STUDIO
THE PRODUCERS: JOHN LECKIE John Leckie’s long and successful career at the cutting edge of British pop includes sessions with Syd Barrett, the Plastic Ono band and Radiohead...
Words: Tim Slater The master at work, John Leckie…
John Leckie’s studio career began in February 1970 when he started working as a tape- operator at Abbey Road Studios in London. Abbey Road was to remain Leckie’s base for the next eight years whilst the young tape-op gradually worked his way up the production ladder, gaining experience as a recording engineer before fi nally taking on his fi rst full scale production jobs in the late 70s, most notably producing and mixing for British post punk band Be Bop Deluxe. During his tenure at Abbey Road, Leckie was also lucky enough to participate on projects helmed by some of the most sonically demanding and innovative artists of the period; Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd (Leckie engineered on Meddle and Wish You Were Here), John Lennon and the Plastic Ono band, Paul McCartney and Wings and George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass. Perhaps Abbey Road’s traditional eclecticism rubbed off on the young Leckie, as his work often seems to gravitate towards artists who - whilst often working in mainstream pop or rock – either specifi cally require or are at least receptive to Leckie’s ear for slightly unusual sounds or textures. John Leckie is rated as one of the most dynamic and respected producers in the business and his recent projects
producing young rock bands from Africa and India has delivered some fascinating results.
A Simple Job
After he left Abbey Road to go freelance in 1978, Leckie’s fi rst major producing gig was with Simple Minds, producing the Scots band’s fi rst three LPs (Life in A Day, Real To Real Cacophony and Empires & Dance). Real To Real especially demonstrates Leckie’s natural ability to empathise Simple Minds’ early attempts at experimenting with their sound, the track Veldt is an eerie soundscape fashioned from minimalist drones, tape loops and electronic sounds that isn’t too far removed from some of the producer’s later work with Radiohead. As the 1980s dawned Leckie steered a path through the UK underground scene that saw him working with some of the most interesting and challenging bands of the period. Leckie’s mid 1980s collaboration with The Fall resulted in three superb albums that most critics seem to agree number among the notoriously unpredictable Mancunian band’s most cohesive and powerful work: The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall, Bend Sinister and the masterful This Nation’s Saving
Grace particularly demonstrate Leckie’s ability to pull into sharp focus the bleak gothic landscapes commanded over by the brooding presence of the band’s notoriously awkward lyricist and frontman Mark E. Smith. However, despite his good reputation within the industry, Leckie was still looking for a mainstream commercial hit but a new band came on the scene in 1989 who ushered in the end of the decade with an exciting new sound that blended traditional rock with a dance sensibility picked up from the burgeoning rave culture...
Stone Crazy... Leckie produced the Stone Roses fi rst eponymous LP, which rocketed up the UK charts and spawned a clutch of Top Ten singles. The Stone Roses has gone on to be voted a Top 10 record of the millennium in many polls, and for many UK fans this band represented a style and attitude that virtually became a way of life. The follow up LP – rather over optimistically titled The Second Coming - proved to be a frustrating experience for Leckie as the band were totally unprepared, squandering time and money and forcing Leckie to resign from the project as he risked becoming embroiled in the album’s complex fi nancial tangles. This was a sad ending to a very successful partnership but Leckie quickly bounced back and by the mid
1990s he had scored huge successes with The Verve (A Storm in Heaven & Urban Hymns) and Radiohead (The Bends) but Leckie rates his project with Senegalese artist Baaba Maal, Mi Yeewnii - recorded at Maal’s private compound with no mains electricity and using portable digital multi-track equipment - as one of the most memorable, despite to the running battle fought with the local insect population who tried to feast on the producer and his team every evening!
Indian Summer John Leckie’s international experience and love of travel saw the producer take part in a unique musical project called Soundpad, organised by the British Council. Over three weeks in the summer of 2009, four talented young Indian alternative rock bands were selected from auditions by Leckie and then scheduled to record an album and tour the UK. “I wanted to fi nd rock music that felt distinctly Indian,”Leckie told Playmusic, “ I could return to the UK and take back a fl avour of India with the music.” The UK is blessed with many fi ne
record producers but John Leckie’s versatility, great talent and vast experience – all stemming from his time at Abbey Road - probably make him the most respected British record producer since Sir George Martin. PM
SELECTED JOHN LECKIE DISCOGRAPHY * Bellowhead: Hedonism
* Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians: Respect * Public Image Ltd: Public Image 1st single * Radiohead: The Bends
* The Stone Roses: The Stone Roses * The Verve: A Storm in Heaven * Papa Wemba: Molokai * XTC: White Music
34 pickup
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64