George Morton

George Francis "Shadow" Morton (born September 3, 1941 in Richmond (Virginia) , † February 14, 2013 in Laguna Beach (California) ) was a trend-setting American music producer, especially in the 1960s .

Musical beginnings

Many details such as his year of birth (including 1941 or 1942) remain unclear. As a student, he organized a doo wop group called Marquees . In 1955 he moved to Long Island with his parents . He sang there with the Gems , who performed as the accompaniment group of "Gee Ellie Gay" ( Ellie Greenwich ). He later met Ellie Greenwich, now working as a composer in the Brill Building, in a record store. He boasted of his alleged repertoire of self-made compositions (“I write hits!”), But could not deliver anything when asked directly. He found the then still unknown girl group Shangri-Las , two siblings who were not yet of legal age and who had sung two unsuccessful records since December 1963. In April 1964 he booked the Dynamic Sound Studios for a demo tape without having a composition. It wasn't until he was on the way to the recording studio that he began working on Remember (Walking in the Sand) , which he thought up in a parking lot in just 22 minutes. It was about an ending love, partly told through spoken dialogue about teenage fears. As a session musician , the equally unknown Billy Joel played the piano, to whom Morton owed a minimum wage of $ 67. However, it is controversial whether Billy Joel played piano in the demo sessions for the song in April 1964. He himself confirmed this in an interview and in his biography in 1994, as did Shangri-La Mary Weiss in an interview.

Fast fame

Shangri-Las - Remember (Walkin 'in the Sand)

Morton, who had never composed a piece of music before, quickly became famous with this title Remember (Walking in the Sand) . Jerry Leiber / Mike Stoller and George Goldner founded the independent label Red Bird Records in January 1964 and only released 7 singles here. When Leiber heard this demo tape, he decided, "This song will be released in two weeks." He hired Morton as a music producer for his label and in April 1964 gave the Shangri-Las a recording contract. On July 8, 1964, the title was reproduced in the Mira-Sound Recording Studios . It was enriched with sound effects , namely the sound of seagulls, which helped to accentuate the textual beach scene acoustically. The piece, enriched with snap of fingers, was produced by Morton, Brooks Arthur was the sound engineer and Artie Butler arranger . Butler was Morton's connection to the performers, putting Morton's ideas on paper and mediating the performers. The post-produced sound differed considerably from the demo tape. After its publication on July 20, 1964 (Red Bird 10-008), the title reached number 5 on the US pop hit parade and 14th on the British charts. The song developed into a million seller and suddenly made the Shangri-Las, the record company and Morton famous. Remember contained all elements of future similar hits, namely a melodramatic story with convincingly presented pubertal youth problems, sound effects and partly spoken narrative style.

Exclusively for the Shangri-Las only

George Goldner dubbed Morton with the nickname "Shadow" because Morton often disappeared secretly at parties or meetings and nobody knew where he was. Record boss Leiber asked "Shadow" Morton for a follow-up track to their first hit. Together with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, he wrote Leader of the Pack . Producer Morton recorded the voices from the Shangri Las for this in the Ultrasonic Sound Studios ; they were overdubbed over the previously recorded instrumental part. 63 takes were necessary on the day of recording ; Brooks Arthur acted in turn as the sound engineer and Artie Butler as the arranger. This time, the background noise was made up of motorcycle noises and the screeching of tires, which were recorded by Joe Veneris (studio technician) Harley-Davidson in the lobby of the hotel in the same building . The text was about a girl who fell in love with the boss of a motorcycle gang who later dies on the way. The Shangri-Las were so moved by this that they really cried during the recording session. The title, which was produced in the same format as the previous song (chants, background noise, teenage melodrama), sold a total of 1.2 million copies after its release in September 1964, after it was featured in the television series I've Got a Secret on October 5, 1964 occurred. Morton also produced the next singles for the girl group, which, however, could no longer build on the previous successes. Only I Can Never go Home Anymore made it to 6th place on the charts; Morton also adhered strictly to the performance-familiar concept of the teenager - melodrama .

The Shangri-Las LPs were also produced by Morton. The first LP Shangri-Las was released in February 1965. The LP Shangri-Las-65 followed in September 1965 ! one month before the single I Can Never Go Home Anymore (October 1965).

Reorientation

Morton's vehicles were the Shangri-Las, which would not have been successful without him. After their record company Red Bird was sold to 83 singles in April 1966 and the group stopped in 1967, he immediately found new activities. He had produced a total of 37 titles for the Shangri-Las. With this girl group, Morton succeeded in convincingly conveying their high emotional connection to the lyrics of the songs to the audience. He gave up his previous production format completely.

For the new folk singer Janis Ian , he produced a very controversial piece on August 3rd, 1966 about an interracial love that is not tolerated by parents and the community. It was Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking) / Younger Generation Blues (B-side recorded December 21, 1966). Ian wanted to give her own composition the title Baby I've Been Thinking , but Morton decided on Society's Child . For Morton it was the same lyrical basis as for the girl groups, because a girl falls in love - and the parents are against it. After Atlantic Records and several other labels declined to release, Verve Records released the song three times between 1966 and 1967. It was only when Leonard Bernstein introduced him on his television program “Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution” on April 26, 1967, that there was a response. After its release in May 1967, the single only reached number 14 on the pop charts and sold 600,000 copies despite little airplay . The debut LP was called Janis Ian and was released in January 1967. The producer was Morton, who found a familiar personal and studio environment, namely Brooks Arthur as sound engineer, Artie Butler arranged and recorded at Mira Sound . The LP, created on December 21, 1966, sold 350,000 copies. Also at Mira Sound was created on October 20, 1967, and October 26, 1967 their second LP ... For All the Seasons of Your Mind . Morton stayed afloat with the LP productions for Janis Ian, because the third LP The Secret Life of J. Eddy Fink (June 12, 1968) was also produced under his supervision, mixed in the A&R Recording Studios by Phil Ramone .

Excessive rock

Vanilla Fudge - You Keep Me Hanging On

One of the classics of rock music was created by accident on May 27, 1968 at Ultrasonic for the heavy metal group Iron Butterfly . Sound engineer Don Casale ran the tape for the sound check when the group In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida wanted to practice. The drunk Morton was supposed to be the producer, but he was no longer mentioned on the liner notes by Atlantic Records . The 17:05 min long album version was recorded in just one take, another take was no longer necessary. Jim Hilton made a remix at Gold Star Studios and has been officially named as the producer ever since. The single version was then shortened to 2:52 min. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida filled the entire B-side of the LP of the same name .

Morton heard the as yet unknown rock band Vanilla Fudge during their performances between December 1966 and April 1967 at Action House / Long Island. In April 1967 he brokered them a recording contract with Atco Records . An epic version of the Supremes hit You Keep Me Hangin 'On (Rank 6) was created in one take in the Ultrasonic Studio . While cover versions are often based very much on the original, in this case the original was hardly recognizable. The track recorded in mono was extended to 6:47 minutes and slowed down to slow motion, as the original tempo was reduced by half. The psychedelic sound with a neoclassical organ score and sitar passages alienates the original beyond recognition. The single version, shortened to 2:50 minutes, was released on June 2, 1967 and attracted worldwide attention. The eponymous debut LP Vanilla Fudge was released in August 1967, the second LP The Beat Goes On on February 2, 1968. Renaissance from June 1968 was the last album produced by Morton for the group. Singles such as Take me For a Little While (released in September 1968) or Season of the Witch (November 1968) were released from the albums . In the latter case, in November 1968, Billboard magazine praised Morton's excellent production work. Morton produced a total of 22 titles for Vanilla Fudge.

More productions

The New York Rock and Roll Ensemble around Michael Kamen had Morton level his first LP of the same name (August 1968). From May 1969 Morton cooperated as an independent producer with Polydor USA. The first result of the collaboration with Polydor was the only LP that was created on May 25, 1970 in Soundviews Studios New York for the hard rock formation Haystacks Balboa and named after them. The LP named after the jazz-rock group Uncle Chapin , which was co-produced by Morton at Soundview Studios in September 1970 , was also created for Polydor.

The single Lost in the Shuffle / Gentle Dreams (September 1967) was created for The Blues Project , the singles Rock And Roll Queen (July 1969) and Midnight Lady (recorded in London and mixed at Ultrasonic von Morton; June 1971) for Mott the Hoople . The protopunk group New York Dolls had their second LP Too Much Too Soon produced in April 1974 in Phil Ramone's A&R studios by Morton, who added a little more elegance to their performance. The funk band Isis recorded their eponymous LP in May 1974 under the supervision of Shadow Morton. He quit in 1976 because of his increasing alcoholism and reappeared in 1986 with the comeback of Percy Sledge for his LP When a Man Loves a Woman .

reception

Morton's divorced Lois Berman had three children: Stacey, Danielle, and Keli Morton Gerrits. Shadow Morton dramatized adolescent relationship conflicts, the defiant love for the boss of a motorcycle gang or the girl who ran away from home and whose mother died of a broken heart ( I Can Never Go Home Anymore ). With his productions he created an eerie atmosphere with dark sounds and authentic background noises. Morton is often compared to Phil Spector and the Wall of Sound he developed . Sound effects and sourly spoken passages have since become common elements of pop music. Due to his increasing alcoholism he made himself rare and lived up to his nickname. He unsuccessfully sued Polygram Records for the alleged unauthorized use of his song Leader of the Pack in the film Good Fellas , which premiered on September 18, 1990. On January 7, 1993, he was a guest on the British talk show Notes and Queries with Clive Anderson . He died of cancer in California.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Shadow Morton, Songwriter and Producer, Dies at 71 , New York Times, February 15, 2013
2. ↑ Billy Joel: 1994 Recipient of the Century Award , Billboard Magazine, December 3, 1994, p. 13.
3. ↑ Hank Bordowitz, Billy Joel: The Life & Times of an Angry Young Man , 2005, p 19
4. ↑ Goldmine Magazine of July 12, 1991, Volume 17 / No. 14, Issue 286 ( Memento from November 26, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ Butler was part of Kama-Sutra Productions , where the Shangri-Las had been under contract since December 1963.
6. ^ David Simons, Studio Stories , 2004, p. 81.
7. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 198.
8. ^ David Simons, Studio Stories , 2004, p. 82.
9. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 198
10. ↑ Life Magazine, October 27, 1967, p. 53
11. ↑ Top 60 Pop Spotlight , Billboard Magazine, November 30, 1968, p. 92.
12. ↑ George "Shadow" Morton is dead , Spiegel Online from February 18, 2013.
13. ^ Diane Christine Raymond, Sexual Politics & Popular Culture , 1990, p. 65.
14. ^ Serene Dominic, Burt Bacharach: Song By Song , 2003, p. 48.