What's your favorite (non-country) power ballad?

Frank Freniere · Post by **Frank Freniere** » 26 Mar 2011 10:32 am

"Lights" by Journey.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 26 Mar 2011 11:30 am

Fooled around and fell in love- Elvin Bishop

Larry Miller · Post by **Larry Miller** » 26 Mar 2011 5:18 pm

"I've Been Waiting For A Girl Like You" Foreigner. Frank, you picked a good one, that would have been my first choice.

Ben Lawson · Post by **Ben Lawson** » 26 Mar 2011 6:22 pm

I may get it about this one but I like "She's Out Of My Life" by Michael Jackson.

Jody Sanders · Post by **Jody Sanders** » 26 Mar 2011 8:19 pm

"Unchained Melody". Jody.

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 26 Mar 2011 9:10 pm

"Don't Get Around Much Anymore"

By a variety of Bands and Singers over the years.

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 26 Mar 2011 9:27 pm

Don't Get Around Much is a great song, but if I understand what's meant by "power ballad", I don't think it fits the category.

Frank, what did you mean by "power ballad"?

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 26 Mar 2011 9:51 pm

Every Rose [Poison] YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.

Jim Cooley · Post by **Jim Cooley** » 27 Mar 2011 1:46 am

More Than a Feeling - Boston; Love Hurts - Nazareth

Bo Borland · Post by **Bo Borland** » 27 Mar 2011 6:15 am

Happy Happy Birthday Baby.. Milsap qualifies..

Every Rose is a good one !

What was the cover that Chesnutt did? Was it an ArrowSmith tune?

Larry Lorows · Post by **Larry Lorows** » 27 Mar 2011 7:00 am

Not sure what a power ballad is, but I'll nominate Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton. Larry

Frank Freniere · Post by **Frank Freniere** » 27 Mar 2011 11:34 am

Thanks for the responses guys - I'm putting together a genre CD for the car.

What's a "power ballad?" I guess it's like obscenity: the definition is in the ear of the beholder, or "I know it when I hear it" kind of thing.

"More Than A Feeling" - yes
"Wonderful Tonight" - no

Here's what Wikipedia has to say: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_ballad#Power_ballads

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 27 Mar 2011 11:40 am

Joe Cocker's adaption of "With A Little Help..." by the Beatles tuned it into a powerballad, I think

Another example would be B. Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door", done by Guns And Roses.
One of my favourites is Terry Reid's interpretation of "Walk Away Renee" by the Left Banke.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGch9CQqdBQ

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 27 Mar 2011 12:22 pm

I think Wikipedia defined it pretty well.

I like Heart's "Alone".

(Guilty confessions!

)

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 27 Mar 2011 12:50 pm

Some of my favorite guilty pleasures, of the power ballad variety, include:

Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes, "Lift Us Up Where We Belong"

Laura Branigan, "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You?"

Blood, Sweat & Tears, "You've Made Me So Very Happy"

Robert Mayo · Post by **Robert Mayo** » 27 Mar 2011 3:45 pm

The original "intro" and "sweet Jane ,off of Lou Reed "rock n roll animal, a definite must listen to recording.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 27 Mar 2011 4:37 pm

"These Dreams" by Heart is one of many.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/These_Dreams

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 28 Mar 2011 10:19 am

Journey, Foreigner, Boston? Yikes. I live in a different world.

To me, the ultimate power ballads were done in the 50s and 60s.

Harold Jenkins - "It's Only Make Believe"
Righteous Brothers - "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" and "Unchained Melody"
Ray Charles - take your choice, but "I Can't Stop Loving You" is tops with me.
Sam Cooke - again, take your choice, starting with "Bring It On Home".
Roy Orbison - again, take your choice, but "Only The Lonely", "In Dreams", "Crying", "Blue Bayou", or his (IMO) definitive version of "Love Hurts". I have a hard time even thinking about Nazareth in comparison to Roy's version, not to mention the original Everly's version.

and the grandaddy:

Santo and Johnny - Sleepwalk

Of course, there are lots more - Otis Redding and the other great soul singers, Elvis, what have you. My take, YMMV.

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 28 Mar 2011 11:10 am

I agree with you, Dave, but the term "power ballad", which it seems to me the Wikipedia article defined accurately, came into being well after the great music you refer to. I think a certain level of bombast is implicit in the genre "power ballad".

I was going to nominate a couple of forerunners of power ballads, though. What came to mind were You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' (the Righteous Brothers, of course!) and the BeeGees' To Love Somebody.

chas smith R.I.P. · Post by **chas smith R.I.P.** » 28 Mar 2011 11:14 am

I Only Have Eyes For You___The Flamingos

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 28 Mar 2011 11:28 am

Brint - musically and especially rhythmically, they are of the same ilk, even some of the repertoire is the same. I don't care what labels anybody else puts on 'em, not that wikipedia is the definitive source on cultural labels by any means. But they're all 'power ballads' to me. To me, the later stuff just copies the feel, I just happen to like the earlier stuff much more.

Absolutely, chas - early R&B and soul singers really forged this style, to my mind. This was stock-in-trade back then. I think the reason some of the later rockers' versions stood out at the time is how much they stood in contrast to what else was going on at the time.

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 28 Mar 2011 12:35 pm

To state my point differently, a ballad that has power is not necessarily the same thing as a capital P-capital B Power Ballad.

Labels are of limited utility, of course, but I have, for example, seen ads on late-night TV for compilation albums of "Power Ballads", with the titles and artists rolling by and 3-second clips playing, and they have been of the 80's and later, Foreigner-Boston-etc. type. I certainly don't rely entirely on Wikipedia (for anything!), but in this instance it happens to match with my own experience, absorbed willy-nilly from the culture around me, from which I've formed a general impression that the term "power ballad" is generally used with that connotation.

Take a term like "Disco". To most users of the language, that signifies a particular sort of dance music that originated at a certain point in music history (though with clear antecedents in a continuum of stylistic development). Or "bebop"--same thing. The "boundaries" of any such generic term are naturally fluid and not overly specific, but they do mean something.

Bo Borland · Post by **Bo Borland** » 28 Mar 2011 12:49 pm

I was thinking about this today

How about "Turn The Page" by Seeger

Dana Blodgett · Post by **Dana Blodgett** » 28 Mar 2011 1:58 pm

I have a lot of favorite non-country power ballads but one takes me back to 1945 by Buddy Johnson(big band era) "Since I fell for you" first recorded by his sister Ella and most notably by Lenny Welch. I just love all the chord changes. Great song IMHO!

Ben Elder · Post by **Ben Elder** » 28 Mar 2011 2:28 pm

When this first appeared, I was about to dive in and say, "Wow--none."

After considering the preceding nominations,

"Wow--none."

The Steel Guitar Forum

What's your favorite (non-country) power ballad?

What's your favorite (non-country) power ballad?

what's your favorite(non-country) power ballad?