'call Me' Is Not An Exceptional Al

My Ambition Was To Be A Record Producer, And I Had Started Doing That In The Late '60s With My Work With The Mc5 And My Friend Livingston Taylor.

The Rolling Stones Are Constantly Changing, But Beneath The Changes They Remain The Most Formal Of Rock Bands. Their Successive Releases Have Been Continuous Extensions Of Their Approach, Not Radical Redefinitions, As Has So Often Been The Case With The Beatles.

Ringo Starr May Not Have Much Of A Voice, But When He Sang A Song On A Beatle Album, It Had Its Own Special Charm.

Elton John Can Be A Master Of The Sleight Of Hand. The Arrangements Make It Seem Like There Are Substantial Melodies Underneath The Tracks - But Almost Nothing Demands Repeated Listenings. Similarly, He Always Sounds Like He's Singing Up A Storm, But His Voice Glosses Over The Material, Reducing Most Things To An Uninteresting Sameness.

Often, Equipment Can As Easily Function As A Security Blanket For Musicians Unwilling Or Unable To Risk Anything Personal In The Studio. Whether One Catches The Feeling On A Record Is A Subjective Matter. How Can You Be Sure? The Machinery Can Hold Out The Promise Of At Least Mechanical Perfection.