Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site druri.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!houxm!ihnp4!drutx!druri!dht From: dht@druri.UUCP (Davis Tucker) Newsgroups: net.music Subject: Knocking Steve Lillywhite (fashionable) Message-ID: <1008@druri.UUCP> Date: Wed, 28-Nov-84 12:49:19 EST Article-I.D.: druri.1008 Posted: Wed Nov 28 12:49:19 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 29-Nov-84 04:42:34 EST References: <518@utcsrgv.UUCP> <1229@dciem.UUCP>, <521@utcsrgv.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver Lines: 33 Oh ye of little faith! Lest we forget or new-wave history (since it seems so many of us have forgotten everything else...), be reminded that Steve Lillywhite is the Muhammad Ali, the Sergio Leone, the Marlon Brando, the Gary Hart of producers. Back in the Dark Ages, Lillywhite was the guy scrabbling and sweating for bands who barely knew how to *play*, much less record. Just because he's been so prolific over the years is no reason to knock him. Lillywhite *has* produced albums that sound totally different from what you'd expect, but the bands that come to him now do so because they specifically want the "Lillywhite Sound" - so the fault rests with them, not with the producer. No other producer could have captured the "Big Country" sound. No other producer could have polished U2 for the studio without taking the raw edge off. No other producer could have taken a semi-techno-pop band like Simple Minds (no "The") and made one of the *finest* albums of the '80s in "Sparkle In The Rain", while still retaining that particular quality that makes them special. Lillywhite is the producer primarily responsible for the massive improvement in the quality of drum tracks over the past four or five years, and for that alone he should be held up for admiration - nobody prior really cared a whole lot ("Just give him more mikes - stick him in a booth - and give him a damn metronome!"). Davis Tucker AT&T Information Systems Denver, CO P.S. - Simple Minds are without question the best band of the '80s (by that I mean their first album date), and "Sparkle In The Rain" is just a sign of their progression - whoever produces their next album, it's bound to be fantastic. Let's just hope Eno (god bless him) doesn't pull a "Remain In Light" on 'em.