So lucky to have lived - in the 70s

yotonic
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So lucky to have lived - in the 70s Jul 10, 2015 23:08:11 GMT -6 tonycamphd and keymod like this

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Post by yotonic on Jul 10, 2015 23:08:11 GMT -6

Not a song title. Just an observation of how much fantastic music I took for granted as a kid. Beats like this one Kanye would kill for, and Max Martin can't write with this kind of soul. This was just one of 100 songs when it came out in the early 80s on the radio that were killing it. So much good music this only made it to 65 on the charts, even with Michael Jackson singing backups. And look at the breadth and variation of artists on the radio at one time.

The week of February 20th 1982
1: Centerfold : The J. Geils Band
2: I Can't Go For That (No Can Do): Daryl Hall John Oates
3: Harden My Heart: Quarterflash
4: Open Arms: Journey
5: Shake It Up: The Cars
6: That Girl: Stevie Wonder
7: The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known): Juice Newton
8: Sweet Dreams: Air Supply
9: Physical: Olivia Newton-John
10: Leader Of The Band: Dan Fogelberg
11: Turn Your Love Around: George Benson
12: Take It Easy On Me: Little River Band
13: Waiting On A Friend: The Rolling Stones
14: Mirror, Mirror: Diana Ross
15: You Could Have Been With Me: Sheena Easton
16: Through The Years: Kenny Rogers
17: Love In The First Degree: Alabama
18: I Love Rock 'N Roll: Joan Jett And The Blackhearts
19: Spirits In The Material World: The Police
20: Love Is Alright Tonite: Rick Springfield
21: Somewhere Down The Road: Barry Manilow
22: Pac-Man Fever: Buckner & Garcia
23: Key Largo: Bertie Higgins
24: We Got The Beat: Go-Go's
25: Bobbie Sue: The Oak Ridge Boys
26: Abacab: Genesis
27: Tonight I'm Yours (Don't Hurt Me): Rod Stewart
28: All Our Tomorrows: Eddie Schwartz
29: Working For The Weekend: Loverboy
30: Daddy's Home: Cliff Richard
31: Should I Do It: The Pointer Sisters
32: When All Is Said And Done: ABBA
33: Call Me: Skyy
34: Chariots Of Fire: Vangelis
35: One Hundred Ways: Quincy Jones Featuring James Ingram
36: Waiting For A Girl Like You: Foreigner
37: Love Is Like A Rock: Donnie Iris
38: Do You Believe In Love: Huey Lewis & The News
39: Cool Night: Paul Davis
40: Take Off: Bob & Doug McKenzie
41: I Believe: Chilliwack
42: Crazy (Keep On Falling): The John Hall Band
43: Let The Feeling Flow: Peabo Bryson
44: Let's Get It Up: AC/DC
45: You're My Latest, My Greatest Inspiration: Teddy Pendergrass
46: Tell Me Tomorrow - Part I: Smokey Robinson
47: My Guy: Sister Sledge
48: If Looks Could Kill: Player
49: Make A Move On Me: Olivia Newton-John
50: On The Way To The Sky: Neil Diamond
51: Wanna Be With You: Earth, Wind & Fire
52: 867-5309/jenny: Tommy Tutone
53: Don't Let Him Know: Prism
54: Just Can't Win 'em All: Stevie Woods
55: Circle Of Love: The Steve Miller Band
56: Genius Of Love: Tom Tom Club
57: I'll Fall In Love Again: Sammy Hagar
58: Anyone Can See: Irene Cara
59: Theme From Magnum P.i.: Mike Post
60: Another Sleepless Night: Anne Murray
61: Juke Box Hero: Foreigner
62: (oh) Pretty Woman: Van Halen
63: Voice On The Radio: Conductor
64: Tainted Love: Soft Cell
65: Here To Love You: The Doobie Brothers

Last Edit: Jul 10, 2015 23:30:11 GMT -6 by yotonic

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drbill RGO Senior Member Posts: 7,935	So lucky to have lived - in the 70s Jul 11, 2015 13:19:50 GMT -6 tonycamphd likes this Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by drbill on Jul 11, 2015 13:19:50 GMT -6 Yup. Breaks my heart. Either we're just old or you're right. Music is crap nowadays compared to 1982....

donr RGO Senior Member Posts: 2,168	So lucky to have lived - in the 70s Jul 12, 2015 20:35:43 GMT -6 tonycamphd and odyssey76 like this Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by donr on Jul 12, 2015 20:35:43 GMT -6 Note how the pop chart in '82 is still wide ranging, genre wise. Genre segregation at every level has been a big part of the diminishment of pop IMO.

swurveman
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So lucky to have lived - in the 70s Aug 10, 2015 9:37:30 GMT -6 tonycamphd likes this

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Post by swurveman on Aug 10, 2015 9:37:30 GMT -6

The thing that sticks out most to me is how clearly the depth separation is. You can clearly hear the spaces as they designed by the mixer. There's perspective, compared to most of today's mixes that are the sonic equivalent of a face smashed up against a window.

The other thing of course is autotune. I just listened to Sheena Easton's song from your list. She was a great singer. It's hard to tell who can even sing well today with autotune and the narrowness of dynamic range.

Last Edit: Aug 10, 2015 9:38:16 GMT -6 by swurveman

Frank Johnson- Songwriter/Musician/Engineer
www.facebook.com/Songflowerrecording/

donr
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So lucky to have lived - in the 70s Aug 10, 2015 22:28:27 GMT -6 ragan, tonycamphd, and 2 more like this

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Post by donr on Aug 10, 2015 22:28:27 GMT -6

Aug 10, 2015 9:37:30 GMT -6 swurveman said:

The thing that sticks out most to me is how clearly the depth separation is. You can clearly hear the spaces as they designed by the mixer. There's perspective, compared to most of today's mixes that are the sonic equivalent of a face smashed up against a window.

The other thing of course is autotune. I just listened to Sheena Easton's song from your list. She was a great singer. It's hard to tell who can even sing well today with autotune and the narrowness of dynamic range.

Perspective is a good way of describing enough DR to let music breathe. Low DR mixes are dense and claustrophobic. Like eating a diet of fudge. The first piece is good, the eighth, not so much.

I think autotune erases vocal personality in proportion to how much is applied. Similar to the effect of plastic surgery on someone's face.

ragan
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So lucky to have lived - in the 70s Aug 11, 2015 10:21:11 GMT -6 via mobile tonycamphd, tritone, and 1 more like this

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Post by ragan on Aug 11, 2015 10:21:11 GMT -6

Aug 10, 2015 22:28:27 GMT -6 donr said:

Aug 10, 2015 9:37:30 GMT -6 swurveman said:

The thing that sticks out most to me is how clearly the depth separation is. You can clearly hear the spaces as they designed by the mixer. There's perspective, compared to most of today's mixes that are the sonic equivalent of a face smashed up against a window.

The other thing of course is autotune. I just listened to Sheena Easton's song from your list. She was a great singer. It's hard to tell who can even sing well today with autotune and the narrowness of dynamic range.

Perspective is a good way of describing enough DR to let music breathe. Low DR mixes are dense and claustrophobic. Like eating a diet of fudge. The first piece is good, the eighth, not so much.

I think autotune erases vocal personality in proportion to how much is applied. Similar to the effect of plastic surgery on someone's face.

Excellent post, Don.

Next time someone asks me what I think of modern pop music I'm just gonna say "the dynamics of fudge and the expression of a plastic face"

yotonic
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So lucky to have lived - in the 70s Aug 18, 2015 0:00:09 GMT -6 tonycamphd likes this

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Post by yotonic on Aug 18, 2015 0:00:09 GMT -6

Yup. Nothing Max Martin or his legions of copy kats have produced sounds anything like Quincy Jones-Sweiden-& Jackson. I heard "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" recently on some good monitors and realized that Sweiden wasn't lying when he said no compressor on the vocals. Just fader rides and a super talented and well prepared singer. Greg Phillingane's moog line has sick depth, and the string arrangements by Ben Wright feel like they are swirling and chasing through the mix. The whole piece is so alive and musical. The claps are the best ever.

Don't Buy Gear From A Clown.

yotonic
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So lucky to have lived - in the 70s Aug 18, 2015 0:06:02 GMT -6

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Post by yotonic on Aug 18, 2015 0:06:02 GMT -6

And here is Max Martin's latest track with "The Weeknd" who he is touting as the next Michael Jackson. The singing is smashed flat and annoying, the slaps, snaps, and claps are fake tiny and flat and the bass line while funky has no soul sonically which leaves you saying "interesting". Which is not an emotional response. And I just realized Max totally ripped off the bassline from MJ and dropped it an octave. Ass

Last Edit: Aug 18, 2015 0:08:33 GMT -6 by yotonic

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tonycamphd
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So lucky to have lived - in the 70s Aug 19, 2015 11:17:48 GMT -6 yotonic likes this

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Post by tonycamphd on Aug 19, 2015 11:17:48 GMT -6

Aug 18, 2015 0:00:09 GMT -6 yotonic said:

Yup. Nothing Max Martin or his legions of copy kats have produced sounds anything like Quincy Jones-Sweiden-& Jackson. I heard "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" recently on some good monitors and realized that Sweiden wasn't lying when he said no compressor on the vocals. Just fader rides and a super talented and well prepared singer. Greg Phillingane's moog line has sick depth, and the string arrangements by Ben Wright feel like they are swirling and chasing through the mix. The whole piece is so alive and musical. The claps are the best ever.

I would quite literally shit myself if something came out today, that was stinking with this much organic groove! It's a finely focused example of how void the current music culture is of anything this good, every last performance in this mix is a human playing an instrument, NO QUANTIZATION of any sort, and just like any masterpiece it elicits emotion effortlessly, and absolutely FORCES you to shake at least one part of your body!

The closest thing i've heard to this in a modern day pop recording is "uptown funk", which is a great production and a breath of fresh air really, but it sounds utterly frozen by comparison to MJ dstyge.

that's not right, let me fix that....
that's still not right, let me fix that again.....

swurveman
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So lucky to have lived - in the 70s Aug 19, 2015 14:04:03 GMT -6

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Post by swurveman on Aug 19, 2015 14:04:03 GMT -6

Aug 18, 2015 0:00:09 GMT -6 yotonic said:

Yup. Nothing Max Martin or his legions of copy kats have produced sounds anything like Quincy Jones-Sweiden-& Jackson. I heard "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" recently on some good monitors and realized that Sweiden wasn't lying when he said no compressor on the vocals. Just fader rides and a super talented and well prepared singer. Greg Phillingane's moog line has sick depth, and the string arrangements by Ben Wright feel like they are swirling and chasing through the mix. The whole piece is so alive and musical. The claps are the best ever.

The one thing about the Max Martin formula is how often he uses the same drum sound. I think this song has a good vocal melody and bass line, but it's the same old drums. I wonder if/when people are going to get tired of the drum sound?

Frank Johnson- Songwriter/Musician/Engineer
www.facebook.com/Songflowerrecording/

So lucky to have lived - in the 70s

Post by yotonic on Jul 10, 2015 23:08:11 GMT -6

Post by drbill on Jul 11, 2015 13:19:50 GMT -6

Post by donr on Jul 12, 2015 20:35:43 GMT -6

Post by swurveman on Aug 10, 2015 9:37:30 GMT -6

Post by donr on Aug 10, 2015 22:28:27 GMT -6

Post by ragan on Aug 11, 2015 10:21:11 GMT -6

Post by yotonic on Aug 18, 2015 0:00:09 GMT -6

Post by yotonic on Aug 18, 2015 0:06:02 GMT -6

Post by tonycamphd on Aug 19, 2015 11:17:48 GMT -6

Post by swurveman on Aug 19, 2015 14:04:03 GMT -6