Set The Controls For The Stars My Son

I was reading a rather interesting article/review on Jay Z the other day about him being one of the highest earning musicians in the world at the moment. So its little surprise that his services as a producer are seriously in demand isn’t it? Seems the big man can’t do nothing wrong of late Now, given that Jay Z is one of the highest (if not the highest) musical earners on the planet, is it his abilities to actually produce records or his status in the world of music that makes so many singers and bands hire him for his skills behind the desk? Many musicians seem to think so. Warmplay (that’s what I like to call Coldplay, in case you were wondering) being one of them as the last amounts of credibility Chris Martin and Co had seems to be slowly dwindling away as a result of their massive amount of arse kissing towards the afore mentioned Mr Z. then again, I think it’s only a matter of time before Warmplay require the services of Jay Z if the sales of their last album are anything to go by Now, there is no other way to describe what’s happening here than calling it ‘Music by Association’ (or: ‘you rub my back, and I’ll give you a reach-a-round’). And it’s plain to see that kudos can go a very long way when you want to sell albums. This is mainly prominent in Rap and Hip Hop Music, but rock/indie/pop seems to have gone down the same road. Maybe it is down to a result of Rap and Hip Hop overtaking the likes of Rock, Indie & Pop in terms of sales and credibility? Who knows? Who cares? The most notable of Indie bands these days that are guilty of hiring a well known producer/musician are Arctic Monkeys. They recently employed the services of Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age to produce their latest album to (as I suggested) ‘beef up’ their sound and give them more of a rock edge. Personally I didn’t think they needed to as they already have a good sound and could well have shot themselves in the foot by changing a concept that simply wasn’t broken in the first place! And, to be very honest here, they have released a rather poor effort from their standards. All this from a band that could do no wrong in the release department just a few months ago. It was once said that the Arctic’s could release a fart and it would sell well – so much for that now eh! Mark Ronson is another musician with twenty dirty little fingers and little toes in every mixing desk under the sun after collaborations with the likes of Lilly Allen & Amy Winehouse. I personally think he sees himself as a modern day version of Phil Spector (minus the guns and the assaults on women of course). Personally I actually like Ronsons’s style as he has basically taken a song, got someone famous to sing/play it and stamped his own ‘trade mark’ on it. What Ronson does is very clever and, unlike normal cover-versions, quite unique. He also wears some decent threads as well. I reckon he would look better with one of Mol’s Sound Shirts on though (if he can ‘Guess the Price’, of course eh Gareth? Haha) So, as this is a Blog about bands or singers employing the services of ‘a name’, how long will it be before bands (who are struggling to re-discover their form or even become famous) employ the likes of well known celebrities such as Kerry Katona to produce their album? Or have Cheryl Cole in their sleeve notes as Executive Producer? Or, to make it even more worse, have Katie Price as Special Executive Dead Dead Good Top Banana Producer At least you could guarantee one thing – you’ll have a new market buying your album. But, can’t see them being turned onto your live shows while their reading their copy of Hello Magazine Can you? By the way (quiz time) can you name the producer in the picture? And for a Mol’s Sound Words bonus point, can you name any albums he produced? Mol