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Great production in the 80's

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Vito Corleone Grand Master

Vito Corleone

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I never liked any Yes, tbh, and thought *at the time* it was better than anything they'd done since Bruford left, but for me it REALLY does not hold up today. Its more like Trevor Horn's shark-jumping moment :lol:

 

But yet you just cited things of his he did that you like that came AFTER? ;)

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Red Ant Grand Master

Red Ant

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I never bothered to compare it to their earlier stuff, of which I was never much of a fan of anyway.

 

It sounded like nothing I had ever heard before. First time I had ever heard samples used like that.

 

Trevor'd been using that same Fairlight orch hit for years before then, its all over the Art Of Noise records, and a bunch of other productions he'd done. To my shame, I used it as well... I had access to the Fairlight through the NYU sound lab, and overused it shamelessly on my 1st ever "official" project, called "Intellectric", in 1984. Fortunately for everyone, the masters did not survive the years, and there were only a few thousand 12' singles pressed, so I never need worry about anyone actually hearing the music :lol:

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Red Ant Grand Master

Red Ant

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That was completely off my radar, but with a little editing it would have made a great soundtrack for an '80s training montage. :lol:

 

It would have been off mine as well, except for a friend who was their US booking agent. As soon as I heard I was like "OMG someone likes Gong as much as I do!!!" I was sold immediately :lol:

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Vito Corleone Grand Master

Vito Corleone

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Trevor'd been using that same Fairlight orch hit for years before then, its all over the Art Of Noise records, and a bunch of other productions he'd done. To my shame, I used it as well... I had access to the Fairlight through the NYU sound lab, and overused it shamelessly on my 1st ever "official" project, called "Intellectric", in 1983. Fortunately for everyone, the masters did not survive the years, and there were only a few thousand 12' singles pressed, so I never need worry about anyone actually hearing the music :lol:

 

Art of Noise’s first album came out the following year. and I don’t think anything they did predated “Owner” by more than a few weeks, if at all.

 

In any case, it was the first time I had ever heard it and probably most of America.

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Red Ant Grand Master

Red Ant

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Most of my "80s listening" was "avant-funk/no-wave" NY stuff that never made the big time - Defunkt, Ronald Shannon Jackson & The Decoding Society, Bill Laswell's various projects, James Chance & The Contortions, Jamaladeen Tacuma... and the Rochester/Veasley Band:

 

[video=youtube;fF6CoWp_GiU]

 

All of it sounded like crap production-wise, but I liked the liberties they were taking with the music, the genre-blending, etc...

 

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Red Ant Grand Master

Red Ant

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Art of Noise’s first album came out the following year. and I don’t think anything they did predated “Owner” by more than a few weeks, if at all.

 

In any case, it was the first time I had ever heard it and probably most of America.

 

You are probably right on the chronology... a lot of the 80s tend to get compressed and jumbled in my mind - it was a long time ago, and I liked to party back then :lol:

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Red Ant Grand Master

Red Ant

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I should also mention that the horrors of 80s production didn't just affect pop and rock... they made their way into jazz as well... I listened to a lot of 80s jazz guitar stuff, and held my nose about the sounds, cause the playing and ideas were so great.

 

[video=youtube;KH-qGqzQdzA]

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Zooey Mentor

Zooey

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The Flat Earth is a brilliant album, and it still sounds incredible to me... all the glitz and polish of 80s production, but perfectly organic to the music and balanced with warmth, space and incredible stereo imaging.

 

It's a favorite of mine. Particularly "Screen Kiss" and "the Flat Earth." The bass player on that album is an absolute monster. Whoa, guess he was in the Soft Boys? Just looked it up.

 

Most of what I was listening to in the 80s was not huge budget stuff by US top forty standards with some exceptions. Brian Eno with Talking Heads and U2 were obviously lavish productions. The Hurting and Songs from the Big Chair by Tears for Fears were major productions. Diesel and Dust is a cool sounding album, no idea who did that one. Some cool dub and reggae albums were made in the eighties, for example, "Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires."

 

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Zooey Mentor

Zooey

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I should also mention that the horrors of 80s production didn't just affect pop and rock... they made their way into jazz as well...

 

Remember Miles Davis' "You're Under Arrest?" Yikes. Actually, John Scofield is on that one.

 

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Zooey Mentor

Zooey

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Of course, Ozric Tentacles started out in the 80s, and I love the sh*t out of ANYTHING Ozric Tentacles :lol:

 

[video=youtube;4f52hgmPAbw]

 

I backed into that one. I was very loosely into the rave scene of the 90s, so I heard Eat Static first, and Ozric Tentacles much later.

 

[video=youtube;qKIR64MRzJo]

 

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Red Ant Grand Master

Red Ant

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I backed into that one. I was very loosely into the rave scene of the 90s, so I heard Eat Static first, and Ozric Tentacles much later.

 

[video=youtube;qKIR64MRzJo]

 

I'm familiar with Eat Static through the Ozrics, but like it far less, as there isn't nearly as much genre-blending going on, its fairly conventional EDM for its time.

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Zig al-din Grand Master

Zig al-din

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I really like the sound of some of the early Cocteau Twins records, especially Head over Heels though I imagine Anton hates that one.

 

There were a few others on 4AD that I also still like a lot - for example Throwing Muses' House Tornado album and Wolfgang Press. Siouxsie' Tinderbox and Juju are also two favorites from that era - mostly for the music but also for the atmosphere and mood of the recordings.

 

For me in many cases, it's more about the atmosphere or soundscape created by the production. I don't think that it has to be some rigidly defined thing. The production can and should be part of the aesthetic effect experienced by the listener. If the Fall or the Stooges' or Sonic Youth's records sounded like Phil Spector or some other more current mainstream sound engineer, they wouldn't have the same artistic value IMO. :cool03:

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SteinbergerHack Grand Master

SteinbergerHack

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Huh? He played a 1st inversion Maj triad??? With a little sus4 thrown in? Genius! :lol:

 

Seriously, whats so special about DMaj(sus4), BbMaj/D and Cmaj/D?

 

Honestly, "Way Cool Junior" is the example I would use for a Ratt guitar intro. At least it grooves.....sort of.

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