Muscle Shoals Studios Closes

Jahfin · Post by **Jahfin** » February 21, 2005 10:25 am

http://tinylink.com/?9lkO870CN0

Muscle Shoals Shuts Down

Alabama studio birthed Dylan, Stones, Aretha records

Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, the Alabama venue where Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Wilson Pickett, the Rolling Stones and Paul Simon all made classic records, has closed its doors forever.

"It's a sad day in America," says producer, session musician and arranger Al Kooper. "So many great records were made there. The musicians, engineers and the magic of the room made it special."

Muscle Shoals Sound Studios was founded in 1969 in an old Sheffield, Alabama, casket warehouse by musicians Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood and Jimmy Johnson, who doubled as its famous house band, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (a.k.a. "the Swampers," as immortalized in Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama"). Their first client was Cher, who recorded her 3614 Jackson Highway album there, and named it after the studio's address.

Atlantic Records producer/executive Jerry Wexler was an early supporter, booking many of the label's artists into the studio. "It seemed we could do nothing but make good records: Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Willie Nelson -- Lulu came from England," says Wexler. "We had this little hideaway, this little retreat with these really terrific musicians, these incredible white boys who played the blues so authentically that it caused a lot of head-scratching. The best part of my career was not the gold records or the Hall of Fame or awards -- it was hearing the music being recorded live at that time."

After more than three decades of operation, the studio -- which moved to a 31,000 square-foot building on the banks of the Tennessee River in 1978 -- recorded its last sessions in December and shuttered on January 14th because of declining business. The two Neve consoles have been sold to studios in Los Angeles and Detroit, the studio owners are exploring donating memorabilia to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and a local film production company has purchased the property.

"It almost brought me to tears when I had to do this," says co-owner Wolf Stephenson, who, along with his two fellow executives of blues/gospel label Malaco Records, purchased the studio from the Rhythm Section members in 1985. "It's heartbreaking."

"It's a strange thing," adds Hood. "All of a sudden, the gold records are down off the walls . . . I'm not sure I know what to think yet."

However, for artists like Bob Seger -- who, after hearing the Rhythm Section's work on Arthur Conley's "Sweet Soul Music," recorded five albums at Muscle Shoals -- it was not the building but the band that made the studio special. "Muscle Shoals did the ballads like 'Main Street' much better than my band," Seger says. "The wonderful thing about them is the second you started playing the song, it sounded like a record."

Another attraction was that the studio's small-town location was far away from big-city distractions and prying eyes. "The town never impinged upon anyone," says Wexler, recalling a day when the Rolling Stones ordered breakfast at the local Howard Johnson's. "One little waitress said, 'Are you a group?' One of the members said, 'Yeah, we're a group. We're Martha and the Vandellas.'"

Scottish-born rocker Mark Knopfler, who first recorded with Bob Dylan at the studio, found the cuisine somewhat lacking. "Jerry introduced me to salted ham and grits," he says of Wexler. "I don't understand grits. To me, they always tasted like wet newspaper." But, for Knopfler, recording at Muscle Shoals made it all worth it. "Laptops and home stations are fine, but it's another thing to be in a proper recording studio full of creative people all sharing in the same piece of music at the same time."

Hood, whose son Patterson fronts the Drive-By Truckers, maintains that all that magic still resides in Alabama. "I don't want the closing of Muscle Shoals Sound to make anybody think that music is no longer happening here," he says. "It's been happening since before I started, and it's still going on today. It was always the people."

BEVERLY KEEL

land_shark3 · Post by **land_shark3** » February 21, 2005 10:35 am

Article wrote:"Jerry introduced me to salted ham and grits," he says of Wexler. "I don't understand grits. To me, they always tasted like wet newspaper."

Ahhhh, I love the South! Sounds like I need a Southern breakfast tomorrow.

Tiki Bar · Post by **Tiki Bar** » February 21, 2005 10:57 am

What was Mac's association with this? Was he a musician there, or part owner, or looking to buy it recently?

land_shark3 · Post by **land_shark3** » February 21, 2005 10:58 am

Tiki Bar wrote:What was Mac's association with this? Was he a musician there, or part owner, or looking to buy it recently?

I'm thinking he was part owner, however he lives in Nashville.

ragtopW · Post by **ragtopW** » February 21, 2005 3:05 pm

Hey Jah I have an old album I bought prior to 1980
that is titled Muscle Shoals horns

I will dig it out and see who is on it and if it was recorded there

iuparrothead · Post by **iuparrothead** » February 21, 2005 3:07 pm

I read this article about 30 minutes ago and was just wondering why Jah hadn't posted it yet.

st.somewhere · Post by **st.somewhere** » February 21, 2005 4:26 pm

ragtopW wrote:Hey Jah I have an old album

iuparrothead wrote: was just wondering why Jah hadn't posted it yet.

Ahem... His name is "Jonathan".

iuparrothead · Post by **iuparrothead** » February 21, 2005 4:42 pm

st.somewhere wrote:
iuparrothead wrote: was just wondering why Jah hadn't posted it yet.
Ahem... His name is "Jonathan".

I don't feel like being on a personal level with Jahfin.

Parrot Monkey · Post by **Parrot Monkey** » February 21, 2005 5:45 pm

st.somewhere wrote:Ahem... His name is "Jonathan".

You really seem proud of yourself for your "discovery". Look, we know you know his first name, and that’s really good for you.

Invading someone’s privacy and finding out their first name isn’t finding the Ark of the Covenant, it’s childish and the fanfare over it is really getting annoying.

Sorry, I’m just being honest here.

Touch O Parrotdise · Post by **Touch O Parrotdise** » February 21, 2005 7:29 pm

the cool thing seger did was one side of the album was silver bullet and the other side was muscle shoals..

st.somewhere · Post by **st.somewhere** » February 21, 2005 8:51 pm

Parrot Monkey wrote:
st.somewhere wrote:Ahem... His name is "Jonathan".
You really seem proud of yourself for your "discovery". Look, we know you know his first name, and that’s really good for you.

Invading someone’s privacy and finding out their first name isn’t finding the Ark of the Covenant, it’s childish and the fanfare over it is really getting annoying.

Sorry, I’m just being honest here.

I guess the saddest thing in all this is that I know you're right and yet, for some unexplainable reason I don't care... Maybe I need to go to church or sumthin'...

PS - No need for apologies...

rednekkPH · Post by **rednekkPH** » February 21, 2005 8:58 pm

Parrot Monkey wrote:it’s childish and the fanfare over it is really getting annoying.

Sorry, I’m just being honest here.

Yeah, it gets old real quick when someone just keeps saying the same thing over and over (and over and over), doesn't it?

Parrot Monkey · Post by **Parrot Monkey** » February 21, 2005 9:10 pm

rednekkPH wrote:Yeah, it gets old real quick when someone just keeps saying the same thing over and over (and over and over), doesn't it?

Well, I acknowledge I do that and do it on purpose, but it doesn’t bother me because I do it for a good cause, and I know that [almost] everyone will thank me for when it pays off someday and they see the physical products on the shelves, even though my cause gets limited recognition now.

Going on and on about invading someone’s privacy is a bit different from trying to help the artist’s (whose this boards namesake) albums (without, tell me, where would this message board, or parrotheads like yourself be?) get justice on the modern format.

Nice response rednekk, I was waiting for someone to deliver that clever line.

rednekkPH · Post by **rednekkPH** » February 21, 2005 9:23 pm

Parrot Monkey wrote: I do it for a good cause, and I know that [almost] everyone will thank me for when it pays off someday and they see the physical products on the shelves, even though my cause gets limited recognition now.

We'll be thankful, alright...

But it will be for what we don't see here, not what we do see on the shelves.

tikitatas · Post by **tikitatas** » February 21, 2005 9:28 pm

rednekkPH wrote:
Parrot Monkey wrote: I do it for a good cause, and I know that [almost] everyone will thank me for when it pays off someday and they see the physical products on the shelves, even though my cause gets limited recognition now.
We'll be thankful, alright...

But it will be for what we don't see here, not what we do see on the shelves.

I don't know what the reference to products on the shelves is about . . . .

I'm outta the loop with this line of quibble.

Parrot Monkey · Post by **Parrot Monkey** » February 21, 2005 9:32 pm

rednekkPH wrote:We'll be thankful, alright...

But it will be for what we don't see here, not what we do see on the shelves.

Maybe you will be persistently apathetic (about the condition of the albums that, like I said before, made you the PH you are) like that, but there will be many who will realize that what I’ve been doing here for 15 months is in the best interest of Jimmy’s music when they compare the new to the old.

So thanks for your “support”, and remember it was you who brought it up in this thread, not me. I had no plans for this to make the transformation into an MCA protest thread.

Believe me, I'll be thankful when I can stop posting about this too, but I'm not giving up.

Parrot Monkey · Post by **Parrot Monkey** » February 21, 2005 9:36 pm

tikitatas wrote:I don't know what the reference to products on the shelves is about . . . . I'm outta the loop with this line of quibble.

Do you own any of Jimmy's albums from 1973-1985 on CD? Take one, any one, off your shelf and look through the insert.

Then look at the corresponding images for that album on these pages:
http://www.************.com/p_albums_70.html

Understand my cause?

My mission is to get CD releases out there that have adaptations of the original LP packages.

st.somewhere · Post by **st.somewhere** » February 21, 2005 10:29 pm

So how's that going for you anyway?

ragtopW · Post by **ragtopW** » February 21, 2005 10:34 pm

EDIT the album is named 'born to get down"
and the Band is Muscle Shoals Horns..

HsvParrothead · Post by **HsvParrothead** » February 22, 2005 1:15 am

ODD... I live an hour and half from Muscle Shoals.... Nothing on the local news... but come on here and someones already on it

BuffettNews.com

Muscle Shoals Studios Closes

Muscle Shoals Studios Closes

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