It's interesting to note that in this day and age that music is not longer the focal point, that it seems that we're only interested in what TMZ or Perez Hilton puts out. Or how many times Lady GaGa or Carrie Underwood changes their wardobe during the VMA's. Used to be that the music itself matters. Not anymore.
Last week I knew of the passing of Willie Mitchell, the producer who gave Al Green that definite sound that made his albums classics. Al Green Gets Next To You is all you really need to know about the greatness of Mitchell. There are producers who shape the sound of who they worked with. The Beatles had George Martin, Mott The Hoople had Guy Stevens, Neil Young's best recordings featured David Briggs and of course Jimmy Miller with The Rolling Stones. But perhaps no producer shaped up a band to their potential than Tony Clarke did with The Moody Blues. While Willie Mitchell got some press, Clarke's passing pretty much didn't register much as a blip and a comment from the most dedicated of Moody Blues fans.
The Moody Blues at that time, lost Denny Laine and Clint Warwick after scoring a hit with Go Now and was considered their time was up, till their record label paired them with Clarke to do a album version of Dvorak's New World Symphony till the Moodies conviced Clarke and company to write their own songs and shaped them into Days Of Future Past, the first album featuring a rock band and a orchestra. It wasn't supposed to work but everything fitted in quite nicely and The Moody Blues was reborn and Denny Laine became a footnote.
The Moodies never did return to the orchestra sound, replacing with something called the Mellotron that could imitate the sounds of orchestra if needed. Certainly the Moodies may have wrote and played their songs, but it was Clarke's production that shaped In Search Of The Lost Chord through Seventh Sorjourn and made them what people considered the peak years. Clarke would later produce albums with John Lodge and Justin Hayward (Blue Jays) and the reunion Moody Blues Octave album. It is written that Clarke did built a studio with the Moodies to record albums(only time that happen was 1981's Long Distance Voyager but he didn't produce), but after Octave he would never produced them again. Pip WIlliams and Tony Visconti would take over production on later MB albums but they would not have the same sound or vision that Clarke gave them.
Tony Clarke may not have been a well known producer and his passing may not have MTV cut in on their reality shows but to the seasoned fan and record collector, Clarke's production with the Moody Blues remains his best and most personal. A good music producer will do that, they could elevate a band from out of the ordinary to having their own sound. Clake made The Moody Blues rock and roll pioneers. He will be missed.
Side note: Tony Clarke produced Baby Come Back from The Equals who featured Eddy Grant on vocals who would top the charts with Electric Avenue in 1982 thereabouts.
