Folks, thanks to additional contributions from Pat Mastelotto, I've expanded the story of how he and Trey Gunn sourced Machine [Gene Freeman] to engineer/produce The Power to Believe. It now reads:
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Smith describes the germination of The Power to Believe: "Mindful of the differences in opinion regarding the recording of TCoL, when it came to making King Crimson's 13th studio album Fripp and Belew asked Gunn and Mastelotto to come up with a shortlist of studios. The Tracking Room in Nashville was Gunn and Mastelotto's favourite from the four or five they presented. 'We never thought for a second that Robert and Adrian would go for it. It's mondo, dude. There is a stone room, a wood room, it's just the most over-the-top place I've ever seen. The budget was maybe $3000 a day for this place. There's no fucking way they'd ever pick this place,' laughs Mastelotto, 'but that's what Robert did!'
Mastelotto fleshes out the story of sourcing an engineer/producer, in his exchange for this review: "When Robert and Adrian told me to find the engineer[/producer], I immediately thought of, tracked down and called Tchad Blake. I love everything he does, and he was the second engineer on Mr. Mister's "Broken Wings" [the hit song from Mastelotto's mid-to-late '80s breakout band]. I used to hang with him after the sessions, so I knew he was a great guy. I called him and had a long conversation, but essentially he was not available; he was just about to have a baby and had other projects lined up.
"My next choice was trying to track down David Fridmann, the guy who had produced The Soft Bulletin (1999) and Yoshima Battles the Pink Robots (2002), amongst other Flaming Lips albums," Mastelotto continues. "While trying to find a contact number for him there was a guy working at DGM named Adrian Maloy, and he suggested that I check out this kid Machine, who had just produced Pitchshifter [the British Industrial band's 1998 album,
www.pitchshifter.com.
"I did and I liked it, so I checked some of his other work, and the one that really hit me was Broke (2000), by [American punk/rock band] Hed PE. That record showed me he really understood how to mix acoustic and electronic drums and balance the weight and sensitivity of each. I'd never met him and he lived in Jersey, so I suggested to Trey that he call him up, since Trey was living in New York and could meet him. I was a little bit afraid he would show up with a kind of 'Yo Yo Yo, motherfucker's in the house' kind of a vibe, which would definitely not go down well with Robert!"
Smith continues, in his liners: "Just as important was the decision to ask the rhythm buddies to source a producer to work with the band. After some sifting and tentative selections, the name they eventually tendered to the guitarists was Gene Freeman, better known as Machine. Having initially met up with Trey Gunn in a New York pizza house to discuss the prospect of working with Crimson, Machine was keen to take up the role being offered to him.
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Just wanted, at least, to let those following me here to see the difference. Thanks, P@!!!
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