Tom Dowd The Man Behind the Music
This week, producer-engineer-musician extraordinaire Tom Dowd will finally get inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
Tom Dowd not only produced and engineered some of greatest records of all-time, he changed the way we hear the songs and the process in which they are recorded. Here’s just a sample of some of the artists he’s worked with: Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Quincy Jones, Ornette Coleman, The Allman Brothers Band, Eric Clapton (solo & with Cream), The Drifters, Charles Mingus, Willie Nelson, Booker T & The MGs, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Dusty Springfield, Rod Stewart, the list goes on and on.
Here are 8 of the greats.
1. The Allman Brothers Band – Live At Fillmore East
Dowd produced all of those classic ABB albums but this is the one that captures the essence of the band in their best element. Dowd’s meticulous recording of each player and the audience set the standard in which all live albums are recorded. How invaluable was Tom Dowd to The Allman Brothers Band? They haven’t made a new album since he passed in 2002.
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2. Ray Charles – What’d I Say
Ray Charles at his R&B/rock peak. Again, Dowd’s production brings out a clarity and an intimacy that hadn’t been heard on wax before. You feel as though you’re in the room with them. Atlantic wanted to edit the near seven minute song down to under 3 minutes, but Dowd convinced them to splitting the record in half – part 1 as the A-side, part 2 as the B-Side. The result: At the time, the biggest selling single in Atlantic Records history.
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3. Derek & The Dominoes – Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs
It was Tom Dowd who, through his work with The Allman Brothers Band, introduced Eric Clapton to Duane Allman. It was the rock equivalent of pairing Charlie Parker with Dizzy Gillespie. Allman became a de facto member of Clapton’s band for the sessions and helped channel Slowhand’s love for his best friend’s wife into what would become one of the greatest rock albums of all time.
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4. Dusty Springfield – Dusty In Memphis
Dusty Springfield’s career was at a crossroads. She was caught in between the changing tides that were happening in the music industry and in the pop culture landscape as a whole. Hoping to connect with her love for soul music, she signed with Atlantic Records and Dowd was brought aboard to co-produced the sessions. Employing the same recording techniques that he used for Dusty’s idol Aretha Franklin, Dusty In Memphis was a full on triumph, cementing Springfield’s status as one of the finest singers of any genre.
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5. Lynyrd Skynyrd – Street Survivors
There was no doubt that Skynyrd idolized Dowd – they nearly named one of their albums Ain’t No Dowd About It as a tribute to him. For Street Survivors, everything was clicking. With the recent addition of guitarist Steve Gaines, the three guitar attack was back and in full bloom. Gaines was also an excellent songwriter: He wrote/co-wrote half of the album, including ‘I Know A Little’ and ‘You Got That Right’. Street Survivors was the peak of 70s Southern Rock. Sadly, it would be the final epitaph for Ronnie Van Zandt, Gaines, his sister Cassie: They were killed along with 3 others in a plane crash after a performance in Mississippi.
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6. Aretha Franklin – Lady Soul
For Aretha’s second album with Atlantic, everyone stepped up their game. The production team of Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd repeated the same formula that produced her breakthough hit, ‘I Never Loved A Man’: Putting her otherworldly voice and piano up front and letting the crack team of studio musicians – many of whom were part of the famed Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section – add their magic. It’s loaded with classics: ‘Chain Of Fools’, ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’, ‘Ain’t No Way’, and ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’. Lady Soul didn’t just beat the sophomore slump, it’ll made turned Aretha Franklin into The Queen Of Soul.
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7. Eric Clapton – 461 Ocean Boulevard
After bouts of depression, heartache and drug addiction, Eric Clapton emerged with a new band and musical direction. Dowd, whose friendship and working relationship dated back to the Cream days, was brought aboard to produce the album. The sense of renewal and rebirth is felt throughout especially on burning tracks like ‘Motherless Children’, ‘Mainline Florida’, and the chart topping cover of Bob Marley’s ‘I Shot The Sheriff’. It was Dowd who provided Clapton with an endless well of much needed confidence – especially as it pertains to his singing. Clapton’s passionate vocal on ‘Let It Grow’ is one of the album’s many highlights. This was the album that brought Clapton back from the brink and he’s never looked back.
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8. John Coltrane – Giant Steps
This wasn’t first Trane’s first album (it was actually his fourth as a bandleader), but it had the passion and the urgency of a debut. Newly signed to Atlantic Records, producer Nesuhi Ertegun brought aboard Dowd to engineer and properly mic Coltrane’s now-famous ‘sheets of sound’. As often was the case, the results set new standards all around. Giant Steps is basically used as the practice template for anyone who aspires to be a jazz saxophonist.
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If you want to learn more about Tom Dowd and his extraordinary life, check out the EXCELLENT documentary Tom Dowd And The Language Of Music.
