Chris Thomas is a respected British record producer who was born on January 13, 1947. 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ...

Early career

Thomas, trained in violin and piano as a child, began playing bass in London pop bands, turning down at one point the opportunity to play with Jimi Hendrix and Mitch Mitchell before Hendrix had struck fame. James Marshall Jimi Hendrix (November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and cultural icon. ...

Preferring studio work to playing live, he wrote to Beatles producer George Martin seeking work and in 1967 was employed on a six-month trial by AIR, an independent production company which had been founded by Martin and three other EMI producers. Although hired as a messenger and tea boy, he was also able to sit on sessions at EMI with the Hollies and, in 1968, the Beatles during their sessions for the White Album. The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 as part of their first tour of the United States, promoting their first hit single there, I Want To Hold Your Hand. ... Sir George Martin Sir George Martin C. B. E. (born January 3, 1926) is sometimes referred to as the fifth Beatle, a title that he owes to his work as producer of almost all of the Beatles records. ... The EMI Group is a major record label, based in Kensington in London, in the United Kingdom. ... The EMI Group is a major record label, based in Kensington in London, in the United Kingdom. ... The Hollies The Hollies are a British rock and roll band formed in the early 1960s. ... The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 as part of their first tour of the United States, promoting their first hit single there, I Want To Hold Your Hand. ... The self-titled double album The Beatles, released by the Beatles in 1968 at the height of their popularity, is often hailed as one of the major accomplishments in popular music. ...

Thomas later recalled:

”I went down to the studio and didn't really know what to expect because I'd only been observing up to that point. I was scared stiff and couldn't speak for hours! Ken Scott was engineering. He was 21, I was 22. The tape op was probably 20. Here we were with the biggest band on the planet. But The Beatles completely ignored me, and I got quite worried. Then they had a little break after three or four hours and they were chatting about Apple, which was new then, and I was wandering around downstairs and I heard John [Lennon] say, 'He's not really doing his job is he?' and I immediately took that to be about me. I thought, 'This is it.' I figured my whole career had about four hours left and then I'd get the bullet. George Martin would give me the bullet, and that would be the end of it.

”So I went back upstairs and they started again and they were doing a take and somebody made a mistake, so I pressed the button to interrupt them to say, 'Try again.' And in that studio the interruption was a klaxon – this huge RRRRAWWWWK! [Laughs] And they didn't hear the mistake, so they came up to the control room to have a listen. And I thought, 'God, if I've hallucinated this I'm in real trouble!' But they heard it and then they went back downstairs and started again.”

Thomas continued with the sessions, playing on Happiness is a Warm Gun, mellotron on Bungalow Bill and harpsichord on Piggies (his contribution didn’t make it on to the record). Ken Scott (born April 20, 1947 in London) is an influential English record producer and engineer. ... The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 as part of their first tour of the United States, promoting their first hit single there, I Want To Hold Your Hand. ... Sir George Martin Sir George Martin C. B. E. (born January 3, 1926) is sometimes referred to as the fifth Beatle, a title that he owes to his work as producer of almost all of the Beatles records. ... Happiness is a Warm Gun is a Beatles song that closes side one of the double-disc album The Beatles (also known as The White Album). ... Mellotron MK II The Mellotron is an electromechanical polyphonic keyboard musical instrument originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. ... The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill is a Beatles song from double-disc album The Beatles (also known as The White Album). ... Harpsichord in Flemish style; for more info, click the image. ... Piggies is a Beatles song from double-disc album The Beatles (also known as The White Album). ...

By the end of 1968 he had produced his first entire album – The Climax Chicago Blues Band by the Climax Blues Band; two years later he was working on Home, the fourth album by Procol Harum. He was subsequently invited by John Cale to produce his 1919 album at the AIR Studios, where he met Bryan Ferry, who in turn asked Thomas to produce Roxy Music. Climax Blues Band is a British blues band founded in 1968 by Colin Cooper. ... Procol Harum is a British progressive rock band, formed in the 1960s. ... John Cale is a Welsh musician, songwriter and record producer. ... Bryan Ferry (born 26 September 1945 in Washington, Tyne and Wear) is a British singer, musician and songwriter, famed for his suave visual and vocal style, who came to public prominence in the 1970s as lead vocalist with Roxy Music. ... Roxy Music is a British art rock group founded in the early 1970s as a collaborative project between art school graduates Bryan Ferry (vocals, keyboards) and Brian Eno (electronic music specialist). ...

Thomas explained how most of his production roles have arisen:

"I've been fortunate in that it's always been a case of the band contacting me rather than me being hired through a record company. So it hasn't been a manufactured arrangement. That's good because it shows they trust me, and if you haven't got the artist's trust, it doesn't matter what you do in the studio, you're not going to get anywhere."

Pink Floyd

In 1973, as Thomas’ work continued to attract interest, he took on mixing duties with Pink Floyd for their Dark Side of the Moon album, frequently finishing work at midnight and driving to AIR Studios to do more work on Procol Harum’s Grand Hotel album until 5am. Pink Floyd is an English band noted for progressive rock music, philosophical lyrics, classical rock compositions, sonic experimentation, innovative cover art and elaborate live shows. ... This article is about the Pink Floyd album. ... Procol Harum is a British progressive rock band, formed in the 1960s. ...

Floyd guitarist David Gilmour claims Thomas’ role on Dark Side of the Moon was as much umpire as mixer. David Jon Gilmour, CBE (born March 6, 1946) is a guitarist and vocalist with British rock band Pink Floyd. ... This article is about the Pink Floyd album. ...

”Chris Thomas came in for the mixes, and his role was essentially to stop the arguments between me and Roger about how it should be mixed. I wanted Dark Side to be big and swampy and wet, with reverbs and things like that. And Roger was very keen on it being a very dry album. I think he was influenced a lot by John Lennon's first solo album [Plastic Ono Band], which was very dry. We argued so much that it was suggested we get a third opinion. We were going to leave Chris to mix it on his own, with Alan Parsons engineering. And of course on the first day I found out that Roger sneaked in there. So the second day I sneaked in there. And from then on, we both sat right at Chris's shoulder, interfering. But luckily, Chris was more sympathetic to my point of view than he was to Roger's.’’

John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE, (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an iconic 20th century singer-songwriter of popular music with Paul McCartney as Lennon-McCartney throughout the 1960s, and was a founding member of The Beatles. ... Alan Parsons (born December 20, 1949) is a British musician. ...

Sex Pistols

In 1976 he was asked by Malcolm McLaren to produce the debut single by the Sex Pistols. He recalled: Malcolm McLaren Malcolm McLaren (born January 22, 1946) is a British impresario and self-publicist who is best known as being the manager of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. ... The Sex Pistols were, despite their short existence, a very influential British punk band. ...

"When I first heard the Sex Pistols' demos that they brought to me, I thought, 'This has the potential to be the best English rock band since The Who. It's a three-piece again – guitar, bass and drums.' The first single was Anarchy in the UK which made quite an impression ... Anarchy has something like a dozen guitars on it; I sort of orchestrated it, double-tracking some bits and separating the parts and adding them, et cetera ...It was quite labored. The vocals were labored, as well."

Thomas’ colleagues in the recording industry were horrified by his involvement with the Pistols, particularly when he found himself producing the band at the same time as he was working with Paul McCartney. His work with the band also led to one of his most curious album credits. Co-producer Bill Price explained: The Sex Pistols were, despite their short existence, a very influential British punk band. ... The Who are a British rock band that first came to prominence in the 1960s. ... Anarchy in the U.K. (B-side I Wanna Be Me) was the first single by the punk band the Sex Pistols released on November 26, 1976, and is thus frequently considered to be the first punk single (although The Ramones released Blitzkrieg Bop a year earlier). ... Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born June 18, 1942) is a British singer, musician and songwriter, who first came to prominence as a member of The Beatles. ...

"The simple facts of the matter were that Chris was hired by Malcolm (McLaren) to do a series of singles for the Sex Pistols. I was hired by Malcolm to do a series of album tracks with the Sex Pistols. Life got slightly complicated, because I did a few album tracks that Chris remade as singles. Also, Chris started a couple of tracks, which got abandoned as singles, which I remade to be used as album tracks. On quite a large number of songs, when we'd finished the album, we had two versions of the song. I couldn't quite understand why Malcolm kept chopping and changing between different versions of different songs. It slowly dawned on Chris and myself that Malcolm was trying to slip between two stools and not pay Chris or me. So we said, "I'll tell you what, Malcolm. Whatever's on the Sex Pistols' album, it was either done by me or Chris, and you can pay us and we'll divvy it out amongst our little selves." Which is what we did. But it did force that very strange credit, simply because the sleeve was printed long before it was finally decided which version of each individual song was on the record. If we'd known, it would have said 'produced by Bill Price' or 'produced by Chris Thomas'. That's how you ended up with that credit, 'produced by Bill Price or Chris Thomas'."

Thomas helped guide Chrissie Hynde into a recording career, producing The Pretenders’ Brass in Pocket and his work on 1982's Learning to Crawl earned him the sobriquet on the liner notes as the "fifth Pretender". Cover of a Pretenders collection Greatest Hits showing Chrissie Hynde Chrissie Hynde (born September 7, 1951 in Akron, Ohio) is an American rock musician, best known as the leader of the band The Pretenders. ... Pretenders album cover, 1980. ...

INXS

In 1985 played a critical part in achieving a worldwide breakthrough for Australian band INXS. INXS (pronounced In Excess) is an Australian rock group. ...

INXS guitarist and songwriter Andrew Farriss explained: INXS (pronounced In Excess) is an Australian rock group. ...

”We'd already finished the Listen Like Thieves album but Chris Thomas told us there was still no "hit". We left the studio that night knowing we had one day left and we had to deliver "a hit". Talk about pressure.’’

Thomas recalls he was worried that the standard of songs the band had laid down was not as strong as he wished.

”Then Andrew brought in three demos – two songs that had been completed and he played me a thing that was just this riff – dink, dink, dink-a-dink-and it was great. I thought, 'I could listen to that groove for ten minutes!' I said, 'Let's work with that groove.' So we went with that and in just two days it turned into the song that eventually broke them, 'What You Need.’’

Thomas opts for Pulp’s A Different Class as one of the best records he has made, and admits: “I love working with writers. That's the person I always respond to most in a band.’’ Pulp are a British Britpop band, formed in Sheffield, England, in 1978 by then 15-year-old school-boy Jarvis Cocker (vocals, guitar). ...

Philosophy

Thomas says his role as a producer has changed little since the 1970s.

”The essential thing, if you want to be crude about it, is people want to make a hit record. So that means I'm still in there advising them to chop a few bars out of this part over here, maybe suggesting they change this riff, and that sort of thing. I've always been very interested in arrangements. The technical side is interesting, as well, but that's more just a means to an end. I don't want to imply that I'm in there all the time changing these songs around; not at all. Most of the time I don't have to say anything about that. That's one of the advantages of working with great writers.’’

Production credits

Albums produced or mixed by Thomas include:

• 1968: The Climax Chicago Blues Band by Climax Blues Band, White Album by The Beatles (mixing)
• 1969: Climax Blues Band Plays On by Climax Blues Band
• 1970: A Lot of Bottle by Climax Blues Band, Home by Procol Harum
• 1971: Tightly Knit by Climax Blues Band, Mick Abrahams by Mick Abrahams
• 1972: At Last by Mick Abrahams Band, Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd (mixing)
• 1973: For Your Pleasure by Roxy Music, Stranded by Roxy Music, Grand Hotel by Procol Harum, Paris 1919 by John Cale, Ass by Badfinger
• 1974: Badfinger by Badfinger, Wish You Were Here by Badfinger
• 1975: Siren by Roxy Music
• 1976: Viva! by Roxy Music, Let's Stick Together by Bryan Ferry
• 1977: Never Mind the Bollocks by the Sex Pistols
• 1978: Power in the Darkness by Tom Robinson Band
• 1979: Back to the Egg by Wings
• 1980: Empty Glass by Pete Townshend
• 1981: Pretenders II by The Pretenders
• 1982: All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes by Pete Townshend, Jump Up! by Elton John
• 1983: Too Low for Zero by Elton John
• 1984: Learning to Crawl by The Pretenders; Breaking Hearts by Elton John
• 1985: Listen Like Thieves by INXS, White City by Pete Townshend
• 1987: Kick by INXS
• 1988: Reg Strikes Back by Elton John
• 1989: Sleeping With the Past by Elton John
• 1990: X by INXS
• 1992: The One by Elton John
• 1994: Last of the Independents by The Pretenders, The Lion King soundtrack
• 1995: Different Class by Pulp
• 1997: The Big Picture by Elton John
• 1998: This is Hardcore by Pulp
• 1999: Run Devil Run by Paul McCartney
• 2004: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb by U2
• 2006: On An Island by David Gilmour

The self-titled double album The Beatles, released by the Beatles in 1968 at the height of their popularity, is often hailed as one of the major accomplishments in popular music. ... The Beatles were a pop and rock music group from Liverpool, England, who continue to be held in the very highest regard for their artistic achievements, their huge commercial success, and their ground-breaking role in the history of popular music. ... Climax Blues Band is a British blues band founded in 1968 by Colin Cooper. ... Procol Harum is a British progressive rock band, formed in the 1960s. ... Climax Blues Band is a British blues band founded in 1968 by Colin Cooper. ... Born April 7, 1943, in Luton, England. ... Born April 7, 1943, in Luton, England. ... This article is about the Pink Floyd album. ... Pink Floyd is an English band noted for progressive rock music, philosophical lyrics, classical rock compositions, sonic experimentation, innovative cover art and elaborate live shows. ... Roxy Music is a British art rock group founded in the early 1970s as a collaborative project between art school graduates Bryan Ferry (vocals, keyboards) and Brian Eno (electronic music specialist). ... Roxy Music is a British art rock group founded in the early 1970s as a collaborative project between art school graduates Bryan Ferry (vocals, keyboards) and Brian Eno (electronic music specialist). ... Procol Harum is a British progressive rock band, formed in the 1960s. ... John Cale is a Welsh musician, songwriter and record producer. ... Badfinger, as pictured on their album Straight Up. ... Badfinger, as pictured on their album Straight Up. ... Badfinger, as pictured on their album Straight Up. ... Siren is a 1975 album, the fifth released by the British rock band Roxy Music. ... Roxy Music is a British art rock group founded in the early 1970s as a collaborative project between art school graduates Bryan Ferry (vocals, keyboards) and Brian Eno (electronic music specialist). ... Viva! was Roxy Musics first live recorded album, released in August 1976 and was recorded at three venues over a period of two years (1973 to 1975). ... Roxy Music is a British art rock group founded in the early 1970s as a collaborative project between art school graduates Bryan Ferry (vocals, keyboards) and Brian Eno (electronic music specialist). ... Lets Stick Together is Bryan Ferrys third solo album, a compilation of songs previously released as B-sides. ... Bryan Ferry (born 26 September 1945 in Washington, Tyne and Wear) is a British singer, musician and songwriter, famed for his suave visual and vocal style, who came to public prominence in the 1970s as lead vocalist with Roxy Music. ... Never Mind the Bollocks is an album by the British punk rock band the Sex Pistols. ... The Sex Pistols were, despite their short existence, a very influential British punk band. ... Tom Robinson began gigging in London in 1976 with a constantly shuffling lineup of musician friends backing him and by the end of the year, he had decided to put together a permanent band. ... The word wing or wings has more than one use: In aeronautics a wing is an apparatus used to create lift. ... Pete Townshend on the cover of Guitar World. ... Pretenders album cover, 1980. ... Pete Townshend on the cover of Guitar World. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Too Low For Zero is a 1983 Elton John album. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Pretenders album cover, 1980. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... INXS (pronounced In Excess) is an Australian rock group. ... Pete Townshend on the cover of Guitar World. ... INXS (pronounced In Excess) is an Australian rock group. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... INXS (pronounced In Excess) is an Australian rock group. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Pretenders album cover, 1980. ... Pulp are a British Britpop band, formed in Sheffield, England, in 1978 by then 15-year-old school-boy Jarvis Cocker (vocals, guitar). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Pulp are a British Britpop band, formed in Sheffield, England, in 1978 by then 15-year-old school-boy Jarvis Cocker (vocals, guitar). ... Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born June 18, 1942) is a British singer, musician and songwriter, who first came to prominence as a member of The Beatles. ... U2 are an Irish rock band featuring Bono (Paul David Hewson) on vocals, rhythm guitar, and occasionally harmonica; The Edge (David Howell Evans) on lead guitar, keyboards and backing vocals; Adam Clayton on bass guitar; and Larry Mullen, Jr. ... David Jon Gilmour, CBE (born March 6, 1946) is a guitarist and vocalist with British rock band Pink Floyd. ...

External links

• AIR Studios
• Chris Thomas interview