By Eli (151.197.5.48) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 03:32 pm:

If you could go back in time to any moment in musical history to any recording sessions anywhere at all at any studio which ones would they be and why?

By Soulpuss (24.102.217.36) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 03:44 pm:

SOUL CLAN: SOUL CLAN!!!!

Can anyone imagine the atmosphere when JOE TEX, SOLOMON BURKE, ARTHUR CONLEY, BEN E. KING, DON COVAY jammed together on "THAT'S HOW I FEEL". This record is the definition of DEEP SOUL.

TERRY COLLINS "THE SHOW MUST GO ON" No explanation needed.

By Ritchie (62.254.0.8) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 03:46 pm:

I'd like to take my time machine back to the late fifties, and the Voice Masters' sessions for Anna. Oh, and I'd make damn sure I had a camera with me!

By MEL&THEN SOME (195.219.7.86) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 03:55 pm:

Back to the late 20s and Being there with Bessie Smith and her Band with a just starting out band member named Louis Armstrong(satchmo).
And live every note as they blast out 'Alexanders Rag Time Band'.
Mel.

By mhc (172.169.58.120) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 03:59 pm:

It'd be great to be at a REAL recording session, where you've got a room full of people all cooperating and concentrating as one, to make something magical happen in real time. Just at random, I wish I could've been present at the creation of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" by Dionne Warwick, "My Babe" by Little Walter, "Love Me" by The Phantom (Cramps' fans know this one), "Our Father" by The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and any Duke Ellington session.

By Mark k (213.122.102.155) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 04:04 pm:

For me it would have to be hitsville studios Detroit spring/summer 1966 about the time H-D-H are recording 4 Tops "Reach out i'll be there; Supremes You keep me hangin on and You can't hurry love > i could go on and on as i think this was the time motown was just peaking as a creative and commercial force.
Can you imagine what it would have been like to have been there to see all the fantastic artists, writers and producers at work?
Mindblowing
Mark k.

By 1wicked (64.32.154.94) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 04:08 pm:

70's-80's @ Sigma Sound.....within earshot of Joe Tarsia/Mike Tarsia/Mike Hutchinson and just enjoying the magic being made.

And/Or

@ Hitsville watching The Funk Brothers create grooves above & beyond what was ever originally put to paper.

By ted cogswell (68.165.77.95) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 04:56 pm:

This is sooo hard,... for sheer royalty, It'd be hard to top The Soul Clan, though my own interests would probably lead me to Sigma in the end,... I don't know how I could pick just one session however! Then again, maybe I'd have to pick an early Clyde/Drifters session for Atlantic, or maybe Jackie Wilson cutting "Rags to Riches" with Billy Ward's Dominoes.... man, you sure do know how to torture a guy!

By john dixon (64.12.97.7) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 05:03 pm:

at Sun Studios in the mid-50's, watching a very youg Elvis Presley, filled with nervous energy and a sense the session wasn't going so well, start goofin' spontaneously on Big Boy Crudup's "That's All Right, Mama". Note the spark plug effect on Scotty Moore and Bill Black and the startled, 'eureka' look on Sam Phillips face as he lunges to roll tape.

As somone already posted, the H/D/H sessions for "Reach Out" with the Tops and the Funks. H/D/H again with Martha Reeves, the Vandellas, and the Funks again on sessions for "Nowhere To Run".

The Norman Whitfield and Eddie Holland sessions for "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" with the classic Temptations lineup, Ruffin in his prime backed by the Funks.

And those are just to begin with.

By David Meikle (62.252.128.6) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 05:20 pm:

To the Pig-Pen, 2828 McGraw, Detroit, Michigan to capture the magic which was D Town Records.

Mike Hanks, Rudy Robinson, Willie Garrett making wonderful music for Lee Rogers, The Peps, Dee Edwards, Buddy Lamp and many, many more.

The Thelma recordings also hold a lot of mystique especially Martha Starr and Billy Kennedy.

Thanks to Clay for the latter..."This is a groovy generation".

By fayette (64.12.97.7) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 06:15 pm:

my favorite is the motown sound.sitting in ear shot of the tempts recording,would have made
the happiest woman alive

By dvdmike (12.84.97.31) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 07:20 pm:

That's a difficult question to answer, but possibly a doo-wop session in NYC for Atlantic or Chess & Vee-Jay in Chicago, some Chicago soul sessions or to witness some of those magical moments at Sigma

By StingBeeLee (155.139.50.14) on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 10:46 am:

Mel and Then Some;
I believe that Louis Armstrong recorded with Bessie Smith, but was not a part of her band, as Bessie thought Louis was too competitive. She wanted accompanists who she thought would complement her style, so that the focus would be on her, and not the sidemen. Louis who was at that time practically inventing Jazz as we know it, was as brilliant as Bessie. So on the one hand, Bessie wanted the best (Louis) but didn't want competition (Louis).
For battles, I would have liked to see the Dinah Washington/Brook Benton sessions. If you listen closely to their two hit records "You've got what it takes" and "A rockin good way", Dinah is about at Brooks throat, as he sings her lines, ad libs, flubs his lines. Dinah WAS NOT KIDDING when she told him to "stay out of my spot".

By Fury13 (12.2.196.17) on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 10:54 am:

To Universal Recording Studio in Chicago in 1952 at the first big-city session for Elmore James & the Broomdusters... watching them cut "I Believe."

And to Fortune's tiny 18X40 studio in the back room at 3942 Third Avenue in Detroit on a day in late 1956, watching Andre Williams, Steve Gaston, Bobby Calhoun, Gino Parks and Jay Johnson record "Bacon Fat."

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 11:31 am:

For me it would be...
United Recording Studio, Detroit 1958 - watching Jackie Wilson cut "Lonely Teardrops" & seeing Berry Gordy's horrific reaction to arranger/conductor Dick Jacobs turning his ballad into an uptempo mambo.

Columbia Records Studio, West 30th Street NYC 1958 - sitting beside the engineers recording Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, Bill Evans & company recording "So What", "Freddie Freeloader" & "Miles" (later retitled "Milestones") for the classic "Kind Of Blue" & "Milestones" albums.

Cosimo's Studios, New Orleans 1966 - Aaron Neville with the baddest New Orleans players cutting "Tell It Like It Is"

Columbia Records Studio, McClurg Court in Chicago, 1967 - Jackie Wilson with the Funk Brothers and the Andantes cutting "Higher & Higher" on a weekend (and watching arranger Sonny Sanders sneak the Funks back into Detroit before Gordy would notice!).

Finally,...any session featuring Sarah Vaughan with Count Basie & His Orchestra that was later released on Roulette Records (I heard some unreleased three-track sessions that were absolutely amazing..).

Kevin Goins - KevGo

By Eli (151.197.5.99) on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 12:13 pm:

Nat King Cole recording Mona Lisa or Nature Boy or The Christmas Song
Bing Crosby doing White Christmas
To relive the moment that Kenny Gamble told Joe Tarsia,"sounds good, we'll use it"!!
Blue Eyes doing My Way
Levi singing Reach Out
Ruffin doing My Girl
Al Green doing For the good times
Otis singing Ive been loving you too long
J. Butler singing For your precious love
Linda Jones doing Hypnotized

By TonyRussi (68.18.225.134) on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 12:31 pm:

I'd love to be able to see the early sessions at Hitsville, especially Mary Wells with the early Funk Brothers & the Smokey Robinson productions.

By R&B (138.238.41.128) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 09:02 am:

GOOD ONE ELI,NOW FOR ME THE TWO SESSION THAT I WOULD LIKE TO OBSERVE WOULD BE [THE TEMPS SINGING..OH MOTHER OF MINE]BECAUSE IT WAS AT THE VERY START AND AL BRYANT WAS WITH THEM AT THAT TIME,THE ORIGINAL TEMPTATIONS,THE SECOND SESSION WOULD BE[ THE IMPRESSIONS DOING..MISTREL AND QUEEN}BECAUSE I LOVE THE SONG AND IT WOULD BE FUN SEEING THEM SING IT.

By Steve Litos (209.100.86.4) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 11:44 am:

Here's a few of my choices:

Memphis (Stax Studio) - I think I would like to see Otis Redding & the guys cutting "Try A Little Tenderness". It sounds like it would have been a sight to see (?) in the studio. Otis is almost too much man to be contained in a small studio.

Philly (Sigma Sound) - "One of a Kind Love Affair" - It's the greatest drum into of the 1970's and the sound is pure fun! (Bobby Eli - Were you on that one?)

Chicago (Chess Studios ?) - The Dells - "Stay In My Corner" (The Album Version) It would be great to see Marvin Junior sing "Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaye - bay" for 17 seconds! I don't know if the vocals were cut at the same time as the music, but the group sings perfectly with the drum rolls at the end.

New York - Aretha Franklin & her sisters overdub piano & vocals onto "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" to make it a soul classic.

LA - 1969 "I Want You Back" (Deke, when are you going to take us there?)

Detroit - "Baby Baby Don't Cry" - I would like to see Joe, Eddie, & Robert (Unless Dennis was there at that point) do those ever so slightly overlapping guitar figures at the start of the song. Pay close attention because they change it for the second verse!

By Scratcher (65.132.79.3) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 12:16 pm:

The session that Eddie Holman recorded "This Must Be a Night to Remember."

By Chancellor of Soul (66.207.40.18) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 12:24 pm:

All of the Motown sessions
All of the Stax / Volt sessions
All of the James Brown sessions including
the Polydor ones
All of the Beatles sessions

Peace,
Mike Boone
(Chancellor of Soul)

By mhc (172.136.222.229) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 02:07 pm:

How could we forget James Brown? He almost always sang live with the band on his records. Those must've been some exciting sessions, and interesting to hang out at. I'd like to have been in the room when he did "King Heroin" (although that has an overdubbed vocal), or "There Was a Time", or......

By Chancellor of Soul (66.207.40.18) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 02:18 pm:

I know what you mean MCH. There Was A Time was
recorded live at the Apollo theater in June of
1967. That's the show I would have loved to have
attended to.

Peace,
Mike Boone
(Chancellor of Soul)

By Jim G (12.47.224.13) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 02:43 pm:

Armstrong & Hines, "West End Blues"
Billie & Pres, "He Ain't Got Rhythm"
Duke, "Cottontail"
Fletcher Henderson, "Sugar Foot Stomp"
Bird, any of his Dial Sessions
T Bone Walker, any of his Imperial sessions
Monk, "Round Midnight" blue note
Hawk/Django, "Crazy Rhythm"
Walter Brown, "Confessin' The Blues"
Trane, "A Love Supreme"
Bessie Smith, any session with Joe Smith

By Horse (159.53.32.41) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 02:59 pm:

Eli,

My choice would be any period pre-midi and Pro tools so I could hear some of the actual instrument and vocals tracks without all the manipulation. You know......back to the days when you had to have something to offer other than connections...! It used to mean something when a player or vocalist's strive was portrayed in his/hers ability to rock the house via talent and a great song. I know you've been there.

By Lynn Bruce (65.60.200.153) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 04:58 pm:

Lambert,Hendricks&Ross--When they recorded in 1957 an album called --"Sing a Song of Basie"
They took ten Count Basie tunes,broke down the horn section(trumpets,sax,trombones)put lyrics to each instrument including solos,ensemble passages. They did it with multi-taping techniques. The choral effect of singing the parts of chanting trumpets,trombones and saxes on familiar Basie tunes is unbelievable!!

The rhythm section is Basies own- Freddie Greene,Eddie Jones,Nat Pierce,and Sonny Payne.

Now THAT would be a session to have been at!!!
It took 60 hours of studio time to complete.

Lynn

By Sue (63.85.105.20) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 05:11 pm:

Kevgo,

I have to tell you ... I just interviwed Billy Davis about the Jackie Wilson musical -- he's a character in it, by the way, and when I asked him about the "Lonely Teardrops" story, how it supposedly was reworked and broke Berry's heart -- he said that's not true at all, that he and Berry were the ones who were there every step of the way, they reworked it themselves. They produced the song even though of course, they got no credit.

So that story might be apocryphal.

By soulboy (213.105.242.198) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 05:56 pm:

Like many others on this topic i just wish i could have been a 'fly on the wall' in the snakepit in the 60s and would have been quite content to just listen to the dialogue whether it was musical or verbal or both.

By Nish (66.119.34.39) on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 07:17 pm:

Being in the studio with Miles and Young Coltrane doing the sexy duet of "Round Midnight" would have been fun.

I also would have loved to be at every Motown session from beginning to "What's Going On" particularly the date on which the Miracles recorded "Ooh Baby Baby" and on the days when the Originals recorded "The Bells."

The Flamingos recording of "I Only Have Eyes For You" would have been a dream for me.

And Laura Nyro and LaBelle with members of MFSB on the "Gonna Take A Miracle" project.

Also, a Linda Jones session would have probably left me and everyone else involved in tears.