night and he definitely has a good voice. They are a different kind of metal though, kinda epic storytelling type of thing and sometimes over the top but damn I really like them.

They have another band called Luca Turilli that is also very good. Different vocalist, but still good. And maybe try Hammerfall. I haven't heard much of them really but they seem pretty good.

because you're into the heavier stuff, you'll want to avoid pretty much all Beatles stuff, as they did almost nothing close to heavy...save perhaps for Helter Sketler from the White Album.

as for Led Zeppelin, while they are not in the same league of heaviness as a band like Slayer or Pantera, et al., they were one of the progenitors of heavy rock and have a few songs that might interest you, most notably Achilles' Last Stand (from Presence) and Wearing and Tearing (from Coda). I'd strongly suggest checking out at least those two.

If you're into the heavier stuff, you could check out Hawkwind, Lemmy Kilmeister (of Motorhead)'s first band. It actually doesn't sound a thing like Motorhead, it's more spacey. Really good.

And, of course, Black Sabbath's first four albums with Ozzy.

i like barbara moore - vocal shades and tones

http://serv2.imagehigh.com/imgss/6017695__cover.jpg

it's kind of a long shot, but maybe you'd enjoy it
it has sabadabada / scat / Now Sound wordless vocals

far removed from metal, that's for sure ...

Not much of an expert by any stretch, but I really enjoy 'Death Cab for Cutie', despite the name is NOT an apocalyptic punk band.

I have a few friends who love them but the whole fantasy/power metal thing has never done much for me.

Sion - I listened to the songs you recommended (I think I've heard them before) and while I don't mind them, they just don't affect me the same way that extreme metal does. I'm probably coming across as extremely picky but I guess I am, at least when it comes to music.

Pogue - When it comes to stuff like Sabbath, I can appreciate why they're important and I can see why others like them but if I bought their albums, they simply wouldn't get played while I still have Behemoth, Cryptopsy, Gorguts, Ion Dissonance (before Gabriel left), etc. sitting on the shelf.

Trickyy - All I got when I googled her was Playboy links. Is she a multi-talented lady by any chance? I'll keep an eye out next time I'm at the used cd shop.

Lucifer - I watched several of their videos and their music is very pleasant. I'll listen some more and pick up an album if the songs I hear are consistently good.

For anyone else skimming through this thread looking for nice vocals, I'll make my suggestions (many of which combine clean vocals with various metal styles):
-Opeth
-Orphaned Land
-Disillusion
-Borknagar
-Ulver
-Katatonia (later material)
-Unexpect
-Devin Townsend Band
-Riverside

Yeah, I know what you mean. It's totally not my style but for some reason, it makes me really happy when I listen to them and their offshoot band.

i think there are two different Barbara Moores
check soulseek if you're interested, the album is fairly rare so that's the easiest place to find it

not a problem...all I can ask is that you give them a chance, which you did. If'n you don't love it...well that's your perogative.