Kingtone

I love the sound of old records. Especially ones from the 50’s and 60’s - the golden era of open reel tape recording - often utilizing fewer than 8 tracks. Great musicians made the music (usually all together), great producers coaxed and coerced great performances and brilliant engineers made it sound spectacular - using great rooms, great mics and simple recording paths.

One of those great engineers just passed away, Larry Levine. It was he who invented the Wall of Sound with Phil Spector at the venerable Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles on such hits as The Ronettes, Be My Little Baby and the Righteous Brothers’ You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling. He who recorded Eddie Cochran’s, Summertime Blues, The Beach Boys’, Pet Sounds, Herp Albert’s, A Taste of Honey and even the Ramone’s, End of the Century.

Man ‘o man, I miss those kinds of sounds.

I’ve always been a fan of Neil Young’s guitar playing and sound. His haunting soundtrack for Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man is one of my top tens. Of late, I have been reading his ‘officially sanctioned’ and perfectly flawed (I think in a good way) bio, Shakey, by J. McDonough. It has given me an appreciation of the range of his music and as an artist.

One particular thing I’ve been intrigued with is Neil’s association with one of his crazed producers, Jack Nitzsche. A musician and fantastic film soundtrack composer in his own right, Nitzsche’s production on Expecting to Fly (which the pair spent 30 days working on) is some amazing 50’s inspired Phil Spector lushness with a late 60’s LA filter on. Great stuff. The video below is kinda nice eye candy for the music, despite being in mono. It is spectacular in stereo.