Tom Wilson (record producer)
Tom Wilson | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Thomas Blanchard Wilson Jr. |
Born | Waco, Texas, U.S. | March 25, 1931
Died | September 6, 1978 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | (aged 47)
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | Record producer |
Years active | 1956–1978 |
Labels |
|
Thomas Blanchard Wilson Jr. (March 25, 1931 – September 6, 1978)[1][2][3] was an American record producer best known for his work in the 1960s with Bob Dylan, the Mothers of Invention, Simon & Garfunkel, the Velvet Underground, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Eddie Harris, Nico, Eric Burdon and the Animals, the Blues Project, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, and others.
Early life and education
Wilson was born in
Career
After university, Wilson borrowed $500 (equivalent to $5,687 in 2023) to set up
Columbia Records
As a staff producer at
Wilson produced
After working with Wilson, both Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel worked with another Columbia staff producer, Bob Johnston, who produced several albums for both acts.
Verve/MGM Records
In 1966, Wilson signed the Mothers of Invention to Verve Records and was credited as producer on the group's debut album Freak Out!
Also in 1966, after the Animals split from producer Mickie Most, Wilson became their producer, which continued until the original band broke up in 1967. Wilson also produced the Velvet Underground, featuring Lou Reed and John Cale. Although Andy Warhol is credited as the producer of the group's debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967), Cale credits Wilson as the true producer, as Warhol was mostly absent from the sessions.[citation needed] Wilson was credited only for the production of the song's opening track, "Sunday Morning", which had been released as a single in 1966 prior to the album's release. Wilson also produced the Velvet Underground's second album, White Light/White Heat (1968) and was officially credited as that album's producer (the band having parted ways with Warhol prior to its recording). Wilson resigned from MGM Records (then owner of Verve) prior to the release of White Light/White Heat and did not work with the Velvet Underground thereafter.
Another of Wilson's Verve production credits was the Blues Project's first studio album Projections (1966) featuring Al Kooper (with whom Wilson had previously worked on Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone") as vocalist and keyboard player. Wilson co-produced the Soft Machine's eponymous first album with Chas Chandler in 1968.
Achievements
Wilson was an important producer of the 1960s, alongside his contemporaries (Phil Spector, George Martin, Jimmy Miller, Brian Wilson, Quincy Jones, Tom Dowd, and Teo Macero). He has been said to have had the skill of "putting the right people together for the right projects".[10] Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan (music producer) wrote in Tape Op Magazine, "That an African American man played a massive and pivotal role in three seminal musical forms seemingly dominated by Caucasian artists – folk rock, prog rock, and proto-punk – is one of the most tragically untold stories in popular music’s history."[11]
Wilson made an important contribution to Dylan's rock and roll sound, producing his first rock recordings on Bringing It All Back Home. In the 1969 Rolling Stone Interview, Jann Wenner asked, "There's been some articles on Wilson and he says that he's the one that gave you the rock and roll sound. Is that true?" Dylan: "Did he say that? Well if he said it... [laughs] more power to him. [laughs] He did to a certain extent. That is true. He did. He had a sound in mind".[12]
Frank Zappa spoke highly of Wilson, who produced the Mothers of Invention's debut album Freak Out!:
Tom Wilson was a great guy. He had vision, you know? And he really stood by us ... I remember the first thing that we recorded was "Any Way the Wind Blows," and that was okay. Then we did "Who Are the Brain Police?" and I saw him through the glass and he was on the phone immediately to New York going, "I don't know!" Trying to break it to 'em easy, I guess ... Wilson was sticking his neck out. He laid his job on the line by producing the album.[13]
Death
Wilson died of a heart attack in Los Angeles in 1978, aged 47. He was buried at the Doris Miller Memorial Park in McLennan County, Texas.[2]
Selected discography
- 1956: Sun Ra: Sun Song
- 1956: Cecil Taylor: Jazz Advance
- 1956: Donald Byrd: Byrd’s Eye View
- 1958: Louis Smith: Here Comes Louis Smith
- 1959: Curtis Fuller: Sliding Easy
- 1959: Cecil Taylor: Love for Sale
- 1959: Art Farmer: Brass Shout
- 1961: Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra
- 1963: Bob Dylan: The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (4 tracks, uncredited)
- 1964: The Times They Are a-Changin'
- 1964: Bob Dylan: Another Side of Bob Dylan
- 1964: The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem: The First Hurrah!
- 1964: Simon and Garfunkel: Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.
- 1965: The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem: Recorded Live in Ireland
- 1965: Simon and Garfunkel: "The Sound of Silence" single (also on the 1965 album)
- 1965: Bob Dylan: Bringing It All Back Home
- 1965: Bob Dylan: "Like a Rolling Stone" single (also on the 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited, otherwise produced by Bob Johnston)
- 1966: The Mothers of Invention: Freak Out!
- 1966: The Animals: Animalisms (UK) / Animalization (US)
- 1966: Eric Burdon & the Animals: Eric Is Here
- 1966: The Blues Project: Projections
- 1967: The Mothers of Invention: Absolutely Free
- 1967: Eric Burdon & the New Animals: Winds of Change
- 1967: The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground & Nico (as post-production editor, remixer, and producer of the track "Sunday Morning")
- 1967: Nico: Chelsea Girl
- 1968: The Velvet Underground: White Light/White Heat
- 1968: We're Only In It For The Money(credited as executive producer)
- 1968: Eric Burdon & the Animals: The Twain Shall Meet
- 1968: Soft Machine: The Soft Machine (co-producer)
- 1968: Harumi: Harumi
- 1968: The Fraternity of Man: The Fraternity of Man
- 1969: The Fraternity of Man: Get It On!
References
- ^ Allmusic. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
Born March 25, 1931 in Waco, TX.
- ^ a b c d e Hall, Michael (January 6, 2014). "The Greatest Music Producer You've Never Heard of Is..." Texas Monthly. Retrieved October 21, 2022.
- ^ a b Corcoran, Michael (December 18, 2015). "True Heroes of Texas Music: Tom Wilson". Lonestar Magazine. Retrieved October 21, 2022.
- ISBN 0-86241-722-8.. Cf. page 154
- ^ Szwed, p159
- ^ Szwed, p185-186
- ^ Tom Wilson interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969)
- ^ Heylin, 1996, Bob Dylan: A Life In Stolen Moments, pp. 42–43.
- ISBN 9780470433638.
- ^ Unterberger, Richie. "Bruce Langhorne Interview". Retrieved November 24, 2008.
- ^ "Tom Wilson: An Unsung Hero of the Studio".
- ^ Rolling Stone, November 29, 1969. Reprinted in Cott (ed.), Dylan on Dylan: The Essential Interviews, p. 142.
- ISBN 978-0-8154-1225-0.
External links
- Tom Wilson (American record producer) – Britannica Online Encyclopedia
- The Amazing Tom Wilson – Blogcritics Music
- Tom Wilson, Producer, biographical website