bread n' whine
The Fly
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2005
- Messages
- 93
Does anyone know?
Lanois has an incredibly distinctive production style you can always recognize. Eno is more varied (or creative). People hear things and say "it sounds like Eno" but actually, some of his productions have not sounded that trademark ambient way at all. Talking Heads, for instance.
The weird thing about Unforgettable Fire to me is how much it sounds like War. If I hadnt known, I would have guessed the switch in producers had come before The Joshua Tree, not this one. I guess that's just the overdone '80s sound on both of them, I might actually call Unforgettable more overproduced than War, but the sound is very carefully molded and makes more of an impression. Lillywhite got close with the atmospherics of "New Year's Day" and "Seconds" and "Surrender" but could never have created the first two tracks on Unforgettable, and Eno wouldn't have allowed such awful backing vocals on a track like "Red Light," he would have... added cheesy synth. But Lillywhite might not have liked a song as minimal as "MLK" either. I find "40" pretty overproduced in comparison.
The Joshua Tree sounds to me like pure Lanois. I think what Eno contributed was some restraint-- minimalism. Don't let the echoey thing get too out of hand. The vocals are not subtle, but everything else is.
Somehow I hear very little of the "Lanois sound" anymore on Achtung Baby, except on "One."
Anyway, that's all speculation because I know nothing specific about record mixing. I just wonder how these two guys who by the late '80s were both successful producers in their own right, with their own different ideals (even if Lanois had started as an apprentice to Eno)... how they managed to work together and get anything done. Are there any interviews illuminating who did what, etc.? Who was it who wanted to scrap "Where the Streets Have No Name"? Did one of them work with the band first and then the other scheduled time in later months, or were they there at the same time?
Lanois had nothing to do with Zooropa, right? And neither Eno nor Lanois had nothing to do with Pop? Did they have a falling-out with the band at some point?
Sorry for all the questions.
Lanois has an incredibly distinctive production style you can always recognize. Eno is more varied (or creative). People hear things and say "it sounds like Eno" but actually, some of his productions have not sounded that trademark ambient way at all. Talking Heads, for instance.
The weird thing about Unforgettable Fire to me is how much it sounds like War. If I hadnt known, I would have guessed the switch in producers had come before The Joshua Tree, not this one. I guess that's just the overdone '80s sound on both of them, I might actually call Unforgettable more overproduced than War, but the sound is very carefully molded and makes more of an impression. Lillywhite got close with the atmospherics of "New Year's Day" and "Seconds" and "Surrender" but could never have created the first two tracks on Unforgettable, and Eno wouldn't have allowed such awful backing vocals on a track like "Red Light," he would have... added cheesy synth. But Lillywhite might not have liked a song as minimal as "MLK" either. I find "40" pretty overproduced in comparison.
The Joshua Tree sounds to me like pure Lanois. I think what Eno contributed was some restraint-- minimalism. Don't let the echoey thing get too out of hand. The vocals are not subtle, but everything else is.
Somehow I hear very little of the "Lanois sound" anymore on Achtung Baby, except on "One."
Anyway, that's all speculation because I know nothing specific about record mixing. I just wonder how these two guys who by the late '80s were both successful producers in their own right, with their own different ideals (even if Lanois had started as an apprentice to Eno)... how they managed to work together and get anything done. Are there any interviews illuminating who did what, etc.? Who was it who wanted to scrap "Where the Streets Have No Name"? Did one of them work with the band first and then the other scheduled time in later months, or were they there at the same time?
Lanois had nothing to do with Zooropa, right? And neither Eno nor Lanois had nothing to do with Pop? Did they have a falling-out with the band at some point?
Sorry for all the questions.
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