DANIEL LANOIS profile
The Record, 1998
Fresh from producing a typically raw and spontaneous album for Bob Dylan in Miami, Daniel Lanois is back to work on his own long-awaited third solo disc in a relatively sleepy agricultural town north of Los Angeles.
Lanois vows that he and his collaborators – drummer Brian Blade and fellow Hamilton, Ont. exile Mark Howard – are almost finished recording a long-gestated set that trailblazes some bold new directions by melding the Berlin sound of David Bowie circa Heroes with the progressive jazz/rock fusion of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew period. The working title is Firebirds, and Lanois laughs when he says “it’s got some sounds on it that will make at least a few people jealous, I hope.”
Hints of the new direction can be heard on "Orange Kay," a volcanic guitar instrumental that adds fire and brimstone to the retribution scene in Billy Bob Thornton’s acclaimed film Sling Blade. The otherwise low-key, impressionistic album of instrumental tracks is the first Lanois score since Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks, his classic 1983 collaboration with the Eno brothers, Brian and Roger.
Thornton had already selected "The Maker" off the Lanois album Acadie for the closing credits before he asked the 46 year-old from Hull, Que. to write a full score. “'The Maker' haunted him to the point where he'd taken to calling me ‘The Ghost,'" he says, laughing. "Eventually Billy Bob got in touch with me. I watched his film, was touched by it, and I agreed to do it. Simple as that.”
Like most of Lanois’ work since he left New Orleans several years ago, Sling Blade was recorded in a converted Mexican “theatro,” or cinema, in downtown Oxnard, CA. “It’s a comfortable environment. The big screen is still there, so we could watch the film as we recorded. There are couches all over the place along with some of the original theatre seats. Every inch of the room has its own presence, and it’s possible to set up anywhere and record.”
Still carrying a vibe straight out of Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, says Lanois, Oxnard is part of California’s intensive farm belt and has a distinct Mexicali flavor thanks to a large population of migrant workers. The dry climate and 100,000-acre agribusinesses makes the region a distinct change from the Mississippi delta. “I love New Orleans, It’s just that I did my seven years there and had the itch to go elsewhere. I still have my place there, and it’s nice to be a little more off the beaten path.”
The Dylan album, tentatively titled Time Out of Mind and due late this year via Columbia Records, follows up on their first project, 1989's Oh Mercy, which was widely hailed as the Hall of Fame troubadour’s finest work since Blood On The Tracks (1974). “It’s a Bob album, filled with his songs, voice and really high-level lyric writing. The sound is raw, as he likes it, and there are a lot of musicians, a room full of them, so we didn’t do much overdubbing.”
Following a lengthy spell of working on big-budget bestsellers by the likes of U2 and Peter Gabriel, Lanois has opted for more down-to-earth productions in recent years with Emmylou Harris (1995’s Wrecking Ball) and Luscious Jackson (Fever In, Fever Out, which is now gold in the U.S. following the success of lead single “Naked Eye.”) The calls from private listings keep coming, however. “Mick Jagger phoned awhile back. We talked, but I haven’t heard from him since,” says Lanois, chuckling over the long-distance line. “Mick has probably forgotten he ever spoke to me. I’ve heard the Stones are working with Don Was and the Dust Brothers.”
One artist Lanois has long fancied producing is Neil Young. “Maybe that’ll happen some day,” he says. “I live in hope.” As for U2, he and Eno enjoying a spectacular run with the Irish band through Achtung Baby in 1992. “We made three albums with them, and the last one I sort of regard as the springboard for my current solo work.”
Lanois caught up with Bono and crew at the Las Vegas opening of the PopMart tour in April. He was “blown away," he says, by the size, scope and spectacle. “As long as they hang onto the soul at the core of what they do, they have a licence to move in any direction they fancy at any time. It’s a huge, visual extravaganza, this show they’re putting on. Yet I think they’d have pulled the same 50,000 if they’d done it with a single naked light bulb hanging over their heads.”
The Record, 1998
Fresh from producing a typically raw and spontaneous album for Bob Dylan in Miami, Daniel Lanois is back to work on his own long-awaited third solo disc in a relatively sleepy agricultural town north of Los Angeles.
Lanois vows that he and his collaborators – drummer Brian Blade and fellow Hamilton, Ont. exile Mark Howard – are almost finished recording a long-gestated set that trailblazes some bold new directions by melding the Berlin sound of David Bowie circa Heroes with the progressive jazz/rock fusion of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew period. The working title is Firebirds, and Lanois laughs when he says “it’s got some sounds on it that will make at least a few people jealous, I hope.”
Hints of the new direction can be heard on "Orange Kay," a volcanic guitar instrumental that adds fire and brimstone to the retribution scene in Billy Bob Thornton’s acclaimed film Sling Blade. The otherwise low-key, impressionistic album of instrumental tracks is the first Lanois score since Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks, his classic 1983 collaboration with the Eno brothers, Brian and Roger.
Thornton had already selected "The Maker" off the Lanois album Acadie for the closing credits before he asked the 46 year-old from Hull, Que. to write a full score. “'The Maker' haunted him to the point where he'd taken to calling me ‘The Ghost,'" he says, laughing. "Eventually Billy Bob got in touch with me. I watched his film, was touched by it, and I agreed to do it. Simple as that.”
Like most of Lanois’ work since he left New Orleans several years ago, Sling Blade was recorded in a converted Mexican “theatro,” or cinema, in downtown Oxnard, CA. “It’s a comfortable environment. The big screen is still there, so we could watch the film as we recorded. There are couches all over the place along with some of the original theatre seats. Every inch of the room has its own presence, and it’s possible to set up anywhere and record.”
Still carrying a vibe straight out of Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, says Lanois, Oxnard is part of California’s intensive farm belt and has a distinct Mexicali flavor thanks to a large population of migrant workers. The dry climate and 100,000-acre agribusinesses makes the region a distinct change from the Mississippi delta. “I love New Orleans, It’s just that I did my seven years there and had the itch to go elsewhere. I still have my place there, and it’s nice to be a little more off the beaten path.”
The Dylan album, tentatively titled Time Out of Mind and due late this year via Columbia Records, follows up on their first project, 1989's Oh Mercy, which was widely hailed as the Hall of Fame troubadour’s finest work since Blood On The Tracks (1974). “It’s a Bob album, filled with his songs, voice and really high-level lyric writing. The sound is raw, as he likes it, and there are a lot of musicians, a room full of them, so we didn’t do much overdubbing.”
Following a lengthy spell of working on big-budget bestsellers by the likes of U2 and Peter Gabriel, Lanois has opted for more down-to-earth productions in recent years with Emmylou Harris (1995’s Wrecking Ball) and Luscious Jackson (Fever In, Fever Out, which is now gold in the U.S. following the success of lead single “Naked Eye.”) The calls from private listings keep coming, however. “Mick Jagger phoned awhile back. We talked, but I haven’t heard from him since,” says Lanois, chuckling over the long-distance line. “Mick has probably forgotten he ever spoke to me. I’ve heard the Stones are working with Don Was and the Dust Brothers.”
One artist Lanois has long fancied producing is Neil Young. “Maybe that’ll happen some day,” he says. “I live in hope.” As for U2, he and Eno enjoying a spectacular run with the Irish band through Achtung Baby in 1992. “We made three albums with them, and the last one I sort of regard as the springboard for my current solo work.”
Lanois caught up with Bono and crew at the Las Vegas opening of the PopMart tour in April. He was “blown away," he says, by the size, scope and spectacle. “As long as they hang onto the soul at the core of what they do, they have a licence to move in any direction they fancy at any time. It’s a huge, visual extravaganza, this show they’re putting on. Yet I think they’d have pulled the same 50,000 if they’d done it with a single naked light bulb hanging over their heads.”
