Worst sounding/produced big hit

[firepoint525]

"Do They Know It's Christmastime." Not opposed to the song or the sentiment, but considering it was recorded in the mid-80s, they could have made the recording sound so much better.

How so? It sounds fine to me.

I also feel that when there are *that many* voices together (a la "We Are the World"), something's gotta give!

In the "faceoff of charity songs" (if there were ever to be such a thing), I would say that "We Are the World" won the battle, but "Do They Know It's Christmas" has won the war. "We Are the World" was wisely recorded as a "non-Christmas" song, so that it could receive airplay year-round, and USA for Africa was made up (mostly) of artists who have stood the test of time, while Band-Aid was made up (mostly) of early '80s artists. But while "We Are the World" flamed out, "Do They Know..." was still able to receive airplay this past Christmas, apparently without generating too high of a "tuneout factor," to borrow from another thread. As if all that weren't enough, the 2010 "re-record" of "We Are the World" was a massive dud! Despite all the hype leading up to it, it received almost NO airplay!

 

[BobSacamano]

One that hasn't been mentioned is "She's about a mover"...by Sir Douglas Quintet..sound like it was recorded in an airplane hangar...

A couple of folks who haven't been mentioned as great producers;

Quincy Jones; He'll always be remembered for the Michael Jackson stuff. but give a listen to "It's my party"..very clean for 1963..

Jeff Lynne; kind of a pseudo Phil Spector, but IMO, better..

Mutt Lange: wasn't always crazy about his work with Foreigner or the Cars..but his work with Def Leppard & Shania more than make up for it

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

One that hasn't been mentioned is "She's about a mover"...by Sir Douglas Quintet..sound like it was recorded in an airplane hangar...

Great post! I would have said ...men's room at the race track...

 

[billyg]

One that hasn't been mentioned is "She's about a mover"...by Sir Douglas Quintet..sound like it was recorded in an airplane hangar...

I heard a stereo mix (might have been a remix) of "She's About A Mover" on a Eric CD that sounded great. Producer Huey Meaux was trying to hype them as a faux-British Invasion group so he cranked up the echo/reverb to copy the UK style of production.

 

[billyg]

Some of the material issued on All Platinum/Vibration Records in the early 70's sounded horrible. If you can find a stereo version of "Shame, Shame, Shame" by Shirley & Co. I have not been able to find it. I have a clean 45 and it's cut in mono..and we are talking late 1974 here!

Like a lot of small record companies they pressed on cheap or recycled vinyl to save money. And the cover is really trashy looking too, looks like a high school kid drew it. http://www.soulstrut.com/index.php/reviews/indepth/Shame Shame Shame /

Another small 70' R&B company was TK records and their many spin-off labels (Alston, Glades, Cat, Drive, Kayvette, Dash, Juana). Their records were pressed by a variety of companies around the USA and the quality of the vinyl differs greatly.

Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell" has about 3-4 different label variations. And it sounded like a dirt-cheap production with an annoying synth drum (doooo!) and a very "flat" vocal, but somehow became a huge #1 hit!

And another company with the annoying habit of releasing 45's in mono was Bell. Very few of their 45's were released in stereo. Even their last big hit, Barry Manilow's "Mandy" in 1974 was released in mono. I think it was a ploy by Bell to force people to buy the LP if they wanted the stereo version. Luckily that stopped when Clive Davis took Bell over and renamed it Arista.

 

[analog420]

Listen to Donnie Elbert's "Where Did Our Love Go" on All Platinum records. There is audible feedback (earphones?) at 1:51.