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Classic Tracks: The Real Stories Behind 68 Seminal Recordings
What really went on behind the doors of the world's top studios while recording the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and R.E.M.? How did producers deal with the legendary egos of Oasis and Paul Simon? Or the haunted perfectionism of Michael Jackson and Phil Spector? And how – between the drugs, the sex, the tiffs and the tantrums – did some of the most iconic tracks of our times ever get recorded?
In Classic Tracks , New York Times best-selling author Richard Buskin unearths the real stories behind 68 seminal recordings,
• How John Lennon put his 15-month drink-and-drugs-fueled “lost weekend” on hold to nail his first U.S. solo No. 1.
• Why the Sex Pistols were forced to hide out in the studio as police investigated complaints about them during a session for God Save the Queen .
• How Donna Summer's “Love to Love You Baby” was extended to enhance the sex life of the record company's president.
• Why the Police required a referee as much as a producer during the fight-filled sessions for “Every Breath You Take”.
• How two divorces and one very public intra-band breakup didn't stop Fleetwood Mac from recording “Go Your Own Way”.
• How the Rolling Stones completed their smash hit “Start Me Up” – without spending any time together in the studio.
From rock to rap, pop to hip-hop, soul to metal, punk to disco, and jazz to electronica, each chapter draws on original interviews and the recollections of artists, producers, and engineers to tell the inside story of an era-defining recording, with in-depth information – including rare original studio photos, lyrics and track sheets – about the relevant recording techniques and creative processes.
Starting with Les Paul (1951) and closing with the xx (2009), via reocrdings by David Bowie, Miles Davis, the Doors, Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, Madonna, Metallica, the Pogues, Rihanna, the Who, and many more, Classic Tracks offers a rare insight into the mindsets and unique talents of the finest musical artists of the past six decades, and reveals how – often against the odds – some of the all-time biggest-selling, most influential records came into being.
In Classic Tracks , New York Times best-selling author Richard Buskin unearths the real stories behind 68 seminal recordings,
• How John Lennon put his 15-month drink-and-drugs-fueled “lost weekend” on hold to nail his first U.S. solo No. 1.
• Why the Sex Pistols were forced to hide out in the studio as police investigated complaints about them during a session for God Save the Queen .
• How Donna Summer's “Love to Love You Baby” was extended to enhance the sex life of the record company's president.
• Why the Police required a referee as much as a producer during the fight-filled sessions for “Every Breath You Take”.
• How two divorces and one very public intra-band breakup didn't stop Fleetwood Mac from recording “Go Your Own Way”.
• How the Rolling Stones completed their smash hit “Start Me Up” – without spending any time together in the studio.
From rock to rap, pop to hip-hop, soul to metal, punk to disco, and jazz to electronica, each chapter draws on original interviews and the recollections of artists, producers, and engineers to tell the inside story of an era-defining recording, with in-depth information – including rare original studio photos, lyrics and track sheets – about the relevant recording techniques and creative processes.
Starting with Les Paul (1951) and closing with the xx (2009), via reocrdings by David Bowie, Miles Davis, the Doors, Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, Madonna, Metallica, the Pogues, Rihanna, the Who, and many more, Classic Tracks offers a rare insight into the mindsets and unique talents of the finest musical artists of the past six decades, and reveals how – often against the odds – some of the all-time biggest-selling, most influential records came into being.
- GenresMusic
420 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 2012
About the author
Richard Buskin
37 books6 followersA New York Times bestselling author, Richard Buskin is also a full-time freelance journalist, specializing in pop culture, music, film, television, and sociopolitical affairs. Since the early-Eighties, he has conducted interviews and written regular feature articles for a wide variety of publications in the US, the UK, France, Germany, Japan and Australia, dealing with all aspects of the entertainment business: the artistic, the technical and the entrepreneurial.
A native of London, England, who relocated to America in 1995, Richard has had his work published in newspapers ranging from the New York Post and the Sydney Morning Herald to Britain's Observer, Independent and Daily Mail, as well as magazines such as Playboy (US, Brazilian, Czech, French, Japanese and Polish editions), Stern (Germany) and Paris Match (France). He has also written for numerous music publications around the world, including Billboard, Spin, Musician, Mix, Musik Express, Melody Maker, Sound On Sound and Performance (for which he was a senior editor and UK bureau chief), and movie journals such as Film Review and Films & Filming, in addition to authoring/co-authoring more than 20 non-fiction books.
Among these are Inside Tracks: A First-Hand History of Popular Music from the World's Greatest Record Producers and Engineers (Avon Books, 1999); Blonde Heat: The Sizzling Screen Career of Marilyn Monroe (Billboard Books, 2001); Sheryl Crow: No Fool to This Game (Billboard Books, 2002); Phyllis Diller´s autobiography, Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse: My Life in Comedy (Penguin/Tarcher, 2005); Effortless Style with celebrity fashion stylist June Ambrose (Simon & Schuster, 2006); Dream in Color: How the Sánchez Sisters are Making History in Congress with Congresswomen Linda and Loretta Sánchez (Grand Central, 2008); Die Trying: One Man's Quest to Conquer the Seven Summits with mountaineer Bo Parfet (Amacom, 2009); One from the Hart with actress Stefanie Powers (uncredited, Simon & Schuster, 2010); It's Not Really About the Hair with Tabatha Coffey, star of Bravo's hit TV reality show Tabatha's Salon Takeover (HarperCollins, 2011); Whitney Houston: The Voice, The Music, The Inspiration with musician/producer Narada Michael Walden (Insight Editions, 2012); and Classic Tracks: The Real Stories Behind 68 Seminal Recordings (Sample Magic, 2012). A co-author and consulting editor on the Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music (2003) and the Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock (Flame Tree, 2006), Richard is presently involved in the planning and writing of several new books.
Richard Buskin has provided sleeve notes for records and videos; penned narrative material for DVD; written press releases and publicity bios for the likes of Aerosmith and Michael Jackson; served as a researcher and on-screen entertainment expert for television networks in the US and the UK; lectured journalism students at Chicago’s Northwestern University, as well as PACE program students at National-Louis University; and been interviewed on numerous TV and radio shows, including CBS's Entertainment Tonight, A&E's Biography, E! Entertainment's True Hollywood Story, AMC's Backstory and the BBC Television News. He lives in Chicago.
A native of London, England, who relocated to America in 1995, Richard has had his work published in newspapers ranging from the New York Post and the Sydney Morning Herald to Britain's Observer, Independent and Daily Mail, as well as magazines such as Playboy (US, Brazilian, Czech, French, Japanese and Polish editions), Stern (Germany) and Paris Match (France). He has also written for numerous music publications around the world, including Billboard, Spin, Musician, Mix, Musik Express, Melody Maker, Sound On Sound and Performance (for which he was a senior editor and UK bureau chief), and movie journals such as Film Review and Films & Filming, in addition to authoring/co-authoring more than 20 non-fiction books.
Among these are Inside Tracks: A First-Hand History of Popular Music from the World's Greatest Record Producers and Engineers (Avon Books, 1999); Blonde Heat: The Sizzling Screen Career of Marilyn Monroe (Billboard Books, 2001); Sheryl Crow: No Fool to This Game (Billboard Books, 2002); Phyllis Diller´s autobiography, Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse: My Life in Comedy (Penguin/Tarcher, 2005); Effortless Style with celebrity fashion stylist June Ambrose (Simon & Schuster, 2006); Dream in Color: How the Sánchez Sisters are Making History in Congress with Congresswomen Linda and Loretta Sánchez (Grand Central, 2008); Die Trying: One Man's Quest to Conquer the Seven Summits with mountaineer Bo Parfet (Amacom, 2009); One from the Hart with actress Stefanie Powers (uncredited, Simon & Schuster, 2010); It's Not Really About the Hair with Tabatha Coffey, star of Bravo's hit TV reality show Tabatha's Salon Takeover (HarperCollins, 2011); Whitney Houston: The Voice, The Music, The Inspiration with musician/producer Narada Michael Walden (Insight Editions, 2012); and Classic Tracks: The Real Stories Behind 68 Seminal Recordings (Sample Magic, 2012). A co-author and consulting editor on the Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music (2003) and the Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock (Flame Tree, 2006), Richard is presently involved in the planning and writing of several new books.
Richard Buskin has provided sleeve notes for records and videos; penned narrative material for DVD; written press releases and publicity bios for the likes of Aerosmith and Michael Jackson; served as a researcher and on-screen entertainment expert for television networks in the US and the UK; lectured journalism students at Chicago’s Northwestern University, as well as PACE program students at National-Louis University; and been interviewed on numerous TV and radio shows, including CBS's Entertainment Tonight, A&E's Biography, E! Entertainment's True Hollywood Story, AMC's Backstory and the BBC Television News. He lives in Chicago.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 16, 2013
I was hoping for slightly more 'gossip' and inside information on the actual artists though there were some priceless nuggets. Ray Davies of the Kinks really not a nice man (something I also thought when I saw an interview with him) but still has written some great songs; the fights between Stevie Nicks & Lynsey Buckingham as soon as they stopped recording, what a lovely guy George Harrison was, Kurt Cobain's bouts of depression. It was also interesting to read what producers and engineers thought of some the musician skills or on some occasions lack of. Some great photos and a wide selection of songs but a lot of 'techie' information which went over my head even if I didn't read the specific Tech boxes. If you love music certainly worth a look.
Displaying 1 of 1 review