Here's a crazy thought....

What if the next album was produced by....Crowded House!!!

Afterall, didn't they basically self produce Together Alone? I thought Youth didn't exactly pull his weight, and that they practically produced it themselves anyway. Besides, Neil Mark and Nick have all done production before. And hasn't Matt as well? I just thought it would be cool to hear what they would sound like without outside influence.

quote:

Originally posted by Half-Full:
Here's a crazy thought....What if the next album was produced by....Crowded House!!!

Nah. They suck.

quote:

Originally posted by stuartjb:
it was only a semi-serious suggestion,but sir george has spent the last two years co-producing the "love" album - so he's still keeping his hand in!

I know it was only a semi serious suggestion. It was only a semi serious rebuttal as well.

Still, I think you'll find his son Giles did pretty much all of LOVE with George acting as 'executive producer'. He pretty much doesn't do the hands-on stuff anymore.

I mean, he didn't even do Free As A Bird or Real Love, and that was 12 years ago!!

(I'd still let him lay on strings and french horn as he pleases, tho ).

Not that I'm disregarding George's sheer impact and direction simply because he didn't do the hands-on stuff.

Just as we shouldn't disregard Youth because he didn't "pull his weight". Apparently, George Harrison did pretty much 80% of 'the work' on All Thngs Must Pass, but you wouldn't say that Phil Spector had anything less than an incredible impact on the sound.

A lot of producers (like Steve Lillywhite) leave almost all the nuts-and-bolts musical stuff to the artist, but are very good at stepping in here and there with seemingly small, focused suggestions that actually have a huge impact. I think Youth was this way too.

They're also better with the broader concepts of creating an album, *because* they're not entrenched in the details as much as the artist; they play the objective devil's advocate.

Mitchell Froom is the opposite, from what I can gather; he micro-manages everything about a song, like an auteur. It sounds like Ethan Johns fell somewhere in the middle, almost like an extra band member who was also producing.

I hope they go with more of a Youth or Steve Lillywhite for the next one. It sounds like Flood is more this kind of producer as well--if that's who they want at this point, I hope they can get him. Sounds like he worked some real magic with PJ Harvey on her latest.

quote:

Originally posted by Half-Full:
Here's a crazy thought....

What if the next album was produced by....Crowded House!!!

Afterall, didn't they basically self produce Together Alone? I thought Youth didn't exactly pull his weight, and that they practically produced it themselves anyway. Besides, Neil Mark and Nick have all done production before. And hasn't Matt as well? I just thought it would be cool to hear what they would sound like without outside influence.

I was under the impression that he made them record it in a way in which they would never have tried themselves, so he was fairly instrumental in making the album sound the way it did because of that.

I liked Neil's production of Twist and his work on The Islander, both Dave Dobbyn albums. Twist is very dark and introverted and quite claustrophobic (I remember a quote from Neil where he said that he always wanted to make a record sound south pacific gothic psychedelic or words to that effect, and I think Twist sums it up perfectly, as does the first Finn Brothers record); The Islander is a much slicker affair & more spacious in feel but still great - still very uniquely south pacific too. But I think in terms of unusual ways of recording and producing albums, Neil's too set in his ways and wouldn't do the kind of thing Youth did. I don't think I'd trust them to push the boundaries enough.

I think they really need someone who is going to take them out of their comfort zone in terms of writing & recording and make them try new things. That's why I loved Together Alone, its not like the other albums, they were forced by Youth to try some different stuff, mix it up a bit and the result is a near perfect record. Similarly, Neil solo, Try Whistling This was great because again, he was taken out of his comfort zone and made to do something different.

So basically, I agree with Iarla, the good thing about someone like Flood is that its taking them somewhere they've not been before. Though personally, I'd put them with Rich Costey or someone similar.

quote:

I think they really need someone who is going to take them out of their comfort zone in terms of writing & recording and make them try new things. That's why I loved Together Alone, its not like the other albums, they were forced by Youth to try some different stuff, mix it up a bit and the result is a near perfect record. Similarly, Neil solo, Try Whistling This was great because again, he was taken out of his comfort zone and made to do something different.

As normal Sarah you're talking a lot of sense here. I agree totally with the above bit. Any producer who stretches Neil a bit is welcomed by me. So I agree Flood would be OK. I still say Brian Eno would be great. He definately stretches bands - look what he did to U2 with Actung Baby and I'm looking forward to hearing what he's done with Coldplay.

quote:

Originally posted by Anna21:
Another one good at that type of nuturing w/ the artist is Brendan O'Brien. He seems to be able to work wit the artist in distilling their best musical tendencies, yet somehow giving them a fresh spin and encouraging them to do a bit more fusion with other sounds. ...

Anna21, I'm definitely seconding the Brendan O'Brien producer nom. I was just coming here to suggest it myself, but I thought I'd better check first - see if anyone beat me to it!

Has anyone asked the guys about this lately? We know they still don't have a producer locked in, but do we know who they're pursuing or would like to get? We heard Flood many months ago but I wonder if he's been abandoned or what.