It just goes to show how dull Gary is if that wasn't 'stripped back' enough, after all there was a hint of an electric guitar in the chours

Not every artist has to do a dreary number Mr Barlow.

He was spot on, as anyone can tell by the defensive response here - it was pop/r&b YET again...

I get that you weren't saying they were miming. But it's not hard to tell - I just pay attention to what the tone of their voices are like in the verses, and I can hear the same quality in the chorus. There's naturally some compression to get the blended quality you need for harmonies, but it's still easy enough to hear them and even pick out individual voices if you listen closely enough. IMO, anyway.

How does he know no one does yet he wants to mind his own aacts and leave ours alone

No except Craig is own act and Marcus

Gone right off Gary, it started off so well I thought. He seemed honest and fair at first - until the live shows.

He is so contradictory and rather patronising towards the other judges I feel. I think he is extremely competitive and though I think Simon was he was still generous towards the other judges in his comments. I have not seen this from Mr Barlow

Yes, but if that's the genre of music they want to perform then why is it such a bad thing? I agree with Gary that it probably could be even more stripped down. But on the other hand, if that's not their type of thing then why push it?

It will be go the same way as Janet. Forcing them to do something really different and then say that they should stick to what they know.

Yep, you're making exactly my point - you have to concentrate... and listen closely. That's because the vocals are effectively drowned out

Anyway, let's see what they do next week.

It's funny because I thought the opposite, they were clearly much louder and clearer than the backing track on the whole, more often than not the backing track drowns the singers out so I really noticed it.

I also heard their tone perfectly well.

But they are a Pop/RnB group .. Craig has performed a ballad-midtempo track every week, Marcus has done one ballad with the rest of his songs range from midtempo-uptempo, Mischa does R&B every week, Janet does ballads everyweek..

The fact is, they find the kind of music they want to do and they do it.. Every act does it..

Janet couldn't do a really uptempo track, so Kelly doesn't give her the songs, Craig's voice is suited to ballads which is why in Club Classics week, he sang Adele..!

Gary is just being hypocritical

Hold on what about Marcus the choir was louder than him but all we got from Gary was proformance of the night.
Gary wants to learn to see to his own acts first

I agree, it wasn't really stripped back, Gary is looking for a more A Capella performance from them.

Gary is a massive tool, he calls Little Mix and Janet predictable and then spouts out the same rubbish comments every week. Craig and Marcus are the same every week too, I don't know what he wants from the acts? Have you ever listened to an album and thought "this is all a bit repetative", its not like they can change their voice is it?

The only artist that consistently does that is Janet and he doesn't have much good to say about her. Might Gary be tactically critiquing the others?

No, I said you can here the group's voices easily enough, but to pick the individual ones out you have to concentrate. That's also true of any chorus.

Well, sorry if I misunderstood you Snozz, but it's still the case that I thought the mix was bad, their voices drowned out (in my opinion).

I've liked all their performances so far - last night was no exception. But I think they should showcase their talents a bit better, not hide behind a wall of sound. That's good for bands like one-direction who need all the smoke and mirrors, but i think little mix can stand on their own without all that.

If Gary was mentoring Little Mix they would have exited in week 1. He'd turn them into something like The Conway Sisters.

I can't understand the hype around Little Mix.
Sure, they are okay but nowt special. Groups like them are 10 a penny. They sound the same week in, week out.
Quite boring to me.

I am not keen on any of the acts but I thought Little Mix were pretty much stripped back last night and did a very good job. No idea what Gary Barlow is on about...unless, of course, he is trying to make someone else's act look bad....just a stab in the dark.

They are Steps and S Club Seven all over again, the kids will love them and they are in comfort zone doing what they are doing so I would leave them alone. If One Direction can make it so can the girls.

He's talking about the amount of backing vocals on the backing track : he wants them to sing with just four solo vocals and the music and with nothing else added.

I agree Gary is usually a hypocrite, but I agree with him on this one - there is no way you can call that Little Mix performance 'stripped back'. They just picked a different style of song for a change. I enjoyed it though, so not too fussed really.

But. They. Sang. Acapella.

The pervert...

Acapella in it's true sense means singing without instruments, or minimal accompaniment.

For me they were great this week, best performance of the night!