Who played what?...

[Jim Mcintyre]

Hi Bob

Do you recall who played on your first 2 albums?...particularly like the 12 string electric on Dont Be Concerned

What did you play yourself and did you have any input with the arrangements?

Best regards

Jim

[bob_32_116]

I had thought the foldout booklet that came with the Footsteps album might have the studio credits, but it appears not to, though it has lots of other interesting stuff.

I had always assumed that Bob did all the guitar bits himself - perhaps the man himself can confirm that. Of course it's already been revealed that Jack Nitzsche made a cameo appearance playing tambourine...

[Jim Mcintyre]

Bob32

Pretty sure Bob would have played acoustic guitar but i have always assumed it was session guys who did the rest..just wondered who they are

Jim

[Lind]

Hey Jim, Thanks for your interest. I'll answer the second question first. It's the easiest:
No. I had absolutely nothing to do with those stunningly beautiful arrangements. That was all Jack. He took those twangy little guitar songs of mine and found a richness and lustre in them that would never have occurred to me. I had never recorded before (never REALLY recorded before) and knew my way around a studio the way a penguin knows his way around Miami. I was more than happy to defer the arrangements to the master. I'd have been fool to do otherwise.
On the other hand, Jack had no input on the writing. That was all me. He had no ambitions to step in, change melody lines or lyrics and claim co-authorship. The simple delineation of duties is right there on the album cover: Words and Music Bob Lind; Arranged and Produced by Jack Nitzsche.

As to your first question, every day that goes by puts that one further out of reach. I just have too many holes in my memory. For one thing, it took nine or ten sessions to cut the songs for DBC and Photographs. For another, I didn't know these people. I got to know many of them later. But at the time they were just a sea of faces. They were mostly people who had played on Spector's records. Jack brought them in because he knew they could deliver the goods. There were about 40 of them, collectively known as "The Wrecking Crew." But they all didn't play on all the dates. For instance there were three keyboard guys that I know of. Larry Knechtel, Don Randi and Leon Russell. They all played on my sessions but I have no recollection of which specific songs which one of them played on. (How's that for a convoluted sentence?)
Here are the people I KNOW are on " Elusive Butterfly:" Carole Kaye on bass, Cyrus Faryar and Jerry Yester on guitars. Hal Blaine on drums and Henry Diltz on banjo.
As to the other tunes, well...there may be some music historians who can answer that better than I can. Let's hope someone jumps in.
Again, thanks for your interest.

[Lind]

Oh, and yes. I'm playing guitar on all the tracks.

[bob_32_116]

Wow, some famous names mentioned there. Larry Knechtel in particular - check out this list of his contributions in recording sessions:
http://home.cogeco.ca/~mansion3/larryknechtel.html

I have quite a few of the albums listed there: Pet Sounds, Bridge over Troubled Water, the two Richard Harris albums, the Jim Webb album, the first Garfunkel album (I believe he does that gorgeous piano accompaniment to the Jim Webb song "All I Know"). And apparently he is still going, he worked on the latest Dixie Chicks album.

The site also says that he was a member of Bread, and did the guitar solo in "Guitar Man". I found most of Bread's material a bit too limp and mellow, but that's one of the few Bread songs that had a bit of bite. I used to also own the first David Gates album, which was surprisingly good - more interesting and varied than what he did with Bread. I don't think he maintained the momentum though.

Excuse me rambling...

[Danny Harris]

I used to also own the first David Gates album, which was surprisingly good - more interesting and varied than what he did with Bread. I don't think he maintained the momentum though.

Yeah, the quality of the sessions for "Elusive Butterfly" is clearly obvious...re David Gates/Bread: Gladys Knight & The Pips did a great version of "Been Too Long On The Road", a Gates/Bread song which was much more edgier than their usual fare...

[Danny Harris]

...oops, grammar, Danny! - should have been "more edgy".