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Watch: Studio Pictures

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All Photos by Hugh Brown

fig. 1-4 — Having abandoned the idea or retreating into the Mojave, Brian and I settled into El Dorado studio in LA, where we were told Frank Sinatra had worked sometimes. We stayed on Vermont, in what is now Koreatown, I think. Prairie Prince, of the Tubes, joined us for a few days, playing drums, percussion and odds and ends. Our own percussive efforts made interesting sounds- using cardboard boxes and cases- but sometimes we lacked precise time.

fig. 5-8 — One day, hearing that Brian was in town, a man brought by a prototype Linn Drum machine. (drum machines such as this didn’t exist at this point). We weren’t much interested, possibly because it sounded like it was imitating something else (real drums). Others, like Prince Rodgers Nelson, saw immediately the use for such a machine.

fig. 9-12 — In San Francisco we worked for a while at Different Fur studio. I man named Patrick Gleason lived upstairs- a pioneer in electronic music. Beaver and Krause, two other early pioneers were nearby as well. They lent us a massive Senheisser vocoder that was wonderful sounding, and very expensive.

fig. 12-22 — In NY we wrapped up the record at Sigma studios, where Talking Heads had been working. Though we weren’t quite going for the Philadelphia sound that Sigma was known for, we possibly assumed some of the rhythmic magic and creative expertise might land on us. Doubtful. Though later, hearing Larry Levan include one of the tunes in his set made me think maybe some of it did land on us.