The SUBSIM Music Thread

[Chris K]

The Pink Panther Strikes Again final scene:"Come to Me"

[rowi58]

A very sad song -
Liam Clancy - Band Played Waltzing Matilda

but it is still alive - and very good!





Greetings
rowi58

[Skybird]

Great solo trumpet for introduction.







You have to live through the bombastic first 20 minutes of visual LSD orgy - then it becomes a real good movie.

[Jimbuna]

[u crank]

Mary Wells - You Beat Me To The Punch

Mary Wells was one of Motown Records earlier success stories. Helping her along were the song writing and producing talents of one William "Smokey" Robinson. This song was written by Robinson and another Miracles member, Ronnie White.

The song won Wells a Grammy nomination for Best Rhythm and Blues Recording.

[Eisenwurst]

A boy anglerfish sings of his great desire to meet a girl anglerfish and start a family, but it all goes wrong.

[Chris K]

Sheena Easton - For Your Eyes Only

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by STEED

Kate Bush is 60 today

Nice...
http://blogs.faz.net/pop-anthologie/...-heights-1452/

[Jimbuna]

[vienna]

A few post back, u crank made reference to Gold Star Studios that used to be here in Hollywood. I live a few blocks away from the former site (now a strip mall) and fondly recall the place every time I pass by that corner. Gold Star closed in the mid-80s when the recording industry went through its first great shakeup due to the rise in self-recording in home studios by the artists themselves rather than in record company facilities in addition to the quantum leaps in recording technology which older studios, like Gold Star, couldn't keep up or adapt. I posted before how there are an awful lot of the old, famous recording studios here in Hollywood that have gone; the fabled RCA studios now exist as part of a film school; another RCA studio, hidden away among other nondescript buildings, was a favorite of Elvis Presley (he used to record there almost exclusively to avoid being seen at the other main RCA studio) and is now used as a small office building for lawyers and such. And its not just the studios; longstanding landmarks and institutions are also fading away; just a few months ago, the legendary Musicians Union Local #47 closed up shop in Hollywood and moved to new offices in the San Fernando Valley. The Local #47 in Hollywood was the home to decades of studio and live musicians of all styles and all media. I knew time was up for the building when I passed by one day and saw demolition crews sizing up the rehearsal hall buildings on the North side of the main building; soon, they were gone, and, a couple of months later, construction crews came in to start work on new buildings to take over the vast parking lots; the main building, or, at least, its facade is being preserved as a cultural 'monument' in recognition of the historic contributions to Hollywood and LA by the union and its membership. Still, it is sad to see yet another piece of local Hollywood history fade away; I wonder what the few remaining musicians' stores nearby will do now that their clientele is all the way in the Valley? When I first moved here in 1970, there were loads of music stores in the area and recording studios, record mastering and pressing plants, and recording equipment vendors all around; now there are precious few left...


u crank also mentioned The Wrecking Crew, the Hollywood studio musicians who were stars in their own right among those knowledgeable of the music business. Perhaps the most well known by the general public was Glen Campbell, who, despite not being able to read music, went on to be a mainstream celebrity. Almost as well known was legendary guitarist Tommy Tedesco:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Tedesco



Tommy Tedesco: The Most Famous Guitarist You’ve Never Heard Of --


http://www.gibson.com/news-lifestyle...0416-2012.aspx


I used to read about him in Guitar Player Magazine even before I came to live in LA in 1970 and I had heard about him during the times I was in and out of LA in the 60s. Every guitarist who wanted to work their way into steady studio gigs knew the bar was set by Tedesco and it was a very, very high bar, indeed. Tommy's son produced a documentary film about The Wrecking Crew that grew out of his desire to honor his father's memory. The film is excellent and includes interviews with surviving members of the Crew; I highly recommend seeing it if you can...


The following clip is from a portion of the documentary and features some of the musicians who were part of the Crew:





In the clip, mention is made of Tina Turner's hit, River Deep, Mountain High, which, in my opinion, is the quintessential Phil Spector record production and was recorded in Phil's favorite studio, Gold Star, which, although a bit cramped, boasted the best echo chamber in the recording business. Phil actually had to make a deal with Ike Turner, who micromanaged every aspect of Tina's life, to get the song recorded the way Phil wanted; Ike had wanted Tina to basically shout/sing the entire song in the R&B mode and Phil wanted a more soft/loud dynamic, so Phil got Ike to agree to stay out of the studio entirely while the song was being worked on and recorded. The song became a big hit and a piece of music history without Ike's input, a fact which ate at Ike for years until Ike finally got Tina to rerecord the number the way Ike wanted it on a later album; the new Ike version is very much lesser of the two....




BTW, the studio photos in the above clip were shot in Gold Star...





Here is the finished product:







Ike Turner got credit on the final record even though he was no where near the studio when it was recorded; strange how two of the most insane guys wound up working together on this song. Ike was overtly and violently mad; he, at one time, had a private recording studio here in LA that was nicknamed "The Citadel" because it was a bit of a 'fortress' due to Ike's paranoia; I used to hear all kinds of stories from musicians and others who spent time with Ike at the studio about Ike pulling guns and going nuts at little or no provocation; one time, he walked into the studio, reached into his coat, pulled out a gun and a stack of money; he threw down the cash on the floor and, cocking the gun, he declared, "There's ten grand in cash! Who's got the balls to pick it up?"; there were no takers...


Spector, too, was known to pull and even fire guns in the recording studio. In fact, I directly owe the bartender job I got in the mid-70s to an incident where Phil pulled a gun...














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[Eisenwurst]

[u crank]

@vienna

That was a great post vienna. I liked it so much I read it twice. I love hearing first hand stuff about music history. You are fortunate to get a close up look. Us people out in the boonies aren't so lucky. You should consider writing a book. I'd buy it.

Funny you should mention Tommy Tedesco and Guitar Player Magazine. That's exactly how I came to hear about him and it sparked my interest in The Wrecking Crew and other studios and their house bands. That documentary by his son is great. I like the part in the clip where Tedesco's chart is upside down. Those people made a lot of magic.

Spector, too, was known to pull and even fire guns in the recording studio. In fact, I directly owe the bartender job I got in the mid-70s to an incident where Phil pulled a gun...

See now there's a chapter in that book right there.

[vienna]

Thanks, u crank...


My favorite Tommy Tedesco bit in the documentary is where Tommy is shown conducting one of his many guitar seminars and he's recounting some of his gigs as a session musician. He tells how he was asked to add a 'Mexican-flavored' guitar bit to a film soundtrack and he demonstrated what he played, a beautiful Spanish guitar solo. He said that a couple of days later and he was at a session for another film set in Brazil and was asked for a "Brazil-flavored" solo; he again demonstrated, playing the exact same solo he had done for the "Mexican-flavored' session, causing the audience to break out in laughter. He then told about his next session where they asked for another Latin-specific solo, and yup, he played the same solo as before...


Tommy was a real character and a superb musician. There will never be another like him...


As far as writing books, it is an idea that several other people have floated to me, but I can't really see a cogent narrative I could use; anyway, my experiences aren't really all that unique; a lot of other people also went through the same times I did and they are far more interesting...
















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