Guitarists and producers.

[gismo recording]

It sounds like we're pretty much in agreement here that talent trumps production and a great song tops both.

 

But taking this in a slightly different direction...I think a great singer takes the pot, as it's been shown over and over again that a truly gifted vocalist/stylist (e.g., Sinatra, Billie Holiday, etc.) can take a weak song and turn it into something extraordinary.

 

I agree. Here's an example where someone who's not technically a great vocalist took an OK pop song and turned it into a beautiful ballad.

[AlamoJoe]

It's a painful profundity Phil...But you're dead on. The majority of people listen to the singer and that sells or dooms the song right there. It's musicians that pick things apart.

[AlamoJoe]

One must allow that one person's great song is simply meh to another. One person's great musician is just another musician to another. But a great producer, along with a good team of engineers can really make magic happen. If you listen to all the different takes of songs on The Beatles Anthology cd's, you can hear ok songs turned into great ones...and you can hear songs that were great little germs of songs turned into masterpieces...George Martin made the entire studio an instrument.

 

You have to have all the pieces I think. Good songs, Good musicians, Good producers. The Great stuff is simply magic at times I think.

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

You have to have all the pieces I think. Good songs, Good musicians, Good producers. The Great stuff is simply magic at times I think.

 

It's a cliche, but it's still true - a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

 

We can debate their relative levels of importance, but at some level, everything matters.

 

And I think you're right Joe - sometimes, when you're working on something and everyone and everything is really clicking in the studio, it can feel a bit magical.