I talked before about the role of the producer in being a back-seat driver, steering the band off to the back roads and sometimes over a washed out bridge. Now that I think about it, U2 were led off into neverland when Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois stepped in and produced Joshua Tree. Since I’ve listened to some Brian Eno records now I realize that Joshua Tree is just another Brian Eno record with some Irish guys along for the ride. I love that record, but I see it as a case of the producers steering from the back seat. On a side note, knee jerk reaction, I bought the reissue of The Jesus And Mary Chain record ‘Automatic’ (with all the obsessive extras). In the ‘creepy stalker’ edition liner notes I read about how around that time the JAMC almost intersected with Daniel Lanois as a producer. I quote JAMC quoting Lanois, “oh we won’t do it in a recording studio, we’ll rent a big church somewhere…” JAMC responded, “we were thinking of getting in drum machines…” and they say ‘that was the end of working with Daniel Lanois.’ Continue reading →