Thursday 9 June 2011

RIP to New Wave producer Martin Rushent

PETE SHELLEY ~ HOMOSAPIEN;



UK record producer Martin Rushent died June 4 aged 62. Producer for the classic New Wave hit albums of the 1980's by The Buzzcocks, Stranglers, Human League and Soft Cell.
The Buzzcocks and Stranglers albums made his name but he really hit the big time with the classic and massively successful series of hit albums with The Human League and Soft Cell. Besides selling tons of copies these records (that's right kids, actual records!) were also hugely influential to a new generation of electro music artist and dj's for better or worse. This is in spite of the fact that the technology then used will probably never be used again and would be considered by today's electronic musicians as being as hopelessly out of date as the player piano.

THE HUMAN LEAGUE ~ DON'T YOU WANT ME;



Today's electro musicians do can do everything from a single computer program using premade samples, drum tacks and auto-tuning which removes any actual human fingerprints. Rushent's records with The Human League and Soft Cell were done with analog technology (ask your parents) and required not only that each sample clip be separately edited in but also that the entire mix be programed in step by step lest it go out of time. Then you add in flourishes like a horn section which also had to be programed in step by laborious step and you have days and days of work for something that could be dashed off in a day now.

SOFT CELL ~ TAINTED LOVE;



At the time many music writers and musicians didn't see these records as being legitimate in the way that guitar oriented New Wavers like say, The Pretenders, Blondie, Police, Talking Heads or even avowedly keyboard heavy bands like Ultravox. Now, in retrospect we can see them as much a part of pop (if not exactly Rock and Roll) as the heavily orchestrated girl groups of the 1960's.

THE STRANGLERS ~ NO MORE HEROES;



And if that weren't enough remember Rushent also produced the classic albums by The Buzzcocks Generation X, 999, Dr. Feelgood, the dB's and the Stranglers, and nobody could deny those. He had actually been around since the early 1970's and had worked with T Rex, Fleetwood Mac, Gentle Giant and even Shirley Bassey.

999 ~ HOMICIDE;



Partial Martin Rushent discography;

1971;
T-Rex ~ Electric Warrior
Gentle Giant ~ Acquiring the Taste
Fleetwood Mac ~ Future Games
1972;
Gentle Giant ~ Three Friends
Gentle Giant ~ Octopus
Shirley Bassey ~ I Capricorn
1975;
Shirley Bassey ~ Good, Bad but Beautiful
1977;
The Stranglers ~ Rattus Norvegicus
The Stranglers ~ No More Heroes
1978;
The Stranglers ~ Black and White
The Buzzcocks ~ Another Music in a Different Kitchen
Generation X ~ Generation X
The Buzzcocks ~ Love Bites
999 ~ Separates
Dr Feelgood ~ Private Practice
1979;
The Stranglers ~ Live (X Cert)
The Buzzcocks ~ A Different Kind of Tension
J-J Burnel ~ Euroman Cometh
1981;
The Human League ~ Dare
Pete Shelley ~ Homosapien
The Raybeats ~ Guitar Beat
Altered Images ~ Happy Birthday
The dB's ~ Stands for Decibels
1982;
The Human League ~ Love and Dancing
Altered Images ~ Pinky Blue
1983;
The Human League ~ Fascination!
Pete Shelley ~ XL1
1984;
The Human League ~ Hysteria
The Go-Go's ~ Talk show


GENERATION X ~ KISS ME DEADLY;

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