Ken Scott - The Trident Years

The Trident Years

Scott soon found himself working with The Beatles again on their solo projects, including John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" and "Cold Turkey", Ringo Starr's "It Don't Come Easy", and George Harrison's All Things Must Pass.

After a short time he took over the mixing of Elton John's Madman Across the Water after fellow Trident engineer Robin Cable suffered severe injuries in a traffic accident. That led him to work on Elton’s Honky Chateau and Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player. Hits from those albums include "Levon", "Tiny Dancer", "Daniel", "Honky Cat", "Crocodile Rock", and "Rocket Man".

Also during this period he reconnected with David Bowie (he had previously worked on his Man of Words, Man of Music and Man Who Sold The World albums) on a project with Bowie protege Freddie Buretti. By this time Scott wanted to move into production, and Bowie said he was about to start a new album and didn’t feel comfortable about solely producing himself, so it was agreed that they’d co-produce what became Hunky Dory. After the album was completed, but before it was even released, work began on his next album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, again with Scott as co-producer. Scott went on to co-produce Bowie’s Aladdin Sane and Pinups albums, as well as the little-seen Midnight Special television program episode The 1980 Floorshow.

During his time at Trident Studios, Scott also teamed up with Supertramp for Crime of the Century in what amounted to a breakthrough album everywhere in the world except the United States. While most albums were routinely recorded in two weeks at the time, Crime was one of the exceptions taking a painstaking 6 months, as Scott and the group sought a precision to the recording and mixing not found in most of the music recorded at the time. Crime is often mentioned as one of the top albums of all time, and was often used as a stereo demonstration record in stereo stores. The album featured two songs that still get substantial radio play today; “Dreamer” and “Bloody Well Right.”

The follow-up, Crisis? What Crisis?, attempted to reach those same sonic heights, but it was subject to the limitations of a timetable since Supertramp had gained a measure of stardom and a release date and tour had already been planned. As a result the album lacks a bit of the timeless quality of Crime, but it still was a hit. The album was also recorded at other studios besides Trident, including Studio D at A&M Records in Hollywood, The Who’s Ramport Studios and the now defunct Scorpio Studios.

Other artists Scott worked with while at Trident Studios included America, Harry Nilsson, Lou Reed, Rick Wakeman, The Rolling Stones, Al Kooper, and Lindisfarne, as well as the Clio winning Coca Cola ad “I’d Like To Buy The World A Coke”.