I just read this a few weeks ago, after Little Steven mentioned it on his Underground Garage radio show. Steven said he wished he'd never read it, because it was so sordid. Naturally, after hearing that I just had to read it.

Emerick predictably boosts his contributions to Beatles records while generally belittling those of George Martin (IIRC Emerick is barely mentioned in Martin's memoirs, just a few times in passing -- Rashomon, anyone?). Emerick is also fairly negative toward the Beatles themselves (even Ringo!), especially John Lennon. Only Paul comes off reasonably well -- the cynic in me suspects Emerick may hope to work with him again, and didn't want to burn bridges. It's certainly a very interesting read but I would not view it as the last word on The Beatles.

Can't talk about Geoff Emerick without mentioning that he produced one of my all time favorite albums: Imperial Bedroom by Elvis Costello. IMHO as good as anything The Beatles ever did.

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Posted by TFTC

Chicago, Il

Member since May 2010

22278 posts

Posted on 4/24/14 at 2:20 pm to Kafka

Yeah, he definitely was a big fan of Paul... As am I, so I want to believe it's all true...

Who knows what the truth is, probably somewhere in the middle...

I don't know a whole lot about recording, but the techniques that evolved or developed were one of the things I found the most interesting... assuming most are true..

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Posted by Kafka

I am the moral conscience of TD

Member since Jul 2007

141843 posts

Posted on 4/26/14 at 7:25 am to Kafka

quote:

This was really interesting. Anybody interested in recording techniques or classic rock in general should read it.

Berry Gordy got around paying musician's union scale (and overtime) by labeling the Funk Brothers the Motown house band. Typical...

I'd somehow never heard the tragic story of boyishly innocent-looking Jim Gordon, drummer for Derek and The Dominoes (and co-writer of "Layla")

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Posted by Kafka

I am the moral conscience of TD

Member since Jul 2007

141843 posts

Posted on 5/9/14 at 12:39 pm to Kafka

LINK

quote:
"Pynchon flashes the Sixties rock references faster than a Ten Years After guitar solo: His characters walk around wearing T-shirts from Pearls Before Swine, name-drop the Electric Prunes, turn up the Stones' 'Something Happened to Me Yesterday' on the radio. (I had never heard of Bonzo Dog Band's "Bang Bang" before, but it's on my iPod now.) The rock & roll fanboy love on every page is a feast for Pynchon obsessives, since we've always wondered what the man listens to….The songs are fragments in the elegiac tapestry for the Sixties, an era full of hippie slobs who just wanted to be left alone and so accidentally backed into heroic flights of revolutionary imagination. Can you dig it?" --Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone

quote:
Larry "Doc" Sportello is a private eye who sees the world through a sticky dope haze, animated by the music of an era whose hallmarks were peace, love, and revolution. As Doc's strange case grows stranger, his 60s soundtrack--ranging from surf pop and psychedelic rock to eerie instrumentals--picks up pace. Have a listen to some of the songs you'll hear in Inherent Vice—the playlist that follows is designed exclusively for Amazon.com, courtesy of Thomas Pynchon. [For those who don't know, Pynchon is legendary for his Salinger-level reclusiveness and aversion to publicity - K]

"Bamboo" by Johnny and the Hurricanes
"Bang Bang" by The Bonzo Dog Band
Bootleg Tape by Elephant's Memory
"Can't Buy Me Love" by The Beatles
"Desafinado" by Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto, with Charlie Byrd
"Elusive Butterfly" by Bob Lind
"Fly Me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra
"Full Moon in Pisces" performed by Lark
"God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys
The Greatest Hits of Tommy James and The Shondells
"Happy Trails to You" by Roy Rogers
"Help Me, Rhonda" by The Beach Boys
"Here Come the Hodads" by The Marketts
"The Ice Caps" by Tiny Tim
"Interstellar Overdrive" by Pink Floyd
"It Never Entered My Mind" by Andrea Marcovicci
"Just the Lasagna (Semi-Bossa Nova)" by Carmine & the Cal-Zones
"Long Trip Out" by Spotted Dick
"Motion by the Ocean" by The Boards
"People Are Strange (When You're a Stranger)" by The Doors
"Pipeline" by The Chantays
"Quentin's Theme" (Theme Song from "Dark Shadows") performed by Charles Randolph Grean Sounde
Rembetissa by Roza Eskenazi
"Repossess Man" by Droolin’ Floyd Womack
"Skyful of Hearts" performed by Larry "Doc" Sportello
"Something Happened to Me Yesterday" by The Rolling Stones
"Something in the Air" by Thunderclap Newman
"Soul Gidget" by Meatball Flag
"Stranger in Love" performed by The Spaniels
"Sugar Sugar" by The Archies
"Super Market" by Fapardokly
"Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen
"Telstar" by The Tornados
"Tequila" by The Champs
Theme Song from "The Big Valley" performed by Beer
"There's No Business Like Show Business" by Ethel Merman
Vincebus Eruptum by Blue Cheer
"Volare" by Domenico Modugno
"Wabash Cannonball" by Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
"Wipeout" by The Surfaris
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" by The Beach Boys
"Yummy Yummy Yummy" performed by Ohio Express

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Posted by Kafka

I am the moral conscience of TD

Member since Jul 2007

141843 posts

Posted on 10/21/14 at 11:34 am to Kafka

Always Magic in the Air: The Bomp and Brilliance of the Brill Building Era by Ken Emerson

Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues by Joel Selvin

The Brill Building was rock & roll's Tin Pan Alley, the home of music publishing companies and songwriters in cubicles cranking out hits. At its height in the early '60s it provided songs for everyone from Elvis to girl groups like the Shirelles.

These two books both look at the music which came out of that insular little world, but from very different perspectives.

Always Magic In The Air tells the story through seven songwriting teams (three of them married), including future stars Carole King and Burt Bacharach. Here Comes The Night focuses more narrowly on the legendary cult figure Bert Berns (1929-1967), writer of "Twist & Shout", "Hang On Sloopy", and "Piece Of My Heart".

The great difference between the books is that Here Comes The Night goes into considerable detail about the role of organized crime in the music business, through the career of Berns and his connection to shadowy figures like the notorious Morris Levy of Roulette Records and his associates, Sonny Franzese and the Pagano Brothers of the Genovese mafia family. The book details how Berns got the latter (inadvertently, the author claims) to lean on Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records so Berns could get out of a contract, a la Johnny Fontane.

Both books are must-reads for anyone interested in classic songwriting and/or the music business.

CBS This Morning feature on Bert Berns

Bert Berns with Van Morrison during the recording sessions for "Brown-Eyed Girl", 1967:

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Posted by Kafka

I am the moral conscience of TD

Member since Jul 2007

141843 posts

Posted on 10/23/14 at 6:28 pm to Kafka

Half Empty but Full of History, Brill Building Seeks Tenants

quote:
July 24, 2013

If ghosts paid the rent, Eric Hadar would have an all-star tenancy: Freddy Bienstock, Johnny Burke, Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington and Jimmy Van Heusen, to name a few. Not to mention J.J. Hunsecker and Danny Rose.

The Brill Building, at 49th Street and Broadway, currently stands more than half empty, after the closing last year of Colony Records and the Sound One postproduction studio.

But ghosts do not pay the rent. Neither do fictional characters. Their onetime home, the Brill Building, 1619 Broadway, at West 49th Street, now stands more than half empty, after the closing last year of Colony Records and the Sound One postproduction studio.

Mr. Hadar, the chairman of Allied Partners, a private real estate investment company, believes he can breathe life back into the Brill Building by evoking its show business past. He paid $185 million for the 11-story landmark in February.

For starters, he is in discussions with the Songwriters Hall of Fame — a 44-year-old organization with plenty of fame but no hall — about establishing a small museum in the Brill Building, where songwriters once swarmed to stake out the 80 or 90 music publishers or catch the attention of entertainers whose offices were there. The songwriters group will also curate a permanent exhibition in the lobby.

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Posted by HeadyBrosevelt

the Verde River

Member since Jan 2013

21590 posts

Posted on 10/23/14 at 6:29 pm to Kafka

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Posted by Kafka

I am the moral conscience of TD

Member since Jul 2007

141843 posts

Posted on 2/9/15 at 11:49 am to Kafka

Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay: The Dodgy Business of Popular Music by Simon Napier-Bell

The author has been a successful songwriter (Dusty Springfield's hit single "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me") but is best known as a manager, most notably for the Jimmy Page-era Yardbirds, T. Rex, and Wham. So he clearly has experience inside the music business.

That is to say, he has experience with people trying to rip him off.

For Napier-Bell the music business is just one big racket, and has been ever since the days of Stephen Foster.

His book is a historical overview, from the age of "broadsides" sold in the streets of London to the digital downloads of today. He tells how music publishers took control of the industry, only to see that control challenged by record companies.

I noticed some factual errors and messed up chronologies -- the book could have used a better editor. Still, I learned quite a bit here, such as how much Bob Dylan was ripped off by his first manager Albert Grossman. Curiously he ignores some other legendary manager-as-thief stories, such as Allen Klein's embezzlement from the Rolling Stones (Keith Richards described the band's time with Klein as "$25 million worth of experience") and Terry Knight's slave contract with Grand Funk. Somebody should write a book about rock managers.

This is very breezily written and easy to read. If you're a music fan and unfamiliar with the business side of things, you should definitely check it out.

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Posted by emigretiger

Member since Mar 2007

444 posts

Posted on 2/9/15 at 11:43 pm to Rickety Cricket

If you know the names, it will blow you away