Lawyer fan Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 The first name that comes to mind is probably Buddy Holly. After him, Brian Wilson seems to have set the standard for all who followed. Obviously, George Martin took care of the The Beatles so at times, I wonder where the John/Paul/George left off and Martin took over. Now, ....well, not much of anything being created.Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldblue Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 I've always REALLY respected Todd Rundgren. He's done production work for Cheap Trick, Meat Loaf, The Tubes, Badfinger, and numerous others, yet has produced some incredible solo albums on his own. "Something/Anything," "A Wizard, A True Star," "Todd," "Almost Human," and his new one "Liars" are terrific. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darlene Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 Oldblue, You're very knowledgeable on who's done what. So is Lawyerfan. It's a good question where Martin took over. It sounds like he just was all things to all people... --D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvin Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 Very intereting thread. Rundgren is one of those rare artists who is as respected for the work he has done as a producer (he's also produced Hall & Oates), as he is for his recording work. Same applies to Brian. How about Jeff Lynne? I'm ot fond of all his work, but no denying his body of work. Another interesting one is Linda Ronstadt. Of course she's made her name as a recording artist, but over the last 10 years or so, she's done a lot of producing and is quite in demand. Of course Linda's former producer Peter Asher did a lot of work with James Taylor and other California artists, and prior to producing, he was part of the Peter & Gordon ("World Without Love") duo.Marvin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadie #3 Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 How about Jackson Browne? He has always been one of my favorites that I have never had the pleasure of seeing in concert, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawyer fan Posted February 5, 2005 Author Share Posted February 5, 2005 I recall, backstage years ago at a Jan and Dean concert, Dean mentioned something to a bunch of us about Jan being the one who showed Brian Wilson a lot of recording techniques in the early days. Jan, with a genius IQ, was quite a music talent in his own right. Until that day in 1966 when his Vette hit that parked truck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Cartmill Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 Peter and Gordon were a quality vocal duo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 Yes Marvin, I believe Jeff Lynne could and should be up there with the most prolific rock producers ever. He was the George Martin of the 70s, 80s and 90s, except he also produced his own amazing body of work. Speak of "borrowing", like the other thread? Boy, was he a culprit -- but did it beautifully, in my opinion.Rundgren is also one of the great ones, but he is very self absorbed, and I hear very difficult. He produces himself very well -- he is always reinventing his direction. I think in order to produce others, you need to have acceptance of the artists vision. I remember, though, he actually had a "forum" on Compuserve, in 1996, called the TR-1 forum, and he was generally on there (and very few others were). We had a few IM conversations, and was actually quite pleasant, and very happy to tal kabout HIS work -- he didn't want to discuss Badfinger or Grand Funk.Spector was not one to accept the artists vision -- but then again, you went to him, to use him, when you wanted HIS sound, full stop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvin Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 Ernie I have had the pleasure of seeing Jackson a number of times in concert when I was living on the East coast. A truly captivating performer whose songwriting and lyrics has been a major, major influence in my own music. Jackson's early work was produced by Rolling Stone writer Jon Landau (who went on to produce and manage Bruce Springsteen). In recent years Jackson has shared production duties with his band members mostly sometime Heartbreaker Scott Thurston.Marvin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvin Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 David Bowie.Marvin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbecstacy Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 I'm a HUGE Todd fan, an admirer of both his solo and Utopia work and his productions for others.It's interesting that, in at least a couple of cases, the artists he's produced have gone on the record about how difficult and unpleasant he is to work with...yet their collaborations may have been the artists' finest albums.Badfinger's "Straight Up" and XTC's "Skylarking" come to mind. Neither BF or XTC had nice things to say about working with Todd, but the results were undeniably high points and commercial breakthroughs.Other artists who produce that come to mind: Mark Hudson, previously discussed on this forum, who made wonderful pop records with the Hudson Brothers before becoming a popular producer with Ringo Starr and AerosmithNick Lowe, the sonic architect of Elvis Costello's classic early albums and himself no slouch as a singer/songwriterPrince certainly knows his way around a recording studio, and has crafted hit albums for proteges The Time, Sheila E and Vanity 6Pete Townshend has produced others, most notably the classic "Hollywood Dream" album by Thunderclap Newman, which yielded the hit "Something in the Air"Phil Collins had a good run as a producer for hire, bringing his trademark sound to the work of Howard Jones, Eric Clapton and David Crosby--Howard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregkevinw Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 todd also produced a cd by a group called splendor....some very good tracks there...its called "halfway down the sky" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvin Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 Greg I thought that George H produced Splendor?Marvin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulguitar Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 Here's one - how about Jon Brion? He's done some great work with Aimee Mann. Check out Aimee's "Whatever", one of my favorite albums of all time. Great songs, really cool instrumentation and definitely Beatle-like in places. He's known more as a producer but has a few albums out on his own. He contributed to the "Magnolia" soundtrack and, most recently, "I Heart Huckabees". A couple more - Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno. Lanois produced the best Neville Brothers album, in my opinion, "Yellow Moon". Lanois has some cool records out and is an interesting guitar player. Eno is known for his ambient-type recordings as well as well as producing U2 (as did Lanois). Maybe my writings here should be under the category of "producers who are also artists". Sorry guys... As far as Todd, I grew up in the same town as him so I've been following him since The Nazz days (late 60's). At one time in the 70's, he was the highest paid producer. As an artist, it's been a difficult ride to follow all his stuff but, to me, he is one of the true artists in rock along with Frank Zappa (RIP), Van Morrison and Neil Young. He follows his muse and, if you are to follow him, expect the unexpected. It's been said he could've been big along the lines of an Elton John but, for whatever reasons, chose to pursue more artistic and less commercial interests. His latest CD from 2004 "Liars" is pretty amazing considering he wrote, performed, arranged and recorded all the music himself (he's done this many times). There are not many artists in rock that can do even one of those things as well as him. One last thing, it's interesting to note the Eric-Todd connection. Bernie's book has some good info on this - Todd supposedly stealing from "I Can Remember" for "It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference" and also writing his "I Saw The Light" after hearing the 'Berries version. They were two of rock's brightest post-Beatles guys at the time...Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trindy Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 I too have to give the thumbs-up to Todd. I know it was hard for XTC to work with him on the "Skylarking" album, but to this day it's tied for first place with me as my favorite of theirs (along with "Apple Venus Vol. 1"). One of those rare CDs I can listen to over and over without wanting to skip a single cut...and so many of them segue smoothly from one to another (Todd's idea) that I don't really want to.I also have a fond place in my heart for ""War Babies," the Hall & Oates album he produced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny S. Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 Todd....the "Back to the bars" tour....the OLDCleveland Agora.....what a show.Another amazing tidbit...Todd played ALL the guitarson the Meatloaf "Bat out of hell album"All you guitarists.....listen to the orchestratedguitar work on the "Bat out of hell" title cut.Amazing! A truly great production Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggiesjc Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 He also worked with Jim Steinman on the album "Bad for Good," one of my favorites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darlene Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 Jim Steinman, of Meatball fame? --D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggiesjc Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 Yes, "Meatball," as you put it! LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poor4Life Posted February 6, 2005 Share Posted February 6, 2005 How about Mick Jones? Besides producing Foreigner, he also helmed the boards for Billy Joel's "Stormfront".Another is Dave Stewart of Eurythmics. He's also produced Mick Jagger...Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda in Fla Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 Todd, Todd, Todd----LOVE HIM!!! Check out trconnection.com and go to the forums to meet other like-minded folk.Linda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darlene Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 Excuse me, I MEANT, of meatLOAF fame, not meatBALL! I must have been thinking about cooking spaghetti! Also, it was a bit late for my brain. Sorry, Meatloaf. I stand mortified, but I won't edit the post, like I usually do when I'm not happy with mine. --D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darlene Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 PS At least I didn't say, meatHEAD! --D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggiesjc Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 It was good for a great chuckle, Darlene! It should definitely be left as is.Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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