New Wave Outpost Forum

I don't know if you guys have checked my blog recently, but the posts on Tuesday and Wednesday centered on Steve Lillywhite.

I was very honored to have Mr. Lillywhite himself be the first to respond to Wednesday's post. Not sure if he'll do it again, but I would love to have your feedback on his influence on both the 80s and modern music.

Here's my blog:

<a href="http://playitandbedamned.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"> playitandbedamned.blogspot.com/ </a>

Some of my favorite albums and some of my favorite artists were produced by him. I always loved the huge bombastic sound of his stuff.

One of my favorites, not on your list was Toyah's Changeling album. It really polished up her sound.

he took Toyah's money, and then recently slagged her off on the Steve Jones Jukebox Show,
jackass Lilywhite,not to mention the fact that the opening music of Toyah's
Brave New World" 1982 UK chart hit seemed to become the opening music of
U2's "Bullet The Blue Sky" several years later(co incidence? don't think so Lilywhite
was involved on both the Toyah and U2 albums.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g36p2IdEtqQ

Hey that's way too cool when someone from the music industry pantheon such as Lillywhite actually acknowledges er, corrects your blog![:I]

Me likes your musical taste and take on the featured content, please do keep posting![8D]

<MARQUEE><h5>Moving @The Speed of Life</h5></MARQUEE>

My favorite part of the 80's "Lillywhite Sound" was the drums that sounded like bottomless drum barrels and the atmospherics that made it sound like the band was playing out on the top of a hill. Big Country, U2, Simple Minds, XTC all had that going for them on his productions.

There's a GREAT BBC documentary of XTC recording "Towers of London" with Lillywhite at Richard Branson's "Manor" studios that someone took the time to put on YouTube. Here's a link to part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIcO2R8YFXA

With the amount of chain smoking Lillywhite was doing, I'm shocked he's still around. Check out Richard Branson's party later in the show. What a nut!

That is pretty mind-blowing. Steve Lillywhite is a legend. I totally played-out that set of post-punk guitar bands of the mid-eighties -- U2, Big Country, Simple Minds, Psychedelic Furs.

I've wondered if somewhere out there on the web if there was a site somewhere that listed all the bands he worked with. Thanks for sharing that.

[quote][i]Originally posted by SallyLightfoot[/i]
<br>
I've wondered if somewhere out there on the web if there was a site somewhere that listed all the bands he worked with. Thanks for sharing that.
[/quote]

There are several places, but you have to check and cross-check everything – as with everything on the Web. <a href="http://www.allmusic.com" target="blank"> AllMusic </a> has a bio and a list of his credits. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Lillywhite" target="blank">Wikipedia</a> also has a nice size bio on him. But the information isn't always accurate and is conflicting. For example, one source didn't list Lillywhite as one of the producers of the Counting Crows; another site did. Sometimes, it's helpful to look on the album itself (if you have it) just to double check.

Then again, if you've got a photographic memory, that helps too. [:)]

[quote][i]Originally posted by DougMash[/i]
<br>
There's a GREAT BBC documentary of XTC recording "Towers of London" with Lillywhite at Richard Branson's "Manor" studios that someone took the time to put on YouTube. Here's a link to part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIcO2R8YFXA
[/quote]

Thanks for the find. I liked it so much that I put the first part on the blog this evening (giving you credit for the discovery of course).

Fave Lillywhite productions: XTC: Black Sea (breathtaking), XTC: Drums & Wires, The Psychedelic Furs: S/T debut, and their Talk, Talk, Talk album (a masterpiece), Peter Gabriel: PG III, Siouxsie & the Banshees: The Scream and Johnny Thunders: So Alone.

The drum sound is a bit of a given (XTC's Terry Chambers and The Furs's Vince Ely were ideal hard-hitters for recording the "gated" drum sound), but I love his production of guitars. Bands with two-guitarists in particular. The interplay on XTC's Black Sea and The Furs's Talk... is some of the most inventive and interesting I've come across (and believe me I've been looking).

I like Big Country's The Crossing LP. But it's a case of nice sounding songs but the songs are *just* okay. Never understood what the fuss over U2 was all about. IMHO (obviously) the form was excellent but the content was...okay. Bono was like Sting as a coked-up drama queen. And "The Edge" reminds me too much of other guitarists to think of any uniqueness (much like Peter Buck). I digress (although a bit too late and off-topic). And I really don't want to make any enemies.

I kept noticing Lillywhite's name on all my favorite big guitar records of the early 80's (U2, Big Country, Simple Minds). Since then, I have been amazed at the variety of stuff he produced...then and now. I would have to say he's my all-time fave producer.

I flove Lillywhite's work with the Psychedelic Furs and Simple Minds! So it's super-cool to hear that you actually heard from the man himself as a response to those two blog entries. WTG, dude!

his work on the classic Johnny Thunders album is worth noting....