A New Sound For Fleetwood Mac

[shackin'up]

Chris Goss.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by Jyqm

I don't worship them or think they're perfect, and I don't think Stevie and Lindsey quite have the vocal or lyrical chops to pull of an American-style non-production. Though admittedly, that's a very high bar to reach.

Well silent q, I don't worship them either. They are human. I am, however, confused now as to whether you think the production on the American recordings sucked or not.
Rubin took Cash right out of the box with those recordings and since Fleetwood, whether conciously or subconciously has now IMO fallen into a pattern of praying to the commerical gods (the exact opposite of what they tried to do on Tusk) I thought he might be a good fit for them.
Forgive me for doubting your street cred.

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

Well silent q, I don't worship them either. They are human. I am, however, confused now as to whether you think the production on the American recordings sucked or not.
Rubin took Cash right out of the box with those recordings and since Fleetwood, whether conciously or subconciously has now IMO fallen into a pattern of praying to the commerical gods (the exact opposite of what they tried to do on Tusk) I thought he might be a good fit for them.
Forgive me for doubting your street cred.

No! I absolutely love the American albums (and the Unearthed box, disc 3 of which is just as good as any of the actual albums). I just don't think that kind of approach would work well with Fleetwood Mac.

Rubin's approach to producing Cash's albums was, in large part, not to produce them at all. I mean, the first album is nothing more than Johnny and his acoustic guitar. The approach worked brilliantly for Cash simply because he's such a commanding presence, both vocally and mythically. Rubin let Cash's voice carry all of those without much overt production getting in the way or diverting your attention.

But I don't think either Stevie or Lindsey has the voice to make that kind of stripped-down approach really work. So if we're going to bring in Rick Rubin, I think I'd be far more entertained by an approach more along the lines of "99 Problems" than "Unchained."

[ryan8472]

If they teamed up with Brian Eno, I bet they'd come up with something along the lines of Tusk again.

[amber]

Originally Posted by ryan8472

If they teamed up with Brian Eno, I bet they'd come up with something along the lines of Tusk again.

That would be great, no?

[ryan8472]

Originally Posted by amber

That would be great, no?

Well I certainly would enjoy it, yes!

[buckmacnicks]

Interesting topic this. I can´t imagine for Lindsey not producing the next Fleetwood Mac album (if there ever will be one), but for argument´s sake, I think an excellent choice as a producer for them and for Stevie´s next solo album would definitely be Daniel Lanois.

I absolutely love what he and his musical partner Malcolm Burn have done for Emmylou Harris since 1995. Her albums Wrecking Ball, Red Dirt Girl and the somewhat lesser Stumble Into Grace all carry that stamp of his with brooding rhythms, deep and dark textures and haunting melodies. Plus he achieved for her to sing differently, making her voice a sensuous and sometimes lamenting instrument in itself, deep, dark and mysterious. I really love those albums and in a way it would make a for a more than welcome return to the sound structures found on the landmark Tusk album! I would love to hear him work on Stevie´s voice in that manner, challenging her to explore places she has never been before!!

[dissention]

Originally Posted by ryan8472

If they teamed up with Brian Eno, I bet they'd come up with something along the lines of Tusk again.

Only a tad weirder, hopefully.

[BombaySapphire3]

Remember the band had brought in an outside producer for TITN and it didn't work out .So I think the idea for any outside producer with Lindsey in the band will not fly.buckmacnick's idea of having Daniel Lanios and Malcolm Burn produce Stevie solo is great though.EmmyLou and Stevie had alot in common vocally about 30 years ago ,both of them being instinctive harmony singers, but Stevie has lost so much of her upper range they would definately have to come up with some different ideas of how to frame her,but the results could be great depending on the material she shows up with of course. She'd also have to get past the commerce over art thing and not go with a poppy producer of the moment.No matter that top 40 radio is not going to play her no matter whom she enlists.

[ryan8472]

I always thought that Lindsey produced Tango with Richard Dashut.

[BombaySapphire3]

Richard Dashut helped on production on all the Fleetwood Mac lps from Rumours through Tango .On Tango Lindsey was not going to produce at all and the band had brought in an outside producer.I think it was maybe Nile Rodgers? This did not work out and Lindsey/Richard Dashut took over.

[David]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

Richard Dashut helped on production on all the Fleetwood Mac lps from Rumours through Tango .On Tango Lindsey was not going to produce at all and the band had brought in an outside producer.I think it was maybe Nile Rodgers? This did not work out and Lindsey/Richard Dashut took over.

Yes, an interesting time. Lindsey initially opted not to produce "Tango," & the idea of bringing in Nile was tossed around. Somebody named Jason Casaro was brought in for a brief period, but according to Lindsey, the poor kid was in over his head.

[shackin'up]

I repeat Chris Goss. I want a friggin' Fleetwood Mac Rock-abum. And lindsey ROCKS live. But in the studio a lot of his guitar antics don't sound like guitar.

[Nixxxed]

At the very least, it looks like Lindsey will have to come up with a new *way* of recording, even if he ends up producing the new album. Or, until new manufacturers start up, we'll just have to wait. But we're used to that, I guess...

-------------------------

WSJ.com - Tale of the Tape: Audiophiles Bemoan The End of the Reel

(WSJ.com is subscriber-only. I lifted the article from:
http://www.b12partners.net/mt/archiv...f_the_tap.html )

Jeff Tweedy, leader of the rock group Wilco, prefers to record music on reel-to-reel tape rather than on the digital equipment that has overtaken the music industry. Purists like him think it confers a warmth and richness to recordings that a computer cannot.

But last Friday, Mr. Tweedy hit a snag as he prepared for a session in Wilco's Chicago studio space: Nobody could find any of the professional-grade audio tape the band is accustomed to using. "I was under the impression that there was a shortage of tape in Chicago," Mr. Tweedy says.

What he didn't yet realize was that the shortage is global. Quantegy Inc., which may be the last company in the world still manufacturing the high-quality tape, abruptly shut down its Opelika, Ala., plant on Dec. 31, leaving audiophiles in the lurch.

Quantegy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday and hopes a restructuring will eventually revive its operations. But its future is uncertain, inasmuch as demand also is dwindling for its videotape.

The news has set off a frantic scramble in the music industry as producers and studios seek to secure as much Quantegy tape as possible. By the middle of last week, most suppliers around the country had sold out their entire stocks of reel-to-reel audio tape.

The supply that remained came at prices rapidly escalating above the usual $140-per-reel wholesale price of Quantegy 2-inch tape. Walter Sear, a prominent New York studio owner, quickly snapped up 60 or 70 reels, some at prices that had ballooned by as much as 40%. "We'll have to change our approach to life without tape," Mr. Sear says.

The crunch reaches far beyond the recording industry. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration uses Quantegy tape on its space shuttles to record information ranging from pressure to temperature. This week NASA has been trying to buy 20 reels from Quantegy.

Even Hollywood is affected. Some die-hard moviemakers believe voices sound better recorded on analog tape. In making "Spider-Man 2" and the Harry Potter movies, digital recording technology has taken the front seat, but backups of dialogue were recorded on reels of Quantegy tape.

When Wilco's Mr. Tweedy found himself in a bind, he telephoned Steve Albini, a Chicago producer and studio owner who is known for his work with Nirvana and the Pixies. Mr. Albini's Electrical Audio Recording is one of the last major studios in the country to rely exclusively on audiotape.

Mr. Albini had been stockpiling tape for more than a year, worried that the end of manufacturing was near. But when Quantegy closed its doors, he redoubled his efforts to secure as much as possible. Working through normal sources, he tracked down around 65 reels, enough to make about 10 albums.

He also began "looking in the weeds," as he puts it. He tracked down contacts who buy odd lots of electronic equipment on the salvage market. Through one, Mr. Albini hit the mother lode: nearly 2,000 reels of 2-inch magnetic tape, enough to fill a small warehouse. Mr. Albini bought 100 reels and is trying to keep the supplier's name and whereabouts to himself. He says he doesn't want to see a better-funded competitor move in on the remaining stock.

Mr. Albini estimates he now has a year's worth of tape, or about 500 reels, on hand. So when Mr. Tweedy called last Friday, Mr. Albini volunteered two reels of tape -- as "a professional courtesy." But, he says, "I don't want to go into business supplying tape to people."

Looking ahead to a tape-starved future, Mr. Tweedy has a fallback: The band has an archive of around 100 reels of tape it has used in recording its various albums. By splicing out and saving the final version of each song, he figures they can maintain the archive and also generate a supply of tapes that can be recycled for future recording sessions.

Still, Mr. Tweedy jokes, if the tape scarcity continues, even some of the archived recordings might become expendable. "I'm just fearful that all the master tapes at the loft would be worth more if they were blank," he says.

[chiliD]

Well, too bad he's passed away (a couple of years ago), but I would've suggested Tom Dowd.

He's produced/engineered most of the legends. Thelonious Monk, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby Darin, Cher, Booker T & MG's, Otis Redding, Cream, Allman Bros Band, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, Derek & The Dominoes, Rod Stewart, Dusty Springfield, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Coasters, Lavern Baker, Herbie Mann, Bee Gees, Jackie DeShannon, The Drifters...well, look at the list yourself:

Tom Dowd Discography