Do You Want Tony Visconti to Produce Morrissey's Next Album?

[King Leer]

Hope there hasn't been a poll on this before (I checked, I swear).

With the tour winding down (UK rumours notwithstanding) talk has turned more to the next album. So, do you want Visconti leading the way in the studio, or do you prefer someone else? Does it even matter who it is?

 

[celibate]

a big NO

[ I still wonder why so many people, when talk about Tony, it's like
he recieved knighthood, or a saint or something, I still cant understand
and hear why Visconti is so special]

just go on with the golden years, with Steve Lillywhite behind the desk

[ i do not mean THAT desk, you perverts, but the mixing/recording desk]

 

[Hellie]

No,i love ROTT but it had a slight strange quality that i cannot put my finger on.The production doesn`t cut the mustard.I prefer the songs from it sung live better.INBABH sounds so much better live.

I think he needs a fresh new producer.

 

[Maurice E]

Despite what the musos will have you believe, the production makes virtually no difference. Either Alain/Boz/Jesse etc hands Moz a cracking piece of music or they don't. Your general view on the new songs will hardly change when we get to hear the 'produced' recorded versions...

 

[Maurice E]

a big NO

[ I still wonder why so many people, when talk about Tony, it's like
he recieved knighthood, or a saint or something, I still cant understand
and hear why Visconti is so special]

just go on with the golden years, with Steve Lillywhite behind the desk

[ i do not mean THAT desk, you perverts, but the mixing/recording desk]

Golden Years? You have presumably yet to hear Southpaw Grammar. You don't know how lucky you are!

 

[Nikita]

Despite what the musos will have you believe, the production makes virtually no difference. Either Alain/Boz/Jesse etc hands Moz a cracking piece of music or they don't. Your general view on the new songs will hardly change when we get to hear the 'produced' recorded versions...

Listen to First of the gang to die in 2002 and on Quarry and you'll hear, at least I wish for you that you do, the BIG difference

You could also check some of the Vauxhall demos which were posted on the site and compare them to their final version

Also works for the two recordings of The Smiths debut album ...

Production IS important

 

[boyvoyeur]

Listen to First of the gang to die in 2002 and on Quarry and you'll hear, at least I wish for you that you do, the BIG difference

You could also check some of the Vauxhall demos which were posted on the site and compare them to their final version

Also works for the two recordings of The Smiths debut album ...

Production IS important

totally, the producer has a big influence on how the songs turn out. I've been in bands for years and have recorded several demo's. they always turn out different to the way the song way initially written.

 

[Maurice E]

totally, the producer has a big influence on how the songs turn out. I've been in bands for years and have recorded several demo's. they always turn out different to the way the song way initially written.

Ok, so they obviously have some impact but nothing can resuce (or even rescue) a batch of badly written songs with feeble melodies and duff lyrics.
No producer on Earth could've made Southpaw Grammar an amazing album.

Yes, First of the Gang did sound a bit different live to the recorded version but I loved it when I heard it live and I love the recorded version. Similarly I Liike You was boring (to me) live and just as bad on the recorded version.

What Moz needs most is to focus on assembling a brilliant batch of brand new songs and not to agonise over the choice of producer, well, in my humble opinion!

 

[Jones]

I think we are probably agonising more than he is.

 

[bogdana]

i know people assume if you didnt like ROTT you aren't a 'real' fan but I seriously dislike a good chunk of this album. I'm sad because that seems to be the thing to do for the last ten years; make two good songs and cram 8-10 shat ones on there with it. Its depressing that Moz has committed this act along with everyone else, *cries*
I LOVED quarry. I want another quarry, only better! And I don't believe Visconti and Italia can do that for us.

 

[Please]

Despite what the musos will have you believe, the production makes virtually no difference. Either Alain/Boz/Jesse etc hands Moz a cracking piece of music or they don't. Your general view on the new songs will hardly change when we get to hear the 'produced' recorded versions...

production does make a hell of a difference! perfect example iKill uncle the difference between kill uncle the album and kill uncle live. kill uncle was over-produced, too much was done to the voice

 

[Anaesthesine]

I was discussing the whole Visconti issue the other day with someone who pointed out that he basically salvaged a whole bunch of previously recorded tracks, and did the best he could with what he was given. I remember reading at the time that the recordings were done under difficult circumstances in a studio that was still partially under construction. Mr. Visconti should be given credit for that.

Still, I'm not too fond of the production on ROTT. I'm particularly annoyed by the heavy-handed approach to Morrissey's vocals. The Man's voice is still so strong, it does not need to be buried under layers of effects. That said, Jerry Finn does not thrill me either - his work on Quarry was just as out-of-step. Why is it so hard to find someone who believes in clean, simple, classic, straighforward production?

Just as a completely meaningless aside, Tony Visconti was at the Hammerstein show on Monday - I was standing next to him on the subway platform afterwards.

 

[vivabob]

isnt tony visconti seeing kristeen young , if so i would belive recent events to answer the question

if you sling his mrs off the tour making a good job of your next album would be out of the question ... bring back street

 

[mguy329]

production does make a hell of a difference! perfect example iKill uncle the difference between kill uncle the album and kill uncle live. kill uncle was over-produced, too much was done to the voice

Completely. Morrissey doesn't need any effects. As someone has just said, simplicity is the key. His voice is always amazing live, way better i think than it does on his recent albums.

 

[AmeliaScoptophilia]

Am I missing why Southpaw is considered a horrid album?

 

[drowning girl]

Am I missing why Southpaw is considered a horrid album?

I must be missing something, too!

I LOVE Southpaw Grammar.

It is a masterpiece, musically and productionwise.

Please compare to ROTT.
Maladjusted does NOT sound like a mid-nineties album; it could be a release from 2007. The quality is awesome.
(Same point valid for Maladjusted.)

Thank you, Steve Lillywhite!

ROTT is the kind of album you expect to find in grampa´s old record collection. You would listen to it and think that it has no style, but that it is somehow funny how limited music was a million years ago. And you would tell your kids, "listen, this is how decades ago people had expected the future to be - funny, they thought this could stand the test of time; haha!"

Now that Kristeen is gone (really sorry for her), there is no need for Visconti to produce (or ruin?) Mozzer´s next album. I would be fine with Jerry Finn producing it. QATC is a really good album. Not the best Moz solo work, but in contrast to ROTT, I enjoy listening to it.

If I could choose:
Bring back Steve Lillywhite OR Stephen Street.
Come on, Moz, you remember that they know how to make a musical masterpiece.

Please, don´t attack me for not being a ROTT fan, like I always say, this is just MY opinion.

So, Steve, Stephen, Steven??? What to do?

 

[PregnantForTheLastTime]

I'd like to hear some harder edges. Listen to the current bootlegs- this band lineup is awesome. And I love the contrast with his voice as it gets smoother and lusher with maturity. He's always played with contrast so much... play that up.

 

[suparni]

I think Visconti has done some very good work in his day - we all know that. I am however really astonished at how good everything is sounding live and I would like to see it a little bit grittier this time... might be nice to have a different producer just for the change... Change keeps things alive in my view...
I am not down on his working with Visconti again. The guy still does some nice work... change is also good. I figure whatever Moz has done so far is amazing and I pretty much feel happy as long as he keeps it up - basically... I like Ringleader... but then - I love Kill Uncle and so many disagree with me - particularly because of the production... what to do I love that album.

I like the pure and gritty sound of the live stuff right now and I hope it moves in that direction somehow... but that is just today.

 

[Dave]

The songs do all sound better live. In my opinion the quality of the songs on Ringleader is not as good as those on Quarry, generally, so it's really hard to say how much of it is production.

As someone else said, that's not Visconti's fault. I like the children's choir and all the extras, but I don't care for the song, "The father who must be killed" and only Life Is A Pigsty is a classic. I mean, if I were the one deciding what to put on some kind of compilation, I'd put that for sure, but Quarry is loaded with good songs.

I like that, The Youngest Was The Most Loved, and I Will See You In Far Off Places, and "pigsty" is most interesting for the sound, though I do like the "if you don't know this, then what do you know" part.

The performances on ROTT are very good, but the material is lacking, compared to Morrissey's past standards, generally.

 

[celibate]

Golden Years? You have presumably yet to hear Southpaw Grammar. You don't know how lucky you are!

it took me some years to like Southpaw, but I like it more than ROTT at
the moment, well maybe I can become fond of ROTT afterall

so bring back Steve Lilliwhyte