One of my favorite tunes.
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One of my favorite tunes.
All done before digital recording techniques started. From Wikipedia:Quote:
Originally Posted by Ky Fried Redleg
Quote:
Recording
Stewart spent three weeks recording Gouldman, Godley and Creme singing "ahhh" 16 times for each note of the chromatic scale, building up a "choir" of 48 voices for each note of the scale. The main problem facing the band was how to keep the vocal notes going for an infinite length of time, but Creme suggested that they could get around this issue by using tape loops. Stewart created loops of about 12 feet in length by feeding the loop at one end through the tape heads of the stereo recorder in the studio, and at the other end through a capstan roller fixed to the top of a microphone stand, and tensioned the tape. By creating long loops the 'blip' caused by the splice in each tape loop could be drowned out by the rest of the backing track, providing that the splice in each loop did not coincide with any of the others. Having created twelve tape loops, one for each of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale, Stewart played each loop through a separate channel of the mixing desk. This effectively turned the mixing desk into a musical instrument complete with all the notes of the chromatic scale, which the four members together then "played", fading up three or four channels at a time to create "chords" for the song's melody. Stewart put tape across the bottom of each channel so that it was impossible to completely fade down the tracks for each note, resulting in the constant background of vocals heard throughout the song.[8] Composer and music theory professor Thomas MacFarlane considered the resulting "ethereal voices" with distorted synthesised effects a major influence on Billy Joel's hit ballad "Just the Way You Are", released two years later.[9]
A basic guide track was recorded first in order to help create the melody using the vocals, but the proper instrumentation was added after the vocals had been recorded. In keeping with Godley's idea to focus on the voices, only a few instruments were used: a Fender Rhodes electric piano played by Stewart, a Gibson 335 electric guitar and a Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar played by Gouldman for the rhythm melody, and a bass drum sound played by Godley on a Moog synthesiser which Creme had recently purchased and learned how to program. The drum sound was very soft and more akin to a heartbeat, in order not to overpower the rest of the track. Creme played piano during the bridge and the middle eight, where it replicated the melody of lyrics that had been discarded. The middle eight is also the only part of the song that contains a bass guitar line, played by Gouldman. A toy music box was recorded and double tracked out of phase for the middle eight and the outro.[8]
Once the musical backing had been completed Stewart recorded the lead vocal and Godley and Creme the backing vocals, but even though the song was finished Godley felt it was still lacking something. Stewart said, "Lol remembered he had said something into the grand piano mics when he was laying down the solos. He'd said 'Be quiet, big boys don't cry' — heaven knows why, but I soloed it and we all agreed that the idea sounded very interesting if we could just find the right voice to speak the words. Just at that point the door to the control room opened and our secretary Cathy Redfern looked in and whispered 'Eric, sorry to bother you. There's a telephone call for you.' Lol jumped up and said 'That's the voice, her voice is perfect!'."[7] The group agreed that Redfern was the ideal person, but Redfern was unconvinced and had to be coaxed into recording her vocal contribution, using the same whispered voice that she had used when entering the control room. These whispered lyrics would inspire the name of the 1980s band Boys Don't Cry.[10]
104. The first fictional band to ever have a #1 song. Produced by Don Kirshner and recorded by session musicians, the song spent four weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was on the the charts for 22 weeks total , 12 weeks inside the top 10. It was an international smash , as well, topping the charts in the UK for eight consecutive weeks. It was the best selling song of 1969 in both the US and the UK and was the #1 Billboard song of the year. While there is some dispute about the rumor, , it has been said that the song was offered to the Monkees, who rejected it. The Quintessential bubble gum pop song , the song was famously featured on the back of Post cereal boxes. I bet you cut out a copy off the back of your cereal box. Come on, you know you did...
Name the song and fictitious band.
Was it Sugar, Sugar by I believe The Archies?Quote:
Originally Posted by Ky Fried Redleg
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ky Fried Redleg
https://youtu.be/wMbYve72YWg?list=RDwMbYve72YWg
https://youtu.be/Lk-GJz7D1mo
105. Back to the Archies. The guy who wrote the #1 smash "Sugar, Sugar," also did backup vocals on the song.
Fast forward five years. He found himself arriving in LA without a record label and without much recent success. He hadn't a hit song since 1971. He moved into a penthouse overlooking the city. He had a new Mercedes, but no driver's license. The same day he arrived in LA the singer/songwriter met a girl. She didn't have a car, but did have a license. So he loaned her the Mercedes and she drove them down to Malibu, where they had dinner. Let's just say the dinner went very well. They arrived home at four in the morning. You can fill in the blanks, at that point. At about six in the morning the singer made some Turkish coffee, as he was apt to do, and sat down with pen and paper and wrote this #1 hit in about 20 minutes. Fueled by lust and Turkish coffee, the singer had just written his his biggest hit since "Sugar Sugar" in 1969.
He believed in the song and tried to get record companies to believe in it, as well. But, after being rejected by other labels, he decided to form his own label and publish the song himself. He called his label Ice Records. Since he was self-financing the recording session and was strapped financially, he could only afford to record a two-sided single. For his B-side, he chose an instrumental version of the A-side. Despite the shoestring budget the song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was a significant comeback hit for the Canadian singer. The song spent about 4 months on the Billboard chart in 1974, and was the 29th biggest song of the year, in what I feel was the best year ever for popular music.
Can you name the singer and the song that was inspired by a romantic night on the beach in Malibu back in '74 ?
I can not name the singer and the song, but I really appreciate the questions. They bring back memories.
74 WAS a great year.
I racked my brain over this question too and have drawn a blank.Quote:
Originally Posted by dfs
But I’m the same about the quality and depth of these questions. Their landscape is littered with subtle clues. I read and reread them because the fun is answering them without investigation and google queries. So I appreciate them greatly as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ky Fried Redleg
https://youtu.be/9ym3RlvVR9M?list=RD9ym3RlvVR9M
106. There has only been one song that has ever topped the Billboard Hot 100 that was recorded by an artist with a single letter in his name. This song hit #1 in November of my senior year of high school. It was an international smash as well. It was #1 in New York and Munich, but not in London or Paris.
Can you name the song and artist?
Pop Muzik (sp?) - M.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ky Fried Redleg
I remember that you said you are a 1980 HS graduate. That was the biggest clue to me. That, and I cannot recall an another artist with a huge pop hit with just one letter in his/her/their name.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ky Fried Redleg
https://youtu.be/gPoiv0sZ4s4?list=RDgPoiv0sZ4s4
107.
Allow me the pleasure of telling you about one of my favorite folk singer/ songwriters of the early 70's. I'll call him Kent, although he is much better known by his four letter stage name, which means "wolf", in Spanish. Kent was a struggling songwriter back in '70-'71. He had just returned from New York to his home in Florida and was sitting in the Florida Room of his home, no less, trying to write a song. He wanted to write a song about a young man traveling with his girl across the country, experiencing the freedom of going from place to place, enjoying a carefree existence, living off the land , and maybe even "robbing from an old hen."
Kent was struggling to find the right words. He was trying to find a word that rhymed with "You and Me." He couldn't come up with anything. Then he tried reversing the words to "Me and You." Still, NOTHING. He had writer's block. (We've all been there) Then, as he was trying to find the right rhyming word, Kent's pet German Shepherd, who had been outside in the yard, came up to the sliding glass doors and started staring at him. At that moment, Kent finally had his inspiration (and his rhyming word) that he needed to to write his song. Now, if I told you the name of the German Shepherd, I'd be telling you too much. I'll let you tell me. I will tell you that the song lyrics mentions places like Georgia, St. Paul, and LA.
The song became Kent's first hit song, and many will say, his signature song. It reached #1 on the Easy Listening (Adult Contemporary) chart and peaked at # 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, nearly 55 years ago. It was the first of his eight top 10 songs on the EL chart, and the first of four #1's on that chart. He also went on to have eight top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including one that peaked at #2 and the one that I profiled above, which peaked at # 5.
Interestingly, enough, three of the four letters in the singer's four letter stage name spells out the name of his German Shepherd .
Can you name the song and the folk rock/pop singer who overcame writer's block to pen this classic top 10 hit in the spring of my third year of elementary school?
Lobo - Me and You and a Dog Named Boo
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ky Fried Redleg
https://youtu.be/We-HMZDSWFU?list=RDWe-HMZDSWFU