Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Pink Floyd’s “Money”
A rock legend in his own right, Alan Parsons shares how he engineered Pink Floyd's classic inside the depths of Abbey Road.
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Classic Tracks: Prince and the Revolution’s “Let’s Go Crazy”
Recording Prince and the Revolution's “Let’s Go Crazy” in October 1983 was baptism by fire for engineer Susan Rogers.
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Classic Tracks: Vince Gill’s “High Lonesome Sound”
With his sweet tenor voice and a tear in his vocal, Vince Gill defines the term “high lonesome sound.”
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Classic Tracks: Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4”
Late one night in 1969, Robert Lamm returned home came home late from a gig and came up with a riff on a guitar...
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Classic Tracks: Lucinda Williams’ “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road”
Inside the creation of Lucinda Williams’ breakthrough, Grammy-winning masterpiece.
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Classic Tracks: The Doors’ “The End”
The moody, 11-minute, open-ended, raga-rock opus "The End" was the centerpiece of the band's debut album, and became a focal point of Francis Ford...
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Classic Tracks: The Staple Singers’ “Respect Yourself”
“Respect Yourself” was released as a single in the fall of 1971, reaching #2 on the R&B charts and #12 on the pop charts.
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Classic Tracks: Mountain’s “Mississippi Queen”
"On the day we decided to work on the song, Leslie blew off the chicks who were hanging around and we got down to...
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Classic Tracks: Bob Seger’s “Night Moves”
'Night Moves' was a good move for Bob Seger—both the Number One single and the title track of his album released in 1976.
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Classic Tracks: Wendy Carlos’ “March from ‘A Clockwork Orange'”
Director Stanley Kubrick turned to a unique fusion of classical music themes and contemporary renderings that fit the film perfectly.
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Classic Tracks: Cheap Trick’s “At Budokan”
The live album that finally broke Cheap Trick in America had a treacherous journey to success, overcoming dodgy recordings, bad vinyl pressings and more.
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Classic Tracks: The Grateful Dead’s “Truckin’”
A staple of Grateful Dead setlists, "Truckin'" was the fruit of an unusually prolific songwriting period for the band.
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Classic Tracks: The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever”
"Strawberry Fields Forever" is an exceptional song, built from crazy arrangements and two entirely separate recordings of the track.
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Classic Tracks: Leo Sayer’s “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing”
Leo Sayer’s “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” began with a jam at Studio 55, which, pretty much, had everybody in the room dancing.
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Classic Tracks: The Tokens’ “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”
First released in 1961, subsequent generations have repeatedly discovered the warm, wacky charm of The Tokens' classic "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."
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Classic Tracks: The Smithereens’ “Behind the Wall of Sleep”
Pat DiNizio reworked the title of an H.P. Lovecraft short story, “Beyond the Wall of Sleep,” and the rest is rock history.
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Classic Tracks: USA For Africa’s “We Are the World”
Recording engineer Humberto Gatica shares why "We Are The World" was the most significant, precious and satisfying job in his storied career.
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Classic Tracks: The Eagles’ “Hotel California”
Producer/engineer Bill Szymczyk looks back at capturing the Eagles' evergreen, number-one single, "Hotel California."
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Classic Tracks: Paul Davis’ “I Go Crazy”
When Paul Davis played engineer Ed Seay his new song, neither could have known the track would eventually run 40 weeks in the Billboard...
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Classic Tracks: The Tubes’ “White Punks On Dope”
The studio version of The Tubes’ anthemic, zany, crowd favorite was also Al Kooper's "greatest engineering feat"—and it features one of The Eagles on...
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Classic Tracks: Iris DeMent’s “Let the Mystery Be”
Producer Jim Rooney shares how Iris DeMent nearly left 'Let The Mystery Be' off her debut, 'Infamous Angel.'
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Classic Tracks: Digital Underground’s “The Humpty Dance”
A Friday night house session and an unforgettable bass line led to hip-hop’s most joyfully irresistible hit.
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Classic Tracks: David Bowie’s “Heroes”
Tony Visconti pulls back the veil to reveal how David Bowie's seminal "Heroes" was created in the shadow of the Berlin Wall.
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Classic Tracks: The Cyrkle’s “Red Rubber Ball”
An U.S. folk trio managed by Brian Epstein and named by John Lennon, The Cyrkle had a hit on its hands with "Red Rubber...
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Classic Tracks: Randy Newman’s “Sail Away”
Randy Newman's "Sail Away" is a classic that probably couldn't get airplay today.
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Classic Tracks: Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love”
When Mike Thorne first heard Soft Cell’s version of the song “Tainted Love” on a demo, it was missing the crucial "bink bink."
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Classic Tracks: Prince’s “Kiss”
Charged with turning a half-written Prince demo into a full-fledged track, David Z went to sleep one night and woke up to find Prince...
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Classic Tracks: Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing”
A stinging critique of the 1980s even as they happened, Dire Straits' "Money For Nothing" had a lengthy genesis, as related here by engineer...
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Classic Track: The Chambers Brothers, “Time Has Come Today”
Not too many people these days know about the Chamber Brothers, but when their first Columbia album, The Time Has Come, was released in...
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Classic Tracks: Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl”
Whether you label it power-pop, rock or AOR, Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl" is a classic mix of a memorable hook, taut storytelling and producer...
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Classic Tracks: Genesis’ “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”
It's not surprising that decades down the line many people don't realize that Peter Gabriel was once a driving member of Genesis—an effort that...
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Classic Tracks: The O’Jays’ “For the Love of Money”
"For the Love of Money" had interesting audio trickery in it, most famously the ghostly refrain of "Money, money, money" blowing through the song...
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Classic Tracks: Neil Sedaka’s “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do”
Neil Sedaka shares how he made a smash out of four tracks and a vocal he taught the background singers while driving them to...
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Classic Tracks: Jennifer Warnes’ “First We Take Manhattan”
Jennifer Warnes, bassist Roscoe Beck and engineer Billy Youdelman share how the unlikely Leonard Cohen cover—and the album around it—came to be a hit.
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Classic Tracks: Charlie Rich’s “Behind Closed Doors”
“To me, those Charlie Rich sessions were so special,” recalls engineer Lou Bradley.
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Classic Tracks: The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'”
“You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'” was one of the most perfectly realized examples of the “Wall of Sound” technique that Phil Spector refined.
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Classic Tracks: Fine Young Cannibals’ “She Drives Me Crazy”
The sublime studio concoction of "She Drives Me Crazy" involved a trip to Minneapolis, that signature falsetto and an unmistakable snare hit known to...
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Classic Tracks: Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)”
Whitney Houston’s First Platinum Single, Produced by Narada Michael Walden
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Classic Tracks: Carl Perkins’ “Blue Suede Shoes”
Honoring an undisputed classic and the Original Cat alike, herein lies the tale of how “Blue Suede Shoes” came to be.
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Classic Tracks: X’s “The New World”
"We were in a different city every night for six weeks, and we saw all of the United States." Then they wrote a record.
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Classic Tracks: Stan Ridgway’s “Goin’ Southbound”
Stan Ridgway’s Noir-Style, Lo-Fi, High-End Sound
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Classic Tracks: The Band’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”
Decades later, it's difficult to put into words just how bold and fresh and affecting those opening lines were in 1969.