Back in the mid-1980's, I was fortunate enough to have access to a nice stereo (turntable, cassette deck, and, eventually, a CD player - sounds so archaic now!). As a result, I began voraciously listening to all kinds of music. I had a small collection of records and cassettes of my own at this time but I also supplemented this with lots of records that I would borrow from my older brother. I was into a lot of 70's and 80's rock, new wave, and pop. I also would delve into my parents' record collection of easy listening tunes from the 50's and 60's.
In 1986, a huge record hit the airwaves - Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet. At first, I was skeptical. I really wasn't into "hair metal" at the time and I did not warm up to this album until it had been out for nearly two years. I had been listening to lots of other music that was popular at this point in the 1980's. About the heaviest music that I listened to at the time was Van Halen and ZZ Top. But it was hard to get away from Bon Jovi at this time. So, I picked up a copy of Slippery When Wet and I loved it!
As I always do, I began to devour the liner notes for the album. I knew that it had been recorded in Canada at Vancouver's Little Mountain Sound, so I really wanted to know more about who was involved. The album was produced by Bruce Fairbairn and engineered by a guy named Bob Rock. I had never heard of these two and was totally unfamiliar with their body of work - or so I thought. As I began to research and collect more music, I started to see connections to both Fairbairn and Rock. There was no World Wide Web at this time so the only information that I got was from music magazines and looking at records and CD's in music stores. I started to realize that these two men were involved with lots of music that I loved - even back to the late 1970's when I was a kid.
There were just so many great things that they had worked on: several Loverboy albums, Honeymoon Suite's The Big Prize, Rock & Hyde's Under the Volcano, and a little Canadian band called Prism that my older brother liked. The realization that Fairbairn and Rock had worked on a Prism album called Armageddon from 1979 was an epiphany for me. I discovered this in 1989 at my brother's house one day while looking through his record collection. In looking through the Armageddon liner notes, I saw that it was produced by Bruce Fairbairn and engineered by Robert Rock (ie. Bob Rock). I then did some more searching and realized that Fairbairn (although not Rock) had worked on two previous Prism albums that contained a number of songs that were popular in Canada in 1978 (I remember being in the back seat of my parents' 1975 Chevrolet Bel Air station wagon and hearing a great song called Take Me Away constantly on the radio).
I also came to realize that Bob Rock was one of the founding members of a band called the Payolas that I liked in the early 1980's. Eyes of a Stranger was a song that I loved back in 1983. It was on a K-Tel compilation album that I had and it was the second-to-last song. It had such a dark, dreamy vibe to it. I remember sitting in front of the stereo listening to this constantly during that hot summer of 1983. How did this band get these sounds out of their instruments? At the time though, I had no idea who Bob Rock was.
While I was pulling together all of these realizations regarding Fairbairn and Rock, it dawned on me that certain producers and engineers could have a significant impact on the sound and quality of an album. As a result, my music buying habits changed dramatically. I stopped listening for individual tunes that I liked and started buying by producer. I particularly liked Bob Rock and Bruce Fairbairn's stuff - not only was it good and high-quality but they also recorded almost everything they did in Canada. I also got into other producers such as Ted Templeman (Doobie Brothers, Van Halen), Ron Nevison (Jefferson Starship, Heart), and Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper). But, Bob Rock was always my favorite for some reason.
Recently, Bob recorded a fairly lengthy video for Gibson outlining his career. This video is about an hour long but it is full of great stories about growing up in Canada, recording some huge albums, and learning about how great it is to be passionate about music. I really enjoyed watching this. I was a bit shocked by how old Bob now looks and sounds (haha... we are all getting old) but it was great to listen to all of his stories.
I no longer buy music by producer. Indeed, I don't buy much music at all anymore unless it is something that really catches my ear (and these days, such tunes are quite far and few between). I don't buy much of Bob's music anymore either. But I am grateful for the body of work that he put together that I so thoroughly enjoyed and still enjoy. Thanks Bob! You are a Canadian legend.
In 1986, a huge record hit the airwaves - Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet. At first, I was skeptical. I really wasn't into "hair metal" at the time and I did not warm up to this album until it had been out for nearly two years. I had been listening to lots of other music that was popular at this point in the 1980's. About the heaviest music that I listened to at the time was Van Halen and ZZ Top. But it was hard to get away from Bon Jovi at this time. So, I picked up a copy of Slippery When Wet and I loved it!
As I always do, I began to devour the liner notes for the album. I knew that it had been recorded in Canada at Vancouver's Little Mountain Sound, so I really wanted to know more about who was involved. The album was produced by Bruce Fairbairn and engineered by a guy named Bob Rock. I had never heard of these two and was totally unfamiliar with their body of work - or so I thought. As I began to research and collect more music, I started to see connections to both Fairbairn and Rock. There was no World Wide Web at this time so the only information that I got was from music magazines and looking at records and CD's in music stores. I started to realize that these two men were involved with lots of music that I loved - even back to the late 1970's when I was a kid.
There were just so many great things that they had worked on: several Loverboy albums, Honeymoon Suite's The Big Prize, Rock & Hyde's Under the Volcano, and a little Canadian band called Prism that my older brother liked. The realization that Fairbairn and Rock had worked on a Prism album called Armageddon from 1979 was an epiphany for me. I discovered this in 1989 at my brother's house one day while looking through his record collection. In looking through the Armageddon liner notes, I saw that it was produced by Bruce Fairbairn and engineered by Robert Rock (ie. Bob Rock). I then did some more searching and realized that Fairbairn (although not Rock) had worked on two previous Prism albums that contained a number of songs that were popular in Canada in 1978 (I remember being in the back seat of my parents' 1975 Chevrolet Bel Air station wagon and hearing a great song called Take Me Away constantly on the radio).
I also came to realize that Bob Rock was one of the founding members of a band called the Payolas that I liked in the early 1980's. Eyes of a Stranger was a song that I loved back in 1983. It was on a K-Tel compilation album that I had and it was the second-to-last song. It had such a dark, dreamy vibe to it. I remember sitting in front of the stereo listening to this constantly during that hot summer of 1983. How did this band get these sounds out of their instruments? At the time though, I had no idea who Bob Rock was.
While I was pulling together all of these realizations regarding Fairbairn and Rock, it dawned on me that certain producers and engineers could have a significant impact on the sound and quality of an album. As a result, my music buying habits changed dramatically. I stopped listening for individual tunes that I liked and started buying by producer. I particularly liked Bob Rock and Bruce Fairbairn's stuff - not only was it good and high-quality but they also recorded almost everything they did in Canada. I also got into other producers such as Ted Templeman (Doobie Brothers, Van Halen), Ron Nevison (Jefferson Starship, Heart), and Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper). But, Bob Rock was always my favorite for some reason.
Recently, Bob recorded a fairly lengthy video for Gibson outlining his career. This video is about an hour long but it is full of great stories about growing up in Canada, recording some huge albums, and learning about how great it is to be passionate about music. I really enjoyed watching this. I was a bit shocked by how old Bob now looks and sounds (haha... we are all getting old) but it was great to listen to all of his stories.
I no longer buy music by producer. Indeed, I don't buy much music at all anymore unless it is something that really catches my ear (and these days, such tunes are quite far and few between). I don't buy much of Bob's music anymore either. But I am grateful for the body of work that he put together that I so thoroughly enjoyed and still enjoy. Thanks Bob! You are a Canadian legend.
Comments
Post a Comment