Recording
It was Harrison's Dark Horse label that had brought him to LA − Jiva, The Five Stairsteps, Henry McCullough, and Jim Keltner's new band, Attitudes, were all recent signings − and it was through one of the label's semi-established acts, Splinter, that he came to make his "contractual obligation" album there. Studio time had been booked for Splinter's second LP for late in the spring of 1975, at A&M Studios, but the Sheffield duo were unable to make the sessions. Rather than incur the cancellation costs, Harrison decided to record his final EMI/Capitol album there on La Brea Avenue, home of Dark Horse's distributor, A&M Records, at which point he would then be able to move on to the Dark Horse stable himself.
As well as his latest compositions, Harrison planned to complete "You", a song he had recorded in London with Ronnie Spector for her abandoned Apple solo album, back in February 1971; part of the song would appear twice on Extra Texture, in the form of a brief instrumental given the logical title "A Bit More of You". A more recent unused backing track that he would revisit was the curious "His Name Is Legs (Ladies and Gentlemen)", taped at Friar Park shortly before the 1974 tour, with Billy Preston, Willie Weeks and Andy Newmark. In an obvious private joke that no one seemed to get, this last song featured the vocal antics of "Legs" Larry Smith, formerly a member of Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. The inclusion of these two older tracks on Extra Texture provided some much-needed upbeat material, at least, on an album awash with ballads.
Among the musicians appearing on the A&M sessions were old friends Jim Keltner, Gary Wright, Jesse Ed Davis, Klaus Voormann, Tom Scott and Jim Horn. Along with Keltner, the most regular participant on the sessions was a young David Foster, then the piano player with Attitudes, while the band's bassist, Paul Stallworth, also contributed. On what would turn out to be a noticeably keyboard-dominated sound, Leon Russell and Nicky Hopkins made guest appearances as well. Voormann, though, a close friend of Harrison's since 1960, found the atmosphere at the sessions unpleasant − the heavy drug use so typical of the LA music scene, in particular, but also the ex-Beatle's "frame of mind when he was doing this album". With Voormann choosing to absent himself, some of the bass parts would be overdubbed by Harrison himself, using either the latest studio toy, an ARP synthesizer, or his trusted Moog (just as he'd done on "Bye, Bye Love" the year before).
The basic tracks for the new songs were recorded between 21 April and 7 May, beginning with "Tired of Midnight Blue" and "The Answer's at the End". After a few weeks' break, the overdubbing phase was under way on 31 May, starting with "You"'s sax solo (played by Jim Horn), extra keyboards and second drum part. For two days from 2 June, Chuck Findley, another member of the Dark Horse tour band, joined Scott for horn overdubs on Harrison's tribute to Smokey Robinson, "Ooh Baby (You Know That I Love You)", and "His Name Is Legs", while the Foster-arranged strings for "This Guitar", "The Answer's at the End" and "Can't Stop Thinking About You" were added between 6 and 9 June.
Around this time, Preston's It's My Pleasure and Peter Skellern's Hard Times albums were released, and sessions would shortly take place for Scott's New York Connection − all of which include guitar cameos from Harrison − yet his playing on his own album was surprisingly minimal. The Harrison signature slide guitar (much praised even in some of the harshest Dark Horse album reviews) featured only once, in "Tired of Midnight Blue"; while on the sole guitar-spotlight track on Extra Texture, "This Guitar" (an obvious lyrical successor to his 1968 classic "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"), the lead duties were taken by Jesse Ed Davis. As for Harrison's singing voice, the subject of much discussion during the infamous tour, it had obviously recovered from the ravages of laryngitis, although his new, "close-miked" soft vocal style would only add to the impression of blandness, as if Extra Texture was designed to be a mainstream "soul album for lovers". In a departure from the more Dylanesque approach found on his previous solo albums, the new vocal style reflected Harrison's recent immersion in the mid '70s soul genre; during this period, he would often cite Smokey Robinson as a major influence, and Stevie Wonder and Bob Marley as other examples of his preferred listening.
Read more about this topic: Extra Texture (Read All About It)
Famous quotes containing the word recording:
“Too many photographers try too hard. They try to lift photography into the realm of Art, because they have an inferiority complex about their Craft. You and I would see more interesting photography if they would stop worrying, and instead, apply horse-sense to the problem of recording the look and feel of their own era.”
—Jessie Tarbox Beals (1870–1942)
“He shall not die, by G—, cried my uncle Toby.
MThe ACCUSING SPIRIT which flew up to heaven’s chancery with the oath, blush’d as he gave it in;—and the RECORDING ANGEL as he wrote it down, dropp’d a tear upon the word, and blotted it out for ever.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“Self-expression is not enough; experiment is not enough; the recording of special moments or cases is not enough. All of the arts have broken faith or lost connection with their origin and function. They have ceased to be concerned with the legitimate and permanent material of art.”
—Jane Heap (c. 1880–1964)