Monday, January 5, 2009
Whatevs The Over-Under on Production, Plus a Naked Willie
Posted by Steve Haruch on Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 6:06 AM
I got a package in the mail the other day from Legacy Recordings, containing an advance copy of a "new" Willie Nelson album. The concept behind Naked Willie, aside from taking the opportunity to make a corny penis joke with its title (and I'm all for that), is that Mr. Nelson, along with his harmonica player, Mickey Raphael, took the original multi-track tapes from his days at RCA and "un-produced" them. That is, they removed things like swelling orchestral strings and flowery backing vocals, and remixed the songs. (Which to me means they really "re-produced" the album, but tevs.) And this is ostensibly how Willie Nelson intended them to sound in the first place, before Music Row's gloss factory took over. A bit of revisionist history.
I will admit that I'm no expert when it comes to Willie Nelson. Like many people, I know a lot of his songs, and I've always been a fan, if not an ardent one. I'm sure my mother thanks him, on some level, for my not growing up to be a cowboy. As I've mentioned before, I have a weird memory when it comes to music, so I suppose it comes as no surprise that the new versions are more or less how I remember them. It seems my mental image of Willie Nelson, as an earthy, straightforward kind of dude, had already edited out all that gawdy technicolor studio flourish. So when I went back and listened to the original versions of songs like "Happiness Lives Next Door," the schmaltzy sweep of it all sounded weird to me.
So an artist has reclaimed some of his favorite records from the overbearing production values of the era in which they were recorded. Sure, similar approaches--mostly in the "remastering" realm, have been a staple of box set fodder for years--but as a process it's an idea whose time has come. Imagine, "Just What I Needed" with better, less processed-sounding drums! I doubt that most artists have enough sway to get hold of their old multi-track tapes and re-release them in a new, "un-produced" version, but, come to think of it, maybe it was Dylan himself who shelled out the $30K for that "Lay Lady Lay" outtakes reel.
Comments (2)
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Are you talking about the Cars' "just what i needed"? Those drums are actually pretty natural on that song. I feel like that era for them was really great as far as production and sonics. . . However, once they began working with Mutt Lange it got pretty ridiculous. . .I would Love to hear "Hello Again" for example remixed.
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