Crosby getting into it with Byrds drummer Michael Clarke

[KevinD]

So according to Wikipedia that was Michael Clarke on the finished track... Assuming that is correct. It seems like he pulled it together pretty well at some point.
I really don't think he was that far off on that session (I also am not clear as to whether that was their first time working on that or it was something they had been rehearsing).
Honestly from Crosby's direction (agreed, more antagonistic than helpful) I really thought he wanted a different feel for it.

I worked with an artist who came to rehearsal with a new tune he had been working on, it was just not coming together and he was getting frustrated, really frustrated with us (particularly me) and finally stopped and said to me "don you hear it??? This needs to sound much more reedy ... you know what I mean???? (kind of shaking his head)

I stared at him and calmly said, "you mean 'reedy' as in Clarinets, reed like you find in a marsh, or reed..like Lou Reed..????
(most of the time this guy was pretty cool and he would come prepared, but once in a while he would become a real PITA)

He then thought about it and checked himself for the L.S.D affliction.. and apologized... he realized he was being a tool. He actually meant something different... We got past that, BUT if we were in a higher pressure environment with studio time (and $$) ticking away I can see how it would have deteriorated to the level of the Crosby-Clarke thing.

 

[Frank Godiva]

So according to Wikipedia that was Michael Clarke on the finished track... Assuming that is correct. It seems like he pulled it together pretty well at some point.
I really don't think he was that far off on that session (I also am not clear as to whether that was their first time working on that or it was something they had been rehearsing).
Honestly from Crosby's direction (agreed, more antagonistic than helpful) I really thought he wanted a different feel for it.

I worked with an artist who came to rehearsal with a new tune he had been working on, it was just not coming together and he was getting frustrated, really frustrated with us (particularly me) and finally stopped and said to me "don you hear it??? This needs to sound much more reedy ... you know what I mean???? (kind of shaking his head)

I stared at him and calmly said, "you mean 'reedy' as in Clarinets, reed like you find in a marsh, or reed..like Lou Reed..????
(most of the time this guy was pretty cool and he would come prepared, but once in a while he would become a real PITA)

He then thought about it and checked himself for the L.S.D affliction.. and apologized... he realized he was being a tool. He actually meant something different... We got past that, BUT if we were in a higher pressure environment with studio time (and $$) ticking away I can see how it would have deteriorated to the level of the Crosby-Clarke thing.

Post 11 and you can also hear the finished track

 

[TheElectricCompany]

“the songwriter told me he wanted a Friend of the Devil-type groove on a track”

Boy he could not have picked a worse example imho. FOTD was played well over 300 times by the GD and many more by the Jerry Garcia Band.

It ranges from slow and drudging to all coked up brutally fast in the early 80s and everywhere in between. There are more recorded cover versions of FOTD than of any other Grateful Dead song according to dead disc dot com.


You want it like FOTD? Can you be more specific then throw a stone in the ocean? Throw a dog a bone over here…..

Ha! It's like telling your guitar player you want them to give you an Eruption-style solo and then you count off... literally anything but Eruption.

 

[DamnSingerAlsoDrums]

I'm floored that it didn't occurr to anyone to take 15 mins off to figure a part/groove that works instead of just pushing "record" over and over, KNOWING they didn't have a drum part in the first place. That would've saved A LOT of acrimony...

 

[hefty]

I worked with a songwriter once who would give beat suggestions like "orange" or the slightly more helpful "floaty." In the latter case my floaty was apparently not his floaty so eventually I grew annoyed enough to try what I thought was choppy (i.e. the opposite of floaty) and of course that worked for him. So few musicians speak drum.

In this case there's kind of the above but also I hear two people that are just done with each other. To the point where it feels like Crosby perhaps wants Clarke to fail. And Clarke for his side not helping matters saying things iike "i don't even like this song." Fascinating to eavesdrop on this though!

 

[JimmyM]

I guess the idea of working the tune out before going into the studio was beyond these guys.

It wasn’t uncommon by any means, especially after a band had big sales.

 

[DamnSingerAlsoDrums]

So few musicians speak drum.

Yeah but most can somewhat beatbox and/or approximately sing an idea (Boom Ta Boom-Boom Ta or the like..) that'll get you a little bit closer to an understanding. Or naming a tune that has a similar feel to what you think should go on. In any case, having the bass and rythm guitar loop for a few minutes and have the drummer play over that sure could unlock a few ideas, that may even be better than what the song-writer had in the first place.

Youth, ego, insecurity, success/pressure and mind-altering substances: the perfect recipe for "this ain't gonna end well..." yet this has been the setup for a ton of masterpieces. Art is weird...

 

[RIDDIM]

It wasn’t uncommon by any means, especially after a band had big sales.

It wasn’t uncommon by any means, especially after a band had big sales.

Clearly, someone was not watching their pennies.

 

[ThomFloor]

If you want to really go down the rabbit hole and learn how the Byrds functioned, listen to this series.
Evidently they never, ever rehearsed or worked out any songs before going into the studio.

 

[p83]

hal has said before that Clarke was about the only guy that was mad for being replaced on a track by him.

 

[drummer083]

hal has said before that Clarke was about the only guy that was mad for being replaced on a track by him.

I've heard that in regards to Mr. Tambourine Man, and it simply isn't true. It was decided by Terry Melcher prior to the recording session to use studio musicians on the first studio date. He wasn't replaced after the fact. Michael and Chris Hillman weren't even in the studio when the first single was recorded.

 

[KevinD]

“the songwriter told me he wanted a Friend of the Devil-type groove on a track”

Boy he could not have picked a worse example imho. FOTD was played well over 300 times by the GD and many more by the Jerry Garcia Band.

It ranges from slow and drudging to all coked up brutally fast in the early 80s and everywhere in between. There are more recorded cover versions of FOTD than of any other Grateful Dead song according to dead disc dot com.


You want it like FOTD? Can you be more specific then throw a stone in the ocean? Throw a dog a bone over here…..

Yeah, I listened to that, that

If you want to really go down the rabbit hole and learn how the Byrds functioned, listen to this series.
Evidently they never, ever rehearsed or worked out any songs before going into the studio.

That is a really good interview with Gary Usher.. My old manager at my job (late 80s) had been a Roadie, then a Road Manager for a lot of those bands (starting with Poco, Buffalo Springfield and a bunch of others...) He was also Stephen Stills' housemate in "the Canyon" for a while, lots of great stories but never had any desire to write a book... Anyway, aside from the standard "rock star" stories, he had told me that it was amazing that ANY of those bands managed to make any music at all, Crosby, Stills, Hillman, McGuinn etc... were all such different personalities, each with their own creative vision and each with an extreme drive, that they were constantly in conflict each other. and pretty nasty sometimes too. (kind of funny too because my Mgr used to chuckle and remark how these guys always preached "peace and love" but never behaved like it).

 

[JazzDrumGuy]

This was great! The original "Angry Byrds"...