I still suffer from this bad writing habit of starting with a clear objective and then wandering off to a completely different topic. Just like when I went out for a walk today. I thought it would be great to walk directly southwest to the lake, but through a series of random turns I ended up directly northeast, almost at BYU. If this were an essay exam for English Composition or Western Civilization it might matter, but I think I finally have the liberty to turn left when I say right. The only red mark on my paper is that this topic is still pent up in my mind; I put all that effort into my last post about being a U2 fanboi when I should have been telling you about Trevor Horn. (So, now my tastes in music are pinpointed to the 80’s. Should be obvious already.)

My objective today is to tell you about the producer, who is not a member of the band but is the most significant factor in a band’s sound. I hope I can stay on course this time. I mentioned Mr. Horn because throughout the 80’s and 90’s he defined a certain sound and image that upstaged the acts he chose to cultivate. Traditionally, the role of the producer is to guide and collaborate with the musicians to find a focus for their artistic vision and then get the best of their talents on tape. For some auteur musicians the producer is just there to got out for coffee and take care of the boring details, but for others the producer adds an impurity to the metal to make a resilient alloy, or maybe it’s the other way around…

Trevor Horn (ZTT) is an interesting subject because each band he took on became the new facade for his unmistakable style. Tight, synthed up bass lines, and crisp engineering. Think of ABC, Art of Noise, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Propaganda, Grace Jones, and Seal. In each case it was kind of a let down when these bands ventured on their own because they didn’t sound quite as brilliant. Robin Guthrie is also notorious for producing bands like hitting them blind-side with a bus. He “optimized” the early sound of Lush to give us the mesmerizing and brash “Gala” and “Spooky”, but the band woke up a couple of years later feeling like he had slipped them some roofies on their night out on the town. Lush sounded like a regular brit pop grrl band after they sloughed off the pouty shoegazer image Robin gave them. Robin and Trevor are very talented, but to their discredit they were a little selfish when it came to mentoring other artists. The best producers are nameless and just make the bands sound great.