Entertainment For Lively Minds
When An Artist Needs Additional Input...Or Gaffer Tape
I’ve recently been catching up on Sound Opinions podcasts (which I first heard about on the Word blog).
There’s a real cracker from a couple of weeks back, which features producer Bob Ezrin, and a tall story (in more ways than one) that I hadn’t heard before. (Link here, show #305).
It refers to the unusual method Bob employed to elicit a heartfelt vocal performance on Peter Gabriel’s song Modern Love, from his 1977 debut solo album.
Says Bob: “The song has the chorus ‘Oh, the pain! Modern love can be a strain!”. As Peter was singing it I just was not believing it. It was kinda polite and very English. So I said to him - we were in a studio that had two big pillars in the middle of the room - and I said: ‘You know, I’m going to give you three more shots at this and if you don’t get it, you’re going up the pillar.’ He just looked at me and smiled, ’cos he didn’t really understand what I was saying. So we tried one take - no. And another one - no. And I said: ‘You’ve got one more, and you’re going up the pillar.’ He tried it - didn’t work, so I turned to the engineer, who happened to be 225lb of solid muscle, a tough guy, and I said ‘Brian, put him up the pillar.’ We went in the room, Brian lifted him in the air, and I had the second engineer gaffer tape him under the armpits to the pillar up in the air about 10ft up, and then I said: ‘Mic him.’ Now there he was flailing in mid-air - and when he sang ‘Oh, the pain!’ he meant it."
So anyone else got any stories of other methods producers used to get that golden take from their artists?
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Ezrin again
Great Gabriel story! In similar vein, I remember reading how this Ezrin (who certainly seems to be a somewhat lively character) brought a similar air of verisimilitude to Lou Reed's chirpy 'The Kids' off 'Berlin'. He got his own, pre-teen kids into the studio, miked them up and then informed them that their mother had died. (She hadn't). Bloody hell!
Funny you should mention that...
Ezrin mentions this very story in the podcast. But he says all he did to get the mournful child's crying was to tape his little son's nightly reaction to just one word. "Bed!"
The bit where the kids were crying out "Mummy!" was recorded after he told his oldest boy to pretend his mummy had accidentally locked him out of the house and he had to shout as loudly as he could as if he was trying to get her to come and let him in. The youngest heard this going on, and decided to join in, too.
You're right..
Must listen to podcast more ;)
Can't remember where I read that, but seems one of those perpetual rock myths (cf. Gerry Rafferty playing the sax on Baker St, Gerry Rafferty being dead, Paul from the 'Wonder Years' actually being Marilyn Manson etc)
If that was his son's reaction to 'bed' then it's probably a good thing he did't invent a fictitious mum death!
Just Googled it...
The crying heard underneath is simply bedtime at the Ezrin household with the kids letting mom and pop know they are none too happy about having to retire for the night. Ezrin continues: "It's something you've seen a thousand times but because of the compression on it and the way that it's in your face [in the mix] it's relentless. And it's totally dry. It's completely dry, it's distorted, and it's compressed to death. It makes it so unbelievably emotional people accused me of beating my kids."
Gerry Rafferty
played sax on Baker Street? When did this happen?
Susanna Hoffs!! Again!!!
The producer of "Eternal Flame" (whose name I predictably forget) persuaded the luscious, pouting Ms. Hoffs to get her kit off in order to deliver a more heartfelt performance. That's pretty much all there is to this story. Just Susanna Hoffs, in the first, ripe flush of womanhood, standing stark naked in a dimly-lit studio, her taut, upthrust (TEXT REDACTED BY D.HEPWORTH), her delicate hands unconsciously following the contours of her pert (TEXT REDACTED) as she delivers the performance of a lifetime to an empty studio, and a control booth crowded to the point of suffocation.
Tina Turner
According to Barney Hoskyns in 'Waiting For The Sun', Tina Turner was encouraged to strip down to her underwear by Phil Spector in order to give her performance on 'River Deep Mountain High' that extra oomph too...
*leans on sideboard whilst recovering breath*
Anyway..
It's a well-known fact that, in the video for Eternal Flame, La Hoffs is singularly deficient in the underwear department.
I read this in Popbitch...
... but have never forgotten it.
Lord Delawdy writes:
“A friend of mine was in Los Angeles 79 thru 87.
Michael Jackson had had a huge hit with Off The
Wall, and was recording the follow up.
“The sessions were arranged for a very late start,
and, after a night on the town, my mate popped
around to the studio to see the producer.
“He got into the control room to find that
everyone’s attention was fixed on the glass
window. On the other side, Quincy Jones was kicking
a pile of rags on the floor while shouting
“Silent, you motherfucker! I said NO SQUEAKS!”
“It turned out the pile of rags was a gibbering
Michael Jackson. They were recording a new song
called Billie Jean, and Michael had decided
to fill every gap with his trademark whoops,
clicks and squeaks. Quincy, however, had decided
that the track would be a pared down.
“After several hours of trying to get the
singer to do what he wanted, and having consumed
large quantities of ragedust, Jones had finally
snapped and attacked the poor freak. Needless
to say, after the outburst, MJ sang the song
how he was told to, and the rest is history.”
You git.
I was about to post EXACTLY the same story.
Oh well.
Guy Stevens
I have some memory of a story about Guy Stevens and Joe Strummer during the recording of London Calling.
As I remember it, Stevens had given Strummer a biography of Montgomery Clift. Strummer has started writing the song The Right Profile but hadn't finished it. When he brought the unfinished song to the studio and was taking an inordinate amount of time to finish it Stevens produced a gun which he started waving around and pointing at Strummer, demanding that he finish it sooner rather than later. This had the desired effect.
Here's Guy Stevens engineering the correct ambience
with various bits of furniture...