Recording and Release
By early 1999, Whiskeytown band members Ryan Adams, Caitlin Cary, and Mike Daly had started recording their follow-up to Strangers Almanac at an abandoned church in Woodstock, New York, called Dreamland Studios. Ethan Johns, son of legendary producer Glyn Johns, was tapped to produce the album. Originally planned to be a double-album entitled Happy Go Bye Bye, the music recorded was intended to be a departure from the band's previous alt-country sound, prominently featuring Adams on piano, with classic pop arrangements featuring strings and horns. Notably, Mike Daly co-wrote seven songs on the album with Adams; Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha contributed guitar and co-wrote a song; ex-Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson added guitar and dobro; and producer Johns played several instruments. Adams envisioned this collective effort to be in the vein of "those Woodstock albums, like The Band made in the '60s."
After recording, the album was mixed by Outpost Recordings house producer Scott Litt, best known for his work with R.E.M. But the band was unhappy with Litt's mix, so when the album was finally prepped for release by Lost Highway Records nearly two years later, Adams and Ethan Johns remixed it. Adams and Johns sought a classic Rolling Stones/Beatles sound with their mix, with little to no compression, and trimmed the album to 14 songs. (Johns also produced Adams' first two solo albums, Heartbreaker and Gold.)
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Famous quotes containing the words recording and/or release:
“He shall not die, by G—, cried my uncle Toby.
MThe ACCUSING SPIRIT which flew up to heaven’s chancery with the oath, blush’d as he gave it in;—and the RECORDING ANGEL as he wrote it down, dropp’d a tear upon the word, and blotted it out for ever.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“The shallow consider liberty a release from all law, from every constraint. The wise man sees in it, on the contrary, the potent Law of Laws.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)