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Author Topic: Which BB tracks did Emil Richards play on?  (Read 2530 times)
hapman
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« on: November 21, 2011, 05:55:18 AM »

Okay, I've just finished listening to a Frank Zappa release called The Lumpy Money Project/Object , and the liner notes in the booklet quote a percussionist called Emil Richards, who played on Zappa's Lumpy Gravy LP and was a session musician in dates for the likes of Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Jan & Dean and The Beach Boys too. In the quote he makes a quite nasty remark about how they (the LA session musicians, that is) were laughing at these artists behind their backs beacuse they couldn't play their instruments. "We treated all of them with tongue in cheek as if we had it and they didn't. They weren't doing their records - we were doing them all." Not the most polite observation, methinks. Also, I can't really imagine Frank Capp or Tommy Tedesco laughing at the Beach Boys (or even Elvis for that matter) behind their backs just because they weren't schooled musicians.

Anyway, just out of curiosity I tried to find a few Beach Boys tracks the guy played on but Google wasn't much of a help this time. I also checked the sessionographies in the  Pet Sounds and SMiLE Session boxes - he obviously didn't play on any of those dates. So which BB/BW tracks did he play on, anyone?
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Andrew G. Doe
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« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2011, 07:57:08 AM »

He played on the 5/27/66 session of "GV" at Western.
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« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2011, 08:00:13 AM »

He´s listed on the AFM sheet as Emil Radocchia, his name of birth.
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guitarfool2002
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« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2011, 08:20:27 AM »

Look beyond his work with the Beach Boys and check out his resume:

http://www.emilrichards.com/home.php

The guy's resume is incredible. One of the best. I remember hearing his name called out on a live George Harrison bootleg from the early 70's and sure enough, his website has photos of him with George. But that's only one gig out of many you'll recognize. How about the mallet work on the Simpsons theme song? Smiley

There was a bit of a superiority complex around some of these studio pros who were mostly jazzers, and I wouldn't count Tommy Tedesco out of that too fast. One of Tommy's stories involved being asked to play rock solos on various records and comparing it to playing like a kid who just had a few lessons on guitar. Or consider the various snickering and laughter that you might hear on the sessions, they still played the charts and made money, though.

But at the end of the day, the checks were good, the royalties were nice, and Brian did right by the musicians he'd hire to play. So they didn't turn down too many Brian sessions, which says a lot. As far as other producers and artists? Depending on who it is or was, their ego could be out of control as well, so maybe it was a reaction to a starstruck musician or band who thought he/she was better than the room.

Anytime you get into the jazz world, ego can be a major part of it, it's the competition of it all. It's just personalities, some more strong than others. And how that kind of personality would react to a young rock or pop superstar or producer throwing weight around where they have no actual weight to throw could have led to the sentiment Emil expressed in that interview.
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« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2011, 02:32:43 PM »

He also made a killer psych 45 in the late 60s with Lowell George as The Factory:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LD7u8zf7rg
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« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2011, 03:20:16 PM »

There is some great interview material with him  on the 'Concert For George' DVD.
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« Reply #6 on: November 21, 2011, 04:19:45 PM »

Okay, I've just finished listening to a Frank Zappa release called The Lumpy Money Project/Object , and the liner notes in the booklet quote a percussionist called Emil Richards, who played on Zappa's Lumpy Gravy LP and was a session musician in dates for the likes of Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Jan & Dean and The Beach Boys too. In the quote he makes a quite nasty remark about how they (the LA session musicians, that is) were laughing at these artists behind their backs beacuse they couldn't play their instruments. "We treated all of them with tongue in cheek as if we had it and they didn't. They weren't doing their records - we were doing them all." Not the most polite observation, methinks. Also, I can't really imagine Frank Capp or Tommy Tedesco laughing at the Beach Boys (or even Elvis for that matter) behind their backs just because they weren't schooled musicians.

Anyway, just out of curiosity I tried to find a few Beach Boys tracks the guy played on but Google wasn't much of a help this time. I also checked the sessionographies in the  Pet Sounds and SMiLE Session boxes - he obviously didn't play on any of those dates. So which BB/BW tracks did he play on, anyone?

You must not have read the SMiLE Sessions sessionography very closely...  Smiley  He played vibes (without vibrato) on the GV date that Andrew mentions above.
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hapman
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« Reply #7 on: November 21, 2011, 09:08:41 PM »

Quote
You must not have read the SMiLE Sessions sessionography very closely...  Smiley  He played vibes (without vibrato) on the GV date that Andrew mentions above.

Yep, sorry, I didn't notice his name there, I was in a hurry, and there are so many names on those four pages, it's easy to get lost Smiley I listened to some of his stuff on youtube, very cool vibe sounds. I guess he wasn't referring to Brian and the Beach Boys in the interview I mentioned, he played on GV, he must have known BW had something special and he wasn't the typical dumb popstar of the day who had just had his 15 minutes of fame.
According to this page he played on Today and Summer Days sessions as well. It would be great to get a detailed sessionography of all the 62-67 BB sessions one day.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2011, 09:51:43 PM by hapman » Logged
hapman
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« Reply #8 on: November 21, 2011, 09:39:44 PM »

By the way, while listening to the above mentioned Zappa set (which is basically an audio documentary type of thing about the recording of his two greatest albums, Lumpy Gravy and We're Only In It For The Money) I couldn't help but make comparisons to TSS. I find it quite intriguing to hear how Zappa and Brian - two artists who didn't have much in common musically - were using mostly the same "cut 'n' paste" type of recording method in 1966-67. Quite ahead of their time, both of them. They were coming from and heading to different directions, but at that point in time they were basically at the same place in terms of music making.
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guitarfool2002
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« Reply #9 on: November 22, 2011, 06:44:03 AM »

Quote
You must not have read the SMiLE Sessions sessionography very closely...  Smiley  He played vibes (without vibrato) on the GV date that Andrew mentions above.

Yep, sorry, I didn't notice his name there, I was in a hurry, and there are so many names on those four pages, it's easy to get lost Smiley I listened to some of his stuff on youtube, very cool vibe sounds. I guess he wasn't referring to Brian and the Beach Boys in the interview I mentioned, he played on GV, he must have known BW had something special and he wasn't the typical dumb popstar of the day who had just had his 15 minutes of fame.
According to this page he played on Today and Summer Days sessions as well. It would be great to get a detailed sessionography of all the 62-67 BB sessions one day.

Did you look at his website? It's very interesting to see some of his credits listed in one place. I posted the link above, his work goes far beyond Zappa and the 60's Wrecking Crew and his mallets have been heard on several pieces of music which have all but entered into pop culture, like The Simpsons theme.
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« Reply #10 on: November 22, 2011, 06:51:37 AM »




Borrowed this photo: This shot gives an idea of Emil's personality, I'd say. He was a jokester, a prankster, and a lot of session photos show him either laughing, cutting up like in this one where he's lying in state on top of his marimba with mallets as flowers ( Grin), or having a smile on his face.

Note the extreme heavy-hitter musicians in the background: Tommy Tedesco on the left, it looks like Carole Kaye in the middle(not sure), Glen Campbell in the middle off to the right, then on the right Lyle Ritz and Hal Blaine on drums, with a few unidentified. What a great photo. Someone help: Is that a United Studio? The paint is light blue but it isn't Gold Star, the room looks too big...
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« Reply #11 on: November 22, 2011, 07:09:07 AM »

Also, I can't really imagine Frank Capp or Tommy Tedesco laughing at the Beach Boys (or even Elvis for that matter) behind their backs just because they weren't schooled musicians.




Especially since Elvis was a singer and saw himself as that and didn't even try to make a point as an instrumentalist (although he did play guitar, piano, organ, bass and drums at least). He always made sure that the musicians he wanted would be there because he was going for a feel he wanted to achieve. It's a different thing with the Beach Boys because they were a self-contained band, but - as we know - they were touring at the same time and even playing the same songs the "wrecking crew" had recorded in the studio but with just 4 or 5 instruments while singing at the same time very complex harmonies. Of course a schooled musician might laugh at people who aren't but then one has to remind them that these un-trained musicians used them trained musicians to built something very big much bigger than the individual himself
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« Reply #12 on: November 22, 2011, 10:48:52 AM »




Borrowed this photo: This shot gives an idea of Emil's personality, I'd say. He was a jokester, a prankster, and a lot of session photos show him either laughing, cutting up like in this one where he's lying in state on top of his marimba with mallets as flowers ( Grin), or having a smile on his face.

Note the extreme heavy-hitter musicians in the background: Tommy Tedesco on the left, it looks like Carole Kaye in the middle(not sure), Glen Campbell in the middle off to the right, then on the right Lyle Ritz and Hal Blaine on drums, with a few unidentified. What a great photo. Someone help: Is that a United Studio? The paint is light blue but it isn't Gold Star, the room looks too big...

I've wanted to ID this studio for a long time, as well.  Could be one of United's rooms...might not be!  I haven't seen the interiors of all the studios, unfortunately.
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