Hello all---
Quote:
Originally Posted by TrueFaith77
Unpopular opinion:
Yes, here's the thing. The This is 40 songs and the Foo Fighters song are better produced (and maybe just better) songs than the Mac EP tracks. The deviation being: the presence of outsider producer is better than Lindsey producing. It pains me to come to this conclusion.
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Interestingly enough, there was a co-producer involved in both THIS IS 40 and EXTENDED PLAY. *grin* Mitchell Froom co-produced the EP, with the exception of "Without You," which was produced by Stevie and Lindsey[listed in that order, by the way!]. Lindsey's THIS IS 40 tracks were co-produced by Jon Brion.
I've always liked Mitchell Froom's production, but I don't hear his fingerprints on EXTENDED PLAY. His work in the late '80s and early '90s with artists like Crowded House, Los Lobos, Paul McCartney, and Elvis Costello was fantastic. Not unlike Lindsey, Froom had his own "sound," and you could spot one of his productions pretty easily.
His more recently productions have more of a mainstream sound to them...not bad, just lacking the really "out there" production of his '80s/'90s work. But the more recent stuff still sounds great from a production standpoint. It's well-recorded and well-mixed. And I think it sounds good, just not as creative or original as his earlier productions.
I know other fans disliked the sound of the THIS IS 40 songs, but I think Brion did a fantastic job on them. You can really hear Brion's touch on those songs, which I think are the best-recorded Lindsey songs since MIRAGE and maybe since RUMOURS. Brion leans toward a more organic sound. He loves layering parts, just like Lindsey does, but he does it similarly to how Brian Wilson and George Martin did---he combines different instruments and parts, rather than just adding effects. [He uses effects too, though. Just sparingly.]
So...back to the EP. "Without You" has a different sound than the other tracks, and the obvious difference is...Stevie co-produced it! So it's entirely possible that she was responsible for its bad production. *wink*
I think the sound issue is more an industry issue, with mastering being the culprit. Everything these days is mastered BIGGER LOUDER FASTER for portable devices, which squeezes all the life out of the original recordings. There are no subtleties...only VOLUME!
I don't think that can be blamed on Lindsey or Froom or any producer, for that matter. It's the record companies and iTunes and the other online download sites. Most people, unfortunately, listen to music via their phone/iPod/etc. Sad but true.
matt