Salon@615-Glyn Johns

my name is Paul Kenley I've been lucky enough to have known Glynn for almost 40 years somewhat ill-advisedly you asked me if I conduct this interview it's a process I know absolutely nothing about I've got a clue how to do it so will alone yes we'll we'll just have to plunge in but first just to put you in the picture of quite who we're dealing with here take just three massively important cultural artifacts the recordings of you really got me by the kinks my generation by the WHO and a honky tonk women by the Rolling Stones each one sounding as exclusive as a Hezbollah rocket attack the this is the man who recorded those magnificent performances and delivered them to millions of pairs of ears and that's just the tip of the iceberg he actually did put lightning in a bottle and more importantly now he's put it in a book so here we are the legendary Hall of Famer Glenn Jones yeah thank you I've never been likened to a Hezbollah rocket attack before and so that's the first fast right and it is all about the sound for me the book rather than you know the proximity to all these sort of luminaries that you you know just sort of grown up with virtually yeah with green it is always about that pure classic I'm you know arguably some of the greatest world the greatest recordings ever oh absolutely I agree I mean you were first immersed in music as a child I was quiet yes exactly I was in a church choir there you may hearing skiffle and early rock and roll my right ear and playing yes a beat group yes but by the age of 17 you had become an apprentice I got a job in a recording studio as a by a quirk of fate and I thought well it's very interesting I knew nothing about recording and I started down I thought well maybe I could get discovered as a singer I could use this to meet people in the industry because I didn't know anybody at all so that's what was my first interest was to check out the people in it and what was going on I knew nothing I came from the middle of nowhere and it as time went by I did actually pursue the career as a singer rather inadvertedly I did get a record deal and eventually I decided that I couldn't go any further as an engineer it was a great job it was fascinating but in those days an engineer never progressed through anything else that was it you know the idea of an engineer becoming producer was just completely unheard of and equally there were no freelance engineers so you worked in the studio and maybe the best you could achieve would become senior engineer the studio or possibly might even money the place at the end of the day which didn't particularly appeal to me so I set sail I gave up my job having done quite well I've got a good reputation going as an engineer and I've made a couple of Records that just died and I I remember sitting at home having just done a bunch of promotion for this month Seeger had done and I might as well not have bothered leaving the house really so I was a bit sort of disparate and I got a phone call from a producer I'd been working with a lot of guy called shel talmy he was American actually and I'd made a lot of Records with him my generation was one and in fact an you really got me a couple of things with the Kings we'd had a lot of success and I've been away now for probably six weeks or something and he called me and he said well would you consider coming back because it's not quite the same without you sort of thing so I said well no I wouldn't very happy where he said well supposing supposing I paid you by the hour you know that sounds interesting so I said hold on I'll call you back and I rang the studio that I used to work for IBC and I got the guy who ran the place and I said okay how's business and he said well to be honest with you since she left it drops off rather a lot so what would you think if I came back and worked and you paid me by the hour I was freelance and there was silence and he was like okay fine so I I worked it I wasn't particularly bright at school but I was quite pleased myself but I'll actually just got two people paying me for the same thing so and I became them and that was the first time anyone actually I was any freelance engineer for years Ritt strangely so I did that for a while that was great it was gone and a few quid I when things went on I don't know that's that story anyway right and you had been also probably the first person to when you were still with IBC to be given the freedom to produce as well so I mean there was no such thing as an end yeah producer there wasn't no the Celia was bought by new owners I went to the guy that owned the place that had just bought in my said duck I don't know how old I was I was twenty maybe nineteen row and I'm there was a lot things were beginning to bubble in London music was changing a lot of young young people were appearing and rock-and-roll groups were forming and stuff and I I have met a couple years previously a guy called Ian Stewart who was who was live directly to me and he was really good blues piano player and he had a fantastic record collection and he had answered an advertisement that Brian Jones had put in jazz news or something to form a band and out of that came the Rolling Stones it was stewar and Brian the put together so CO and I by now have become very good friends in fact we might have been living together I had to leave well you did yes yeah that's another story it's quite funny so anyway he told me about the band I went to see them play and I'd been given a Jimmy Reed record when I was 16 by an American guy that was visiting with his parents and I was probably one of the few people thing he'd ever heard Jimmy Reed and it completely blew me away this sounds so fantastic so when I saw the Rolling Stones whatever three years later I knew exactly what they were up to you right and they were reproducing that sound really well so in parallel to this I go see the guy who now owns the studio and I said look I'm meeting all these acts I'm sure you've got a studio is they never worked at weekends in those days so that certainly is something for free I said that I can bring people in in downtime I just wanted to start doing it right so he agreed he had nothing to lose the condition was that I had absolutely nothing to do with the business which may well have been very good idea and so the first band I took in with my new arrangement was the Rolling Stones and it was their first session just a complete crack of fate really yeah Diddley daddy yeah yeah five rhythm-and-blues what has happened to those tapes I hope people actually I've only got I've got an acetate with three of my life I thought there were only three but while researching the book I've spent a lot of time on the phone to Bill Wyman who was it was absurdly finicky about detail of everything I mean he could tell you what time of day you had a peon in 1952 which is remarkable I mean it sounds funny but in fact he's obviously there for a great source of information and he says he we cut five songs and I said I guess we did out of him right well and and also in these weekend sessions before he actually did the running stone strikes you'd had pals like Jimmy Page who lived in the same town as me right captain lived around and he did he lived about 10 miles away Oh Jeff right there was something in the water right we all became friends Stu and I moved to do this into this house and my parents my father retired and they moved him and we were all living at home much too old to be living at home really believe me we were and they so I had to find someone to live so I found this little house it was a bungalow and it had three bedrooms and that's all I can remember about it really and I needed someone to share it with me because it was far too much money so the only person I knew that I would even consider living with was stew because he was such a lovely guy and one off so I rang him out when he was older than mean he was still living with his mom and I said here Stu I've got this house I told him what the rib was I said would you fancy coming in so he said no no no I get the laundry done you know I get my meals cooked I don't I come and go as I said Harper - you can you take girls home anyway mmm ok I mean he said and the condition was that no Thomas sister he refused to clean anything or have anything to do with a garden and I mean okay that's fine and he turned up with his upright piano that was it he arrived with his piano so we had to serve bedroom and we thought we'd invite someone else and he had a friend who actually I didn't really like it was insipid blue really anyway that's not the end of the his name was Bron so Bryan worked for an advertising agency Stu and I excused off with the stones no the stones are really happening I'm rocking working 24 hours Dennis - you having a great time I'm not complaining and Bryan is going to work on the training coming but his never tire goes and he gets jealous so he decides he wants to be a musician so he learns how to play the harmonica does anybody in here play I want to get I believe it's quite easy I've never actually tried but it must be actually because otherwise he'd never be able to do it so so he gets to such a lovely guy he decided to help Bryan put this band together so they go to a club called Eel Pie Island the company what it was called now doesn't matter which is it little island in the middle of the Thames and it was very popular and everybody played there in those days so they go along and they see this band called the Trident and Jeff Beck happens to be in the Trident so stup everybody knows these two is because he's in the stones comes off station this is my mate Brian he's putting a band together you in Jeff goes what Jeff wouldn't know the Blues and he fell over him actually if you think about it was certainly not then but anyway he joins the bankers of Stu right and I'm told about all this and I don't give him AI kenneled interested say eventually they do their first gig and it's on a Sunday afternoon forget it's on a Sunday afternoon in a little folk club and I couldn't get out of going I had to go really would I go along thinking this is going to be terrible and actually it was except this bloke playing the guitar who I've never heard of I mean I couldn't believe it I'd never seen anything like it he we all know he's just extraordinary so I marked his card he obviously became pals with us and Jimi living up the earth so there was a crowd of us that would hang out but could we were the only place that they were still living with her mom and dad I think you know so all the naughty stuff went on in my place well then the the next and and I must say in the book I think you remarked on Jeff Beck's or Healey McKay well yeah it was a car freak he still ate actually and and whenever you saw him he was ingrained black oil in his room disgusting well I'm going to refer I really refer to my copious I've got screeds yes I know what you're all already very much ahead of where oh all right well this plum for this one let's see yeah and I have to keep doing this because my eyesight is somewhat akin to that of blind pew so yes we left IBC yes yes okay but actually it was around this time I think that you met Andrew Oldham and also started wearing his Olympic is that right yes actually yeah that the the the Assessors were the stones that I did nothing came with that because the gentlemen that I'd done the arrangement we had the arrangement the owner of the studio turned out to be totally incompetent as far as selling anything he didn't know anybody in the industry really it turned out other than some guy at Decca who did classical music so he ties a stake to him quite understandably he didn't quite get it so they got turned down a week after those sessions Andrew Oldham met the Rolling Stones and he had a partner called Eric Easton he was an agent and the approach that I'd like to manage you and they said that's great we're up for that and I understood well you have you committed yourself to anything I said well we've got this arrangement with I be seeing clean John's so I understood we'll go and get out of it so they went I was coming back from lunch one day out of the front of the building with a running stance that's what are you doing in they said well we just got out of the contract we don't want to do it we decided we don't want to be commercial with everything lying toads anyway so I went loopy I mean I don't forget I was one of the few people on the planet who even knew they existed but I knew that you could there was something was going on there you know it's gonna be huge so I was really upset because they they sort of what they would trait it on me really but I don't really blame them so I would steaming at the building and had a terrible go at this bloke I nearly goes no I was already freelancing and I wasn't I wasn't working for him so I nearly got the sack anyway Andrew Oldham then took them into a studio and cut the first single and he did it identically to how I've done an agile room couldn't produce an apple I mean he couldn't whistle attune he's completely non musical person I thought and anyway I was mad as hell and they went off and the first thing was released huge hit I still saw the guys I used to go to gigs with them in the van and everything but I wouldn't everything's Avenger or them so yeah later they've they're now hitting it big time a year later I'm working in the studio freelance the phone rings and it's the girl in the booking office and she says didn't look would you do us a favor after your session finishes tonight at 11 o'clock we've got a new client who we'd really like to encourage to use a student he wants to come in tonight but none of our engineers are here you're the only person left in the building would you do as a favor and stay on the day of the session so I said no well he was it mr. van der autumn says no you gotta be checking I don't want to only do them but I really like this guy I had a big crush on her she was gorgeous you know like Jane Russell stunning lovely anyway so she used her female wily ways and I I gave in very quickly so Angela knocks on the door 11 o'clock at night and I said come in sit down we'll get on with it with the vocal overdubs I said we do it I'm not gonna speak to him I just do the job really I hate it so we get to the end of the session and he said what did you think of the track so I said it was say okay was okay it wasn't awful you know I was gonna tell him it was good which it actually was so he said well hold on a minute so he goes to the phone it's now one o'clock in the morning and he rings his secretary wakes her up says put three saying was the last sushi singles he done in a cab and Senator IBC had to sit there and wait with these bloody singles to come put him on the turntable and actually they work they were really good so I had to sort about it we said okay now what do you think nice today okay all right okay yes you do know what you're doing they're very very good so he said right well will you come and work with me now so I said yes now if if I hadn't fancied this bird I would never have worked the Rolling Stones again and that's I then started work with him and work with him for the next 13 years which is you can imagine was not bad for my career really obviously I was doing a lot of other stuff as well but it was a it was a nice thing to have on your CV right nor so you were actually doing all all the artists on Andrew albums label and video exactly so that was a lot of work yeah small faces yeah the loudest singles ever made in Britain does anybody know about small faces yeah they never came in it's ridiculous that they never came here it's so sad it's because they'd have ruled the country without any question they were absolutely extraordinary they were only about that big and made the biggest noise you've ever seen more energy than anything you've ever seen just quite extraordinary great bunch of guys and I made pretty much everything as an engineer they produce themselves mostly which really meant I did most of it but I didn't mind it it was it was wonderful who else was on Chris Farlowe maybe doing all that stuff er am faithful an area and faithful yes yeah fastest now we did it Olympic was with Marianne Faithfull right yeah Olympic which cause became your home from home I'm looking once more in these things the notes incidentally a margin is short yes and of course at this time although you had stopped making rec yourself as an artist and sort of forgotten about that you've got a massive hit in spanner he's got that's another funny story lady yes I'd cut the song Lady Jane with the Rolling Stones and I'm it was a ballad so therefore quite simple to sing and I cut it as a single myself with a string quartet and Brian Jones played sitar and John Mark played acoustic Spanish guitar it was really good it's great little arrangement done by Tony Mian who was in the shadows right he Germans yes and he produced the record so we cut this and I'm not I didn't have a record deal in I think at the time so Tony paid for the session and we were we're really pleased with it and then two days later we found out that someone else had covered it and they got this show this there was used to be a weekly TV show in England called Ready Steady Go and if you got Ready Steady Go you had a hit basically because it was the music program along with Top of the Pops so there was no point of even trying to get it released because the seller blog had already beaten the cert so I had an acetate of it and I had it in my briefcase he was sort of lived in my briefcase in parallel to that bill wyman and I've formed a company it's very loose term for what we were doing but it was a production company and Bill had found a couple of bands and we'd make recordings of them and he and he has stated much more to do with getting him gigs I was too busy doing other things anyway we had this band called the end very aptly named and and we couldn't get him up front no Peter Frampton was in the house oh so the end we couldn't get him arrested in England so it's one of them knew somebody in Spain some woman who knew these two brothers who owned this massive company in Spain called sana play and that they owned billboards and they were publishing outfit very wealthy and they decided that they wanted to go into music he's a bit of a long story this side stop me if I walk along or if I'm not off you won't have to stop me with you so I'm told to go to Spain and meet with these guys to sell the n's record right because apparently they're into so I jump on a plane and I go over there and play them in the record and they're very pleased and obviously part of the deal was that Bill Wyman from the Rolling Stones would go over and help promotion because know the spent the stones had never actually been to Spain at that moment in time so as I'm leaving the guy says to me if you got anything else and I've got my little briefcase oh so I've pulled out the acetate of my version of Lady Jane I'd give it to him I didn't say it was me I said well I've got this say putting I said oh this is great we'd love this so I then had to own up it was me and they asked me to sign a contract there and then and I signed my name to linty John's my militant issue is tea and when the record came out almost Thomas so when the record came out but having along later I was called glint John that's right panic anyway didn't seem to make a movement so anyway I go back to meaning I'm very pleased with myself they'd give me a check for a small amount of money that would cover the cost of the session so I give that to turning me in at least I feel right debt-free with Tony and we carry on a few weeks later the end go to Spain and they start touring to promote their record and then Bill and I jump a plane and go out and there's another story which is in the books I won't tell you that but anyway I would get off the plane and it's just like I don't know if you ever seen that thing with the Beatles at Shea Stadium because when they first came to America these people other kids on the roof and you know mayhem everyone in those days they didn't have shoots off the plane you had to go downstairs and walk across the tarmac so we pull up at Madrid Airport and it completely anything you let me do all these bills coming in one of the rowing sent so there's about 50 cameramen TV movies of kids on the roof screaming and all the usual stuff so I get out of the way I get off the plane first and I walk down under the wing to get out the way and Bill follows me down and the whole press corps follow me under the bloody ween so the guy from the real camera I can see him at the back of the crowd I go tell they stock the tape I've had long hair you know that just taking pictures of the wrong bloke bills coming down then he says no he goes it had been really seriously I swear I've been have no ideas even Ben released and actually to be fair to be fair number one in Spain means you'd probably sell for record so we wouldn't wouldn't made it off look and what's be honest I also don't know which chart he was talking about I'm not sure that it was anything but no I think it well anybody that's that sorry right yes because I actually I had a copy on it I gave it to your boy yeah and he's been holding it against me ever since yeah yeah I'm sure he's teased you mercilessly talking about mobs of girls I it's not in the book or anything but I remember you telling me about being with the stones in Poland and being rather unnerved oh that was in Ireland Oh was it ends with a land exactly yeah that was extraordinary this is quite early on in the sixties that they were huge and they were doing a tour of Ireland which doesn't take Tomi's on and I was asked to go along with Peter Whitehead who was a documentary filmmaker and be the sound man of the two-man crew basically right to make a documentary about them in Ireland which actually is used on that thing that Andrew Oldham just released Charlie's my darling I think it's great that's right talking about it's a DVD anyway so we we do this they do a concert in a cinema or in I think it must have been Belfast and they the deal was you come off stage and there was a door into an alleyway alongside the theatre and there was supposed to be the cars were supposed to be parked in it and so we opened the doors with a crush offstage as mayhem going on in the auditorium and they done --is-- two shows and the people from the first show was still in the street outside waiting for him anyway this is early way down the side of the building where the cars are spaced we all go outside and that there's no cars and the door shut behind us you can't get in and so it was pretty weird so we had to go towards this raging crowd and fight our way to the cars that were on the other side of the street an event I'm connected to the cameraman with a sink lead so we were getting pushed and shoved it was just and eventually we got in the cut well I was just about to get in the car and I felt this huge whack across my back I've been shil a lead by a policeman but I had no idea who it was but I had a stick Mike about that long and my instinct was and I laid this copper out I mean I thought oh god now I'm really in trouble and this kids climbing all over the cars and we got in the car there's everybody there's two cars instead of four or whatever that was supposed to be so we're all sitting on each other's laps and these kids push the cars sideways across the street and the wheels of the car collapsed underneath I mean it was just very frightening actually move on because I've got a feeling that we were only given 35 minutes let's see we'd just have to skip skip skip let's see oh well know this is sort of somewhat important I suppose the first Led Zeppelin album which not just for the fact that the world was introduced Led Zeppelin but it was this is when you changed how all records all yes it's true all records were recorded and mixed in stereo this is the first example of obviously doesn't where the snare drum and then the bass drum are in the center and he's got the usually best stereo drums not not the whole thing yeah but I just covered yeah okay so that's it I mean I could go on about that but you know yeah but I could be reading about it up until that moment drums were always on the right or the left yeah okay a lot of people think it's important Oh the works one okay let's just talk about Led Zeppelin for a minute right because that's first I think you might be interested obviously phenomenal I'm sure you all remember hearing the first lesson was that some of you perhaps are too young but but the first Led Zeppelin album when it came out and I'm sure it had a huge effect on you because you probably know what you haven't heard anything quite like it so I don't Jimmy since we were kids I'd known John Paul Jones since I was probably 19 session bass player I saw him every day really good friends time goes by Jimmy joins The Yardbirds Isis Jeff Beck interesting Lee which always was a bit old anyway there we are and I didn't see very much some I was very busy running around like a whatsit and I got a call out of the blue from Jimmy saying I've put a band together and I'm gonna make an album with them I'm John and I would love you to do it it's our whenever this sounds great well I know that they're wonderful musicians Jimmy paste now at that time renowned guitar boy so I turn up because it's a couple of mates you know I don't have no idea not a clue what I was walking into and you can imagine hearing them play for the first time the first eight bars I thought I'd died and goddamn it's just extraordinary I mean work huge sound incredible arrangements the drummer I'd never heard of jump on them and I'd never heard of Robert Plant either both equally as good as everybody else so the combination of the four was just a moment well we all know that but selfishly from my point of view can you imagine sitting there watching this going on was just extraordinary made that record in nine days I mean because they were so proficient it was really quick so yes possibly one of the better sounding records I've ever made certainly from the point of rock'n'roll another example of that would be the first Eagles album which I still get tingles when I listen to and I've got extremely fond memories of making if at one of the Eagles is here to know yes we have we have an eagle an eagle and an owl a bernie leadon is here where I been where are you burn yeah there you somehow or other we've managed to remain extraordinarily good friends ever since but again another experience of obviously I knew what they were capable of when we went in because I decided to work with him so it was a slightly different story however may had to be honest and it's not just because he's here but the the most important ingredient sonically for me was was Bernie because of his extraordinary ability as an acoustic guitar player guitar player together but he does he does have the most extremely collectable instruments on the one hand and he gets the most remarkable sound out of them and my whole thing has always been from the very beginning until today my job is without any question to be of service to the artists to capture what they're giving me not to create something totally unrealistic out of what's being fed through them from from the studio which is what happens now with most people with contemporary sound it would seem that guitar selling really nice doesn't this is merely good anymore so so my whole thing is I've been really fortunate to work with some wonderful musicians and they all create a fantastic sale that's individual to them and my job is to capture that which can be quite difficult but equally it's that's the most important thing it isn't for me to start changing them trying to make them sound better it's for me the difficulty is to make them sound as good as they really are and the Eagles were a classic example of where that suited my style of recording initially it didn't sit down after two or three hours they got tired of it and went off and did something else but and it that worked for them really well also but that's the way I've always seen it and it's also a much simpler way of doing what I do because I don't have to use my brain you know I have to say it's it's quite remarkable when when you walk in from the studio having been playing on something that blends recording you'd go into the control room and right there and then the playback no tarting up or anything sounds well that's the other thing right the concentric way of recording now and this has been the case for a long time on the very rare occasion that I visit other people's sessions I notice that particularly with Pro Tools now whenever rides anything when it's going down everything's left or later no one can possibly make a decision at the time right and there are there are many reasons why I think that's wrong but I call you all night but what you used to mix off the monitor section yes I did yeah but but the the way I was taught when I started it everything was mono and you had to make a decision as you went along because there was there was no afterwards and there's a there's a lot to be gained from that because there's no prevarication you don't you know you make a decision and you have to stick by it and so you don't get hung up you know they say about golf is that it's all in the brain and Laura said well it's the same thing with recording the more opportunities you get to postpone making a decision the worse it gets and the longer you'll take and the less likely you are to react to something positively or negatively or whatever else in the cold light of day if you like it's terribie difficult to explain but I'm sure you know what I mean do you I feel so strongly about this when I'm doing when I'm putting a basic tracker and I'm riding everything as it's going on and so when I play it back there's a fairly good representation of the way it's going to be mixed there and then I used to print echo on the drums or whatever I'd I'd actually give the guys in the in their earphones the sonic picture that which hopefully the thing would end up with and again the musicians would then play to that sound and it does make a hell of a difference and obviously they'd be creating it in the first place I'd just be sticking with it and I think again that's incredibly important and a lot of that doesn't ever go on now and particularly with the vocal if you if you actually ride it while it's going then it's not that complicated if you once you've heard it through once you know pretty much what the dynamics are going to be it's not for you well okay but but but it I mean I mix an album in I eat easily in three days and and I don't use a computer and that's another thing I hate I hate computers not not in the normal sense but there's in a recording process to me a mix isn't performance just like anything else and and the thing about performances is that they first of all they vary and you know what you actually can make a mistake that's beneficial and I do that all the time and it won't if you pre program everything that'll never happen again it's just it takes away part of the creative process as far as I'm concerned right well that's what sort of makes you the artist that you are I mean actually you really got me on my generation they're perfect examples that because that was actually it don't name there were three track probably in those days but so there was a mix afterwards but I think it's really sad that the norm now is the contemporary way of recording which of course it can be used brilliantly and great rooks have made and I don't want to sound like a boring out far too much but but and I do respect that some great writ has been made but I I pray that the way I was taught to work won't disappear if you consider the recording process was initially designed to capture the performance of a piece of music that's all it was for so people performed they reacted when they played emotionally to each other and therefore affected the feel of the piece of music they were playing whether it's classical or any other whatever rock and roll I was got to say punt but that was a bit of good over the top really now the recording process has completely reversed the whole thing the method of recording affects the way the songs written in the first place in many cases and it certainly affects the way it's played if you record let's say you record a bass drums and I get a rhythm guitar as a basic track and then you overdub three or four other instruments in a vocal strings or whatever else the three guys that put the basic track down will will it obviously instinctively react to each other and that's cool the guy that's going to do the overdub is being influenced by what they play and will react to it however they're not going to react at all to what he's done and the same of the next and the same of the next now you might think that might matter and in love cases perhaps it doesn't however I'm sure as I hope there's a few musicians in here tonight and I'm sure you'll identify with what I'm saying and some of you might disagree but there's a subconscious thing that happens when you play live you don't you don't think about it you're not even necessarily aware of it but when a piece of music is performed particularly there's a particularly wonderful performance of it it is as a result of that combination of people playing a piece of music and reacting off each other emotionally music is about emotions playing it and listening to it if you think about it and the reason why everything is so clinical now in my view it not any no not just the digital digital awfulness but the fact that that the emotion is being taken out of music in the way I've just described in varying degrees so there you go I hope somebody agrees with that and that that was really precisely yeah and it when I was a kid the studio I worked at we had a remote unit that was literally the equipment could be taken out of the studio and you put it in a you know removed furniture removal truck and you take it to a big venue and record the London Symphony Orchestra row and so I I watched all that going on and you see that and you I mean you can't beat it can you we've got to move on I'm sorry they'll be shooing this off the next thing the Beatles well that's not very interesting we can skip but you know although you're let it be album mixes weren't released you your mix of let it be and get back were an actual fact you were responsible for the rooftop yeah to be honest yeah it was it was ring and I came up with I think probably my idea but but certainly ringer took me up on the roof and showed me the roof and we were we had a bit of a problem with the original Paul's original idea for let it be as you all know was a frank good idea actually no one else has ever done it was to write a bunch of songs and recall them live in front of an audience as a show so it would be a live album of new material I suppose there aren't that many artists that can get away with that really but they could they're slightly different anyway so it was the middle of winter and his idea was to go to Tunisia there's there was some Roman amphitheater in Tunisia or something where obviously still exists and he wanted to go they wanted to get a bunch of Beatles friends stick him on a boat to take him it's a bit expensive and having them as an audience and it would be a TV show and the making of that whole process would was to be a documentary so we'd started in on the sound stage of chicken and film studios rehearsing material and at the time either though three or four days later every time we had a tea break or whatever that we discuss what was going to go on and what wasn't and eventually it became apparent that the idea of going to Africa wasn't the flyer the Ringo said he wouldn't like the food I seem to remember that so that was quite funny spending the hundreds of thousands of pounds moving people around they couldn't put afford to chef to cook eggs and chips so so the whole idea sort of got blown apart and here we are we got great songs being rehearsed we've got a documentary film being made but now we've got no end so we decided to move into into their office building they just built a recording studio in the basement that was finished in the weeks that we were in them on the soundstage so we moved in there carried on rehearsing film crew and I witnessed during this process something that I knew hundreds of thousands of people would love to be a fly on the wall for which was these four guys sitting around playing live and joking and taking the mickey out of each other with some of the time with Billy Preston he'd call I was asked to stay and I thought this is just survival now this book don't forget it's again we're casting back cast back your minds in 1969 The Beatles are the biggest thing although they couldn't go anywhere though the huge huge they were on a modernist up here somewhere and they they'd already proven they'd make them made the most stunning produced records they change the rules they'd just extraordinary staff and here they are right back at the beginning sitting around playing live and it was great it was even more great because they were who they were obviously and they'd achieve what they achieved and I thought god this is fantastic so I was recording everything in my playing so that they could see how they were getting on with the race was over anyway one night I snuck away with the with the melted tracks went to Olympic I mixed everything we'd done that day and edited it together with a bit of chat and a full start here and somebody being rude somebody else are there but all our save the last of me yet yeah so I'll I thought it was really funny and I thought it was fantastic because it was showing who they really were and so I took it in the next morning and I played it to them and to a man they went down for dummy ridiculous for there were nothing to do with that like I kind of expected that so we carried on and were you we weren't going about the end of that but we got to the end we shot it we did the thing on the roof and then they went away to edit the film and the guy who directed the documentary was a TV director and he hadn't really paid attention wasn't used to working with film so it took a year for that film to be finished because there was no continuity was a complete mess and so then we carried on and we started every Road in what was to become a be really where I was just doing sessions and then I got I we kept taking breaks and I got busy I went off and did stuff here with Steve Monroe and versa people I can't remember and in the end they went they they went back into Abbey Road with George Martin and Jeff Hamrick their engineer and finished Abbey Road and actually this was sound like I'm being in was but but in fact I'm really glad they did because it's what they did was fantastic I don't really remember what I did on that record I did some of it right maybe a third of it or something but it yeah because they had asked for you to come back from their case so then we finished Abbey Road a period of time goes by and I get a call from John Apple they asked me to meet them at Abbey Road so I jumped in the car and go up there I walk in the control room and there's a part of multitrack tapes and they said you remember the idea that you had that you had made us acetate or sausage yeah so they said well we do you think we think that's probably the best way to do the record and we'd like you to do it it's fantastic great so I said well when did we start and they said well we don't start you're gonna do it on your own like you did before and I thought that's fantastic all this confidence and me to go away do this without them and in the car on the way home hold on a minute I really there wasn't anything to do with that they were bored rigid with it and they weren't interested anymore they'd lost interest so that was quite happy to just give it to me to go and do she was a bit disappointing with it so it did get finished and I did deliver it back to EMI and then the band broke up and well before he ever was talked about even being released by now I'd be raged sort of well on the way and then John Lennon came to America and formed a relationship with Phil Spector which I also it was really really strange company to people and he gave the tapes to Phil Spector and he puked all over the bloody I'm just awful awful record now I think well it is a great loss because those mixes were fantasies available on the bootleg apparently but that's not anything yeah I'm not responsible for it but I know you because Glyn was you were mucking around in the boot of your car you were emptying the boot of your car and I found mildewed tape box was a seven and a half copy of my business let it be yeah yeah there have been under the mat in my Bentley God knows how long we thought it was covered in green mildew exactly right yeah anyway yes good man I mean if anybody has a chance to get that like don't tell brewing about it and this is really good it's really good because like a diary entry right yes well we don't have a road all that long since let's see oh and then you started this enduring relationship with A&M Records beginning with the Ozark Mountain one oh he's here so where is a supersuit announce yourself there is bass player from the outside Mountain Daredevils a true gentleman and a wonderful musician actually are you familiar with us out Manta I'm sure you all are called a really fantastic bank fantastic man I lucked out there I had a very different in LA called David Anthony who actually worked for you know and we were really good mates and every time I went to a loud usually I'm very often stay with him and I arrived one day and he said I've just been sent this tape by a mutual friend of ours who was his lawyer in fact a guy called Abe summer and he said you should hear he's really good and he played me these demos of the eras up man turned out it was not good well that's fantastic he said well we're gonna we're gonna sign him I think so simple you can't can I I tell you what can I cope with you see any time I've ever co-produced in those days anyway and he agreed and so we actually co-produced this record together which was great fun for us and that's the probably a good job because he he provided a completely different service to me was much nice for me basically but we had such Romney made two albums one in England and then the second one in the Ozark Mountains and we had a huge hit with Jackie blue and I remember that really well and very I very dear and fond memories great musicians great harmonies that's talked about very briefly actually that this is really insane I've never really thought about it before but I've always loved how me because I was in a choir from the age of 8 obviously so it's a bit of an influence if you take the Eagles all the Beatles all the Ozark Mountains Adams for that matter and you break down the four voices or the three voices that form extraordinary sound that's completely be curious of them those voices are entirely different from each other I mean remarkably different if you listen if you think about if you've heard on any sing for example you've heard Bonnie sing there's no like chalk and cheese and you would never think for a second that combining them together would really work and maybe if two of them sing it doesn't work that particularly well but with four of them the EBUS the Eagles focus on was just astonishing and that's saying with the Beatles George Harrison's was completely different from John's which is completely livable for Paul's but the combination of the three absolutely astonishing and the Ozark Mountain day that was the same thing great singers in the band put them all together and you get a magic sound well I tell you it is exhausting to think about the your sort of tireless non-stop schedule I'm looking here during that time obviously we were continuing doing all the Stones albums but you were doing Joe Cocker Leon Russell humble pie little mistake that won't humble pie yes disappoint it was loud it was very loud and here at quite boring really and you were sort of constantly adapting now how adapting with how the you know the changes that were coming along in the technology well you hadn't even known much choice really yes but I do know this that when you got to sixteen track you were loathed to go to 24 track because you said the head with it was quite a dramatic change yeah I'm and to get used to it in the end but I now record sixteen checking him yeah no good whew and that's why if any first sixteen thing I ever did was staged for I mixed stage fright the band's on stage right and uh I mean I've never had so many faders in a mix it was and I didn't know the material either and there was nobody that just sent me the tape well I was friend Tommy it's not mentioned in the book but the band being the way they were paid him all individually didn't they yes you I remember you telling me that five properties up I don't remember Paul I remember Paul and I eventually became incredibly close to leave Leave on who I'm sure everybody in this room feels the same way about I mean what an amazing musician and in parallel that the most remarkable men we made Paul alone need a record together with Jesse James is called The Legend of Jesse James and Levon played Jesse Chavez there everyone was cast Johnny Cash paid to be played Frank James Levon played and and we spent however long it took us to make the record we all lived in the same house and it was just a joy to be with him and he would stay up very late every night and he tells stories making his Camel cigarettes he I tell me what he died on the end I'm sure but a fantastic guy to work with I mean how you can how you can sing and play the drums like that at the same time I've got no idea Henley of course he's quite capable today as well but I think Levon was particularly special around interrupting you from your mates no no no not at all the whole point with are you talking what will we be s ok stage fright what else is here rita coolidge the faces traffic gram nash's and you know innumerable catalogue of thing Neil Young but it's around this time you started your tenure with the who just tell them about recording won't get fooled again quite remarkable quite remarkable I've got sent the demos I'd I'd met Pete very early on I had a little semi-pro Band cover band and we were on the same circuit as to who they would call the high numbers then we said when were kids and I'm not occasion we'd be on the same bill and we'd watch them and they'd say and watch us and say Pete and I became pals go forward a bit I'm working with shel talmy he says he's got a session with a bank or the WHO and it's Pete and what were the high numbers they come in my generation so the graven but amazed so time goes by kit Lambert that was their manager and he produced him for a while and then all of a sudden out of the blue I don't know what year it was risk moving on a bit I got a call from Pete and he asked me if I produced the next album sense me demos of what becomes who's next which were phenomenal I mean he he made it what I'm you probably all know this because they get released every now you've made fantastic demos he's a great engineer I mean the fact that he created the synthesizer parts for Barbara Riley and won't get fooled again in his own studio with an ARP synthesizer which looked like a telephone exchange how he figured that out I've got no idea I mean it's just I wouldn't be on a fee I mean fact Mick Jagger got sent a Moog shortly thereafter and he rang me up and he said yeah get your ass round to my place I've just been giving this big I've got a bloody clear how it works lie somewhere blah I might never clear never went round then I looked it was in a box we got Chinese to me mate you need mr. Moog he's giving it to you you can check you're out of work so anyway so all very very thrilling the demos are amazing but obviously you can imagine we Peter played everything on the demo so it doesn't didn't sound like the hurt assembler P so we all have a meeting it is a movie script with this it's a it's a movie it's a soundtrack to a movie and he sent me the script it's called Lifehouse and he sent the other guys in the band a script and we all had a meeting and we're talking about how we're gonna do this how the movie is going to be made to another and I was the furtive unfocused a bit embarrassing really I was the first person in the room say what to be honest with you I don't really understand this script I I saw it as my fault but I really didn't understand what the hell it was about really I didn't get it and I basically I was saying that to ask him to explain because I saw this is my fault and it went around the room everybody said well actually I don't understand it either so it's a bit either king of war no clothes you know no-one actually had the bottles are telling that it we didn't accept muggins news he just had to blame him ever since for a wife never got made so within seconds the whole idea of the film was out the back door so it was very embarrassing and so I said what listen the songs are fantastic don't mind about the film we should just go in and make an album okay so it's the next step we go maybe really Pete says to me I just thought some stuff that starred Rose Mick Jagger had this house in the in the country in England it was a sort of Victorian pile in a game it was extremely ugly house no I the end of that it had a huge entrance hall with a sort of double height ceiling and we the stones and I had cut some stuff down there it worked really well but this time the Rolling Stones have built their own mobile recording unit so it's the first time I'm I was involved in designing in fact was the first time we'd ever had the equipment built into something rather than me to take it because you were involved with Helios consoles I was I persuaded Chris Blackwell to invest in in a technician that used to do all the equipment for Olympic help cool dicks Wenham he was genius and we started Helios that was for Beijing Street Studios that Chris Wright film so we so Pete says to me I hear you've been working down at star grace of the stones did it work and I statistic was really good see well maybe we should go down there so won't get fooled again was cut in mix Paul and the astonishing thing about it and I'm sure you will know this because they do it on stage now it's exactly the same they played to the synthesizer all right which is it's very rigid time obviously in those days no one ever used to click it was unheard of and actually I still wait i banned them I went everything to do it it's got nothing to do with music so it's as if there's any drummers in here they'll know it's incredibly difficult stone time when they click through a trauma particularly if you've never done it before so Keith Moon and the others played as a group to the synthesizer which I stole the synth of Pete's demos edited it because it was a bit long and I played it into them and they played just like they were on stage it was and I think there was never they never lost time with the track for a split second and to play with that energy and and to stay in time with a piece of machinery I think it's just extraordinary and I remember sitting outside the truck because I couldn't see them I was outside I had a little black of my monitor about that big stones were very mean well Mick Jagger's very much their little pin is nothing so I think I couldn't really see what was going on in there but I was hearing this huge I can remember it as clear as anything completely that is completely and utterly wrong bless your heart I could not describe any more I have never been responsible at nopal things I was saying just now they were giving me that sound all I was doing was recording it I know but you did record it yes then actually came the Eagles that the Eagles we've already dealt with in your own or it will be shocked but the Eagles the thing about the thing about a lot of these people that come in contact was as things move along I remain friends with some of the members of the bands Bernie being one and Bernie and I worked on numerous projects since bless his heart he's he's come all over the place and played on stuff with me and that's just been a and there are several musicians like that and affair with and though is another one I used to use a lot and so we formed little teams of comradery and a musical taste if you like so it's just the great thing about my job I mean you can see I I can't get enough of it I still now I can't wait to get back in the studio when I finished talking about this bloody book uh it's it's I've been so I mean ever anybody who does what I do must feel the same it's just the most brilliant job when you get paid for it if you're lucky or you get screwed one of the other but I mean Italy at least you've got the buzz of doing it you know sorry - well sadly I didn't think we're going to get tripped over are you shooting this off yes no no no I don't blame you I would have done a long time ago you know what can we say were you whipped through McCartney and wings the faces that live Clapton album and then you did your last Stones album back slow handsome plans how long have we got here show me how many fingers do you want us to finish no I don't want to talk to these big they do that okay most of the toys the Mason story is like a by the book for the rest of it cause it's there's some pretty good stuff I'd like to think this is pretty good stuff some of its very funny I'd like to think but there's quite a lot what we haven't covered it so let's open it up to questions then yes I get asked this a lot actually and and obviously John Bonham isn't it is in a league of his own and and technically astonishing also he created the most extraordinary sound he knew how to chinnese kit really well Keith Moon on the other hand he had 900 drums and he tuned them all the same pitch he never thought about the pitch he tuned them so that they were like biscuit tins so that the stick bounced off easily you know but you can't you can't compare them I have this much respect for Keith as I do for John but in different ways and I feel the same way about lots of guitar players and I mean we talked about Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page and Eric they're all phenomenal at what they do completely different and I wouldn't say one was better than the other they're just different does that answer your question thank you sir well because because we the Hubble objective was to play live in front of an audience and ringer took me up on the roof to show me the view of the West End of London and I thought well if you want an audience why not play the West End of London and that's that's how it was it became once we mooted the idea everybody thought it was quite funny and the police station was 200 yards away so we knew we were we wouldn't last very long but that would make it all the more interesting for the film because they had cameras set up in the street and one in the hallway of the building so that when the police raided tried to come in as tough as we could film them and they liked it so it was you know that's why next yes funny enough there isn't I actually think change is good as a rest and some of the better records I've made I can't think of any offhand but what when you're plunked down in this situation that you have know that you're not familiar with and obviously over the years I've been asked to work in places that I've never been before it's a bit of a challenge and you can get too comfortable if you work in the same place the whole time I mean obviously I was very comfortable in Olympic where I made mostly burgers I made for a long time and it didn't do it did me a great service thinking but that room in particular is incredibly flexible you could do a 60p string section and get a wonderful sound or you could do Jimi Hendrix you know I mean it was incredibly thank you so much adaptable yeah now I use Mark Knopfler studio in London which is called British Grove which is the most extraordinary facility but I don't know what it cost him but he must have thought it's a tax write of it would have to be I'll never make any money out of it it's a stunning place a great leader a great equipment great mics in LA I love sunset sound there's a room at sunset sound that I just started using maybe I don't know three or four years ago now that I used to work there a lot in the back room there and you familiar with sunset sound and I've used both of the other two studios and the shape of the first studio is a bit old and I mixed something in there a long time ago as a favor to somebody and I love the monitoring in there anyway so now that's me I made Ryan Adams ashes and fire in there and it's an astonishing sounding studio you can't you just lift the faders them you know don't do anything next yes if I could remember I'd be happy to however I can't I can remember sitting at the console with it going on but I don't remember any intimate detail I also remember distinctly disliking ray Davis and his brother enormously I remember asking about that and I said have you ever you know been making a record and feeling this was going to be a message oh yeah that was also my generation I mean my generation was so different from anything I had before as well imagine you've got a bass solo in it four stars off and then you got Roger Daltrey singing with a stutter I mean extraordinary combination but it worked there was a huge hit next anybody yes it was the first time it was used I think yeah I know I only ever used it the world's a bigger pun very catchy too yeah next anybody anybody yes sir I was never a big fan of Jimi Hendrix no did you recording I what I did I started to record him at the Albert Hall the Albert Hall in 1969 I was flying back from Los Angeles I was working with Steve Miller and the Beatles called and they actually paid for the whole bad to stay in a hotel for a week while I went back to London to record a beer oh no no I can't a song it doesn't matter hey so much on linen right and I recorded in that three days I was back I recorded a session with the stones whatever this session was with the Beatles and I was asked to record Jimi Hendrix at the Albert Hall so I turned on and in those days the Albert Hall hadn't ever had any acoustic treatment done to it it was as it was originally designed to be an acoustic hallway so it wasn't any good for loud rock and roll it was completely useless so I walked out on stage having put my mics up and Jimmy comes down I said look I know you're not going to take no notice but you can't really play loud in here because if you do no one's gonna hear a note your place it's gonna be absurd so I suggest you use half the rig that you've got now at least maybe even less you can still crank it but it'd just be quieter say who's very sweet very nice man completely ignored me of course and they had their soundcheck and it was just absurd you couldn't hear anything because there's no people in there so that made it even worse so when he came off I went out to him I said then you I'm telling you it's never mind about the recording with the audience I'm gonna hear anything here and there pay money to see Italy seems very sweet very polite yeah okay welcome fine so of course doesn't take me notice again so I'm set up in a dressing room with my assistant and they walk out stage for the play the first song and it's exactly the same it's just useless so I went home and I said to the assistant just change the rules as they finish I wasn't miss it there and listened to it was just awful and understood quite understandably I will ever special we never spoke to me again so there you go that's the way next let me just ask you a bit to tell the audience briefly about the when you were helping your old and ailing friend Ronnie Lane and you very generously gave your time and effort to organizing those mighty arms it was before live aids it was the first time a group of musicians that I Ronnie they had multiple sclerosis bless his heart and he went to Eric Clapton who's a friend and asked him if he would do a concert to raise some money to buy a hyperbaric oxygen which apparently relieves the discomfort of sclerosis it doesn't cure it but it does make you feel a bit better for a minute and there was only one in the South of England or something and Ronnie was trying to raise the money for another so Eric said well I tell you what why don't we do a concert so Eric named cause brings muggins here and and says well all his band are in America they're all Americans at this moment in time he said okay King can you can you put a band together for us to do a concert to raise money for this thing for Ronnie something yeah absolutely so I called Stu up the keyboard player stays I called Charlie Watts Kenny Jones from the faces and Bill Wyman it's all coming together very nice it's just I'm trying to get the rhythm section to go I thought two drummers might be nice you know Steve Winwood offers his services bless him couple nights latest you goes to a party at Jeff Beck's house and that Jimmy Page is there and then one seemed to me for a long time the Led Zeppelin have collapsed and not it so Jimmy hadn't played for probably three or four years might have even been longer than that and Jimmy makes a beeline for Jeff and says look Clint's putting this band together to raise money for Ronnie with Eric and Jimmy's be rolling this conversation and so Jimmy says I'll do it so within two minutes we had Jeff Beck and Jimmy pay so you got three o'clock and there are clapping so you've got three of the greatest guitar players in the United Kingdom all on the same bill so that well this is going to be a bit handy so and it sort of grew from that I was turning people away it was it it was the most fun and it was the first time I've ever really realized that normally all these people who were terribly popular and famous and wealthy in order to suit their bit up their own bum and and and they're not generous at all a mystical and all these things and here we were in a situation where nobody pulled rank over anybody they were all completely but they all came to my house so I had a little studio at my farm where I was working at the time so we all rehearsed there for a week it was fantastic and it was all for Ronnie and actually Jimmy Page didn't really know Ronnie even particularly so we did we did a concert for for Prince Charles's trust at the previous night because Eric had had an obligation so we thought we might as well do that and then we did the concert for Ronnie and we raised a absolute fortune and we had such a good time doing it we brought it to America and he toured America and he broke box office records everywhere we went it was fantastic was really rewarding it was a wonderful thing it was a great great night I honestly think that we do we have to go but what was our rear we're paying rent what a career under very sound you

Channel: Nashville Public Library

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Id: yQFHnGVm6sI

Length: 70min 12sec (4212 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 05 2015