Synopsis
Sinatra. Streisand. Dylan. Pavarotti. McCartney. Sting. Madonna.
What do these musicians have in common besides their super-stardom? They have all worked with legendary music producer Phil Ramone.
For almost five decades, Phil Ramone has been a force in the music industry. He has produced records and collaborated with almost every major talent in the business. There is a craft to making records, and Phil has spent his life mastering it. For the first time ever, he shares the secrets of his trade.
Making Records is a fascinating look "behind the glass" of a recording studio. From Phil's exhilarating early days recording jazz and commercial jingles at A&R, to his first studio, and eventual legendary producer status, Phil allows you to sit in on the sessions that created some of the most memorable music of the 20th century -- including Frank Sinatra's Duets album, Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks, Ray Charles's Genius Loves Company and Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years.
In addition to being a ringside seat for contemporary popular music history, Making Records is an unprecedented tutorial on the magic behind what music producers and engineers do. In these pages, Phil offers a rare peek inside the way music is made . . . illuminating the creative thought processes behind some of the most influential sessions in music history.
This is a book about the art that is making records -- the way it began, the way it is now, and everything in between.
Publishers Weekly
Ramone, with 14 Grammys to his name, is the consummate Establishment producer. His clean professionalism has brought a touch of class to a wealth of baby boomer landmarks, from Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Yearsto Billy Joel's The Strangerand Ray Charles's Genius Loves Company. Over the course of his memoir, Ramone constantly drops these names and more, often veering into a string of anecdotes to illustrate a point. One page about artists' working methods, for example, includes mention of Frank Sinatra; Bob Dylan; Peter, Paul, and Mary; and Barbara Streisand, with little distinction made as to quality or genre. This makes for a readable but repetitive book. The conversational style means that certain artists are brought up again and again, and sometimes the book relies upon long block quotes from musicians that would have benefited from being pared down to their relevant lines (such as one in which Liberty DeVitto of Billy Joel's band talks about changing the rhythm of "Always a Woman to Me"). Amid all of this, there are genuinely interesting stories, and fans of Sinatra, Simon and Dylan should find pleasure in the long in-studio narratives. (Oct.)
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