THE
BONNIWELL
MUSIC MACHINE:
BOTTOM OF
THE SOUL

Research / Annotation
by Harry Young


Established June 26, 2000

Dedicated to
Thomas Harvey (Sean) Bonniwell
b August 16, 1940
d December 20, 2011

On October 11, 2004 Sean Bonniwell described this page as "an exhaustive -- rarely seen -- discography of MM releases (some of which never were) Billboard ads, and the curious omission of Guerilla Garage (no doubt to be included posthumously)."


September 10, 1966
Inks Music Machine
Hollywood -- Gene Simmons, General Manager of Original Sound Records, has signed the Music Machine, who have the masters "Come On In" b/w "Talk Talk," produced by Brian Ross of Associated Productions International.

October 8, 1966
Four Star Picks
Talk Talk (Thrush, BMI)
Come On In (Thrush, BMI)
The Music Machine -- Original Sound 61.
Hard rock side about a guy in a bad way. Good to the very last bar. Watch it.


January 21, 1967
Coast Capers
... Original Sound Records slating the new Music Machine single "The People In Me" for release next week ...



Warner Bros. - Seven Arts
7200 Harper's Bizarre
7199 THE MUSIC MACHINE
Reprise 0691 The Kinks
Warner Bros. - Seven Arts
7198 The Three Degrees


October 24, 1969
Who / What / Where
... In Music & Recording
Forrest Hamilton, President of
Pure Cane Management
announced the appointment of
Sean Bonniwell as head of the
company's music department.


October 4, 2024
Sean Bonniwell
Night Of The Witches
The Day Of The Wolves
Original Motion Picture Soundtracks
Real Gone CD / LP


September 5, 2022
The Bonniwell Music Machine
Dark White
Dark White (Instrumental)
OKtay 004


March 6, 2020
The Bonniwell Music Machine:
The Bonniwell Music Machine
Real Gone LP RGM-0970 {Stereo}

Also
Neon Red Vinyl pressing
250 Copies
Exclusive to Zia Record Exchange


Shindig! Magazine
Issue 101, March 2020

The Bonniwell Music Machine
The Bonniwell Music Machine
Four Stars
Real Gone LP

If the universally praised, expanded edition of The Bonniwell Music Machine on Big Beat is rightfully regarded as the definitive version of the album then this reissue has to be considered an equally desirable artefact. Rising Phoenix-like from the ashes of what would have been The Music Machine's second album, the change of name reflected the fact that this was essentially a solo project with Bonniwell completing what would be considered his magnum opus with the aid of session musicians. Though assembled in less than ideal circumstances and ultimately flopping on its 1968 release on Warner Bros, the resulting album, with Bonniwell's distinctively moody vocals, its mix of pop, garage, psych and even baroque influences offset with ambitious arrangements, endures as a bona fide garage-psych classic that comes packed with a succession of power-packed songs including the singles 'Double Yellow Line', 'The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly' and a whole lot more besides.
~ Grahame Bent


August 1, 2017
The Bonniwell Music Machine
The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly
Previously Unreleased Version 3:14
w/ Goose Call
on
Transparent Days:
West Coast Nuggets

Rhino R1 560061
2xLP
Transparent Vinyl
UPC: 081227937362


April 22, 2017
Bonniwell Music Machine
Record Store Day
Discrepancy (Mono)
on
Nuggets: Come To The Sunshine
Soft Pop Nuggets From The WEA Vaults

Rhino R1 7818
2xLP
UPC: 081227941055

Misspelled *Discrepency* (5 Times)
Just Like
Come To The Sunshine:
Soft Pop Nuggets From The WEA Vaults

Rhino Handmade CD RHM2 7818
February 2004
AKA
A Whole Lot Of Rainbows:
Soft Pop Nuggets From The WEA Vaults

Warner Strategic Marketing CD 8122-74709-2
November 2005


April 22, 2017
Music Machine Record Store Day
(Turn On) The Music Machine Mono LP
Bicycle Music Company LPM-BMC00015


March 30, 2018
(Turn On) The Music Machine Stereo LP
Craft Recordings CR00068


December 21, 2016

The Music Machine
You'll Love Me Again (1:48)
Mono
on
Nuggets Vol. 2
WPCR-17538

Produced For Release by Junichi Miyaji [Warner Music Japan]
Compilation & Liner Notes: Hideyo Itoh


April 16, 2016
Bonniwell Record Store Day
Astrologically Incompatible (Mono)
on
Hallucinations:
Psychedelic Pop Nuggets From The WEA Vaults

2 x Purple Marble Vinyl LP
4,000 Copies
Rhino 0007821
UPC: 081227947330
Originally
Rhino Handmade RHM2 7821
February 2004
AKA
My Mind Goes High:
Psychedelic Pop Nuggets From The WEA Vaults

Warner Music UK CD 8122-74708-1
November 2005


Light In The Attic
2015 Sampler CD
19 Tracks: Lizzy Mercier Descloux,
Betty Davis, Lee Hazelwood,
The Free Design, etc
Track 04. Sean Bonniwell - Dark White
"All tracks available for licensing"

Sean Bonniwell
IMDB


June 12, 2014

Double Yellow Line (2:10) Mono
THE MUSIC MACHINE
Original Sound 71
Single Review
April 22, 1967
Track 09, Disc Two
Dig That Underground Sound!
Rare Garage Rock From The Vaults Of
Warner Bros, Elektra And Atlantic Records

Rhino Custom Products OPCD-8823
Detailed liner notes provide background on SOME of the higher profile bands


Released March 3, 2014

THE BONNIWELL MUSIC MACHINE
Big Beat CDTOP2 319
Mastered by Nick Robbins at Sound Mastering Ltd

CD 01 (59:06)
Stereo Except Affirmative No, Mono
THE BONNIWELL MUSIC MACHINE
Astrologically Incompatible
Double Yellow Line
The Day Today
Absolutely Positively
Somethin Hurtin On Me
The Trap
Soul Love
Bottom Of The Soul
Talk Me Down
The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly
I've Loved You
Affirmative No
Discrepancy
Me - Myself, And I
You'll Love Me Again
In My Neighborhood
To The Light
Everything Is Everything
This Should Make You Happy
Black Snow
Tell Me What Ya Got
Time Out (For A Daydream)
Tin Can Beach
Unka Tinka Ty
902

CD 02 (63:00)
Mono Except Advise And Consent,
Mother Nature, - Father Earth, King Mixer,
Dark White, Stereo

SEAN BONNIWELL
Gimme Gimme (Home Demo)
Stand Aside (Home Demo)
THE RAGAMUFFINS
Two Much
Push Don't Pull
Chances
Talk Me Down
THE MUSIC MACHINE
Point Of No Return
SEAN BONNIWELL
I'll Take The Blame (Home Demo)
The Life I Live (Home Demo)
Would You Believe (Home Demo)
Inside Eternity (Home Demo)
Paper Mache (Home Demo)
You'll Love Me Again (Home Demo)
THE MUSIC MACHINE
Dark White (Demo)
King Mixer (Demo)
She Is (Demo)
Reach Me In Time (Rehearsal)
Closed (Rehearsal)
Temporary Knife (Rehearsal)
Advise And Consent
Mother Nature, - Father Earth
Dark White
King Mixer
SEAN BONNIWELL AND
PAUL BUFF
THE FRIENDLY TORPEDOS
Citizen Fear


Single Review
April 22, 1967
Double Yellow Line (Insert, BMI)
Absolutely Positively (Insert, BMI)
THE MUSIC MACHINE - Original Sound 71.
Nitty gritty side from the coast groove groovers. Will stir action.

Single Review
June 17, 1967
The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly (Insert, BMI)
I've Loved You (Insert, BMI)
THE MUSIC MACHINE - Original Sound 75.
Nitty gritty in the grooves here by the hit-making Music Machine. Sales will register.

Single Review
December 2, 1967:
BONNIWELL MUSIC MACHINE Bottom Of The Soul
(Thrush/Insert/Drive-In, BMI) (Prod. Brian Ross) (Writer: Bonniwell) The "Talk Talk" group's move to the Warner Bros. label is a raucous driver loaded with discotheque appeal. Warner Bros. 7093

Single Review
December 2, 1967:
BONNIWELL MUSIC MACHINE (Warner Bros. 7093)
Bottom Of The Soul (1:55) [Thrush, Insert, Drive-In, BMI Bonniwell] Brisk-paced rock woeser could do big for the Bonniwell Music Machine. Give it a listen. Flip: "Astrologically Incompatible" (2:18) [Thrush, Insert, Drive-In, BMI Bonniwell]

Single Review
December 2, 1967:
Bottom Of The Soul (Thrush-Insert-Drive-In, BMI)
Astrologically Incompatible (Thrush-Insert-Drive-In, BMI)
THE BONNIWELL MUSIC MACHINE
- Warner Bros. 7093.
Soul-rock here from jiving group. The young set should go for the item.

Ad
December 16, 1967:
RARE SINGLES ACHIEVEMENT IN CHART TECHNOLOGY: THE BONNIWELL MUSIC MACHINE "BOTTOM OF THE SOUL" #7093 PRODUCED BY BRIAN ROSS - A BRIAN ROSS PRODUCTION

THE BONNIWELL MUSIC MACHINE
Warner Brothers album WS 1732 / W 1732
One of 14 January albums in article 'WB Sales Meetings Get 2 Million Albums,' January 20, 1968
'New Album Release,' February 10, 1968

Two Page Ad
January 20, 1968
Warner / Reprise Chart Juggernaut Gets '68 Underway!!! Bill Cosby - Frank & Duke - Pet Clark - Trini Lopez - The Jimi Hendrix Experience All chart bound names with new product to start the year with a torrential talent windfall And The WB Seven Arts Youthquake rolls on too Jeremy & The Satyrs Bonniwell Music Machine Ramblin' Jack Elliott The Fugs - The Kinks The Youthquake is what's happening - and WB Seven Arts Is Where It Happens. All backed by A powerful merchandizing campaign nationally supported by ads in underground papers throughout the country eye-catching posters photo blowups album displays concentrating on college radio stations all aimed at a Youthquake Buying Audience With More Dollars And More Leisure Time. The Chart Juggernaut is under way!

Single Review
February 3, 1968
Me-Myself, And I (Thrush-Insert, BMI)
Soul Love (Thrush-Insert, BMI)
THE BONNIWELL MUSIC MACHINE
Warner Bros. 7162.
An original-sounding ditty with electric arrangement. The Machine should fly with it.

Album Review
February 10, 1968:
THE BONNIWELL MUSIC MACHINE
Warner Bros. W 1732 (M); WS 1732 (S)
Muntz Stereo Pak 4 Track tape 4WA-1732
The importance of electronics to today's sound is best demonstrated in this 14-cut album with the renamed Bonniwell Music Machine, now acknowledging Sean Bonniwell, who wrote all the material. This LP features the singles "Me, Myself, And I," "Astrologically Incompatible," "Bottom Of The Soul," "Double Yellow Line" and "The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly." "Soul Love" is also topnotch.

Warner Bros.-Seven Arts single
7184 Review April 6, 1968
7185 Review April 6, 1968
7186 Review May 18, 1968
7187 Review April 20, 1968

THE MUSIC MACHINE
In My Neighborhood /
You'll Love Me Again
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts 7188
CANCELED

Warner Bros.-Seven Arts single
7189 Review April 13, 1968
7190 Review April 20, 1968
7192 Review April 20, 1968

Single Review
June 8, 1968
THE MUSIC MACHINE
To The Light (Thrush / Insert, BMI) (Prod. Brian Ross) (Writers: Bonniwell - Garfield) - Groovy rock item with top production work by Brian Ross has much teen appeal. Warner Bros.-Seven Arts 7199

Single Review
July 6, 1968
THE MUSIC MACHINE - Original Sound 82
Hey Joe (Third Story, BMI)
Wrong (Brush, BMI)
This rock and roll standard in a torrid version here will wow the kids. Could Connect.

Single Review
July 13, 1968
MUSIC MACHINE
(Warner Bros. - 7 Arts 7199)
To The Light (2:10) [Thrush, Insert, BMI - Bonniwell, Garfield]
Groovy workout by the Music Machine should stir up a good amount of noise for the crew. Easy-paced rock romancer (with its razz-matazz flavoring) has an appealing lead vocal going for it. Flip: You'll Love Me Again (1:48) [Thrush, Insert, BMI - Bonniwell]

Single Review
September 28, 1968
MUSIC MACHINE
(Warner Bros. - 7 Arts 7234)
Time Out (For A Daydream) (1:56)
[Thrush, Insert, BMI - Bonniwell]
An unusual side from the usually hard-rocking Music Machine, this lid has a perky feel about it that could bring the group back into the limelight. Flip: Tin Can Beach (1:42) Same credits.


Released February 21, 2012

T.S. BONNIWELL
CLOSE
RGM 0024 (34:53)
Capitol LP ST-277
Released August 4, 1969
New Tape Cartridge Release
August 23, 1969
Review August 27, 1969
New Album Release September 6, 1969
Where Am I To Go
© May 15, 1969,
Love Is Such
A Simple Word,
Who Remembers
© July 7, 1969,
Something To Be,
Black Snow
© June 27, 1969,
She Is
© May 15, 1969,
Temporary Knife
© July 7, 1969,
Continue,
Where It Belongs
© July 7, 1969,
But Not With My Heart,
Sleep
© June 23, 1969

Where Am I To Go
© May 15, 1969 /
Sleep © June 23, 1969
~ Capitol single P-2551

THE CAPITOL DISC JOCKEY ALBUM
AUGUST 1969

Capitol Promo Album SPRO 4804
Side 1, Cut 1
T.S. Bonniwell
She Is
Side 2, Cut 1
T.S. Bonniwell
Where Am I To Go


Released September 7, 2010

THE BONNIWELL MUSIC MACHINE
SEAN BONNIWELL

(Warner Bros - Seven Arts Stereo album WS 1732)
Review February 10, 1968
Rhino - Atlantic - Scorpio 180 Gram Reproduction
5032 - WB 1732-1 (A) S-73025
5032 - WB 1732-1 (B) S-73026

SIDE ONE:
Astrologically Incompatible
Double Yellow Line
The Day Today
Absolutely Positively
Somethin Hurtin On Me
The Trap
Soul Love

SIDE TWO:
Bottom Of The Soul
Talk Me Down
The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly
I've Loved You
Affirmative No
Discrepancy
Me, Myself, And I


Sundazed / BeatRocket BR 121
THE BONNIWELL MUSIC MACHINE
SEAN BONNIWELL

Canceled 2001


Released November 12, 2007

(TURN ON) THE MUSIC MACHINE
(Repertoire REP 5094)
(75:06)
OSR LPM 5015
~ Review December 31, 1966
~ Entered Billboard January 27, 1967 peak #76
01. TALK TALK
(Stereo)
© July 8 & 25, 1966
02. TROUBLE
(Stereo)
03. CHERRY CHERRY
(Stereo)
04. TAXMAN
(Stereo)
05. SOME OTHER DRUM
(Stereo)
06. MASCULINE INTUITION
(Stereo)
07. THE PEOPLE IN ME
(Stereo)
08. CC RIDER
(Stereo)
09. WRONG
(Stereo)
10. 96 TEARS
(Stereo)
11. COME ON IN
(Stereo)
12. HEY JOE
(Stereo)
13. TALK TALK
(Mono)
© July 8 & 25, 1966
OS 61
~ Review September 24, 1966
~ Entered Record World October 29, 1966 pk #18
~ Entered Billboard October 29, 1966 pk #15
~ Entered Cash Box November 19, 1966 pk #21
14. TROUBLE
(Mono)
15. CHERRY CHERRY
(Mono)
16. TAXMAN
(Mono)
17. SOME OTHER DRUM
(Mono)
18. MASCULINE INTUITION
(Mono)
OS 67 B
19. THE PEOPLE IN ME
(Mono)
OS 67
~ Review January 21, 1967
~ Entered Billboard January 28, 1967 pk #66
~ Entered Cash Box February 11, 1967 pk #79
~ Entered Record World February 18, 1967 pk #65
20. CC RIDER
(Mono)
21. WRONG
(Mono)
OS 82 B
22. 96 TEARS
(Mono)
23. COME ON IN
(Mono)
OS 61 B
24. HEY JOE
(Mono)
OS 82
~ Review July 6, 1968
Original Sound Mono 45 RPM Singles:
25. DOUBLE YELLOW LINE (Extended 2:34 Version)
OS 71 Single Fades at 1:56
~ Entered Billboard May 13, 1967 pk #111
~ Entered Cash Box May 20, 1967 pk #100
26. ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY (2:29)
OS 71 B
27. THE EAGLE NEVER HUNTS THE FLY (2:50)
OS 75
28. I'VE LOVED YOU (2:46)
OS 75 B

Repertoire REP 5094
Featuring:


Released September 4, 2006

THE MUSIC MACHINE 1966 - 1967
Ace / Big Beat CDWIK2 271
Mastered by Nick Robbins at Sound Mastering Ltd

CD 01 (75:13)
(Turn On) The Music Machine OSR LPM 5015 (Mono)
~ Review December 31, 1966
~ Entered Billboard January 27, 1967 peak #76
01. TALK TALK
© July 8 & 25, 1966
OS 61
~ Review September 24, 1966
~ Entered Record World October 29, 1966 pk #18
~ Entered Billboard October 29, 1966 pk #15
~ Entered Cash Box November 19, 1966 pk #21
02. TROUBLE
03. CHERRY CHERRY
04. TAXMAN
05. SOME OTHER DRUM
06. MASCULINE INTUITION
OS 67 B
07. THE PEOPLE IN ME
OS 67
~ Review January 21, 1967
~ Entered Billboard January 28, 1967 pk #66
~ Entered Cash Box February 11, 1967 pk #79
~ Entered Record World February 18, 1967 pk #65
08. CC RIDER
09. WRONG
OS 82 B
10. 96 TEARS
11. COME ON IN
OS 61 B
12. HEY JOE
OS 82
~ Review July 6, 1968

Original Sound Mono 45 RPM Singles:
13. DOUBLE YELLOW LINE (Extended 2:34 Version)
OS 71 Single Fades at 1:56
~ Entered Billboard May 13, 1967 pk #111
~ Entered Cash Box May 20, 1967 pk #100
14. ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY
OS 71 B
15. THE EAGLE NEVER HUNTS THE FLY (2:48)
OS 75
16. I'VE LOVED YOU (2:46)
OS 75 B

(Turn On) The Music Machine OSR LPS 8875 (Stereo):
17. TALK TALK
18. TROUBLE
19. CHERRY CHERRY
20. TAXMAN
21. SOME OTHER DRUM
22. MASCULINE INTUITION
23. THE PEOPLE IN ME
24. CC RIDER
25. WRONG
26. 96 TEARS
27. COME ON IN
28. HEY JOE

CD 02 (52:08) Previously Unreleased (Mono)
01. THE PEOPLE IN ME
[Rehearsal]
02. TROUBLE
[Rehearsal]
03. MASCULINE INTUITION
[Rehearsal]
04. THE EAGLE NEVER HUNTS THE FLY
[Demo] 4:17
05. SUFFERIN' SUCCOTASH
[Demo]
06. WORRY
[Demo]
07. NO GIRL GONNA CRY
[Demo]
08. SMOKE & WATER
[Demo]
09. I'VE LOVED YOU
[Demo (Back Cover) or Alternate Version (Booklet)] ? 2:32
10. DISCREPANCY
[Demo (Back Cover) or Alternate Version (Booklet)] ?
11. BOTTOM OF THE SOUL
[Demo (Back Cover) or Alternate Version (Booklet)] ?
12. THE TRAP
[Demo (Back Cover) or Alternate Version (Booklet)] ?
13. ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY
[Early Mix (Back Cover) or Alternate Version (Booklet)] ?
14. SOMETHIN HURTIN ON ME
[Early Mix (Back Cover) or Alternate Version (Booklet)] ?
15. AFFIRMATIVE NO
[Early Mix (Back Cover) or Alternate Version (Booklet)] ?
16. TALK ME DOWN
[Original Mix]
17. ASTROLOGICALLY INCOMPATIBLE
[Original Mix]
18. WORRY
[Original Mix]
19. NO GIRL GONNA CRY
[Original Mix]
20. SMOKE & WATER
[Original Mix]
21. TALK TALK
(KHJ-TV Boss City Video)
22. CHERRY CHERRY
(KHJ-TV Boss City Video)


THE BONNIWELL MUSIC MACHINE

ASTROLOGICALLY INCOMPATIBLE (2:31)
(Mono) On
'Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets From The WEA Vaults'
(Rhino Handmade RHM2 7821)
February 2004
AKA
My Mind Goes High: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets From The WEA Vaults
(WSM)
November 2005

DISCREPANCY (2:29) Mono
Misspelled *Discrepency* Five Times
On
'Come To The Sunshine: Soft Pop Nuggets From The WEA Vaults'
(Rhino Handmade RHM2 7818)
February 2004


THE WAYFARERS
Sean Bonniwell
Tom Adams
Raymond Martin Blouin
(b. 1939)
Dick Bailey

Come Along With The Wayfarers
~ RCA LSP-2666
Review May 18, 1963

N2PW-3369 Ticonderoga /
N2PW-3370 Monday Morning
~ RCA 47-8152
Review March 2, 1963

The Wayfarers At The Hungry I
~ RCA LSP-2735
Ad November 2, 1963
Review November 16, 1963

"Folksinger"
on V / A
Ford Hootenanny
~ RCA PRM-152, 1964

The Wayfarers At The World's Fair
~ RCA LSP-2946
Ad August 29, 1964
New Release September 5, 1964
Review September 19, 1964

PPKM-4407 Crabs Walk Sideways /
PPKM-4408 Shenandoah
~ RCA 47-8258
October / November 1963
45-8254 & 8255 Reviews October 26, 1963
45-8256 Review November 16, 1963

Most
WAYFARERS songs by
Hylton R. Socher (b. 1935) &
Ronald Samuel Miller

WAYFARERS producer
Neely Plumb
d. October 4, 2000
age 88
in Sherman Oaks, CA


THE RAGAMUFFINS

Push, Don't Pull © June 11, 1965

The Day Today © July 29, 1965

High And Dry © July 29, 1965

I'll Take My Chances
© July 29, 1965

Much 'N' Much © July 29, 1965

Once And Once Was Twice
© July 29, 1965

She Tole Me So © July 29, 1965

Talk Me Down © July 29, 1965

Till The Roses Fall © July 29, 1965

What, What (Are You Serious?)
© October 5, 1965

Hubbub © October 5, 1965

Sufferin' Succotash
© December 7, 1965

What's It To You?
© February 7, 1966

Some Other Drum
© June 16 & November 7, 1966

OR 125 Talk Talk
© July 8 & 25, 1966
OS 61
OR 126 Come On In
© June 16 & July 25, 1966
OS 61
A Product of A.P.I.
Review September 24, 1966
Entered Record World October 29, 1966 pk #18
Entered Billboard October 29, 1966 pk #15
Entered Cash Box November 19, 1966 pk #21

OR 135 The People In Me
© November 29, 1966
OS 67
OR 136 Masculine Intuition
© October 21 & November 7, 1966
OS 67 A.P.I.
Review January 21, 1967
Entered Billboard January 28, 1967 pk #66
Entered Cash Box February 11, 1967 pk #79
Entered Record World February 18, 1967 pk #65

Trouble © November 29, 1966

(Turn On) The Music Machine
OSR LPM 5015 / LPS 8875
5575 / 5576
33-UB-2653-F-1 / 2654-F-1
released November 1966
Review December 31, 1966
Entered Billboard January 27, 1967 peak #76
on chart 16 weeks

Paris Song
(Bonniwell-Roger R. Cowger)
© December 9, 1966

OR 141 Double Yellow Line
(Short Version)
OS 71
OR 142 Absolutely Positively
OS 71 B
Entered Billboard May 13, 1967 pk #111
Entered Cash Box May 20, 1967 pk #100

OR 153 The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly
© February 7, 1966 & February 16, 1968
~ OS 75
OR 154 I've Loved You
© February 16, 1968
~ OS 75 B
A.P.I.

OR 167 Hey Joe
~ OS 82
Review July 6, 1968
OR 168 Wrong
© November 29, 1966
~ OS 82 B

RCA March 15, 1967:
U3KM 5322 No Girl Gonna Cry
© February 16, 1968
K 16177
U3KM 5323 The Trap © February 16, 1968
K 16176
U3KM 5324 Absolutely Positively
© March 28, 1967 & February 16, 1968
K 16178
U3KM 5325 The Eagle Never
Hunts The Fly
© February 7, 1966 & February 16, 1968
K 16175
U3KM 5326
U3KM 5327 Bottom Of The Soul
© February 16, 1968
K 16172 ~ WB 7093
U3KM 5328 Double Yellow Line
© March 28, 1967 & February 16, 1968
K 16174
U3KM 5329 Discrepancy
© February 16, 1968
K 16179
U3KM 5330
U3KM 5331 Worry © February 16, 1968
K 16180
U3KM 5332 Smoke And Water
© February 16, 1968
K 16181

Astrologically Incompatible
© February 16, 1968
K 16173 ~ WB 7093 B

The Day Today
© July 29, 1965 & February 16, 1968

Somethin' Hurtin' On Me
© February 16, 1968

Affirmative No

[ Talk Me Down ]
© July 29, 1965 & February 16, 1968

November 15, 1967:
K 15759 Soul Love © January 12, 1968
WB 7162 B
K 15760 Me-Myself, And I
© January 12, 1968
WB 7162 January 1968

I've Loved You © February 16, 1968

The Bonniwell Music Machine
WB Seven Arts LP WS 1732
S39333 / 39334

January 10, 1968:
L 16315 In My Neighborhood
~ WB Seven Arts 7188 April 1968
L 16316 You'll Love Me Again
~ WB Seven Arts 7188 B & 7199 B

L 16467 To The Light
~ WB Seven Arts 7199

L 16643 Tin Can Beach
~ WB Seven Arts 7234 B
L 16644 Time Out (For A Daydream)
~ WB Seven Arts 7234


9048-BW Advise And Consent
~ Bell B-764, February 1969
9049-BW Mother Nature, - Father Earth
~ Bell B-764 B

U.S. Constitution
Article II, Section 2
[The President] shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court…

Advise And Consent (Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novel) by Allen Drury (1959)

Advise & Consent (Film) Directed by Otto Preminger (June 1962)
Henry Fonda, Peter Lawford, Walter Pidgeon, Charles Laughton, Gene Tierney, Burgess Meredith, Will Geer, Betty White, Irv Kupcinet

Bell Single
754 Review January 25, 1969
758 Review January 18, 1969
759 Review January 25, 1969
760 Review February 1, 1969,
Review February 8, 1969
763 Review February 1, 1969
764 THE MUSIC MACHINE
765 Review February 22, 1969
769 Review March 8, 1969
770 Review March 8, 1969
773 Review March 1, 1969
774 Reviews March 15, 1969
775 Reviews March 29, 1969
776 Review March 22, 1969


Where Am I To Go
© May 15, 1969 /
Sleep © June 23, 1969
~ Capitol single P-2551

T.S. Bonniwell
Close
Capitol LP ST-277
Released August 4, 1969
New Tape Cartridge Release
August 23, 1969
Review August 27, 1969
New Album Release September 6, 1969
Where Am I To Go
© May 15, 1969,
Love Is Such
A Simple Word,
Who Remembers
© July 7, 1969,
Something To Be,
Black Snow
© June 27, 1969,
She Is
© May 15, 1969,
Temporary Knife
© July 7, 1969,
Continue,
Where It Belongs
© July 7, 1969,
But Not With My Heart,
Sleep
© June 23, 1969

King Mixer © June 27, 1969

Dark White © June 27, 1969


ZEBRA:
8017 Christmas Morning Part I
© November 7, 1969
Blue Thumb BLU 109
8018 Christmas Morning Part II
Blue Thumb BLU 109 B
Produced, Arranged & Written
by Sean Bonniwell
Ad November 29, 1969


THE FRIENDLY TORPEDOS:
OR 196 Nothin's Too Good For My Car
(Sean Bonniwell)
OS 95
OR 197 So Long Ago
(Sean Bonniwell)
OS 95
Produced by Buff and Bonniwell

OS 94 Gene West
~ Review May 16, 1970
OS 95 THE FRIENDLY TORPEDOS
~ Not Reviewed
OS 96 Dyke And The Blazers
~ Review June 27, 1970


Best Of The Music Machine
Rhino LP / Cassette (RNLP / RNC 119), 1984
Compilation Produced by Harold Bronson
Side One:
Talk Talk (Stereo)
The People In Me (Stereo)
Masculine Intuition (Stereo)
Trouble (Stereo)
Come On In (Stereo)
Advise And Consent (Mono) Slow
Mother Nature, -
Father Earth (Mono) Slow
Side Two:
The Eagle Never
Hunts The Fly
(Stereo WB version)
Double Yellow Line
(Stereo WB version)
Absolutely Positively
(Stereo WB version)
You'll Love Me Again
(Mono WB single version)
Everything Is
Everything (Mono)
Black Snow (Mono)
Dark White (Mono)
Side One Wax:
Over 5 years in the making
Side Two Wax:
Michael Jackson? White gloves?


Sean Bonniwell's
Autobiography:
dPub December 1, 1994
dReg December 12, 1994
Goldmine September 29, 1995


Sundazed CD SC 11030
November 30, 1995
Chicago Tribune Review June 13, 1996,
DisCoveries August 1996
Goldmine #420, August 30, 1996
Black To Comm
#21, 1995
#22, 1997
Bucketfull Of Brains #46, 1996
Larsen Fanzine #11, 1996
Psych Trail Mix #2, 2008
Ptolemaic Terrascope #20, 1996
Twist and Shake #4, 1996
Ugly American #11, 1996

Original WB LP Sequence:
13, 19, 20, 02,
04, 06, 03, 01,
15, 07, 16, 05,
14, 09


Sundazed Sampler #2
Sundazed CD SC PRO 02, 1995
w/ Stereo WB Version of
"Double Yellow Line"


Sundazed single S 131
Point Of No Return/
King Mixer
b/s Mono
1997


Collectables CD 6044 (43:12) 1999
Compilation Produced by Steve Kaplan
Stereo Turn On LP +
The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly (4:17 Demo),
I've Loved You (2:37 w/ Count-Off),
Absolutely Positively (2:08) &
Double Yellow Line (2:10)


Sundazed CD SC 11038,
June 2000
(46:44) MONO

08. Talk Me Down © July 29, 1965
02. Two Much
= Much 'N' Much
© July 29, 1965
06. Chances
= I'll Take My Chances
© July 29, 1965
10. Push Don't Pull
© June 11, 1965

18. Point Of No Return
[1966] Sundazed 45
14. Citizen Fear
[1967] Original Sound
13. Unca Tinka Ty [1967]

15. Worry (Instrumental)
© February 16, 1968 WB
16. Worry (Vocal)
© February 16, 1968 WB
11. Smoke And Water
© February 16, 1968 WB

01. Everything Is Everything
[1968] Rhino Best Of
03. Advise And Consent
Bell B-764 February 1969
Recorded November 12, 1968
07. Mother Nature, - Father Earth
Bell B-764 B
Recorded November 12, 1968
17. Tell Me What Ya Got
Western Studios 1968
04. This Should Make You Happy [1968]
19. 902 [1969]
05. Black Snow
© June 27, 1969 Rhino Best Of
12. King Mixer
© June 27, 1969 Sundazed 45
09. Dark White
© June 27, 1969 Rhino Best Of

Record Collector review September 2000
Goldmine review May 4, 2001, Issue #542


Sundazed LP 5038
180 Gram Vinyl
June 2000
MONO
(14 Tracks)
Missing:
This Should Make You Happy,
Smoke And Water,
King Mixer,
Worry (Instr.) &
Point Of No Return


Nuggets
September 15, 1998

Nuggets
Track Annotation by
Gary Peterson:

2/1. TALK TALK - The Music Machine
(Sean Bonniwell)
Personnel/SEAN BONNIWELL: vocals, guitar * MARK LANDON: lead guitar * DOUG RHODES: organ * KEITH OLSEN: bass * RON EDGAR: drums
Produced by BRIAN ROSS & MAURIE BERCOV for A.P.I.
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA
Original Sound single #OS-61 (9/66); Pop #15

3/28. DOUBLE YELLOW LINE - The Music Machine
(Sean Bonniwell)
Personnel/SEAN BONNIWELL: vocals, guitar * MARK LANDON: lead guitar * DOUG RHODES: organ * KEITH OLSEN: bass * RON EDGAR: drums
Produced by BRIAN ROSS & MAURIE BERCOV
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA
Original Sound single #OS-71 (4/67); Pop #111


The Boston Globe
September 18, 1998,
Friday, City Edition
SECTION: ARTS & FILM; Pg. D15
HEADLINE: Digging rock's nuggets;
Rhino brings back the pre-punk garage gold;
By Steve Morse, Globe Staff
Garage-rock. Garage-punk. Garage-psychedelia. Call it what you want, but the operative word was garage. It was music often literally made in suburban garages during the '60s, in the wake of the Beatles-led British Invasion. And it birthed a renaissance that made instant heroes out of many regional bands rarely heard from again, while paving the way for the do-it-yourself ethic of today's alternative-rock nation.

Think of the Beau Brummels from San Francisco, the Music Machine from Los Angeles, Barry & the Remains from Boston, the Cryan Shames from Chicago, the Amboy Dukes from Detroit, the Nazz from Philadelphia.

These are just a few of the bands represented on the new four-CD box "Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the Psychedelic Era, 1965-1968" on Rhino Records. It's an expanded version of the original "Nuggets" disc released in 1972, which spawned the compilation/reissue craze so prevalent in retailing today.

There was no shortage of American acts unashamedly jumping on the Beatles bandwagon. "In 1964, when the Beatles came out, I saw exactly what was going to happen," says Sean Bonniwell, singer with the Music Machine, which has two songs on the "Nuggets" box: "Talk Talk" and "Double Yellow Line."

The Music Machine, however, became one of the most original garage-rock groups of that time. The band rode the songwriting genius of Bonniwell, who was ahead of his time in protest songs like "Eagle Never Hunts the Fly" (about government hassling) and "Mother Nature, Father Earth" (about ecology). They also had the technical genius of bassist Keith Olsen, who invented the "fuzzbox," which created a trippy guitar sound that revolutionized the genre. The group split up in 1969, but Olsen later became a prominent producer whose chief credit was Fleetwood Mac's mega-platinum "Rumours" album.

Bonniwell, unfortunately, was not as lucky. Today, he lives in a garage on an Arabian horse ranch in the small California town of Porterville (between Bakersfield and Fresno). The garage has no running water (he does have access to the main ranch house for that) and he's fighting legal battles to recoup his song- writing royalties from the Music Machine's record label, Original Sound.

Clearly, the euphoria of the mid-'60s has given way to a harsher reality in his case. "I'm just trying to survive," says Bonniwell, who is finishing an autobiography, "Beyond the Garage," which he expects to put out by himself for Christmas. (For more info, write to PO Box 409, Porterville, CA. 93258.)

Bonniwell is now a born-again Christian who is trying to deal with his anger over his perceived mistreatment by his label. "The Lord says I must forgive my enemies," he says.

He still sounds full of life, though, and is still writing songs. "I never stopped writing," he notes, adding that he even has three albums' worth of unrecorded material from the Music Machine days.

And what heady days those were, he recalls. The Music Machine once played 35 nights in a row. "You just threw everything in your VW bus and off you went," he says. "We'd play almost anywhere, any time, but our resources were never coordinated at all. That, and the fact that we rarely got paid. You couldn't take a check from a promoter back then, because it would bounce. So I'd have a big brown shopping bag and take the cash from the door."

Although the Music Machine had a druggy, psychedelic sound, Bonniwell says he didn't do drugs and was "as straight as an ice cube tray." But the group was radical in other ways. In order to stand out from the garage-rock pack, the Music Machine dressed all in black, complete with dyed black hair and black guitars, amps, and drums. They even wore a black leather glove on one hand (this was long before Michael Jackson's single-glove look), all of which conspired to get them into trouble when touring backwater spots in, say, the Deep South.

"I went into one place in the South and wanted to use the restroom," Bonniwell relates. "And this was still in the days when there was segregation. The owner said, 'The white restroom is here, the black restroom is there, and you ain't got one.' "

While many of the acts on the "Nuggets" box turned out to be one-hit wonders, there's still a spirit that makes this one of the most essential collections to any rock historian's library. The suggested retail price is not cheap ($ 59.98), but it's a bargain considering there are nearly 30 songs per CD.


Turn on the Music Machine /
Beyond the Garage
Popular Music and Society
Winter 1997
Volume: 21 Issue: 4
Turn On the Music Machine. The Music Machine. Compact disc. Performance PERF 397CD (P.O. Box 156, New Brunswick NJ 08903-0156), 1993. Recorded 1966. Produced by Brian Ross. Reissue produced by Stephen Kaplan and Arthur Marko.

Beyond the Garage. The Bonniwell Music Machine. Compact disc. Sundazed SC 11030 (P.O. Box 85, Coxsackie NY 12054), 1995. Recorded 1967-1968. Produced by Brian Ross and Sean Bonniwell. Reissue produced by Bob Irwin and Sean Bonniwell.

The Music Machine's "Talk Talk" was probably the most uncompromising single heard on Top 40 radio in 1966. Lead singer and songwriter Sean Bonniwell growls like a misfit from Mars. The chord change leading into the bridge is audacious and unheard-of. The entire song is pure, ugly wallop. Unfortunately, "Talk Talk" was only a minor hit nationally. Worse still, the Music Machine became a one-hit wonder, which means that relatively few people have heard the marvelous body of work that fleshes out the promise of "Talk Talk."

That is a situation that can now be remedied, thanks to the release of these two CDs, which comprise almost the entire Music Machine catalogue (only a few cuts are missing, and these oversights are avenged by the release of several previously unissued tracks). What is revealed in these recordings is the genius of Sean Bonniwell-a true American original.

Bonniwell has an amazing voice. The closest points of comparison are Eric Burdon, Tom Jones, and Scott McKenzie-as bizarre as that combination may seem. Bonniwell shifts effortlessly from punk screaming to smooth ballad stylings. His pitch range is incredible. He is a brilliant singer.

On top of that, he has a unique personal vision, which guides his songwriting. Beyond the Garage consists entirely of original material and is full of should-have-been hits. Bonniwell's best recordings are almost impossible to describe. "The Eagle Never Hunts the Fly," a favorite of mine, is both chaotic and tightly structured. The arrangement is noisy and unrelenting, but richly textured in its own way. The words are about ecology, predation, and (probably) love, mixed together angrily and sarcastically. This is a frightening, devastating record.

Turn On unfortunately includes five cover versions, which are adequate but much less interesting than Bonniwell's original songs. "Taxman," "See See Rider," and "Hey Joe" are the worthiest covers, with the latter being both slow (a half year before Jimi Hendrix) and operatic (!). Turn On also features "Talk Talk" and its excellent followup, "The People in Me."

"Punk" that he is, Bonniwell is no snot-nosed sniveler. His approach is entirely adult, and his songs are for adults. This may be why commercial success mostly eluded him. You hear that Vox/Farfisa organ sound and expect bubblegum. What you get instead is mature psychodrama. Expecting a nasal, tenor "Come on down to my boat, baby," you get a throaty baritone, singing: "Come on in and show the world the soul you've never had, and tear away from dreams unborn. Shed the cage that makes you sad. Come on in. Don't cry no more. Come on in . .and close the door." (Another interesting comparison is the Monkees' curiously upbeat protest song "Pleasant Valley Sunday" vs. Bonniwell's much darker "In My Neighborhood," which covers the same subject.) The Music Machine had a commercial "sound" but were not juvenile or trivial enough for their own good at the time. That 1960s misfortune makes their work all the more listenable now.

Excellent musicians rounded out the Music Machine, and arrangement and production also shine in these recordings (except that the stereo mixes are generally primitive and often annoying). One odd fact that strikes me as I listen to the Music Machine now is that they knew exactly how to use a tambourine. But that is only the least of their charms. More importantly, the Music Machine pioneered punk rock while remaining a multidimensional band that also excelled at ballads, blue-eyed soul, and even dixieland flavorings. Bonniwell's visions and dreams took him far "beyond the garage" to create a great panorama of American music. His songs deserve to be heard.

The packaging of Beyond the Garage lives up to the usual high standards of Sundazed Records, with original liner notes plus several additional pages (including reflections by Bonniwell). Turn On is a barebones reissue with no new songs or liner notes-too bad it was not a Sundazed project.

Bonniwell has also written a touching and fascinating "autobiographical novel," called Talk Talk. It is available from Christian Vision Publishing, PO. Box 409, Porterville CA 93258.
~ Gary Burns
Northern Illinois University


THE RAW SOUNDS OF PROTOPUNK
01/13/1985
Los Angeles Times
Home
Page 61

Band: The Music Machine . Personnel: (original lineup) Sean Bonniwell , vocals, songwriting and guitar; Ron Edgar, drums; Keith Olsen, bass; Doug Rhodes, organ; Mark Landon, lead guitar. Record: "Best of the Music Machine ," Rhino Records. History: Caught up in the swirling excitement of soon-to-peak psychedelia, various American "garage bands"-several from Los Angeles-began to experiment in late '66 and early '67 with a brash, raw sound that would later be termed "protopunk." Among them: Seeds, Standells and Music Machine . Inspired by English bands like the Yardbirds and the Who, these U.S. outfits discharged what might be called aggressive confusion, swinging their chief weapon-the chain-saw buzz of fuzztone guitar-at enemies both real and imagined. "Talk Talk" was Music Machine 's only big hit, but one that expressed the raging style with a fury exceeded at the time perhaps only by Love's "Seven and Seven Is." The band's subsequent recordings for the Original Sound and Bell labels achieved little more than regional success. There was only one album, "Turn On." In late '67, members began to drop out, including Olsen, who began a production career that led to albums with Fleetwood Mac and Pat Benatar. Bonniwell kept MM going two more years, then tried a solo turn with little luck. Sound: Psycho-rock at its finest and progenitor of such modern songs as "Institutionalized" by Suicidal Tendencies, "Talk Talk" has a charged-up, manic urgency that still delivers a punch. It's hard to believe that a band able to wax something that powerful faded, but this smart compilation of singles, album cuts and four unreleased tracks shows that Bonniwell was never able to write anything quite comparable. Rockers like "Absolutely Positively" and "The People in Me" skillfully emit neurotic vibes but fall short of the hit's musical drive and vocal tautness. Still, several songs have a semi-naive, garage-psychedelic charm and considerable energy, and the album ends with two unreleased cuts from 1969 that indicate the group was getting the knack for newly evocative, moody material just before it broke up.
~TERRY ATKINSON


Studio Sound
August 1997
HEADLINE: Keith Olsen

From the Summer of Love to the Winter of Content, Keith Olsen has balanced technical suss with musical sensibility and produced some classic recordings. Dan Daley shares his view of the changing ages.

SOMETHING SEEMS to happen to people from colder climes when they get to LA. Something about the palm trees, perhaps, which are as non- indigenous to Southern California as most of the people who live there. More likely, it's the weather. It's manifest in a physical and intellectual freedom that comes with the knowledge that you will never be shut in again by 7-foot snow drifts-the kind commonly found on the plains around Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where Keith Olsen was born.

After growing up in the equally frigid environs of Wayzata, Minnesota, Olsen attended the University of Minnesota where he got hooked up as the bass player with a few local bands, one of which, as he puts it, 'dumped me off in California in the late 1960s'.

It was a fortuitous dumping, indeed, for Olsen went on to become one of the seminal producers of radio rock in the 1970s and 1980s. His oeuvre is prodigious-Fleetwood Mac, Eddie Money, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, REO Speedwagon, Rick Springfield, Starship, Heart, Joe Walsh, Stevie Nicks, Whitesnake, Kim Carnes, Sammy Hagar, Santana, Pat Benatar, Foreigner and the Grateful Dead. See what getting out of the snow can do?

But how did one transition from journeyman musician to the other side of the glass? In a sense, how did one not, back in the days of the Summer of Love. 'A producer in those days was a guy who used to tell you how good your take was,' says Olsen, sitting in his publisher's office in Nashville, where he is working on getting this town to open up its catalogue coffers for material to work on his next project, multichannel surround mixes for Olsen's KORE Group Records. But more on that later.

After an introduction to production from the late Kurt Baetchler, who produced the Association's classics 'Cherish' and 'Along Comes Mary', Olsen helped form the Music Machine whose radio hit 'Talk Talk' got Olsen on the road again, but at a higher level, and kept him tangentially tied to the evolving LA music loop. Upon his return to LA, he was ready to take a shot at his own productions, but first, he recalls, he realised that, as the equipment of recording was evolving so quickly, he needed to spruce up his technical chops.

'I had enough electronic training in college to know what's going on underneath the desk and enough music training to know what should be going on on the other side of the glass. And then these good opportunities to go start working with some bands started coming in-this was around 1971. But even though I had learned the musical palette, I needed to know more about engineering. So I hooked up with Gary Paxton's studio in his garage, then with Sound City in the Valley. The board was a couple of equalisers, an old mixer and some wire switches. I think it was a 3-track machine, then a 4-track, a Scully. But I was learning the ropes and meeting people. I met Brian Wilson at his house just after the Beach Boys had done Smiley Smile. And he was a little outside even then. But I learned from him to envision everything about a production as you hear the song the first time. You've got to see the whole picture, and get to the point where you can see and hear where everything should be. It takes a while to learn how to do that.

'I also learned that when you get into the studio, you have to be able to modify your vision. But from the very beginning I learned that I always wanted to be prepared when I walked into a recording studio.'

The engineering experience he gained was critical to the success of future productions, enabling him to become a producer in a more traditional manner-switching chairs in the middle of a recording session when Jerry Wexler gave him the green light to finish Mac Rebenack's Dr John's Gumbo record in 1972. The credit opened the door for Olsen to hang out his producer's shingle. The first act he worked with was Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks before they assisted Fleetwood Mac into its pop phase. Both the music and the technology were about to emerge from their respective incubators at the same time, with a synchronicity that was perfectly timed for Olsen and his innate pop sensibilities.

'The technology was starting to get better,' he remembers. 'The consoles, the microphones could all take ever-higher SPL levels, so we weren't distorting the preamps every time the snare drum hit.

'For a while I had been doing a bunch of weird acts-the Grateful Dead and The Sons of Champlain-real San Francisco acts. I did Terrapin Station with the Dead. I was really learning to be a producer working with acts like that.

'Terrapin Station was an album that we worked on for four weeks before we got our first basic track. Speaking of envisioning a record before it starts-I was looking to hear something tight-sounding, and I picked the wrong band to do that with (drummer) Mickey Hart played on top of the beat and (percussionist) Bill Kreutzmann played behind it, so everything sounded like a flam. After about a week of that, I suggested the possibility of orchestrating the drum parts to Jerry (Garcia). And Jerry says, "Sure, man, see you later," and walks out. His way of saying, "Just go ahead and do it". So I had Kreutzmann be the kit player and Hart as the percussionist, cause he's the fire anyway. And it worked. Instead of having two drummers playing against each other, we had a little groove thing going.'

It wasn't enough to get the Dead big radio hits-that would have to wait another 15 years for 'I Will Survive'. But the lugubriousness of the San Francisco music that was coming to LA to record was a useful learning tank for Olsen as pop music and recording technology were about to join forces and put corporate rock on the map in a big way. On Foreigner's 1978 Double Vision album, Olsen was looking for new ways to cut guitar sounds and stumbled onto the notion of using the inherent fuzziness of wireless systems when guitarist Mick Jones showed a predilection for staying in the control room while playing at New York's Atlantic Studios.

'The long cables running from the control room to the studio were taking the top off the sound,' Olsen says. 'We didn't have amazing cabling then like we do now. It was more like zip cord. But the gain from the transmitter on the wireless gave us a little more input power, and that gave us back a very cool top end. The amps were set up in the studio in a corner-when you corner-load the cabinets you get a really great bottom end out of them. And we miked them with some kind of Shure mics-that was about all we had for high SPL mics back then. And we used the room for natural reverb with some mics placed relatively close around the amp as well as right on the speakers.

'For the drums, I built a riser with cinder blocks from a construction site and thick plywood on top-there was no ring to the drum sound any more. The drums had snap and power. Combined with the angle of the mics on the drums, we had eliminated the ringiness of the kit. I had figured out part of that when I was working with Fleetwood Mac; their drum sound was so tight because the room was so dead. I had been experimenting with recording in more live environments, but I found that if you had a real live environment you get so much destructive interference from reflections that you get a real roomy drum sound but you don't really get any of the power, the snap, punch and crack.

'On Lou's vocals, I used a technique that I had been using since Buckingham Nicks days, processing similar to what George Martin had used with the Beatles. I took a Dolby noise reduction card and started clipping the odd bit off, a transistor or two. You then out the card on the encode side instead of a compressor. Use it as an expander-it's level-sensitive and band-sensitive, and all of a sudden you have this really tight and airy vocal sound without having to go through intense amounts of EQ or compression. I don't think the Dolby people liked me for using their stuff that way.'

Like it or not, Olsen was looking to create the sound in the tracks, not in the mix-a classic approach in the days before remixers had even been heard of, and one that helped define the radio sound of the day.

'You learn about spectrum mixing-not putting everything into the same EQ area. I was layering things, but I was also using the musical arrangements to get the sound together. Not so much using EQ, but arrangement. The one thing I learned was, remember the source-where the music comes from. Great words to live by, because all the gear in the world cannot make a bad guitar player play great. I also didn't like leaving things until the very end in the mix. I liked to put it together the way I heard it the first time in my head. If the artist is fine with that, then everything's moving ahead, but if not, then you have to try things a few different ways and the mixes get a little more hairy because you're then trying to take two visions and put them together. That can make for a difficult mix.'

One that wasn't difficult was Rick Springfield's classic 'Jessie's Girl'.

'Here you had a soap opera star who was actually a very creative, musical guy. He was very inexperienced in the studio but we had the basics cut for that track in one day by 4 o'clock. Bing, bang, done. That's how records were often done in those days. Looking back, it was remarkably fast.'

Then there were the ones that didn't go quite as smoothly. Preparing for the follow-up to Whitesnake's hugely successful Slide It In in 1987, lead singer and band leader David Coverdale had been working with another producer at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas. But Coverdale was hung up on the vocals, and he and cowriter John Sykes called Olsen in mid-way through the project.

'He calls me and sends me the tapes and I realised that the problem was that David couldn't sing in tune because every guitar and bass track on the record was, shall we say, outside the window of acceptability, pitch-wise. They had printed a lot of effects like harmonisers and somebody went a little bit overboard with the outboard. They were going for a sound, but they weren't looking at the big picture. If you can't tune to it, you can't overdub or sing to it. So I had to go in and rebuild, taking tracks that were half of stereo tracks, but which had less effects on them and put them together to form new tracks. We were looking for things that could pitch references. And the drums were also a bit off timing. I and engineer Brian Foracker was using two machines to do punch-ins and fly around, and offset the beats. I built a 32- track digital master out of all of these analogue tapes. It took a month, but it gave us workable tracks for the album. That and a few new overdubs with guitarist Dann Huff. Then I called David and I said "I think it's time for you to sing now". He came down and on the first day we punched play and I started him off with an easy one, which turned out to be "Still Of The Night". So it worked out quite well in the end.'

So did a few others, including Heart's 'Passionworks', REO Speedwagon's 'Here With Me' and Pat Benatar's 'Precious Time', not to mention Fleetwood Mac's 'Rhiannon' and 'Over My Head', which took the band's eponymously named first album to 9 million in sales.

Olsen has a new project now, based on a new technology. DVD offers over 9Gb of storage capacity, which makes the Red Book CD look like a piker, indeed, with its barely 650Mb of data. While name-brand technology has never held any particular allure for Olsen-his 20-year-old personal studio, Goodnight LA, is fitted with a 96-input Trident Di-an console, and of which he laughs, 'I'm the only man in the world using one on a semi-regular basis'-DVD holds some business potential that he finds irresistible.

The rapid growth of home theatre: over 10 million US households have some type of surround-sound system, and another 23 million are equipped with Dolby's Pro Logic matrix surround. This has opened the possibility of delivering surround music mixes on DVD, and a truncated matrixed version on CD, the latter of which Olsen started doing last year with the formation of the KORE Group record labels. The latter of these he is gearing up for as the new disc technology slowly, but inexorably comes on line. Two new artists, one in jazz and one in new age, and two sampler discs of remixed material, have been compiled thus far.

'The idea is feasible and viable technologically,' says Olsen. 'We needed to see if it was also feasible and viable in the market. If the market was there for surround mixed music. Twenty-five million people go down to the video store twice a week, get a video, stick it into their surround-sound home theatres and for 96 minutes they sit there and get whacked by surround-sound effects. Then they turn off their VCRs and if by chance they have left the Pro Logic decoder on when they put in a CD, the centre collapses on the sound. It doesn't work. So I say, why don't we make the mix an event? Make it an experience to listen to music again. So we started mixing a few things I had in the vault and a few things friends gave me-Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks. I mixed that in surround sound keeping the artistic intent of the original mix in mind-remember what I said, remember the source? The same tone and the same placement of instruments, but everything else just spreading around you.'

What is the secret to mixing in 5.1 versus stereo? 'The thing in surround mixing in general is not how much you do, but how much you don't do,' cautions Olsen. 'That seems to be the secret. You use effects in a different way. You don't want to load up the front of the mix with effects; you can use them in the rear channels.'

Olsen gives an example of a Pro Logic 4-channel mix: 'We place the guitars left and right, we put the drums kind of spread out among all three front channels, then move them in just a little bit so it doesn't become all kick and snare. The bass (guitar) is mostly in the centre. The lead vocal? Well, gee, there's a band here, so let's have the lead vocalist take two steps forward towards you, like he is on stage. Then you take a bit of the vocal or its effects and put it behind you to achieve that. Put that into the surround and all of a sudden the vocal is in front of the band, but still part of it. But there are delays on these home systems and people screw with them, so you have to be careful about not placing things too far out and moving them around like crazy. Don't go crazy because it makes people nauseous to the point where they don't want to listen to it. There's the potential for high listener fatigue in surround mixing. The Dolby Pro Logic system gave this a lot of thought because it's also compatible to stereo and to mono, which is very handy for this market.'

The KORE Group's plan is to license existing masters, remix them for surround, and rerelease them, using a variety of direct mail and retail outlets. The project started three years ago and pulled Olsen out of the production loop-voluntarily, he says.

'I took three years out of my life to figure the surround thing out. And I'm not going to do anything else until I figure the business side out because I think this thing is going to be massive. In 1998, GM, Ford, Toyota and Mazda are supposed to be coming out with surround systems in their cars, so that's really going to open the door. DVD is still a buzzword for the next six years or so, but it'll be there, too. To paraphrase Jerry Garcia, it's been a long, strange trip. But I like where it's going.'

Sleeve notes: The Best of the Music Machine

'It gives us great pleasure to finally make available a consummate package by one of the best rock bands to emerge from the mid 1960s. Because of their aggressive attack and dress-all black, including dyed hair and black glove on one hand only-the group was placed in the vanguard of the punk rock boom. But the Music Machine was much more than that.

'Songwriter Sean Bonniwell assumed various provocative stances and propelled his men through a series of successful experiments, unusual approaches to tuning, use of cymbals, bass emphasis, electronic guitar sounds, an early version of the fuzz box created by bassist (now producer) Keith Olsen, all aided by the production team consisting of Brian Ross, the producer, and Paul Buff the recording engineer. The latter, an electronic genius, invented a 10-track recording machine during a time when most other advanced studios were struggling with four tracks. The records of the Music Machine just might have been the most state-of-the-art of their day.

'The group's very first single, "Talk Talk", provides a good example. An intense whirlwind of disillusion, the song is based on a series of stops and starts that Sean refers to as 'Chinese Jazz'. The only time the title is mentioned is at the four beats at the very end. Right off the group forged its own identity, characterised by fuzz guitar and Farfisa organ, swathed in an aura of mystery. Sean sang and played guitar and wrote the songs. The rest of the band consisted of Olsen, Mark London, lead guitar, Ron Edgar, drums, Doug Rhodes, organ. This is the line-up that played on the Music Machine's better known recordings. Although the group was popular in its native Los Angeles, and while various singles achieved regional recognition, save for "Talk Talk" the band's gems have been long waited to be rediscovered. That time has finally arrived.'


LOU CHRISTIE &
THE TAMMYS:
EGYPTIAN SHUMBA:
THE SINGLES AND
RARE RECORDINGS 1962-1964

RPM CD 330


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