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When Pirate Hal Came to Town
Ed. Note: U2.com has an exclusive interview with Hal Willner, producer of the "Rogue's Gallery" CD inspired by the recent "Pirates of the Caribbean" film and featuring Bono. Members can get the complete interview and listen to Bono performing "Dying Sailor to His Shipmates" here. Snippets are below.
Hear Bono’s version of ‘Dying Sailor to His Shipmates’ and read our interview with Hal Willner, producer of ‘Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys’.
When producer Hal Willner is in the studio, you can be guaranteed the results will be ground-breaking. Hal has an unrivalled reputation for putting together tribute albums in musical styles from jazz to rock, as well as making acclaimed records with artists like Marianne Faithful, Bill Frisell and Gavin Friday. And then of course Hal has followed U2 for many years, not least because he has been the music supervisor of Saturday Night Live since 1981.
But the reason we tracked down Hal right now is this – he’s produced the record on which Bono appears next, an astonishing double-album called ‘Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys’. Due out August 22nd, it’s a maverick collection filled with contemporary reinterpretations of songs from a genre of music that has all but disappeared – the sea chantey. And it has a dazzling cast-list from Bono and Sting to Nick Cave, Bryan Ferry, Lou Reed, Lucinda Williams, Rufus Wainwright and Richard Thompson.
The idea originated when film director Gore Verbinski and actor Johnny Depp were working on ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.’ ‘I slowly became fascinated by the idea of a contemporary reinterpretation of the sea chantey,’ recalls Verbinski. ‘I imagined the artists that I listen to and respect doing their take on this age-old music: the song of the sea.’ Verbinski got talking to Brett Gurewitz who owns Epitaph Records and to Depp, a serious rock fan, and they realized that apart from a list of artists to record the songs, they needed a producer. Enter Hal as ‘the captain of this vessel.’
I gave him eight tracks to listen to and he chose ‘Dying Sailor to His Shipmates’ instantly.
How was that recording ?
It went as smooth as can be. Both Gavin and Andrea had recorded their basic tracks first. Gavin did ‘Baltimore Whores’ with the band which was classic Gavin and Andrea recorded ‘Caroline's Young Sailor Bold’ totally acapella. When Bono arrived we played him both Gavin and Andrea's tracks which seemed to inspire him. He asked Maurice Seezer to play a drone on his accordion then took the mic and sang a hair raising and beautiful version of the song that felt like a spiritual from Egypt. That was it - Take 1. He added a harmony to his vocal and said ‘Adieu’. I later had the great Jenny Scheinman add strings to the track with a quartet with an Om Kalsoum ‘Within You Without You’ vibe....
You also worked on the soundtrack to ‘Million Dollar Hotel’: has that album been a little overlooked given the contribution of U2 and Daniel Lanois et al?
It was a wonderful quirky soundtrack to a wonderful quirky film. I wasn't expecting it to be heavily promoted as U2 had their own record coming out shortly thereafter. The U2 tracks on the soundtrack were a great preview to what would be on ‘All That You Can't Leave Behind’. It would be really cool if one day a CD of all the instrumental music recorded for that film came out on it's own, there is a lot of beautiful music from Lanois, Eno, Jon Hassell, Bill Frisell, and more that hasn't been heard. There was only a few of the instrumental tracks on the CD: there are love themes, action themes, anthems - all in storage! Ah, the glory days of true soundtracks are gone!
--U2.com
When Pirate Hal Came to Town
Ed. Note: U2.com has an exclusive interview with Hal Willner, producer of the "Rogue's Gallery" CD inspired by the recent "Pirates of the Caribbean" film and featuring Bono. Members can get the complete interview and listen to Bono performing "Dying Sailor to His Shipmates" here. Snippets are below.
Hear Bono’s version of ‘Dying Sailor to His Shipmates’ and read our interview with Hal Willner, producer of ‘Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys’.
When producer Hal Willner is in the studio, you can be guaranteed the results will be ground-breaking. Hal has an unrivalled reputation for putting together tribute albums in musical styles from jazz to rock, as well as making acclaimed records with artists like Marianne Faithful, Bill Frisell and Gavin Friday. And then of course Hal has followed U2 for many years, not least because he has been the music supervisor of Saturday Night Live since 1981.
But the reason we tracked down Hal right now is this – he’s produced the record on which Bono appears next, an astonishing double-album called ‘Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys’. Due out August 22nd, it’s a maverick collection filled with contemporary reinterpretations of songs from a genre of music that has all but disappeared – the sea chantey. And it has a dazzling cast-list from Bono and Sting to Nick Cave, Bryan Ferry, Lou Reed, Lucinda Williams, Rufus Wainwright and Richard Thompson.
The idea originated when film director Gore Verbinski and actor Johnny Depp were working on ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.’ ‘I slowly became fascinated by the idea of a contemporary reinterpretation of the sea chantey,’ recalls Verbinski. ‘I imagined the artists that I listen to and respect doing their take on this age-old music: the song of the sea.’ Verbinski got talking to Brett Gurewitz who owns Epitaph Records and to Depp, a serious rock fan, and they realized that apart from a list of artists to record the songs, they needed a producer. Enter Hal as ‘the captain of this vessel.’
I gave him eight tracks to listen to and he chose ‘Dying Sailor to His Shipmates’ instantly.
How was that recording ?
It went as smooth as can be. Both Gavin and Andrea had recorded their basic tracks first. Gavin did ‘Baltimore Whores’ with the band which was classic Gavin and Andrea recorded ‘Caroline's Young Sailor Bold’ totally acapella. When Bono arrived we played him both Gavin and Andrea's tracks which seemed to inspire him. He asked Maurice Seezer to play a drone on his accordion then took the mic and sang a hair raising and beautiful version of the song that felt like a spiritual from Egypt. That was it - Take 1. He added a harmony to his vocal and said ‘Adieu’. I later had the great Jenny Scheinman add strings to the track with a quartet with an Om Kalsoum ‘Within You Without You’ vibe....
You also worked on the soundtrack to ‘Million Dollar Hotel’: has that album been a little overlooked given the contribution of U2 and Daniel Lanois et al?
It was a wonderful quirky soundtrack to a wonderful quirky film. I wasn't expecting it to be heavily promoted as U2 had their own record coming out shortly thereafter. The U2 tracks on the soundtrack were a great preview to what would be on ‘All That You Can't Leave Behind’. It would be really cool if one day a CD of all the instrumental music recorded for that film came out on it's own, there is a lot of beautiful music from Lanois, Eno, Jon Hassell, Bill Frisell, and more that hasn't been heard. There was only a few of the instrumental tracks on the CD: there are love themes, action themes, anthems - all in storage! Ah, the glory days of true soundtracks are gone!
--U2.com