Music From Great Record Producers
Posted by: Fusion 45 in Portfolio: Producers, tags: crowded house, latin playboys, los lobos, mitchell froom, suzanne vega
With A Name Like Mitchell Froom, It Has To Be Good
There’s something fascinating about Mitchell Froom’s name. Say it out loud: it’s both lyrical and industrial at the same time. It evokes evergreens and oranges, sometimes smoke from chimneys of the London cityscape, sometimes dry grasses of Baja Mexico.
His records – those he’s performed and those he’s produced — sound like his name. Particularly those for Latin Playboys and Los Lobos demonstrate a genius for combining new electronics with ancient instruments.
I have Latin Playboys and some of solo stuff around somewhere; I’ll dig them up.
In the meantime, here’s a cut or two that are readily available.
Los Lobos – Angels With Dirty Faces
A brilliant demonstration of his ability to meld together a soundscape of electronics and instruments.
Crowded House – Chocolate Cake
A sneakily sarcastic song that could’ve suffer from too much of what was trendy at the time. Instead, Froom let the lyrics shine.
It sounds a little dated today but still has something special about it.
Artwork: Rock & Roll (Acrylic/Oil on Box Canvas) by Cindy Todd
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And he did great stuff with Richard Thompson. I think he was married to Suzanne Vega. Thanks.
Mitchell Froom is God’s gift to those with starving ears, but, teamed with Tchad Blake they were walking the edge between genius and insanity.
Both Latin Playboys albums and his first solo effort Dopamine were sheer bliss. I listen to them when I need inspiration to escape from the box.
Thanks for these tidbits.