Album research - the OFC Nashville thread, Part Two

A Thousand Different Ways to make an album, continued....

Spring, 2006. We thought we'd have an album in May. A blurb in Entertainment Weekly in February had disconcerted a lot of people, as it said:

according to an RCA spokesperson, he'll be hitting the studio this March--with an eye toward a May release date--and is sorting through potential material now, which includes both original tunes and "lots of covers." (Click to enlarge the scan below.)

Covers! Where did that come from? What happened to all those tidbits reported in Part One--the original songs written for Clay, the musicians who had been recording on album tracks? In late April Clay would blog to confirm this, saying that the decision had been made in December to dump it all and that Clive Davis had the idea that he should record covers, but there would be a few "original gems" on the album. Eeep! The fandom went beserk!!

Meanwhile, the search for information continued, and was archived by nyama in the Nashville thread at the OFC. The archive in this part is chronological. The archive contains most of the researchers' screen names, and I've tried to fill in the few missing ones when possible. You'll see the screen name moonhead a lot; she's one of the participants on the HDD thread at Clayversity; she, and they, have done a lot of great research.


Part II.

http://www.musicconnection.com

MMF member Mike Gormley, who represents the talents of Lisbeth Scott, Paul Schwartz, and Kelly Fitzgerald, has been a manager for 20 years and a MMF member for three years. “The networking aspect is the best,” says Gormley. “I just put a major songwriter together with Paul Schwartz to do some writing for Josh Groban and Clay Aiken, because of a conversation with a New York-based MMF member.”

http://www.paulschwartz.com

In 2000 composer/producer Paul Schwartz created a musical phenomenon with State of Grace, a collection based or traditional religious texts which blended vocal, choral and orchestral elements with his trademark affinity for seductive ambient grooves.

****

The project also features a powerful guest appearance by legendary guitarist Carlos Santana, who used the popular State of Grace song "Miserere" as the basis of the new tune "Curacion."

****

"This record had a sense of freedom for me that I didn't feel on the first State of Grace. I think it's because earlier this year, I had a chance to collaborate with (Grammy-winning producer) David Foster on a new tune for Josh Groban, and saw how quickly David worked, how relaxed he was about the process. I convinced myself to let go and enjoy the ride, and it made all the difference."

****

Schwartz entered the musical theatre world himself, serving as Musical Director for Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera" and "Song & Dance" as well as Rogers & Hammerstein's "On Your Toes."

****

rosebud wrote (March 10, 2006):
He made his Top 200 debut in 1997 as producer with the best selling soundtrack CD Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas. He's also scored various independent films (including Ratchet by Altar Rock Films) and, while still with Astor Place, created a chamber music project based on eleven Beatle tunes called Revolution.

Post on the Clack House by mic stand, March 12, 2006:

i went to a conference last week with a friend of mine, who's a local singer here. it was mostly business management and other areas within the music business. he has his own production company, that he would like to take further, as well as further his music career.

****

i mostly just stayed by my friends side, listened and observed. and this is where things got fun! for me at least.. i'll tell you one thing though.. Clay's name gets dropped; a lot. i actually lost count with how many times i heard his name (mostly used as an example while someone was telling someone something). however, there were two mentions that made my ears perk up and made me eeee!!! a little on the inside.

one of the guys that my friend was talking to had made a comment about a friend of his 'doing some work on Clay Aiken's latest album'. i didn't catch the name of the person if he gave it, what kind of work they did, or if they were still working on it, but he said that he had 'heard a few tracks' (don't know if they were rough recordings or a finished product) and that what he had heard was 'supreme' (i personally thought that an odd choice of words, but shrugs), 'superb' and 'vocally stunning and amazing'. he also said it was some of the 'best work he'd seen from any artist in a long time.'

****

the second big mention of the night was when my friend was talking to someone who does a lot of PR here for local talent, and he was asking him what kind of things he can do to further his career, whether it be music wise, image wise, or just overall 'package' wise. this guy started giving him examples and ideas, and then goes 'well, you know who Clay Aiken is right?' and my friend nodded, so he continued (this is paraphrasing, but as direct as i can remember) and went 'take him for example. his latest will be like nothing people have ever heard from him. not just musically, but visually. it will be very different from how people remember.' he was basically saying that if you want to evolve, you need change. and with change comes different types / styles of music and a different type of image. he was basically indicating that Clay's new music was going to be something different (gee, where have i heard that before? *g*), but that he was going to look different as well. and then the conversation from there went into image changing, etc.

the over all impression that i got was very positive. the guy who was talking about his friend that did some work on it (the album) seemed really impressed with whatever it was that he heard; hopefully it'll be something that's actually on the album and not something that gets thrown out! it definitely excites me though that the 'buzz' about Clay and this next album has reached Orlando, where most stuff usually doesn't....

moonhead wrote (March 29, 2006):

While "googling" I found this reference to John Fields/Clay (I'm assuming it does not have to do with the UNICEF Give a Little Bit Campaign since neither John Ondrasik nor India.Arie are mentioned)...

In addition to Bland, a few other big names have signed on to help the band. Phil Solem of the Rembrandts and “I’ll Be There For You” fame has been a constant co-writer for the group, and an A-List of musicians including Tommy Barbarella (Prince, Mandy Moore, Switchfoot), John Fields (Switchfoot, Backstreet Boys, Clay Aiken, Pink, Andrew WK, Evan and Jaron), Ken Chastain, Tommy Stinson (Guns and Roses, The Replacements, Soul Asylum) and Jimmy Anton (Johnny Lang) have had varying degrees of input on the new project.

http://www.catchpennyband.com/bio.htm

moonhead wrote (March 30, 2006):

Here's something else I found today while "googling"...

at both of these MySpace sites:

my space - Curb Music Publishing

http://www.myspace.com/kylejacobsmusic

Kyle Jacobs hails from Minneapolis, MN and moved to Nashville in 2000. He achieved pop success in 2003 with American Idol finalist Kimberley Locke’s Top 10 single “8th World Wonder”. Kyle writes on a regular basis with producer Shaun Shankel (Destiny’s Child, Hillary Duff) and collaborates with many of the industry’s top songwriters including Doug Johnson, Kylie Sackley, Melissa Pierce, Nicole Witt, and Dennis Matkosky. Other artists who have recorded Kyle’s songs include Lee Brice, Clay Aiken and Joy Williams.

This quote was worded differently when dudley found it on Curb Publishing's MySpace on January 11. At that point it said:

He works on a constant basis with hit songwriter/producer Shaun Shankel (Destiny's Child, Hilary Duff, Clay Aiken)

jtx4clay wrote (April 4, 2006):

Steven Curtis Chapman is in the studio at KLTY, a huge Christian station in Dallas and just talked about Clay.

I wish I could remember it word for word, but it surprised me.

He talked about writing for Clay and Clay having a brother in the military. Apparently Clay wanted a song about that but Steven said it probably won't be on the album since the record company wants love songs or something.

ClaysMyMidlifeCrises wrote (April 9, 2006):

I thought you would all like to know this. Matt and I have been emailing each other for a while now and he's okay with me sharing this part of our latest emails.

Matt is the one who blogged last Spring about the 60 songwriters in Nashville for Clay. He's also one of the writers of the song COMPROMISE. Many wondered if we were hearing COMPROMISE in the background on the WRAL site (link is below), so I asked him today. Apparently, we have some very good detectives here!


This is my email to Matt:

On Sunday, April 09, 2006, at 02:28PM

Hi again! Could this be a snippet of Clay singing Compromise? After clicking on this link, click on the smaller of the 2 photos. Then click on (4) at the bottom of the screen. Click on Play Audio Clip, and see if you can tell if that's Clay singing Compromise in the background. I'd love to know if this is your song. Some of us think we're hearing the word Compromise in the song but can't tell for sure.

www.newsobserver.com

Margie


Matt's response:

Gee whiz. I think you're right. But I believe that's the original demo of COMPROMISE playing, and not a version of Clay singing it. I could be wrong...but it sounds like our demo...

She later notes:

I don't know if COMPROMISE has made the cut or not. Apparently Matt doesn't even know yet. I try not to ask him too many questions or bug him too often.

I don't know when the songwriters find out if their songs have made the cut, but I remember the writer of MCWL saying he didn't know Clay recorded his song until he saw it in a store.

Matt didn't know until I told him yesterday that COMPROMISE was listed on the ASCAP site, but we've known it for quite some time now. He doesn't seem to be bothered by the fact that he doesn't know at this time.

trapsmv15 wrote (April 10, 2006):

Compromise was co-written by John Christopher Farren. Known as Chris Farren, he co-wrote the Backstreet Boys' track, Crawling Back to You. Guess who produced that track? John Fields. Anyone remember the rumor of him being producer? (They weren't sure if it was a certain track or the whole album - this could be the track.) They've worked together before....

moonhead wrote (April 12, 2006):

blog written by Matt Conner about GMA (Gospel Music Association) week:

*Dinner was with Infuze staffer Matt Bronleewe tonight. Matt has been incredibly busy writing and producing for several upcoming projects, including Michael W. Smith’s upcoming project, Leeland (see below), and even writing a song for Clay Aiken’s forthcoming release.

http://www.infuzemag.com/

moonhead wrote (April 20, 2006):

I was looking around the ASCAP site today and noticed that one of the entries for Tears Run Dry now has a "variations" title of "When the Tears Run Dry". This is the Tears Run Dry entry written by Alexander Cantrall, Carsten Schack, Kenneth Karlin, and Lindy Robbins. Does anyone recall if that title variation was always there or is that new?

43dudleyvillas wrote (April 20, 2006):

moonhead, interesting find. The only place I had previously found a listing for "When the Tears Run Dry" is at EMI, and there, I didn't see an alternate title of "Tears Run Dry." And that particular entry wasn't in ASCAP until pretty recently, I think (it certainly wasn't there through February of this year). I think Nick Lachey's "What's Left of Me" is a poor man's version of "Tears," and Lindy Robbins is one of the co-writers of "What's Left of Me." So it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out Robbins had co-written this one. Although I was kind of thinking "Tears" sounds like a Jess Cates/Lindy Robbins co-write. Perhaps we'll know one day...

I also found an entry for Just You at ASCAP (amongst the many Just You entries ) written by Glen Ballard (co-writer of Groban's Believe), Jay Graydon (D. Foster connections), and Cliff Magness. I don't know if this entry was there before either. But, it sure sounds like it could be the Just You that Clay sang considering who the writers are.

TheDCMomo wrote (April 21, 2006):

Looking at the ASCAP site there is a song which we are guessing might be the one Clay sang during the JBT [Jukebox] tour. "When the Tears Run Dry" ...it was written by a collaboration of people. ALEXANDER CANTRALL, CARSTEN SCHACK, KENNETH KARLIN, and LINDY ROBBINS. Two of them, CARSTEN SCHACK, KENNETH KARLIN are a Danish duo called Soulshock and Karlin. They have a group called Soul Power Productions. Alex Cantrall is a songwriter/producer who has worked on songs for a number of artists from Fantasia to Jojo to Dru Hill. He did have a song on one of the Shrek soundracks. He has also worked with Soul Power Productions in the past. Lindy Robbins was the last collaborator. She has a varied background as she is listed as a Rogers and Hammerstein writer/producer as well. She also cowrote on IWCY and Shine.

a Clayboard poster, name unfortunately lost, wrote (April 22, 2006):

saw this at the ascap site in relation to the ascap songwriter's convention this week.

but, what song(s) did he provide to clay ? i don't have moam handy, and i've looked at moam recently and don't remember his name.

Jim Vellutato is currently the Sr. Director of Creative Affairs at Sony/ATV Music Publishing. After graduating from UCLA in l981, he began his career in the tape room at Chappell Music, and then worked for seven years at Famous Music (Paramount Pictures Publishing division) as Creative Director. For the past 13 years, Jim has been at Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which controls the songs of such major acts as John Mayer, Fallout Boy, Destiny's Child, Sarah McLachlan, Crossfade and System of A Down. In his publishing career, Jim has been involved in the signing and development of Paula Cole (Warner Brothers Records), TQ (Epic Records), Angela Via (Atlantic Records), Puff Johnson (Columbia Records), Martika (Columbia Records) and Wild Orchid (RCA Records). He manages writers and producers such as Billy Mann (Stupid Girls/Pink), Cory Rooney (Holdin' You Down/Jennifer Lopez), Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida (Walk Away/Kelly Clarkson)and has provided songs for such artists as Josh Groban, Fantasia, Bo Bice, Natalie Imbrulia, The Veronicas, Brandy, Clay Aiken, Kelly Clarkson and Jesse McCartney among others. Sony/ATV also represents the catalogs of many musical legends including the Beatles, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, and Graham Nash and David Crosby.

Vellutato

notacanuck wrote (April 27, 2006):

www.infuszemag.com

Matt Bronleewe writes for this weblog about Christian entertainment. Is Compromise one of the originals on Clay's album?

Updates on Clay Aiken, Michael W Smith, High School Musical, Ted Dekker, and so much more...

CLAY AIKEN. It appears that Clay will be recording a song I helped write--"Compromise"--in the studio, one of only a handful of originals that will appear on his upcoming pop classics record. I'm anxious to hear the results!

ClaysMyMidlifeCrises wrote (April 28, 2006):

Now that Clay has blogged about the CD I'll share some things that Matt Bronleewe has included in some of the emails he's sent me (he won't mind me sharing some of this stuff):

February 22:

Quote:
I have a song on hold with him currently, and we've heard that John Fields (switchfoot) will be producing it.

Quote:
David Foster's sister, Jaymes, is acting as A&R. Be watching my blog for any further developments....and feel free to comment on any blog....comments are the best!!

April 8:

Quote:
I can assure you that Clive intends for nothing but success for Clay. I believe that it has been the success of the new record by Barry Manalow that has influenced the "pop covers" direction. But I don't think you should be dismayed. I've heard a couple early examples of what might go on the record, and I think they are very fresh. modern takes on the songs.

Quote:
The rest will be classic pop covers. I'll be in LA next week and hope to hear more about the latest details....

OneSingerGal wrote (May 4, 2006):

found another news nugget in the new Music Connection magazine, 5/8 - 5/21/06 issue !!!

cover story: Brian Culbertson - How he became the hottest ticket in jazz.

in the article:

describes Brian Culbertson's music as 'ultra-catchy, easy-grooving' with a 'sensuous, lightly grooving and highly melodic style'. and is the rage in the jazz market. he's a 20 year-old keyboardist and trombone player. has 8 hit albums and 20 No. 1 Radio and Records airplay singles.

Brian Culbertson's most frequent collaborator, however, is the lesser-known Stephen Lu, who Culbertson met through another of his former saxmen, Jimmy Reid. Lu, who does string arrangements for John Fields and has also worked with Clay Aiken, has what Culbertson calls 'a similar production brain to mine,' and the two wrote one song together on Nice and Slow (2001) and several others on Come On Up (2003). It's On Tonight is evenly split between Colbertson songs and collaborations with Lu.

you can sample steven lu's work with brian culbertson here.

http://www.vervemusicgroup.com

see the sampler in top left corner.


you can sample brian's culbertson's cd It's On Tonight here....

http://www.vervemusicgroup.com

list of collaborators on the album include:

Stephen Lu (2-5, 8-9, 11) Keyboards, Drum Programming

Chris Botti (9) Trumpet


LALady4Clay wrote (May 4, 2006):

I read in Brian's bio that one of his musical influences was David Foster.

I also read that he did Funky 70s style. Don't know about Lu.


musicvixen wrote (May 5, 2006):

John Fields produced Switchfoot's first CD, and I believe it won a grammy that year. It also won several Dove (Christian) Awards.

Switchfoot plays rock, and the Give a Little Bit clip that Clay did with John Fields is pop/rock. So, that doesn't sound too snoozy.


dda wrote (May 5, 2006):

John Fields has credits on quite a few albums...
Artist Direct - John Fields - http://www.artistdirect.com

Producer, Engineer on Swithfoot's 2005 Nothing Is Sound album...
Rollingstone Review -- Nothing Is Sound - Rolling Stone

Producer, Engineer on Mandy Moore's 2003 Coverage album...
Rollingstone Review -- Coverage - Rolling Stone

Keyboards, Producer, Engineer, Mixing, Fx Vocals, Bass, Guitar, Piano --
Backstreet Boys 2005 Never Gone album...
Rollingstone Review -- Never Gone - Rolling Stone


moonhead wrote (May 8, 2006):

post by Rob Seals (a singer-songwriter, session musician, producer & visiting artist) found on his website forum:

I hope your summer has been a good one. I had the great honor of heading the Songwriting Department at the Seth Riggs Vocal Camp in Los Angeles for about ten days in July/August.

***

But in practice this was a gathering of 150 excedingly talented musicians from all over the globe who came to LA to study with the legendary voice coach to the stars, Seth Riggs. Seth created "Speech Level Singing," a remarkable technique that has not only helped careers (Michael Jackson, Josh Groban, Michael Bolton, Barbra Streisand...) but saved and repaired wounded voices (Stevie Wonder, among others). For more about Seth and his programs world-wide, go to the Seth Riggs website.

Each afternoon classes would break for a guest lecturers series.

***

I put together a visiting lecturers series of my own on songwriting. Two vastly talented and generous luminaries from my own personal planetarium gave graciously of their time and insight: Peter Case, frontman of the 80's band The Plimsouls (did you see 'Valley Girl'? the band in Nic Cage's dive bar, the hit "A Million Miles Away"), now a rootsy Americana singer/songwriter of great conscience and consequence; and John Fields, musician turned producer genius whose production credits read like a Billboard Charts roundup (Switchfoot, Pink, Andrew W.K., Glen Phillips, Backstreet, Mandy Moore, the new Clay Aiken).

I was thrilled to have them both come sit in on my classes before the lecture. Peter mesmerized the room with some of his songs and stories and offered up some useful writing exercises that dovetailed nicely with work we were already doing. But John's arrival starched the proceedings a bit. You have to love a guy like Peter Case. He stands for a ton, and his songs communicate that with every breath. He took great issue with a "hit maker" being in the room, and immediately went on the offensive. But John couldn't have been more rock and roll about the whole thing. He feels the same frustrations with the music industry; he's just found a way to ply his talents for commercial success. It was fascinating to hear two guys who live and breathe music talk about such different sides to the beast, the art, the machine. Passion was all any of us in the room had in common.

***

The thick traffic on the 405 and the 101 allowed for lots of conversation about mix engineers and artists. John couldn't have been cooler or more interesting. Just an encyclopedia of musical knowledge. He even played me some Clay Aiken mixes from that to-be-released record, and some incredible Glen Phillips mixes that didn't make the cut for his lovely Winter Pays for Summer record that John did. Oh man, if the label released a CD of the ones that didn't make the grade, that would be easily as good a record as the one they released. Things like that are at once frustrating and inpiring in this business. So much good work never sees the light of day. But there was still a moment in the room when those musicians knew they were doing something special. Those moments, thick and sweet as honey, keep us coming back.

rainlover wrote (May 8, 2006):

New songs are on ASCAP.. DREAM and TRY

ASCAP

Works performed by:
CLAY AIKEN
1. BACK FOR MORE
(Title Code: 321596690)
2. CHRISTMAS WALTZ
(Title Code: 330057022)
3. COMPROMISE
(Title Code: 332002498)
4. DON T SAVE IT ALL FOR CHRISTMAS DAY
(Title Code: 340438682)
5. DREAM
(Title Code: 341756738)
6. FLYING WITHOUT WINGS
(Title Code: 360608246)
7. I SURVIVED YOU
(Title Code: 390959990)
8. I WILL CARRY YOU
(Title Code: 391165934)
9. INVISIBLE
(Title Code: 390788120)
10. MARY DID YOU KNOW
(Title Code: 430431857)
11. MEASURE OF A MAN
(Title Code: 430805784)
12. MERRY CHRISTMAS WITH LOVE
(Title Code: 430347092)
13. ON THE WINGS OF LOVE
(Title Code: 450153147)
14. PERFECT DAY
(Title Code: 460945013)
15. PROUD OF YOUR BOY
(Title Code: 460345779)
16. SHINE
(Title Code: 491899935)
17. SLEIGH RIDE
(Title Code: 490079251)
18. SOLITAIRE
(Title Code: 490307512)
19. THE WAY
(Title Code: 501580810)
20. THIS IS THE NIGHT
(Title Code: 501270253)
21. TRY
(Title Code: 502989959)
22. WHAT ARE YOU DOING NEW YEAR S EVE
(Title Code: 530036569)
23. WHEN YOU SAY YOU LOVE ME
(Title Code: 530935678)


NY4Clay wrote (May 8, 2006):

Dream:
Writers...
MATTHEW RYAN BRONLEEWE
JASON INGRAM

Try:
Writers...
BEN GLOVER
MATTHEW RYAN BRONLEEWE
JASON INGRAM

COMPROMISE
Writers...
JOHN CHRISTOPHER FARREN
BENJAMIN GLOVER
MATT BRONLEEWE



If anyone would like their board name removed from a quote, or the quote itself removed, please let me know. Thanks to everyone involved for the diligence and effort. -jmh123

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