Who should have produced Little Games?

Jimmy? John Baldwin? I think this is a subject I've never seen.

 

I'd go with Mickie Most.

He was brought in to add commerciality and get the band back on the charts. Whether you like or hate the end result, the producer and the material were picked with that in mind. You can't separate the two.

If you replace the producer on this LP, you have to replace all the material contained on it as well.

I think the correct question should be: who should have been brought to produce an LP by the Yardbirds at this stage in 1967?

 

That's actually a thought....

 

Jimmy had no cred yet though it's the logical answer...

But in '67, I woulda nominated Shel Talmy... he could do raunchy rock n roll and nice acoustic stuff...

 

Didn't succeed though; all the Little Games singles flopped.

Mickie Most made great singles with quite a few artists. But with the Yardbirds he attempted an overhalf of an already well established band. And since the Yardbirds' reputation was built on being innovative rather than commercial, it didn't work to change that.

 

ME!!
...jk.........jk....

 

Little Games is one of my favourite albums, and despite its flaws, it has a beautiful charm to it. I’m happy with Mickie Most as producer, given my overall appreciation of the album. Love, love, love the album cover too!

 

Of course the best recordings they ever did were in Chicago at Chess and in Memphis at Sam Phillips' new digs (not Sun) so it'd be best for either Malo or Phillips to engineer if not produce!

 

And since Keith and Jim were pushing to go in a Simon & Garfunkle direction, Roy Halee is an obvious choice... not only for producing S&G but he also did some good recordings with the Yardies both during their Beck era and later with Page...

 

I know there's a lotta guff directed Dave Hassinger's way in this neck of the woods, but there's a reason the Stones abandoned London to work with him. While I'd rather have all my other choices produce the Page Yardies first, I'd still rather have Hassinger than Most (who did get great bass sounds from the Animals and Nashville Teens)...

 

Ask a Gort to add "Yardbirds" to thread title

 

Joe Boyd, Norman Smith, Shel Talmy. There's lots of producers better than Mickie Most. Most ruined the band completely in the most shocking way.

 

If they were gonna stay in the UK, though, and wanted a Brit to produce I woulda looked at Mike Vernon... I mean, Bluesbreakers and Fleetwood Mac yah know...

If not a Brit, Jimmy Miller

 

Boyd's a great idea... coulda done the psych electric stuff and also indulged the acoustic bent Relf & McCarty were aching to pursue...

 

Are we meant to know what ‘Little Games’ is?

 

The theme-music to the upcoming miniseries, Vagueness is the New Black.

 

Right, we know that in retrospect... in addition, to a revaluation more than 50 years after the fact.

We know it failed, but in late '66, the band, for all its great innovation, supposedly needed some chart action to stay financially solvent

Overall, i don't think the pressure from EMI and the move to bring in Mickie Most was a beneficial or forward-thinking idea, but... if the plan was a fait accompli when presented to the band, and the plan had to go forward, Mickie Most was the logical choice considering his status in the commercial charts at the time.

Because things were moving so quickly in 1960s, if a decision like this even came down four or six months later, I'm guessing someone straddling both the commercial and progressive worlds would have been considered. If this LP was recorded in, say, June 1967, maybe someone like Jimmy Miller would have gotten the call.

 

I'd nominate Paul Samwell-Smith as the best choice...!!!

 

Brilliant

 

Dude, if you don't know what little games in you might as well turn your membership card in.

 

Samwell-Smith was the first choice as the first session the 4 piece line up did was with him in late 66 where they failed to complete "You Stole My Love" and Samwell-Smith apparently abandoned the session as he didn't see eye to eye with their newest guitarist. Just after that, Peter Grant took over management and did a deal with the man whom he shared offices with - Mickie Most.

I don't dislike some of the "Little Games" stuff but Most was the wrong man for the job. He was brilliant at finding hit songs for appropriate acts but technically as a producer I find his works leave much to be desired.

I think Glyn Johns would have been a more suitable choice.

 

The Yardbirds.

 

Never heard of it. Fleetwood Mac album?

 

If they don't know what Little Games is or they just have their shorts on too tight, that's their problem, not mine