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Producer Steve Lillywhite Shares Career Nuggets on The Rolling Stones, U2, David Byrne & More at Canadian Music Week

5/15/2018 by Karen Bliss


Producer Steve Lillywhite ought to write a book. The man who was made
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by the Queen of
England in 2012 knows how to tell a story, and not in a longwinded way --
just beautiful short nuggets of information and humor.

Lillywhite is currently living in Jakarta, Indonesia, where he is
running Jagonya Music and Sport, selling 600,000 CDs a month in KFC shops.
On top of that, he recently worked on his ninth U2 album and has been producing Indonesian acts.
But on Saturday he was at Canadian Music Week
in Toronto, where he delivered a keynote interview and shared stories about
The Rolling Stones, Morrissey, David Byrne, U2, Dave Matthews Band, Jason
Mraz and more.

On The Rolling Stones:

I was brought in by Mick [Jagger] because Mick always knows who's the
current guy. This was 1986 and I was, word was that Mick said to Elton
John, "Who's the young kid who's really good?' and Elton -- who is always
on everything -- said, "Well, there's this guy Steve Lillywhite. You've
got to check him out." So I went over to Paris and I got the job. So I
was brought in by Mick, but the very funny thing, when I walked into the
studio saying hi to all the engineer guys, everyone has these lock knives.
Not great knives, it was just a thing to do. Two weeks later, I had my own.
You become part of the whole scene [laughs]. But I was brought in by Mick,
but it was much cooler to hang out with Keith [Richards]. It was okay.
Keith and Mick were really not talking to each other and it was okay.
Had a song "Harlem Shuffle" and another song called "One Hit to the
Body," which is okay, but I always said I produced the worst Rolling
Stones album ever until the next one.

On Keith Richards:

No one wants to die but there's certain signs that you're living your
life close to the edge. The great thing about Keith is that the music
always brought him back. So whenever someone does die of drugs and all
that, I always think the music was not strong enough for them. That's
the great thing about Keith is that the music was strong enough to pull
him back from any danger that he felt and that's a really great thing
about anyone, but Mick really pulls that band on. The great thing about
The Stones is that they don't have loads of backing tapes. They're a g
reat blues band.

-----------------------------------

The bold says it all.

"Until the next one" made me laugh. Interesting remarks. I'd love to hear more from him.

The article itself has a few gems: on Morrissey: "He was a man of very few words and actually most of the words he uses he steals."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-06-02 00:06 by Rocky Dijon.

They're a great blues band.

Yeah the bold says it all ……



ROCKMAN

Quote
Rockman
They're a great blues band.

Yeah the bold says it all ……

That is why they should do one or two more blues cover albums..... and everybody would be happy

An old interview. I read the entire thing a while ago. If I only remember where..

That is why they should do one or two more blues cover albums..... and everybody would be happy

YEP!! …. Hoo Doo Blues is the finest Stones song in years …
… The sexuality that Jagger ooooozes … the dirty grind of the band … That's The Stones …..



ROCKMAN

Quote
Rocky Dijon
"Until the next one" made me laugh. Interesting remarks. I'd love to hear more from him.

The article itself has a few gems: on Morrissey: "He was a man of very few words and actually most of the words he uses he steals."

When saying "until the next one" did he mean that Steel Wheels was even worse than DW?

I don't like DW production-wise. Over the top, loud. Just as if it was produced by Don Was... So the question is: Why on earth did Steve produce such a poor sound knowing that it wasn't the right sound? (And please don't say that it was poorly produced, because the songs weren't there. If I can hum a song then it means the song is there, indeed. I can't hum sh%$ from Bigger Bang. No point in opening another topic on which is the worst Stones album, right?)

I took his remark to mean their salad days were past as a band so that each new effort is "the worst they've ever done" to all but the faithful. That's largely reflected by concert set lists and radio airplay. I don't think of him as a Stones fan so I'm not bothered. His whole talk was meant to be jocular it seems.

As for why did the sound of DIRTY WORK fall apart? I'd say it's the vocals and the drum sound. The guitars sound sharp and terrific. I'll make others wince and say Chuck sounds terrific on the album. They wanted more of an eighties hard rock sound for the drums, but Charlie isn't that kind of drummer. The drum sound is terrible except for "Harlem Shuffle" and "Had It with You." Charlie once said in an interview he didn't play on much of UNDERCOVER or DIRTY WORK. Others here who are admittedly quite knowledgeable suggest he does indeed play most of the drums on DIRTY WORK. I feel better thinking it isn't him, but that's just me. As for the vocals, the barking style is something Mick also did on SHE'S THE BOSS (also engineered by Dave Jerden) and continued it on "Hold on to Your Hat." At least it wasn't his forced lower register that sometimes surfaced on the 1981 tour.