Bob Ezrin: Holding Artists to Their Own Best Work

This week we're putting The Tonearm's needle on famed record producer Bob Ezrin.

Bob has worked with artists including Pink Floyd, KISS, Deep Purple, and countless others, though he is best known for his nearly 60-year relationship with Alice Cooper.

He's back working with The Jayhawks on their latest, Sanctuary Park, twenty-six years after their first project together.

We talk about how the reunion started with an offhand remark from Gary Louris, both men leaving the United States for Canada around the same time, and we talk a lot about the craft of record production.

(The musical excerpts heard in the interview are The Jayhawks - "What Led Me To This Town" and "Mr. Lincoln," Alice Cooper - "I'm Eighteen," and Tim Curry - "Sloe Gin")

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Dig Deeper

Producer:

• Bob Ezrin at Primary Wave, and his Governor General's Performing Arts Award citation
• Ezrin's production credits on AllMusic
• "It started to feel a bit too much like Europe in the 1930s" — Ezrin on leaving Nashville for Toronto, Toronto Life
• "My job was to get rid of Alice Cooper, and I did exactly the opposite" — Louder
• Ezrin on the producer's "applause meter" — Performing Songwriter

Artist and Album:

• Visit the Jayhawks at jayhawksofficial.com and follow on Instagram and Facebook
• Purchase the Jayhawks' Sanctuary Park from Bandcamp or Qobuz and listen on your streaming platform of choice.
• The Jayhawks perform songs from Sanctuary Park in The Current's studio
• "Mr. Lincoln" and the Ford's Theatre story behind it — AudioFuzz
• Review of Sanctuary Park — Americana Highways

Gary Louris:

• Visit Gary Louris at garylourismusic.com
• Gary Louris on his Canadian love story — Rolling Stone

The First Time Around:

• Smile at twenty — Albumism
• Smile credits on Discogs
• An interview with Josh Sarubin, the A&R who first sent Ezrin to Minneapolis — The Looking List

Places:

• Canterbury Music Co., Toronto, where Sanctuary Park was recorded, and the studio's closing announcement

Musical References:

• Alice Cooper at alicecooper.com, and the Killer and School's Out deluxe editions
• Kiss celebrate fifty years of Destroyer — uDiscover Music
• The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and its history — American Songwriter
• Rosalía

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• Dig into this episode's complete show notes at podcast.thetonearm.com

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