| February 18th, 2005 02:52 PM |
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| IanBillen |
This info. comes from user name "KeithRichards" from another board.
It doesn't say a whole lot about the edit but atleast we know someone in The Stones camp definately dissagrees. I honestly think he will tell Mick or Keith his opinion on that if he remembers.
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Apologia pro The Sideman
By Scott Galupo
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
"Whaaaat?" Chuck Leavell, longtime keyboardist for the Rolling Stones, reacts to an astonishingly unartful edit on the Stones' most recent release, the concert tour souvenir "Live Licks."
The band is transitioning out of the slinky, half-time bridge of the song "Rocks Off." The rhythm goes wobbly and then " "Whaaaat?" " mix-man Bob Clearmountain sends at least 30 seconds of the original recording down a memory hole.
How could product like that, in this day and age of slick digital airbrushing, be rushed so carelessly out the door?
Such is the plight of the proverbial sideman: He's always the last to know.
Of course, there's the corollary silver lining: It's never his fault.
Mr. Leavell is the definitive sideman, having played piano and organ for the likes of the Allman Brothers, George Harrison and countless other artists over 30-plus years in the business. He landed, and has maintained, his role within the Stones by effortlessly amalgamating the styles of Stones piano men past " the boogie-woogie of founding member Ian Stewart, the melodicism of Nicky Hopkins and the bluesy gospel of Billy Preston.
His playing graces songs you've heard a hundred times " Eric Clapton's "Unplugged" version of "Layla," the Black Crowes' "She Talks to Angels," Train's "Drops of Jupiter" " without ever having given a second thought to their recording personnel.
Like the perfect White House speechwriter, the perfect sideman has a passion for anonymity.
"I've always just wanted to be a guy in the band," Mr. Leavell says. "I've never really wanted to be a leader. I've been forced into that position a few times in my career" " most notably with the critically appreciated but commercially luckless Sea Level " "but my preference is to work behind the artist, with the artist."
The face of rock music wouldn't look much different without sidemen such as Mr. Leavell, but it sure would sound a lot different. In the sideman business, "you have input," Mr. Leavell explains with a kindly Alabaman drawl, "but it's their record. It's their name."
Some of rock's most indelible moments are the work of sidemen, most of whom stay in the shadows, some of whom go on to achieve fame of their own. Sidemen have been around for as long as bands have been around; they're part of the warp and woof of modern popular music.
Jazz guitar pioneer Charlie Christian was a prodigy within the Benny Goodman stable. Funk bassist Bootsy Collins was stuck behind James Brown, a notorious credit-hogger, before George Clinton gave him a more prominent role in Parliament.
A key test of an indelible sideman contribution is this: You shouldn't be able to imagine a song without it.
Think of Al Kooper's Hammond B-3 organ on Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." Listen to an early, waltz-like version of the song on Mr. Dylan's "Bootleg Series" boxed set; it sounds emasculated without Mr. Kooper's touch.
Think of every Chuck Berry song on which pianist Johnnie Johnson played.
What would Neil Young's "Southern Man" be without Nils Lofgren's chugging piano chords? The Beatles' "Get Back" without Mr. Preston's electric piano solo? John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" and the Who's "Getting in Tune" without Mr. Hopkins' gentle tunefulness? The Stones' "Brown Sugar" without Bobby Keys' wonderfully sloppy saxophone solo? Or Stevie Nicks' "Edge of Seventeen" without Waddy Wachtel's propulsive staccato guitar riff?
The great sideman pitch-ins should be so gigantic as to nearly warrant a co-compositional credit, as with Mr. Leavell's galloping piano solo on the Allman Brothers Band's instrumental hit "Jessica." Mr. Leavell recounts in his recently published memoir "Between Rock and Home Place" that Allman Brothers' singer-guitarist Dickey Betts once sent word through a mutual friend: "Tell Chuck that 'Jessica' is as much his song as mine."
(By the same token, a sideman who starts snagging partial writing credits " as, for example, legendary Stax house guitarist Steve Cropper did on classics such as Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" and Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour" " passes beyond the status of true sideman into another category, populated by mixed types such as renowned blues composer and Chess session musician and producer Willie Dixon.)
Certain sidemen, read drummers, play parts that may not immediately pop out in high relief, but their stamps are singular nonetheless. Jim Keltner was the go-to drummer for artists such as Mr. Dylan, Ry Cooder and the Traveling Wilburys. Kenny Aronoff's drumming galvanized many of John Mellencamp's early hits.
The downside of being a sideman is manifold: less fame, less cash, less job security.
Mr. Leavell nearly gave up on music in the early-'80s, after the demise of Sea Level and all manner of difficulties with the Macon, Ga., label Capricorn Records. He briefly considered farming full time, as he and his wife had acquired a tree plantation outside Atlanta.
Then he got a call from the Stones camp; full-time farming could wait.
Is it possible that sidemen " with exposure to a variety of professional stimuli, but few of the personal hassles that come with celebrity " have more fun than rock stars themselves?
"Absolutely," Mr. Leavell says. "I've got no complaints. It's been a heck of a ride so far, and it ain't over yet." |
| February 18th, 2005 03:04 PM |
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| sirmoonie |
That was a good afternoon read. Thanks, Billhead.
This was funny re Chuck: "by effortlessly amalgamating the styles of Stones piano men past, the boogie-woogie of founding member Ian Stewart, the melodicism of Nicky Hopkins and the bluesy gospel of Billy Preston."
Yeah. Uh huh. Thats just what I was thinking.
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| February 18th, 2005 05:12 PM |
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| Poplar |
Just the other day I was listening to the live Widespread Panic album with Chuck. He plays the shit out of "Pieces."
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| February 18th, 2005 05:45 PM |
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| Child of the Moon |
HE played on that fucking Drops of Jupiter song? I hate him even more now! |
| February 18th, 2005 09:57 PM |
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| Soldatti |
I think that Keith will say the same when he gets a copy of the damm thing. |
| February 20th, 2005 08:52 AM |
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| corgi37 |
Could be Clearmountain's last gig with the Stones too. Man, Rocks Off is so butchered! And, obviously so.
Hey, the band can blame Clearmountain for the cd's spectacular lack of success!
They could say "We certainly had plans to release a part 2, and probably part3, of Live Licks, as the world no doubt needs and wants them. We know this, because people we trust tell us live albums are so loved around the world.
But, due to certain peoples stuff ups, we are afraid to release another live cd (at least for 2 years) and now have to go to all the trouble of creating new music, which after 8 years of being completely out of ideas and even a modicum of inspiration, we are now forced to do".
Well, i bet they "think" something like that. |
| February 20th, 2005 12:04 PM |
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| T&A |
nice read...and an obviously well-informed and schooled writer. His description of leavell blending the various styles of his forebearers is absolutely spot-on. rock on, Chuck! |
| February 20th, 2005 11:32 PM |
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| BILL PERKS |
THE EDIT ON CANT ALWAYS GET IS AS EGREGIOUS AS ROCKS OFF. |
| February 21st, 2005 08:51 PM |
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| Soldatti |
Brown Sugar is even worse. |
| February 21st, 2005 08:55 PM |
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| John Wood |
I remember reading Bob saying he did not edit any tracks. They were like that when he received them to mix. |
| February 21st, 2005 09:19 PM |
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| Soldatti |
Don Was did the edits according to Clearmountain. |
| February 22nd, 2005 08:14 AM |
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| Jumacfly |
quote:
Soldatti wrote:
Don Was did the edits according to Clearmountain.
I remember the letter Bob sent to iorr...he said the edits were "choices of the band" or "choices of the band and the producer". |
| February 22nd, 2005 10:13 AM |
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| Gazza |
Clearmountain only mixed the album.
A job he does better than anyone else.
The butchering of the songs were beyond his remit. |
| February 22nd, 2005 08:37 PM |
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| Soldatti |
The mix is good and way better than 4 Flicks, he is one of the best mixers around. |
| February 22nd, 2005 08:53 PM |
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| Gazza |
he's the MIX-MEISTER
the best mix on any Stones album IMO is Bob's on "Tattoo You". The rhythm section never sounded better.
Loved his job on Bruce's "Hungry Heart" too. Springsteen had never sounded anything like that until that point. |
| February 22nd, 2005 08:59 PM |
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| Soldatti |
The mix of Tattoo You (side 2) is out of this world. He did a good job on I Go Wild and Don't Stop too. |
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