{"id":934,"date":"2018-12-16T17:00:01","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T22:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/?p=934"},"modified":"2019-12-07T13:07:40","modified_gmt":"2019-12-07T18:07:40","slug":"with-george-martin-producing-america-was-always-looking-for-the-egg-and-bacon-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/with-george-martin-producing-america-was-always-looking-for-the-egg-and-bacon-take\/","title":{"rendered":"With George Martin producing, America was always looking for the ‘egg-and-bacon’ take"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gerry<\/a>

Gerry Beckley of the band America performs during the encore Dec. 7. 2018, at the Santander Performing Arts Center in Reading, Pennsylvania.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)<\/p><\/div>\n

It wouldn\u2019t be an America concert if it didn\u2019t include the mention of George Martin. And the band\u2019s Dec. 7, 2018, concert at the Santander Performing Arts Center in Reading, PA, would be no different.<\/p>\n

So just how did legendary Beatles producer Martin end up working with the Dewey Bunnell, Gerry Beckley and Dan Peek of America? And what role did bacon and eggs play in that pairing?<\/p>\n

As detailed in Volume I of The Vinyl Dialogues, there were days during long recording sessions when Dewey Bunnell would look forward to the \u201cegg-and-bacon take.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bunnell, Beckley and Peek were recording their fourth studio album, Holiday,<\/em> in 1974 at AIR Studios in London. They were working with Martin, who had produced all of the Beatles\u2019 original albums.<\/p>\n

Bunnell remembers it as a special time. During the days of recording the album, he and his bandmates would frequent a little cafe in the area or eat at the studio commissary.<\/p>\n

And they\u2019d frequently eat bacon and eggs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe say \u2018bacon and eggs,\u2019 but the British say \u2018egg and bacon.\u2019 Every day we\u2019d do some takes and George would say, \u2018Right lads, one more take.\u2019 And we\u2019d say, \u2018But George, we\u2019re getting hungry.\u2019 And he\u2019d say, \u2018OK, this is the egg-and-bacon take.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s eponymous 1971 debut album had been produced by Ian Samwell, a British songwriter and guitarist who had worked with Sir Cliff Richard; after relocating to Los Angeles, their second and third albums, Homecoming<\/em> in 1972 and Hat Trick<\/em> in 1973, were produced by the band members themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cGerry and Dan and I produced the second and third albums and we realized we were spending a lot of money,\u201d said Bunnell. \u201cProducing records isn\u2019t just about saying, \u2018Oh, that sounds good, let\u2019s put a tambourine on the next track.\u2019 There\u2019s a lot of administrative work and booking studio time and paying bills and all that kind of stuff.<\/p>\n

\"Dewey<\/a>

Dewey Bunnell of America.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cBy the time we got to the third album, we said, \u2018This is too much work. We need a producer,\u2019\u201d said Bunnell.<\/p>\n

America was going to start at the top in its search for a producer and was hoping to get Martin to sign on.<\/p>\n

And timing is everything.<\/p>\n

David Geffen \u2014 who had managed Crosby, Stills and Nash as well as Laura Nyro \u2014 was also America\u2019s manager at the time.<\/p>\n

Geffen knew Martin well enough to arrange for him to meet Beckley, Bunnell, and Peek. Incidentally, Geffen would go on to create Asylum Records in 1970, Geffen Records in 1980, DGC Records in 1990, and become one of the three founders \u2014 along with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg \u2014 of DreamWorks SKG Studios in 1994.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were these young whippersnappers and George was coming out of the Beatles thing \u2014 it had been a few years since they had broken up \u2014 and he was basically available,\u201d said Bunnell.<\/p>\n

And after working with the Beatles, Martin finished a project with a band called Seatrain, and was looking around for his next project as well.<\/p>\n

Martin was in Los Angeles for the 46th Academy Awards show when Geffen approached him to meet America\u2019s principals. Martin had scored the soundtrack to the James Bond film Live and Let Die<\/em>, the title track of which was written by Paul and Linda McCartney. The song was nominated for \u201cBest Original Song\u201d that year, but lost the Oscar to \u201cThe Way We Were\u201d by Marvin Hamlisch.<\/p>\n

\"Gerry<\/a>

Gerry Beckley, left, of America.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)<\/p><\/div>\n

Martin met with the band and, according to Bunnell, formed an instant rapport. Bunnell said he thought that it may have been because of a common bond: he, Beckley and Peek were all children of American servicemen who had British wives, and they had first met and formed the band while all their fathers were stationed at the United States Air Force Base at RAF West Ruislip, London.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we hit it off and he said, \u2018Sure, but I understand you spent a lot of time on your last album. I must ask that you come to London and we record it in my studio.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Once they reached an agreement, Bunnell said that the band members wanted to make sure they were ready to record by the time they got to London. They hunkered down and honed and arranged their material, and by the time they did get to London, they were ready to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had arranged the songs the way we liked to do things, with the vocal harmonies and the acoustic guitar stuff,\u201d said Bunnell. \u201cAnd George took it from there. He was very impressed that we were prepared. I think we did the whole album in less than three weeks \u2014 17 days or something like that. Mixed and ready to go. And George said, \u2018Well, this is nice.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Bunnell called the Holiday recording sessions lighthearted but structured.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were making the third album [Hat Trick<\/em>] in Los Angeles at the Record Plant, it was party time,\u201d said Bunnell. \u201cLate sessions. And the Record Plant was a cool place to hang out.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the British studio \u2014 AIR Studios in London \u2014 it was like we were in some kind of factory,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was very sterile and weird. George was from that school having produced the Beatles, and he still had a lot of that work ethic going on, which was good because it reined us in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides the fact that the band was in awe of Martin, Bunnell said that Martin was from a different generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was this princely guy,\u201d said Bunnell. \u201cSweet and nice and full of anecdotes. We realized right away that it was all business here. We like to say that he sophisticated the sound, if you will, because with George you got an arranger in terms of symphony and orchestral arrangements.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dewey<\/a>

Dewey Bunnell, left, and Gerry Beckley celebrated their 48th year with the band America in 2018.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)<\/p><\/div>\n

One of Martin\u2019s favorite phrases, Bunnell said, was \u201cDon\u2019t gild the lily.\u201d Martin wasn\u2019t one of those guys who wanted to keep layering stuff on a song. \u201cIf you\u2019ve got a nice tasty thing, an overdub or a vocal that works, let\u2019s not bury it under a lot of varnish,\u201d Bunnell recalled Martin saying.<\/p>\n

The album hit big in the United States and reached No. 3 on the Billboard album chart. It produced two hit singles, the Bunnell-penned \u201cTin Man,\u201d which reached No. 4 on the Billboard singles chart and No. 1 on the adult contemporary chart; and \u201cLonely People,\u201d written by Peek and his wife, Catherine, which charted at No. 5 on the Billboard singles chart and No. 1 on the adult contemporary chart.<\/p>\n

\u201cTin Man\u201d was based on the general theme of The Wizard of Oz<\/em>, which Bunnell said has always been, and is still today, one of his favorite movies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that film and the whole premise of people having those things already in them that they seem to be desperately seeking \u2013 courage and love and all those things,\u201d said Bunnell.<\/p>\n

Bunnell likes his songs to paint pictures \u2014 and he likes a lyric that takes the listener some place in his own mind within the first few lines of a song.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the great grammar in \u201cTin Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI always say I don\u2019t know where my grammar really comes from, other than maybe in and of itself, it\u2019s colorful. \u2018Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man, that he didn\u2019t, didn\u2019t already have,\u2019\u201d said Bunnell. \u201cIt\u2019s sort of poetic license because I really don\u2019t speak that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bunnell thought \u201cTin Man\u201d had a catchy melody and was a strong enough song \u2014 with its chord progression \u2014 going into the recording session.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a schooled musician, so I\u2019m not using music theory and things. I\u2019m really not applying certain musical-mathematical equations when I write a song,\u201d he said. \u201cA little more now because I\u2019m self-training even more. But then, though, it was finding some chords that sounded good together. It was all just throwing the dart at the board and saying, \u2018Oh, I think I got a bullseye there.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Creative album covers were still the norm in the 1970s, and when it came time to decide what the Holiday<\/em> cover would look like, the band members agreed that specific lyrics from the Beckley-written song \u201cWhat Does It Matter\u201d would be an appropriate concept for the cover: \u201cLook, the lady\u2019s got a photograph, silver-framed, velvet-backed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we all agreed \u2014 hey, let\u2019s make sure the cover kind of mirrors that lyrical imagery: silver-framed, velvet-backed,\u201d said Bunnell. \u201cSo now we have to stick a photograph in that frame. Of course, in those days, they always wanted the artists to be on the album cover. Now, the last thing we want is our picture on the album because we\u2019re older.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because the songs \u2014 especially with Martin\u2019s arrangements \u2014 had an old-time feel, Bunnell, Beckley, and Peek decided to wear clothes that reflected a time gone by. They secured an old car from a collector who rented cars for just that purpose \u2014 publicity shoots \u2014 and headed out to Hyde Park in London.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe costumes showed up, the car showed up, and we shot the cover,\u201d said Bunnell.<\/p>\n

It was indeed a special and heady time for the members of America.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, as we reach this age, it\u2019s just fun to realize that so many things did happen, and how they are still viable parts of this giant puzzle that is the pop music business,\u201d said Bunnell.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into the AIR Studios equipment room and picking out something, like we needed a bell for a song \u2014 and, by the way, that\u2019s the bell we used on \u2018Yellow Submarine;\u2019 wow, cool, we\u2019re using the \u2018Yellow Submarine\u2019 bell \u2014 George made all that very fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DSCN6043\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It wouldn\u2019t be an America concert if it didn\u2019t include the mention of George Martin. And the band\u2019s Dec. 7, 2018, concert at the Santander Performing Arts Center in Reading, PA, would be no different. So just how did legendary Beatles producer Martin end up working with the Dewey Bunnell, Gerry Beckley and Dan Peek […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":1184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tvdbook"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1185,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934\/revisions\/1185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}