Gary Usher's take on Terry Melcher in the 1986 timeframe as described in the various iterations of the "Wilson Project/Tapes" books is interesting.
My recollection is that Usher had the impression that Melcher had a fair amount of ambition to be *the* producer for the band in the late 80s, and Usher understood how someone else (Usher) vying for that role would be an awkward situation when they all had to work together a little bit on something like the 25th Anniversary TV special.
In a weird way, I see Melcher, in his iterations working with the BBs, as a bit like Joe Thomas. I don't think either of those guys had a particularly great production "sound" in their respective eras, but both seemed to be attuned to a reasonable degree of catchy melodies and catchy chord changes.
The best thing Melcher ever did for the band were his handful of good *musical* bits (not lyrics so much, which were presumably usually mostly Mike) he brought into tracks like "Lahaina Aloha" and "Strange Things Happen."
His actual production has never impressed me much. His stuff usually sounded pretty thin and kind of tinny, though perhaps a lot of that had to do with the era (1986-1993 or so). "Rock and Roll to the Rescue" is, production wise, kind of embarrassing. "California Dreamin'" is okay, though that was working from a recording made without Melcher in 1982. Melcher's stuff on "Still Cruisin'" is musically usually not bad, but the production again is usually thin and limp. "Somewhere Near Japan" is about as beefy of a production sound as he seemed to ever get.
"Summer in Paradise" I've long said is perhaps the worst *sounding* album the band did in terms of production, mixing, and mastering. It makes the '85 album sound warm and analog in comparison. Not sure how much of SIP's awful tone and sound was due to the drum sequencers, how much was production itself, and how much was the very early use of computer-based digital recording/ProTools.
I would imagine the main reason Melcher didn't work much with any of the band after 1993 or so is that they weren't recording much of anything. The failure of SIP certainly didn't help Melcher's cred either.
Melcher, like a lot of producers and artists from the 60's, fell head first into the love of synths and drum machines in the 80's. Mark Lindsay's "Looking For Shelter" sounds nothing like the great records he made with Melcher and the Raiders in the 60's. To my ears, it sounds like The Fixx meets Robert Palmer. My recollection is that Usher had the impression that Melcher had a fair amount of ambition to be *the* producer for the band in the late 80s, and Usher understood how someone else (Usher) vying for that role would be an awkward situation when they all had to work together a little bit on something like the 25th Anniversary TV special.
In a weird way, I see Melcher, in his iterations working with the BBs, as a bit like Joe Thomas. I don't think either of those guys had a particularly great production "sound" in their respective eras, but both seemed to be attuned to a reasonable degree of catchy melodies and catchy chord changes.
The best thing Melcher ever did for the band were his handful of good *musical* bits (not lyrics so much, which were presumably usually mostly Mike) he brought into tracks like "Lahaina Aloha" and "Strange Things Happen."
His actual production has never impressed me much. His stuff usually sounded pretty thin and kind of tinny, though perhaps a lot of that had to do with the era (1986-1993 or so). "Rock and Roll to the Rescue" is, production wise, kind of embarrassing. "California Dreamin'" is okay, though that was working from a recording made without Melcher in 1982. Melcher's stuff on "Still Cruisin'" is musically usually not bad, but the production again is usually thin and limp. "Somewhere Near Japan" is about as beefy of a production sound as he seemed to ever get.
"Summer in Paradise" I've long said is perhaps the worst *sounding* album the band did in terms of production, mixing, and mastering. It makes the '85 album sound warm and analog in comparison. Not sure how much of SIP's awful tone and sound was due to the drum sequencers, how much was production itself, and how much was the very early use of computer-based digital recording/ProTools.
I would imagine the main reason Melcher didn't work much with any of the band after 1993 or so is that they weren't recording much of anything. The failure of SIP certainly didn't help Melcher's cred either.
Yet interestingly, Somewhere Near Japan, while still mired in some bad '80s production (and some bits of '80s production that I actually dig) also very much, to my ears, emulates Terry's '60s production touches with The Byrds. The end of the song has a *very* Byrds-esque sound, updated to sound modern. That's where I hear what could've been. That song and perhaps Strange Things Happen. While both exhibit some production stuff I don't like, there's still IMHO plenty to like with *some* of Terry's BB production choices. Even if it's not particularly "BB-sounding".
I honestly often find more to like (despite some bad stuff) among much of Terry's BB production choices compared to Joe Thomas.