r/IsolatedVocals

Okay, so usually I avoid reddit like the plague. It's full of icky things, or will steal three days of your life. But. Chris Hardwick posted a thing to Twitter that he found through r/IsolatedVocals, and I was hooked.

There's plenty I haven't listened to because I don't know (or like) the original, but there was plenty I did know. And I had some interesting thoughts and was babbling them at Paul via FBChat and then realized I had a blog I'd started for exactly this purpose.

So the first one I listened to was this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPoRHr5sGWk ("Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen)
This one is pretty straightforward. The harmonies I'd thought were in the background are, in fact, there. A few things I hadn't caught in my previous listenings, but for the most part, spot on expected. (Ditto "Behind Blue Eyes" and pretty much all the Beatles' music. Their harmonies don't hide)

This however, shocked the hell out of me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHYjIIJ14MI ("Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen)
Granted, some of the harmonies have been trimmed down, so that explains some of my like "woah, the notes I'm expecting to hear aren't here at all" but it was way cool to hear it all more basic. (Made me think of the time we did it a capella in high school because Bobby G was the literal greatest.)

This one wasn't quite "surprising" because the harmonies are heard in the original record, but this was just a great alternative version, and the vocal lines are way more obvious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv2dhfzOZH8 ("Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" by The Police)

I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnhqaHomEQ8 ("E.T." by Katy Perry)
I like it better than the original (which I don't particularly care for) because the non-vocals don't really add anything except a heavy dance beat, and it sounds like a cool a capella track. (Although if I wanted that I'd just go listen to Pentatonix. https://youtu.be/9STdbGrfCLA?t=1m38s They did it without autotune, without editing, and without Kanye West)

Some solo's aren't worth the strip down because who cares it's the same, but like...Adele? Yeah. She's the powerhouse you remember, and it's even more impressive when she's on her own. "Rolling in the Deep" was pretty good, but "Set Fire to the Rain" was the clear winner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQuNtQZTBRE

Another favorite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbNqlbyhKOc&feature=youtu.be ("Love Shack" by the B52's)
This is, I think, better a capella. The snaps and the background chatter give it plenty of energy.

"Love Shack" also shows off another thing revealed in these stripped down versions: mistakes. (https://youtu.be/TbNqlbyhKOc?t=2m45s) These are also sprinkled throughout some Beatles' songs. Little comments to themselves, the occasional in 4 or 8 counts to early, that sort of thing. It's pretty great.

So there you go. If you want to lose yourself in some cool music for a few hours, head over to reddit.com/r/IsolatedVocals and then pop around on YouTube going "oh I wonder if they have this one?!"

Bonus link: (because I love this song too goddamn much to leave out and this whole thing was prompted by a Four Tops song)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0_mlypLAPA ("Papa Was a Rollin Stone" by The Temptations)