Posted on 08/03/2008 9:50:16 AM PDT by Recovering_Democrat
At their best - or, if you prefer, their pushiest — producers often are de facto composers.
1. George Martin — How do you turn a scruffy quartet of Liverpudlians into the most innovative act in rock history? Hook 'em up with the classically inclined yet progressive-minded Mr. Martin.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
But it’s pure Spector. He was an A&R guy for Liberty. Was supposed to produce it for Vicky Carr. Took it to England, with Darlene Love, cut it on his own label [Philles Records], credited it to the Crystals [who he had under contract], and released it.
Love got paid as a session musician [no royalties], Liberty and Carr got screwed, and Spector made all the money.
Nitzsche also cowrote “Needles and Pins” with Sonny Bono, and released some instrumentals [”The Lonely Surfer” or “The Angry Surf”?]
Speaking of which, somewhere on the internet there's a portion of Phil's "kiss-off" record to Les called "The Screw".
One of the best books on that era of recording is called "Temples of Sound" by Bill Clark. It was a twenty five buck paperback when it was released, it's now selling for around forty used. Next round, I'll skip the stock market and put all my money into recording history books.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0811833941/ref=lp_g_1
Sonny was Phil’s “go-fer” for several years. He was reportedly a better musician than he was a skier.
That's how Sonny got the recording time at night for "I Got You Babe"...unbeknownst to Phil.
Although I recall reading a story or two about how Spector was disliked by some in the music biz I wasn't aware that he was a quasi-con artist.But when it came to gettin' the stuff on acetate he was still a genius (IMO).
“...Where is Mutt Lang,...”
He’s divorcing Shania Twain. That is worthy of a severe a$$ beating. What guy in their right mind would do that?
Except for George Martin, few can come close to the accomplishments in the studio of the Bradley Bros, Owen and Harold, and Chet Atkins. My bets are that the Bradley Bros. and Chet Atkins from the studio orchestrated more hits than #2-5 combined.
I had forgotten Mutt Lange...also someone else mentioned Rick Rubin; his work with Johnny Cash was phenomenal.
Let's hear that story....I'm interested.
Just as a hint of some of his production work, there's XTC's "Skylarking," pretty much off of Hall & Oats hits, and Meatloaf's "Bat out of Hell." There are FAR more.
Mark
Some interesting tidbits...
Sonny & Cher sang backup on "You've Lost That Lovin Feeling" that Phil produced at Gold Star.
In addition, the Beach Boys did most of their recording at Gold Star including "Pet Sounds".
Gold Star was a very legendary studio that was the home to the equally legendary "Wrecking Crew" studio band that included Hal Blaine on drums and Carol Kay on bass. The Wrecking Crew played the instruments on most Beach Boy albums.
Pet Sounds was done at United Western with Bill Putnam at the controls. Most of Brian’s work was done in Western 3.
Here’s a pretty good series of track notes for Pet Sounds.
http://www.beachboysfanclub.com/ps-tracks.html
They did do some vocal tracking at Gold Star, and a couple of other places, but most of the work was done at Western.
The reduced number of mikes used by Spector was partially related to the state of the art at the time. Gold Star was this tiny little place at Santa Monica and Vine. The studio was roughly 20 by 35, which means there’d be almost no separation anyway. But, more importantly, all they had was two and three track machines until ‘66. Even if they’d isolated tracks, there’d have been no place to record them.
The Wrecking Crew played just about everywhere in town. They got their nick-name from the comments of some of the older Union members who claimed they were wrecking the business by playing that horrible rock music. They were the best of the best at hitting the studio, taking a quick run through, and laying down a track, so you got a lot more work done with them and they were in a lot of demand. They were great musicians, creative, adaptive, just a good group. The late, great Barney Kessel was the primary guitarist with the crew. His kids are still involved in the music business in L.A., operating a club.
See post 34 for more info. Minor correction in what emerged from my fuzzy memory, Western WAS Putnam’s creation, but I believe Chuck Britz did most of the work with Brian on Pet Sounds.
Thanks for your comment - actually, we’re both correct. Pet Sounds was recorded at both Gold Star and Western.
See post 34
Phil started out with the Teddy Bears. Wrote their only hit, “To Know Him is to Love Him” [He was one of the “Duh Duh Da Duh Da Duh” guys in the back]. Got the title off his father’s tombstone. Sums him up pretty well.
Whose lead singer wrote the Rocky Theme.
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