R.I.P. Rupert Hine-record producer*

Sad to learn this. Have been on a Rupert kick for the past few years, a very impressive legacy and body of work. Rupert was always very much searching and pushing boundaries at a young age. He teamed up with some interesting musicians for his first album Pick Up A Bone, Simon Jeffs (later Penguin Cafe Orchestra founder) being one the more important. Other notable names being Paul Buckmaster and Peter Robinson, both musicians with some very interesting sessions to their credit. Hine's first album already remarkably displays a rather eclectic mix of disparate styles, and eccentricities in subject manner and vocals. I especially like the song Landscape. It's a lush album with great production and engineering from John Punter.

Unfinished Picture his next LP was even stranger and no doubt sold few copies. An album that sounds very promising on paper but is unfortunately not especially successful. Many of the same impressive collaborators are back including Ray Cooper, Mike Giles and Steve Nye. Cryptic subject matter, textural experimentation and silliness abound. Amazing that Rupert was given such artistic freedom, budget and access to top musicians to produce two very uncommercial records at the start of his career. He must have had some good industry connections, or very good luck.

The second Quantum Jump record Barracuda is a favourite of his earlier work. The first and more popular Quantum Jump is somewhat dated and over reliant on funk cliches for me. Unlike me Hine does prefer the homogeneous sound of the first LP. The familiar and stellar cast of musicians return with an expanded Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Geoffrey Richardson and Henry Lowther! Barracuda is very strange and cinematic with themes of paranoia and escapism. His important lyrical collaborator Jeanette Obstoj makes her first appearance here. If you like adventurous art rock music this is very much worth hearing.

Another record from this period worth highlighting is Murry Head's third album Between Us. Rupert produces and basically brings his people to play on the record and sounds at times like a record he might have made. There are a few stand out songs on this record, Los Angles, Mademoiselle and Sorry, I love you are beautifully produced and written.

Jumping ahead to 1981 Immunity is Rupert's first moderate commercial success. A very influential record that many took notice of, Rush among them. The detail, craft and ideas are still dazzling all these years later. The synth programming is spectacularly great and still betters much of what has come since. More paranoia and unconventional subject matter.

Also in 1981 Hine produced Saga's Worlds Apart. A record I grew up with and still very much like. Hine helped Saga sell a whole pile of records in Germany and elsewhere. No doubt he was attracted to the synth heavy sound of the band. Great guitar, drum and synth sounds abound alongside a very good collection of modern accessible FM pomp rock. Michael Sadler recalls Hine insisting that he sing from the high and slightly dangerous perch of the studio rafters to get the right amount of fear in his vocal. The follow up Heads Or Tails also produced by Hine is worth hearing too.

What a strange and wonderful career. Rupert was probably one of the early "ideas" type of musicians, like a Brian Eno. Not a great singer or instrumentalist, wrote very unconventional songs while producing/collaborating at the same time, and had great success spanning three decades.

Have been meaning to start a Hine type thread and suppose this is a good time to talk about Rupert. Hoping I can learn more about his early days and keep this thread going for some time.

 

The beautiful Landscape from his first album Pick Up The Bones

 

A must listen from Murry and Rupert. Simon Jeffs playing a gothic church organ.

 

Some exceptional pomp from Saga. Always get a kick out of playing this loud. Extraordinary production.

 

The Fixx's Reach the Beach was a pretty big seller in Canada. Around the same time I heard a local radio station play songs from Rupert's Wildest Wish to Fly which sounded like the Fixx. It left me wondering who was the creative force behind the Fixx, the performers or their producer. RIP.

 

Sorry, last one. The exquisite Mademoiselle. Not to far off something that Cohen might have made.

 

Yes! Forgot about that one.

 

Murray Head - Los Angeles

 

Yeah. That's such a beautiful one too.

 

Huge fan here. As a teenage wannabe musician, I looked up to him based on Immunity and other production work. I sent him a demo tape. He wrote back with 18 handwritten pages of critique, advice, and stories. It was a warm and friendly letter. I eventually met him and he was wonderful. Utterly unique. He'd done all sorts of things in his life, including being a stuntman, and he'd also been a friend of Jon Pertwee, the third Doctor Who, and even did a record with him. Also friendly with Julian Clary, the comedian, who he met as one of the fake musicians in Thinkman. I don't think he was ever the same after the split from Jeanette Obstoj (music and life partner) and was not well for a while.

I don't know if he was a genius, but certainly a very talented gentleman.

 

"In the wee hours of this morning our dear friend and super talented musician, songwriter, and
producer of two Rush albums, Presto and Roll The Bones, sadly passed away.

Roop was always such an upbeat, unflappable and all around lovely “chap” to work with and to
be around. His influence on our music and on our attitude towards enjoying life was profound
and he shall be sorely missed by so many.

There are still many of his very “British” expressions that have made their way permanently
into our lexicon and we can see his smiling face and the twinkle in his eye whilst saying, “Jolly D!!”

RIP dear “Roop”…We love you man!"



Studio shot of Rupert by Geddy Lee

Rupert Hine | Rush.com

 

Crushed to hear of his loss. I am a huge solo-Hine/Thinkman fan. Those album are the apex of high-tech, forward thinking rock music. "Immunity" slots very comfortably next to "Peter Gabriel III" and there are no other albums that can make that claim. And Hine never went soft like Gabriel [it was all over by 1984 with me and p.g.] Oddly enough, I'm not moved much by his productions. Can't stand many of the acts he produced: The Fixx, Saga, Howard Jones, late Thompson Twins, Stevie Nicks. I would have thought that he would have been the guy to produce Rush in 1982-5, not later when they were moving out of their "tech-phase." So "Presto" and "Roll the Bones" were at the tail end of their "imperial phase" for me and footnote albums in their canon.

 

Not sure he'd want to be remembered for those productions as they are both poor albums with terribly thin sound.

 

I loved his two solo albums IMMUNITY and WAVING NOT DROWNING.
Rest in peace

 

Rupert Hine R.I.P. » rogerglover.com

 

I admit Heads Or Tales never clicked with me as much as Worlds Apart (and it sounds awful if your CD player doesn't apply de-emphasis).

Love some songs from Heads or Tales though, and the whole of Worlds Apart, and the ones he did with Rush. RIP.

 

A nice piece from RupertHine.com about Roger Glover, from a speech he made celebrating 50 years doing his thing... Shows his class and humanity...

Roger Glover
Having spent much of the night hearing such touching stories re my involvement with, and encouragement for, artists, writers, engineers, musicians, collaborators… the end of the evening was to be my turn to thank the one person in my life to effect the same level of change to my own life-story.


Having started my creative life with a rare recording opportunity of a contract with Decca Records (The Rolling Stones label amongst many, many others) and a first single produced by the Decca equivalent to George Martin (at EMI) - Dick Rowe - things plummeted to nothingness over the succeeding months. I continued to write songs with my lyricist partner David MacIver for some four years, whilst working on what seemed like hundreds of two or three week temp jobs for the rent. This, not particularly promising way of life, was beginning to feel somewhat fruitless when a chance discovery that my old Episode 6 mate from the early Sound of Silence days, was now with a rather successful band called Deep Purple. Given their massive change of appearance from mid-sixties mop-tops / suits to late 60s waist-long hair / jeans, beards and moustaches, I needed to call the record label and see if he was indeed the same Roger Glover.



He was, and when I cheekily asked if a message could be passed on to him, it was - and we met again. I played him the intervening years worth of songwriting and he immediately loved them.



Deep Purple had already been given their own imprint and Roger suggested to the managers at the helm that they should sign both myself and David to Purple Records… and while he was at it - also suggesting that he produce us. Imagine our delight, five years after experiencing such an immediate high followed by a bleak and sustaining low - we should re-surface signed and produced by an old friend - to his own label! The entire experience was such a joy. Still to this day much of that sounds original and colourfully rich. Exquisite string arrangements and witty Hi-fidelitous production.

Which directly led to….
This opening chapter to the next creative phase started when David and I were asked to write and record a 2nd album for Purple and due to Deep Purple’s ever-expanding global domination of early ‘heavy’ rock bands, Roger was simply not available to produce.


His recommendation for a substitute producer was… well…. me! I told him I had no idea how to do all that! He calmly instructed me to do what I did at home with my bits of string and tin-can studio - only - bigger!

And that’s how I became a producer.

 

Rupert arranged, produced & played on much of super-babe Milla Jovovich's wonderfully weird 1994 album The Divine Comedy

 

sad to hear this news, rest in peace
I was just listening to The Fixx. Also his solo Misplaced Love is a wonderful 80's song

 

Was listening to this again and enjoying "Living in Sin" and smiling...both RH and Robert Palmer are gone, but they live on through their music.

 

Rupert produced and performed on John G. Perry's exquisite ambient jazz album "Sunset Wading" from 1976 (which also features a Roger Glover synthesizer credit).

 

Thanks for posting, hadn't seen this before. Listened to this the other week. An all star line up, and a Porky press. This reminds me a bit of B.J Cole's solo album The New Hovering Dog. Speaking of Glover, you could also add his first and excellent solo album to this list of under appreciated instrumental records.