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Trevor Horn, clever or what?


Happy Jack
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LOL oh yes I remember seeing that some time ago - silk purse indeed.

I've worked with people who have worked for him - they said he's very astute and seems to find ways to get what he's looking for out of the artists.

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I don't see what the big deal is. The major elements of the song are all there in the The Tube version. Like any good producer he got rid of all the superfluous "muso" elements like that clumsy rhythm change in the middle and honed down the bass line to the important thump.

Besides IIRC signing Frankie Goes To Holywood was mostly Paul Morley's idea.

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I would agree that that is almost the whole song on a plate with just a bit of 'producing'. The song is the same, the style is the same and more importantly the whole image was there. It was just made fuller and more nightclub friendly.

there are some tracks I have heard where you really can't tell how they got from the demo to the full version!

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I guess the point is that whatever amount of tweaking it required he saw it, did it and reaped the rewards and none of the rest of us did. FGTH never really my thing nor was the Stock, Aitken & Waterman stuff but they saw the possibilities and went for it.

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I remember myself as an impressionable young man seeing that Frankie appearance on The Tube the night it was on, and thinking that there was definitely something to be feared in men wearing those kind of outfits, but something very alluring in women wearing that kind of leather gear. Call me a hypocrite if you like.

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FWIW I think Relax was a godawful song (as proved to me by Happy Jack's link), but was a fabulous record, mainly thanks to Trevor Horn's utterly brilliant arrangement and production.
BTW I'm not generally a fan of this type of record, or any music that is reliant on samples, but Trevor Horn pulled it off, big time!

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But Relax isn't really reliant upon samples in the way that we now associate them. IIRC the individual drum hits come from various Led Zeppelin recordings and the individual bass notes might be fom NWR. But that's it. Certainly no performance samples in the way a modern track might be made.

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1396031197' post='2409296']
But Relax isn't really reliant upon samples in the way that we now associate them.
[/quote]
Absolutely, but we are talking early 80s. I believe TH made use of the Synclavier or Fairlight on Relax.
Actually, it's not really samplers that I have a problem with, it's more the reliance on machines .

Edited by SteveK
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[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1395998225' post='2408725']
He managed to spot that this

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8EotTtv2GU"]https://www.youtube....h?v=r8EotTtv2GU[/url]

was lurking somewhere inside this

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVJMMT9nXRI"]https://www.youtube....h?v=OVJMMT9nXRI[/url]
[/quote]

No I think he knew he could make the latter into the former. If music lore is true, he was mixing Yes' 'Big Generator' album at the time....

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[quote name='Zenitram' timestamp='1396037186' post='2409388']
But you surely couldn't say that Trevor Horn or any other innovator [i]relied[/i] on machines... but rather they unleashed them, tapped their potential, no? Got creative and produced amazing music that no one had thought of before.
[/quote]
Yep! He got the balance :rolleyes: about right.

[quote name='jezzaboy' timestamp='1396044408' post='2409503']
And I managed to spot, that was Guy Pratt with Icehouse at the start of the second clip.
[/quote]
And my very good friend Andy on keys.

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[quote name='SteveK' timestamp='1396036335' post='2409374']

Actually, it's not really samplers that I have a problem with, it's more the reliance on machines .
[/quote]

Where do you draw the line? A bass guitar is a simple machine for tensioning strings and converting vibrations into electric currents. All instruments are machines which need operators, and you are hearing the mind of the operator through the machine.

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[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1396182658' post='2410670']
[b]Where do you draw the line?[/b] A bass guitar is a simple machine for tensioning strings and converting vibrations into electric currents. All instruments are machines which need operators, and you are hearing the mind of the operator through the machine.
[/quote]
I wouldn't!
If I attempted to 'draw a line', and explain the whys and wherefores of where that line is, something would come along and surprise me, necessitating the drawing of a new line.
The drawing of lines is best left to architects, not musicians! ;)

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