Steve Lillywhite, Lord of the Treble: C/D, S/D

* Joan Armatrading: Walk Under Ladders
* Big Country: The Crossing, Steeltown
* Marshall Crenshaw: Field Day
* Climie Fisher: a few songs from Everything
* Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel (III or Melt)
* Guster: Lost and Gone Forever
* The La's: The La's
* Kirsty MacColl: Kite, Electric Landlady, Galore
* Dave Matthews Band: Under The Table and Dreaming, Crash, The Lillywhite Sessions, Before These Crowded Streets
* Morrissey: Vauxhall and I, Southpaw Grammar, Maladjusted
* Penetration: Coming Up For Air
* Phish: Billy Breathes
* The Pogues: If I Should Fall From Grace with God, Peace and Love
* Psychedelic Furs: The Psychadelic Furs, Talk Talk Talk
* The Rolling Stones: Dirty Work
* Simple Minds: Sparkle In The Rain
* Siouxsie & The Banshees: The Scream
* The Smiths: mixed the "Ask" single (The World Won't Listen)
* Talking Heads: Naked
* Thompson Twins: Set (album featuring their first hit "In The Name Of Love")
* Johnny Thunders: So Alone
* Travis: Good Feeling
* U2: Boy, October, War, Under a Blood Red Sky, a few songs on The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, All That You Can't Leave Behind, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb;
* World Party: Bang!
* XTC: Drums and Wires, Black Sea

Peter Gabriel - III
Simple Minds - Sparkle In The Rain
Psychedelic Furs - s/t
La's - s/t (I love how this record sounds! I never understood what Mavers didn't like about it.)

I guess those U2 records deserve a shout out too, but I never need to listen to them again.

(Did he really do Achtung Baby?)

Dud: Dave Matthews.

Then again "Vauxhall and I" would be the last Morrisey album I cared about, and easily one of his sweetest, most successful & complete sounding.

If all he'd done was lend his production talents and his wife to "Fairytale Of New York," he'd be classic.

Xtra love for Talk Talk Talk, where Vince Ely has never sounded better.

The low end on "One Hit" breathes pretty well, too.

Also search: "The Broad Majestic Shannon." Not only has it sneakily become my second-fave track on If I Should Fall From Grace With God, but it offers a really nice example of what's great about Lillywhite's sound when it works. Forcing the lows and highs onto separate planes creates a spacious home for vocals in the middle and is also quite EQ-friendly for them what needs their bass.

And "Biko," because, y'know, godDAMN.

boomp-boomp BIP-boomp BIP
boomp-boomp BIP-boomp BIP

This guy was sort of the hottest producer around at one stage during the early 80s. And then, listening to his work in retrospect, oh my how many potentially good albums did he ruin with his flat, tin-box-like, almost monaural sound?
In 1983, U2, Big Country, Marshall Crenshaw and Simple Minds all had some excellent collections of songs. All of which were completely ruined by Mr. Lillywhite. One might just imagine how great "War" might have sounded like with Daniel Lanois and Eno in the producers' seats, but that was not to happen. (And what he did for Crenshaw was even worse - sadly Crenshaw's career has been a series of ill-advised producer picks, and it wasn't until he started working with Brad Jones in the late 90s that he found the right guy)

Also, XTC may have written some of their best early material in 1979-80, but the sound on "Drums And Wires" and "Black Sea" was still tinny and flat. It is like, when occasionally a Lillywhite production did sound good for once (most notably on Peter Gabriel's third album) it must have been in spite of him rather than because of him.

Anyone ready to defend this disaster.

-- Geir Hongro (geirhon...) (webmail), March 25th, 2006.

I should say "on the basis of that song alone", which wouldn't suggest I don't like other things he's done, because I do.