interesting to hear some praise for Teatro on this thread - i haven't listened to that one a bunch, but when I did, it seemed like Lanois had sucked all the life out of Willie.
― tylerw, Thursday, 5 January 2012 17:01 (twelve years ago) link
I hated Teatro at the time.
You'd think with Robertson and Young off the bucket list, he would have found his way to Cohen by now.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 January 2012 17:02 (twelve years ago) link
any minute now, it'll be announced that he's manning the boards for the next arcade fire opus
― tylerw, Thursday, 5 January 2012 17:03 (twelve years ago) link
Teatro's back cover tells it all: a picture of Willie looking like he's stoned to the gills with no idea what he's doing there.
― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 5 January 2012 17:08 (twelve years ago) link
xpost Arcade Fire already produced by Markus Dravs, former Eno acolyte/apprentice/assistant.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 January 2012 17:16 (twelve years ago) link
I saw Willie live when Teatro was new (at Farm Aid) & he sounded terrific playing those songs: it sounded huge & spooky in the giant amphitheater. It's a good record but not one to which I've returned, & I ought to do so.
― Euler, Thursday, 5 January 2012 17:22 (twelve years ago) link
I think I was at the same show. Tinley Park? Was Lanois in the band? With those two Cuban drummers?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 5 January 2012 17:24 (twelve years ago) link
Tinley Park, right, the year with Brian Wilson, Phish jamming with Neil Young, & Mellencamp with a rap interlude.
I didn't know Lanois was in the band, though! Definitely remember the drumming: that was a big part of the spooky vibe that night.
― Euler, Thursday, 5 January 2012 17:26 (twelve years ago) link
Especially love the last track on Teatro, "I've Loved You All Over The World."
Similarly, I saw Emmylou Harris at First Avenue when Wrecking Ball came out, with drums and percussion and all, and she was terrific.
― Cheap desert locations (Eazy), Thursday, 5 January 2012 17:26 (twelve years ago) link
his recordings: Acadie then diminishing returns
his productions: unlistenable in philly otm: "But with Lanois it feels kind of - I don't know - like, his aesthetic can draw the best out of an artist, but that's not really his primary concern. Which I find a little offputting, even when it sounds terrific"
― jimmy_chop, Thursday, 5 January 2012 22:52 (twelve years ago) link
i kind of dig the instrumental record he did with brian blade and mehldau a few years ago. haven't really been a fan of his vocalshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zeu7kMwQPws
― tylerw, Thursday, 5 January 2012 22:58 (twelve years ago) link
I missed this post earlier and completely agree. You only need to look at the number of times he's either hired a documentarian to film the proceedings (Rocky World, Wrecking Ball, Here Is What Is) or written about himself (Soul Mining) to see that it seems like it's a lot more about him than the people he's working with.
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 6 January 2012 18:31 (twelve years ago) link
Oh Mercy going down pretty nicely at the moment. "Most of the Time" is really fabulous.
Such a weirdly first rating guy. I want to love his sound and approach and then he goes and films himself live mixing a track in some Hollywood mansion after drinking a shot of "truth serum." Gag.
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 21 August 2016 05:14 (seven years ago) link
I was surprised to learn, on buying a Raffi record from the used bin a while back for my kids, that it was produced by Daniel Lanois, who, at the time, ran a small studio near where Raffi worked.
https://joelfrancis.com/2009/05/15/lanois-raffi-eno/
― The bald Phil Collins impersonator cash grab (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Sunday, 21 August 2016 14:21 (seven years ago) link
Xpost, first rating = frustrating
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 21 August 2016 17:19 (seven years ago) link
Listening back the last few days ...
Flesh and Machine, his most recent solo record, is really good. Whereas most of his records have his sensitive new age guy emoting on them, lots of Rock-with-a-capital-R guitar and a bunch of his (admittedly nice) pedal steel playing, this one is pretty much just Lanois manipulating loops on his Lexicon Prime Time. About half of the tracks have Brian Blade doing his Brian Blade thing and there's a bit of pedal steel and piano in places. But most of it is loops, echoes and textures he's mixing together to create some kind of composition. Probably my favorite thing under his own name.
Le Noise, his Neil Young album from 2010, is generally really good if somewhat less revolutionary than he probably imagined it was when he made it. It's one of Lanois' uber– pretentious conceits: just Neil, his guitar and Lanois' "sonics" recorded in a spooky Hollywood mansion with shit projected on the walls while Neil laid tracks down. And candidly, there isn't much about the production that you can't do using a handful of plugins on a Mac in today's day and age. But Neil's songs are among his strongest in probably 20 years – "Hitchhiker" is a rambling Neil classic. And Lanois' production, to his credit, brings out some nice Crazy Horse-ish textures on the guitars and an often hidden ghostly quality in Neil's vocals. B&W film of the proceedings (another Lanois hobbyhorse of late) is pretty solid as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU5B53b9ntQ&feature=youtu.be
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 22 August 2016 19:57 (seven years ago) link
goodbye to language is pretty cool, nothing incredible but i feel like i've wanted an album of ambient pedal steel for a long long time
― marcos, Friday, 9 September 2016 14:09 (seven years ago) link
i love it, really beautiful sounds.
― tylerw, Friday, 9 September 2016 14:31 (seven years ago) link
chuck johnson has an ambient pedal steel record coming out on VDSQ, keep your eyes open!
― global tetrahedron, Friday, 9 September 2016 14:37 (seven years ago) link
yeahhh that should be cool.
― tylerw, Friday, 9 September 2016 14:43 (seven years ago) link
nice i keep forgetting to buy that sarah louise too
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 9 September 2016 14:54 (seven years ago) link
yeah, that is prob the best purely solo guitar record of the year (that i've heard anyway). better than glenn jones! (barely).
― tylerw, Friday, 9 September 2016 14:58 (seven years ago) link
anyway, some heavy what-if-kevin-shields-played-pedal-steel vibes on the new lanois
― tylerw, Friday, 9 September 2016 14:59 (seven years ago) link
I've seen some stunning Lanois shows which were mostly him on pedal steel and Brian Blade on drums. He's a great songwriter and guitarist, though, so sometimes I wish he would release another songwriter record.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 9 September 2016 15:00 (seven years ago) link
― tylerw, Friday, September 9, 2016 9:59 AM (sixteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
not pedal steel but the half of Le Noise that works, works really well and reminds me of a neil/mbv thing
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 9 September 2016 15:17 (seven years ago) link
yeah this is really good.
― akm, Friday, 9 September 2016 21:34 (seven years ago) link
fuuuuuck this album of ambient pedal steel is ON FLEEK
love it
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 12 September 2016 20:59 (seven years ago) link
yup
― marcos, Monday, 12 September 2016 21:15 (seven years ago) link
it's kind of like everything i like about lanois freed of troublesome "songs" (which sometimes his cavernous production tends to overwhelm imo)
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 12 September 2016 21:20 (seven years ago) link
"ambient pedal steel" sounds like catnip to me, psyched
― jason waterfalls (gbx), Monday, 12 September 2016 21:23 (seven years ago) link
xpost I dunno we've talked about it before and I think the trademark Lanois production is a lot more about amps and guitars and rooms than production tricks. His solo albums are a million times less fussy than, say, "So." Though I don't think "So" is an indicative Lanois production, so ...
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 12 September 2016 22:30 (seven years ago) link
yeah I don't view his productions as "cluttered" so much as very very distinctive, and here I'm generalizing a bit but with certain albums and certain artists it's definitely putting a stamp on the album like I "Time Out of Mind" or "Teatro"...and can be a big heavy handed at times (IMO) but also really good, I mean he's definitely got a thing
this album is just the best
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 15:53 (seven years ago) link
U2 made their best albums (Boy and Zooropa) without him, IMO.
― the hair - it's lost its energy (Turrican), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 16:28 (seven years ago) link
I agree. They also made their best albums, "Unforgettable Fire" and "Achtung Baby," with him. They also made their worst albums without him.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:08 (seven years ago) link
guys u should hear the Joshua Tree, overlooked gem in the U2 catalog
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:17 (seven years ago) link
It's one of their best! Or, alternatively, one of their worst, if you like the others better.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:19 (seven years ago) link
i'm a how to dismantle an atomic bomb guy & that one song from tomb raider guy myself
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:20 (seven years ago) link
I like the "Batman" song. No Lanois on that one, though, it's a Nellee Hooper track.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:22 (seven years ago) link
i'm a how to dismantle an atomic bomb guy
― Pull your head on out your hippy haze (upper mississippi sh@kedown)
whoa this post is like
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/06/25/483514456/an-avian-mystery-rare-parrot-spotted-in-wild-for-first-time-in-15-years
― nomar, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:29 (seven years ago) link
i'm an avowed U2 "stan" and despite a couple of "gems" that one's my least favorite of theirs
― nomar, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 17:30 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, this was pretty much guaranteed to be up my alley and it is. Not blowing my mind as such but the sort of thing I can see myself putting on a lot. Like a smooth counterpart to Fennesz or something.
(iTunes promotional stunt album def the best, whatever it was called.)
― Hi! I'm twice-coloured! (Sund4r), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 18:21 (seven years ago) link
but i feel like i've wanted an album of ambient pedal steel for a long long time
I think BJ Cole has been making those for decades.
― Bottlerockey (Tom D.), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 18:27 (seven years ago) link
what is a good bj cole album to start with
― marcos, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 18:32 (seven years ago) link
Sad eyes, sad eyesWhere're you going with that confidence?Sad eyes, sad eyesWhere're you going with that confidence?
I'm going to where the boats go byCaledonia river flows so wideI'm going to where the boats go byCaledonia river flows so wide
― Ludo, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 18:49 (seven years ago) link
― marcos, Tuesday, September 13, 2016 2:32 PM (forty-two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
iirc there are only two: The New Hovering Dog, which is the "classic," and one that came out many years later on Hannibal whose name escapes me but is probably more what you're looking for (less song-based). Both, as I recall, are really great if you dig this sort of thing. See also: Chas Smith (who's even further 'out')
― Wimmels, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 19:17 (seven years ago) link
I've listened to some later BJ Cole and always has an 'oh' reaction - one of those where you mean to return but never do. Just discovered the New Hovering Dog is on Spotify and has Robert Kirby arrangements (Nick Drake's buddy) and Danny Thompson on bass.
― Sunn O))) Brother Where Art Thou? (Chinaski), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 20:21 (seven years ago) link
I've always dug "Indian Red" from the Wynona album, maybe its only because it expands on the mid-80s U2/Robbie Robertson sound, just, without the Bono or the Robbie. I especially like how Peter Gabriel used him as a plucked instrument and less-so for defining the entire palette.
...Bit of a proto Nigel Godrich?
― bodacious ignoramus, Tuesday, 13 September 2016 22:34 (seven years ago) link
I can't help but think that The Unforgettable Fire is the lousiest sounding album U2 put out in the '80s, and probably the worst production on a U2 album until Pop.
― the hair - it's lost its energy (Turrican), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 22:54 (seven years ago) link
My ears must be broke
― riding a display name through (brimstead), Tuesday, 13 September 2016 23:02 (seven years ago) link
I'd kill to see All the Pretty Horses restored with Lanois' score
― beamish13, Wednesday, 14 September 2016 01:48 (seven years ago) link
I think the Syd Straw album is kind of fussy and underdeveloped at the same time, but it's been a while. The Sexsmith, I agree that is *totally* Lanois by numbers. I posted it because I think Ron made the right choice by going with the trashcan lid guy.
It's funny, one of the most famous Lanois (solo) productions is "So," but that album lacks many if not most of the characteristics that he's famous for. As opposed to "Us," which is a lot more airy and muddy.
Got distracted just now and finally followed up on this vague credit he gets for working on the "Last of the Mohicans" soundtrack. I never realized even that was subject to Michael Mann's whims.
Director Michael Mann initially asked Trevor Jones to provide an electronic score for the film, but late in production, it was decided an orchestral score would be more appropriate for this historic epic. Jones hurried to re-fashion the score for orchestra in the limited time left, while the constant re-cutting of the film meant music cues sometimes had to be rewritten several times to keep up with the new timings. Finally, with the release date looming, composer Randy Edelman was called in to score some minor scenes which Jones did not have time to do. Jones and Edelman received co-credit on the film (thus making the score ineligible for Oscar consideration). The main theme of the movie is "Promontory", an orchestration of the tune "The Gael" by Scottish singer-songwriter Dougie MacLean from his 1990 album The Search. The score was re-recorded and re-released in 2000 to address some perceived problems with its original incarnation. The tracks were reordered into their onscreen chronology (the original album separated the Jones material from that composed by Edelman), some additional cues were added, and Clannad's "I Will Find You" was no longer included.
Anyway, that was a secondary distraction, because there is the matter of Lanois. It looks like he gets writing credit for this pretty soundtrack gem, which originated as an as a Lanois track called "Orchestral Mohicans":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cM1aVESfYk
I forgot he also produced the soundtrack to Red Dead Redemption 2, including songs with Willie, D'Angelo and this sentimental ballad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2Rhe5BrYpI
Interesting process talk here:
How different was working on Red Dead from working on, say, a movie soundtrack?The person playing the game is directing the character, either to walk into a saloon or walk down by the riverbed, let’s say—and depending on the choice you make, you’ll hear a certain part of a given song. We call that a stem. So I have to mix the melodic stem separately from the rest of the song. It makes me put all my mixing energy into those few components at that moment. When I listened back to these stems—these little sub-mixes—they really had a lot of vibe to them, because I was devoting all of my skills to one small aspect of a bigger production. Then we’d move on to the bassline, and then the drums and percussion. So maybe there’d be six or seven choices gotten to by moving the character in the game. And then at some point all those sounds come together. I thought that was fascinating. It reminded me a little bit of this multiple-speaker thing that I had going with Eno for a while. We’d have maybe a dozen different speakers spread all over the studio, or around the house, and we’d send different sounds through different speakers. I thought that was just fabulous, because you were walking through a forest of sounds that changed largely by distance. Moving into this mixing for the game touched on that nerve—something that I had already fallen in love with a long time ago.
The person playing the game is directing the character, either to walk into a saloon or walk down by the riverbed, let’s say—and depending on the choice you make, you’ll hear a certain part of a given song. We call that a stem. So I have to mix the melodic stem separately from the rest of the song. It makes me put all my mixing energy into those few components at that moment. When I listened back to these stems—these little sub-mixes—they really had a lot of vibe to them, because I was devoting all of my skills to one small aspect of a bigger production. Then we’d move on to the bassline, and then the drums and percussion. So maybe there’d be six or seven choices gotten to by moving the character in the game. And then at some point all those sounds come together.
I thought that was fascinating. It reminded me a little bit of this multiple-speaker thing that I had going with Eno for a while. We’d have maybe a dozen different speakers spread all over the studio, or around the house, and we’d send different sounds through different speakers. I thought that was just fabulous, because you were walking through a forest of sounds that changed largely by distance. Moving into this mixing for the game touched on that nerve—something that I had already fallen in love with a long time ago.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 25 January 2021 15:00 (three years ago) link
Goodbye to Language is soooooooo good
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, January 22, 2021 9:27 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink
― J. Sam, Monday, 25 January 2021 15:07 (three years ago) link
Speaking of D'Angelo, I bet Lanois was knocked on his butt when he heard "Voodoo."
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 25 January 2021 15:49 (three years ago) link
I'm so sad that the new album is not a follow-up to Goodbye to Language. Not into any of this.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 19 March 2021 16:21 (three years ago) link
New interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c92R9rAANeA
― birdistheword, Friday, 19 March 2021 17:34 (three years ago) link
His brother Bob died today:https://www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com/bob-lanois-the-producer-studio-owner-brother-of-daniel-has-died/
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 20 April 2021 21:49 (two years ago) link
Among many other things, Bob Lanois produced the sessions that became Simply Saucer's Cyborgs Revisited. According to the story Bob told me when I was writing my book, Dan came home late while the recording was happening in their mom's basement and plugged his ears. R.I.P. https://t.co/Fl4QhdN3So— Jesse Locke (@wipeoutbeat) April 20, 2021
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 20 April 2021 21:50 (two years ago) link
Aw.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 20 April 2021 22:10 (two years ago) link
Proper obit here:
Bob Lanois patiently taught me how to run a mixing board at Grant Avenue when I was teenager. This skill helped guide my future in radio. He also showed me how to "listen" to sounds...musical and all sounds. #RIPBobLanois. You were a sweet soul. https://t.co/pWGRmn0gsy— Peggy Chapman (@PeggyChapman16) April 20, 2021
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 20 April 2021 22:27 (two years ago) link
Good take on a posthumous release, imo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs8nUCLQTgw
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 15 August 2021 22:40 (two years ago) link
Long interview on Beato's channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxP9kKzbCFA
Which is how I learned of this, the group Lanois worked with that brought him to Eno's attention:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOJDelGsWlw
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 19 May 2023 16:13 (ten months ago) link