Do take the time to listen on headphones (and likewise to It’s My Party) in order to witness a mix at the ‘dawn of stereo’, where engineers, flush with the new technology, would push entire drum kits or bass hard left or right to give those TWO speakers a thorough workout. Its hands-off, feminist themes were, at the time, as bold and striking as the track’s production. You Don’t Own Me - from the older, wiser, now 17-year-old Gore - is a careful, dangerous track, with a soaring string-powered chorus and a vocal drenched in tape delay (where the vocal was recorded off to a second tape machine only to be spun back in a fraction of a second behind the original) and spring reverb (where the sound was literally played inside a box containing - yup - a mic’d-up spring). However, such is the familiarity of It’s My Party and hastiness of cash-in album I’ll Cry If I Want To (where SIX of the album’s 12 tracks feature the word ‘cry’ in their title, It’s My Party - a song totally about crying - NOT being one of them) that we’re skirting Gore’s debut for her more mature, sonically superior second wind.
Through a tortuous mix of good fortune, mistakes and sheer grit it’s the version by the plucked-from-obscurity 16-year old Gore with Jones that made history, while recorded (but put-on-hold) versions by (megastar) Helen Shapiro and The Crystals (produced by Phil Spector) were beaten to the punch after Jones was tipped off about Spector’s imminent Crystals release and rushed home from a gig to press 100 copies and get it out first. It’s easy to forget that the seminal, original recording of much covered, dawn-of-the-swinging-sixties mega anthem It’s My Party (by Lesely Gore) was, in fact, produced by Quincy Jones - his very first hit single.
Quincy jones net worth full#
(If you’re yet to partake, do take the time to grab the kick and snare from the opening moments of Beat It - you can thank us later.)Īnd do take do take a moment to revel in the closing passage of Don’t Stop in its full album form, as Swedien slowly fades that awesome rhythm section at 5:30, melting things away to reveal the airy tapping percussion and relentless guitar and Clav parts that have secretly been powering the track for its duration. Whether you believe it or not, there’s no denying that the drums and bass all through Off The Wall AND Thriller really are second to none. And let’s not forget that Jackson sings the whole song in a never-repeated falsetto think about it - it doesn’t even sound like MJ! Quincy imbues Don’t Stop with a multitude of musical bombs, from the ambient tin can percussion to the loud, resonant post-bridge toms, to the looming glimmers of dark strings and the party in the background during the break. Jones, fresh from scoring The Wiz soundtrack (starring Jackson as the cowardly lion) was asked by MJ if he knew any good producers who might like to tackle his first solo cut. Next, it’s the super-fresh combo of Quincy Jones, MJ and the secret weapon that is mix engineer Bruce Swedien who are all - perhaps unwittingly at the time - at the top of their game. Trust us: picking just one of MJ’s Jones-produced hits for this list was a nightmare (Beat It, Billie Jean, Thriller… on and on they go.) but Don’t Stop clinches it for so many reasons.įirstly, it’s the first song MJ wrote solo and his first single from his first solo album and - as the way he rolls his sleeves at 0:21 in the video makes clear - this guy means business. OK, let’s get this party started with this absolute tidal wave of a track.
You know, I was wondering, you know, if… if you could keep on, because, the force… it’s got a lot of power and… it makes me feel like… it makes me feel like… OOOOH! Michael Jackson – Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough We’ve distilled an incredible 70-odd years in the music business into just five of the great man’s production moves below, along with what we reckon is an essential and diverse grab bag of further listening yet.
Quincy jones net worth movie#
From early moves as an in-demand trumpeter, he was soon creating his own arrangements and then scoring movie soundtracks.įrom there came his legendary work as a music producer, which included helming the biggest-selling album of all time, Michael Jackson’s Thriller. It’s hard to put into words the sheer range, quality and volume of Quincy Jones’ output. Quincy Jones: “My proudest achievement? It would be like having to name my favourite child"
0 kommentar(er)
