You are in the Special Features section - Tony Visconti, Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Glam Rock

Digger talks to renowned record producer Tony Visconti, the man who some say invented Glam Rock. 

 

Tony Visconti

 

All images courtesy of and © copyright www.rexfeatures.com

 

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Digger: When did you know you would have a career in music?

Tony: By age 15, I had played guitar and bass and sung at weddings,  birthdays, in recording studios and even underage in nightclubs. I  couldn't wait to leave school so that I could be a full time musician.  By 18, I was supporting myself through music. I was proficient on guitar and bass and versatile by virtue of being able to play songs that spanned decades. My father taught me the old songs and I had my ear glued to pop radio.

Digger: Who were/are the musicians and producers who inspired you? 

Tony: Chet Atkins, Les Paul, Buddy Holly, Mickey Baker, Chuck Berry and Scotty Moore were some of the guitarists that I wanted to emulate. I briefly wanted to be a jazz musician so I was inspired by bassist Charlie Mingus and big band leaders Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson. The first producers I was aware of were Phil Spector and George Martin. Both have influenced me a great deal.  Of course, I was  mentored by one of Britain's greatest record producers of the 60s, Denny Cordell.  I owe him a lot.

Digger: What created the musical and cultural explosion in Britain in the 60s and 70s and will it ever be repeated?

Tony: In the 60s the Beatles and George Martin started it all and they could do no wrong.  We lived in their shadows. The 70s blossomed into  probably the most creative period ever in popular music.  I'd like to  think that I was instrumental in starting up some new concepts by producing Bowie and Bolan in the 70s. But really, so much great music was happening all at once in that decade.  Will something like that happen again? Probably not. There was a rite of passage in those days were only the 'cream' rose to the top.  Nowadays anyone with a credit card can buy excellent gear and make a recording and sell it on the Internet.  I don't think this is necessarily a good thing.

Digger: I spoke to Sir George Martin, Tony Hatch and Shel Talmy about  what makes a good record. Sir George said there were only two types of music - good and bad. Shel said that a good song can be ruined by bad production but that a bad song can never be made into a good one even with good production. Tony jokingly told me that Bacharach sometimes gets called 'The American Tony Hatch'. What do you see as  the main elements of a producer's role? 

Tony: A producer should take an artist to the heights of their abilities. Nurturing and coaching are words to describe what I do. I think a producer should make the studio process as easy as possible for the artist.  Honestly, I could write a book on the subject.

Digger: What might you be if you weren't a producer?

Tony: I'd be a working musician and a Tai Chi teacher. Everyone should practice Tai Chi.  I am already a certified Alexander Technique teacher.

Digger: What makes you laugh, what makes you sad, what make you angry and what makes you hopeful?

Tony: Laugh: People.  Sad: The unconscious destruction of our planet. Angry: throwing trash in the street and people sitting in a car with the engine idling for more than 5 minutes.

Digger: Can you tell us about your work with Badfinger (and The Iveys), that talented and tragic band who left us such a great musical legacy? How did you get on with them? What is so rotten about the music business that Pete and Tom would feel the need to take their own lives?

Tony: They were great guys, including Ron the bassist who left the group early. They were a really young band, the slickest aspect was their songwriting and ability to sound uncannily like the Beatles vocally.  My mentor, Denny Cordell, was asked by Apple to produce them. He didn't like their lack of experience and walked off after 2 days of frustration. I was already onboard as his assistant, so I took over and we all got on just fine.  They were still The Iveys when we worked together.  I produced one hit for them, "Maybe Tomorrow." Then McCartney wrote "Come And Get It" for the Magic Christian film and used them rather than the Beatles to record it. He named them Badfinger. I think everyone thought it was the Beatles anyway. About ten of my productions were used for that soundtrack and subsequent albums.

I don't know that the music industry per se caused Pete and Tom to commit suicide. I heard it was just one man who stood in between them and their money, but there could've been other factors involved. I don't know, I lost contact with them many years before the tragedies occurred.

 

 

Tony with David Bowie 1969

 

Digger: And what about your work with Sparks? (I managed to bluff my way into a backstage party with some friends once and Ron and Russ were great hosts).

Tony: Sparks are geniuses and I don't use that word lightly. They were a joy to work with. I worked on two fantastic albums with them, Indiscreet and Plagiarism. I would love to work with them again. Not only did they teach me some crazy notions about music, but they are also gourmet diners who turned me on to great food.  You wouldn't believe it because they have always been so thin.

Digger: Your work with Mary Hopkin has received a great deal of acclaim  from critics and people in the business as well as publicly. Why do  you think that collaboration worked so well and how did you go about  choosing songs for her second album?

Tony: Mary and I recorded many songs, about 50, and the public hasn't heard  the best of them yet.  Our daughter, Jessica, is in charge of releasing these hidden treasures. Mary and I loved beautiful music. She was all about melody and harmony. Drums were too raucous for her in those days and if we used them at all they were quite quiet in the mix.  For Earth Song Ocean Song we listened to almost 100 songs from various sources.  Since Essex Music had such an extensive folk catalogue many came from them. And I think that you, David, personally played lots of the songs we'd chosen for that lovely album. Mary asked for an all star folk musician line up and a string quartet for the main backing on that album. I asked my mates Ralph McTell and David Cousins of the Strawbs to play guitars, also Danny Thompson, the bassist of Pentangle to play too. It is one of my favourite albums that I've produced. Mary is just about the best female singer I've ever worked with.  Her interpretation of sad songs is heart-wrenching.  Her tone is beautiful and her intonation is perfect!

 

Sparks

Badfinger

 

Digger: Can you describe the following in a few words?

Tony:- 

• Mary Hopkin: An angel who sings like an angel.

• David Bowie: A certified genius and national treasure.

• Marc Bolan: A certified genius and a national treasure who always deserved more recognition.  He should win a posthumous Brit award.  Nearly every British pop artist has a bit of T. Rex in them.

• Morrissey: The same as the above, but I don't want to give him a big head.

• Paul McCartney: A legend, but he can back that title up in spades!  It was a pleasure to work with him on Band On The Run.

• Phil Lynnot: One of the last really genuine rockers!  Not only did he play hard, but he was a true poet, a great singer and most of all a real gentleman.
  

Digger: Most of the Glam rock stars of the seventies had served their apprenticeships in  the sixties - Bowie, Bolan, Slade, Glitter, Elton John were all  trying to make it in the sixties. Was Glam Rock a creation of managers and producers such as yourself or can it be traced to an individual or event?

Tony: Glam Rock was a name invented by the press to what artists and producers had already created. It was a crazy period musically and dressing up and wearing make up was a great form of self-expression. David Bowie and Marc Bolan were the first artists to create the music and the dress code. There were great artists that followed in their footsteps and actually improved on the model.

Digger: Who are your musical heroes now?

Tony: I adore Philip Glass the composer. I rented a studio from him for four years and played with him in Carnegie Hall with David Bowie for his Tibet House charity concerts.  If all he had written was Einstein On The Beach that would've been enough.  But he's written great music time after time and is still extremely active today at 70.  It was always great to have a chat with him in the hallway and I also had some evenings out with him.  Until this day I'm still in awe of him when I see him. I have no current heroes in this new generation, but I like groups like Flaming Lips, Coheed and Cambria and Arctic Monkeys. They are very innovative bands which is rare in this current climate.

Digger: How would you describe the state of the music business today  compared to previous decades? Would stars like Bolan, Bowie, Badfinger and The Beatles be able to make it in the modern business?

Tony: The modern industry seems to be lost. The big labels are far too late in the downloaded music game, they were too busy trying to stop something that could never be stopped.  They still seem to think that by putting all their chips on one or two very young bands a year will save the company.  No one is buying records in the quantities they were years ago.  It would be very hard to match the success of Rumours, Sgt. Pepper, Thriller, because those type of stars don't seem to be coming up anymore.  But there is loads of interesting music selling in smaller numbers.  If I were a big label I would sign 140 acts with small deals (low advances) and plan on half of them having moderate success. They would make more money.

Digger: Has the technology available today made music better and more  accessible or has it diluted and trivialised it?

Tony: Both. It's easy to record on a computer and cheaper. The sound quality is much better than it was 15 years ago.  But the MP3 as a form of delivery is atrocious.  I record at 88.2 khz and all that quality goes to waste by the time it becomes an MP3.  But I too have an iPod and I find that having a vast quantity of my favourite music on a long plane journey is very comforting.  But at home I never listen via MP3s. I listen to CDs, Surround Sound and vinyl. Young musicians, in a desperate attempt to get signed and played on the radio are writing the most banal music these days -- glorified nursery rhymes, because that's what the labels are dictating. Mediocrity in music has never been greater than this current period...and sales have never been lower.

Digger: Atom Heart Mother and Electric Warrior were the first two albums I 'got into' - both at the same time. Can you enlighten us and point us to some creative Visconti touches that you added to Bowie and Bolan's work? 

 

 

     

Phil Spector and Mary Hopkin

 

 

Tony: Well, I'm a string arranger. I wrote all those T. Rex string parts that embellished Marc's guitar work. I've guided those artistes through all the sessions, taking a very active role. When they wanted something really innovative I'd role up my sleeves and help them create a new sound. I played bass on some of those records, wrote and sang many of the back ups, and I mixed all the Bowie and Bolan tracks I've produced. I'm not going to reveal my trade secrets here, but a large part of me is in all the records I've produced and mixed.

Digger: What have been your biggest achievements and what do you still want to accomplish?

Tony: I've produced over 150 albums and countless songs. I'd say that I have a good track record too. But I've had a wonderful life making music that people still play and cherish and young people are just discovering. That's my biggest achievement.

Digger: What are your top five favourite albums today?

Tony: Honestly, I don't have any. I'm always rotating things on my iPod. Most modern albums I play about twice and they go on the shelf.

 

  Ralph McTell

 

 

Digger: What are the best examples of musical production in your view? What/who would you like to have produced that you didn't?

Tony: George Martin is the best example of music production in the past 50 years. And much credit has to go to Geoff Emerick, the engineer of some of the best Beatles productions. The Beatles were great musicians back then but George Martin took their music to a very high level that they couldn't do on their own.  "Strawberry Fields" is the best example of that. There are some great producers who have innovated new techniques, I think highly of Trent Reznor and his NIN productions. They are truly awesome. It's nice to hear Mark Ronson doing the retro sound in a modern, hip way with Amy Winehouse. The Hip Hop production techniques are some of the best things I've heard in the past 10 years too. My friend Jimmy Douglass is half of the Timbaland team and both have come up with amazing sounds and 
concepts. Every generation has left it's mark.

I always wanted to produce a Bob Dylan album but that never came off. It's too late now, because I wanted to produce the 1969 Bob Dylan. I'd like to write a symphonic piece, in a rock setting, if I can stop producing long enough. I think it would take me the good part of a year to do that.  But I've been working harder than ever, so that's on the back burner.

Digger: What are your current projects and what are you planning for the  near future?

Tony: I've recently worked with Anti-Flag, Angelique Kidjo, Razorlight, Alejandro Escovedo, Raphael (France) and Kristeen Young.  I've got a lot planned for the rest of this year. I might get a short break in September. I have to mention that my autobiography is out and doing very well, "Bowie, Bolan and The Brooklyn Boy" on Harper Collins. That was a two-year project but it was fun. I'm planning two more books.

A recent photo of Tony