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From: jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Knocking Steve Lillywhite (fashionable)
Message-ID: <1234@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 29-Nov-84 10:18:45 EST
Article-I.D.: dciem.1234
Posted: Thu Nov 29 10:18:45 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 29-Nov-84 13:18:36 EST
References: <518@utcsrgv.UUCP> <1229@dciem.UUCP>, <521@utcsrgv.UUCP>, <1008@druri.UUCP>
Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 46

I'm not sure whether the article complaining about criticism of Steve Lillywhite
was directed at me, for saying that I was glad U2 changed producers and I think
Big Country should too, as well as the guy who said that he hated the old U2
sound and thought that Lillywhite was ruining Simple Minds.  Just in case it
was, I'd like to clear up any misunderstanding I may have caused.

I think Steve Lillywhite is a great producer and the sound he creates is one
of my favourite styles of music; in fact, he has probably produced more of my
favourite albums of the last few years than anybody else.  The point I was
trying to make was that, although U2's "War", Simple Minds' "Sparkle In The
Rain", and Big Country's "The Crossing" were all among my top five albums
of their years and all by far my favourite albums from each group, I would
much rather see these groups change their style a bit than record another
album with the same sound.  U2 changed their producer and recorded an
excellent album ("The Unforgettable Fire") in a slightly different style.
After his excellent, Lillywhite-produced third album, Peter Gabriel changed
his producer and approach and came up with an even better album ("Security").
Big Country stayed with Steve Lillywhite and the result ("Steeltown") sounds
mostly like "The Crossing" but not as good.  This isn't necessarily
Lillywhite's fault.  Big Country may not be capable of anything different.
I think they are, but they may need a different producer to force them to
change their sound, since Lillywhite is probably the only one capable of
producing the familiar Big Country sound.  As far as Simple Minds goes,
we'll have to wait and see, but they've already proven they can make a great
album without Steve Lillywhite.  "New Gold Dream" is not as good as "Sparkle
In The Rain", but it's different, and I hope their next album will be different
too.

As far as "Remain In Light" goes, let's not start knocking Eno either.
He took an ordinary early new wave band (sure, they were ahead of their time
in '77, but by the time of "Remain In Light", the times had pretty well
caught up with them), and turned them into one of the most important groups
of the eighties.  "Remain In Light", recorded at the onset of the decade,
is probably the first time that new wave, funk, and progressive rock were
combined, paving the way for a large fraction of the best music that is
being recorded today.  "Speaking In Tongues", which Eno was not involved
with, is disappointing by comparison.  (For those of you who don't recognise
the album titles, Talking Heads is the group I'm talking about.)

To sum it all up, Lillywhite and Eno are both great, but a group has to
change their sound once in a while, and sometimes a new producer is the
best way to do it.
-- 
Jeff Richardson, DCIEM, Toronto  (416) 635-2073
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