Brendan O'Brien: Springsteen's 'Magic' man
The Boss' latest has a harder, more guitar-based sound thanks in great part to the producer who also had a hand in alterna-hits for Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, and Stone Temple Pilots
''If somebody wants to compare what we did to Phil Spector — his records, I mean — I'll take that.''
Before he started working with Bruce Springsteen, Brendan O'Brien was best known for producing some of the seminal alternative-rock records of the '90s: Pearl Jam's Vs., Vitalogy, Yield, and No Code, Stone Temple Pilots' Core and Purple, Rage Against the Machine's Evil Empire and The Battle of Los Angeles, and so on. Even in the last year or two, he's been in the studio with ungenteel acts like Incubus and Velvet Revolver. So it shouldn't be any surprise that Springsteen's new Magic is being called one of the Boss' hardest rocking albums ever. What is surprising is how much of a ''pop'' record it is, too; till now, we weren't necessarily thinking of O'Brien as Phil Spector's heir apparent.
With Magic widely hailed by fans and critics alike and a likely shoo-in for Album of the Year at next February's Grammys, we thought we'd check in with O'Brien to see if he'd give up any magician's secrets.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You're a man of many projects. Do you put everybody else on hold when Springsteen calls? Even knowing that, with his rep, these could be recordings that never get released?
BRENDAN O'BRIEN: I do make a lot of records with a lot of people, and sometimes they overlap, and sometimes I have two or three things going at once. Everybody I work with is the most important person I work with, while I'm with them. But sometimes I have to compartmentalize and move on for a few days and do something else. Obviously with Bruce — with really any artist — I'll do whatever I can to move things around. But it's funny that you said that... I remember the first day that Bruce and I met. I said, ''Hey man, I've gotta tell you. We had a great day together. I'm excited about doing this.... But I've just got to tell you, I'm worried. You have a history of recording things and not putting them out…'' — I don't know any of this stuff, but I had always heard — and I said, ''That scares me to death, man. I don't want to do that.'' And he just kind of went, ''Well, I don't know what to tell you, man.'' [Laughs] There was no reassurance, at all, like, ''Oh, it's gonna be okay.'' He just goes ''Yeah, I don't know what to tell you — we'll see how it goes.'' [Laughs] And I thought, I guess I can accept that.
Jon Landau said this is Bruce's most guitar-oriented album, and that in the past, Roy Bittan and Danny Federicii were so good they could tip things in a certain keyboard-oriented way.
I think a reason some of these earlier records were so keyboard oriented — I would have to assume, after working with Roy and Danny — is that those guys are very quick at picking things up. And I would imagine that, when they recorded, maybe Roy was the first guy to pick up all the chords! [Laughs] So it became a piano song. I don't know. But in terms of this one being more guitar-driven, keyboards do play a big role. I mean, Roy and Danny are all over this record. Roy, I think on this album — I teased him about it, and I think he digs it — he's more the rhythm guitar player. He's playing such heavy rhythm stuff on this record, and not a lot of the high, right hand [that he's famous for]. It's very heavy, chordal stuff, and it's really driving a lot of the songs. It's not as distinguishable as the higher stuff, but if you pulled it out of the mix, you'd go, what happened to the whole bottom end? Roy's a big part of [why this album rocks].
You've used the word ''pop'' in connection with this album.
I would say in the sense that they're songs that have hooks in them and lyrically they're meant to grab your attention. I don't think there are any songs that are particularly extended on this record. They're all kind of concise and compact. It's obviously not the same pop record as, say, a Fergie record...
A lot of the songs have great bridges. And maybe a lot of other Springsteen songs have in the past, too, but somehow it wasn't as noticeable. I'm a sucker for a great bridge.
Me too, man. Bruce is a great bridge or great middle-8 writer. I know on this record we had a blast really making little songs-within-a-song for the bridge sections. A lot of these things he was writing for the bridges in my mind were perfect opportunities to actually have a little 40-second song...in the middle of the song.
On things like ''Girls in Their Summer Clothes'' and ''Your Own Worst Enemy,'' you went for the more Spectorian production. Was there a moment when you guys broke out the glockenspiel and said, are we ready to go for this?
If somebody wants to compare what we did to Phil Spector — his records, I mean [Laughs] — I'll take that. Because hell, yeah! That's a language we all understand. Whenever you hear a really big sound, it harkens back to those spectacular, huge sounding records, And you want people to listen to something and be excited by it. Give 'em the bang for their buck. Listeners are pretty sophisticated. They understand if something sounds half-assed or not. And that's not to say that there's songs that we did or we haven't done in the past that are very stripped down and very simplified, because that's what those songs demanded. But some of these newer songs, because they were little three-and-a-half minute masterpieces — in my opinion — of Bruce's material, they demanded the whole treatment.
It sounds like there's some tympani on there.
That is actual tympani, my friend, yes. I do keep tympani and glockenspiel around my studio. [Laughs] And bells and all kinds of crap. That stuff's always around. So you can read into that whatever you want. I'm just looking for an excuse to use it, I guess. [Laughs]
With a lot of bands you produce, you don't get a chance to break those out.
It depends. I will say that a lot of times in making this record, there was a lot of just straight up laughing out loud. Just smiling. Pure joy. I really like the paradox of this material, that musically a lot of it is very uplifting and very driving, and lots of colors and textures. It makes you think of these memories…. They're set as pop songs. But some of the lyrics are not particularly [fun]. ''Your Own Worst Enemy,'' that's not a happy ending right there. That's a very deep, cutting song. I personally love the rub there, the difference there — the paradox.
You said Roy's piano is doing rhythm a lot, but the opening of ''I'll Work for Your Love'' is quintessentially him.
Yeah, to me, that's like a classic E Street opening. Classic. As a matter of fact, I remember when Roy was playing that, Nick DeVito, our engineer and a big Bruce fan, he goes ''Well, that sounds correct. That sounds right.'' [Laughs] It wasn't a deliberate thing. It's just, when he started doing it, that's just what these guys do! He's Roy Bittan, he plays in the E Street Band, that's how he starts songs.
Has there been any time during the recording where somebody worried that it sounded too much like the past?
I don't remember ever that really coming up. And my own opinion is, I'm dealing with an artist who's pretty secure in where he's at in his life and his career. And if something sounds a little like something he's done before, or if something reminds you of something he's done before, that's probably not a bad thing. I mean, I think all performers go through a period in their lives where they feel like they've got to not do that, or whatever. I mean, I've worked with lots of artists, and I've seen a lot of guys go through that, and it's a natural thing. I think he's at a spot that he's pretty at ease. Whatever's the most honest and real way we can present [the music], that's how we're doing it. And if things hearken back to another time or another record, well, he's made lots of records and he's a pretty identifiable guy, so I think that's sort of inevitable. And I'm a big fan of those records, so if I'm guilty of leaning that way a little bit, so be it. [Laughs]
This is a half-hour shorter than The Rising.
I do know the feeling at the time was, "Well, we haven't made a record together in God knows how long, and we're not really sure when we're gonna do this again. We're having a great time. Why are we trying to make it short?" [Laughs] This is a great band that hasn't recorded together in a very long time. And who knows? We didn't know how it was gonna be received. You never know. Luckily and happily, things have gone very well in the last five years. And they're having a great time performing together and they're all getting along, best I can tell. And Bruce is on a creative roll writing songs like nobody's business. So I think there's less pressure of that now. I think there's more of a feeling of, let's put together a great record and not worry about that part of it. It was just, that's how many songs we had, and we put 'em on the record.
There are fewer songs, and they're shorter, and they fade out sometimes just as an interesting solo is getting going. This time you were secure enough in the idea that it's okay to leave 'em wanting more, as the old show-biz maxim goes.
Well, I know that's how I feel. I feel that way 100 percent. I've heard more than a few people say, ''At the end of the song, I wish it would go on longer.'' I love hearing that. I love hearing somebody saying, ''Boy, I wish it was longer.'' Love that!
