Just watched Greatest Night in Pop doco..

[Jim Alfredson]

My wife and I watched it together and enjoyed it. I have to say it's odd that they completely ignored the musicians who actually played on the song, though. Why didn't they have anything about that? It's a who's who of session cats.

 • John Barnes – keyboards, programming, arrangement
 • David Paich – synthesizers
 • Michael Boddicker – synthesizers, programming
 • Ian Underwood – synthesizers, programming
 • Steve Porcaro – synthesizers, programming    
 • Paulinho da Costa – percussion
 • Louis Johnson – synth bass
 • Michael Omartian – keyboards
 • Greg Phillinganes – keyboards
 • John Robinson – drums

[D. Gauss]

7 minutes ago, Jim Alfredson said:

  it's odd that they completely ignored the musicians who actually played on the song, though. Why didn't they have anything about that? It's a who's who of session cats. 

 

perhaps because they weren't there on the "greatest night in pop?" maybe they'll make a sequel, "The sixth night before the greatest night in pop."

 

 

 

[MathOfInsects]

"The shortest session of basics for the longest vocal recording session in pop." 

[ProfD]

4 hours ago, MathOfInsects said:

QJ was kidding when he called a capella “acapulco,” right?

It's either that effected speech impediment he seems to favor or that powered donut he toked.🤣😎

[zxcvbnm098]

On 2/12/2024 at 11:57 AM, Jim Alfredson said:

My wife and I watched it together and enjoyed it. I have to say it's odd that they completely ignored the musicians who actually played on the song, though. Why didn't they have anything about that? It's a who's who of session cats.

 • John Barnes – keyboards, programming, arrangement
 • David Paich – synthesizers
 • Michael Boddicker – synthesizers, programming
 • Ian Underwood – synthesizers, programming
 • Steve Porcaro – synthesizers, programming    
 • Paulinho da Costa – percussion
 • Louis Johnson – synth bass
 • Michael Omartian – keyboards
 • Greg Phillinganes – keyboards
 • John Robinson – drums

For whatever reason, I don't think the tracking was even filmed. A shame for sure, but for the documentary they only had what was filmed then to work with. They did end up getting some new audio from a reporter from LIFE magazine for the doc, but I don't think there was any new video to be had....

[JohnH]

They could have easily had Greg, JR, Steve P and Paich giving a few words about the recording and added on to the doc 3-5 mins. It was a shame they weren't interviewed. It was a very bad omission, and I noticed that right away. Ridiculous. The guys I mentioned are great story tellers, so they would have been great to hear from them. 

[MathOfInsects]

I think the "angle" of the doc--that it's all the legends in one place at the same time, and the logistics required for it--pretty much precludes spending any film time on the studio musicians who recorded the track in advance--the guys doing their paid job. As famous as they are to us, the public doesn't know them, and what are they going to say, really, aside from, "I played this song." They may have been interviewed and had their parts cut, but I think  the inclusion of the choir director was probably about as far into the weeds as the doc wanted to go. I would bet that even Quincy Jones' role wasn't completely clear to the layperson, given the place Lionel Ritchie held in the narrative of the film. 

[Theo Verelst]

I recall the time because I' just blown 7/8th of my my first year EE, which in the half year after this, I corrected in the same year anyhow, but I recall I felt depressed. Yeah those A grades can work magic in ways nobody can in that time or this, and they know what they do and why, but it is not without nerdiness and a amount of control over personality subjects most people would find revolting, those are the factors we see there.

 

I recall a year before I was still in high school (until 18 in Holland) and would enjoy the Disco and so on, but I had pretty much not a connection with new pop any longer, and was quite aware of that. I wouldn't say my girl friends implored me to "beat it" but it wasn't exactly at a right angle with that idea either.

 

T

[SMcD]

Watched this doc last night and absolutely loved it. It was interesting, and more than a bit affirming, to see how pervasive imposter syndrome is even amongst such heavy-hitters of pop.

 

I shared the annoyance of some other folks that the guys who played the instruments weren't even mentioned. Even a minute on that would've sufficed.

 

I got a few laughs out of the whole "what if we tried to sing in Swahili" section. I'm morbidly curious as to what, exactly, Waylon meant about "good old boys not singing Swahili". Potentially-troubling-politics notwithstanding, if I was in a sweltering room at midnight trying to record tricky vocals and somebody derailed the proceedings to try it in a wholly different language, I might be inclined to leave for their own safety. Love that this went on for several minutes until someone informed Stevie that they don't actually speak Swahili in Ethiopia, only for Michael Jackson to make up some syllables that sounded sufficiently "cultural" to the room full of American millionaires.

 

I got a big laugh out of Paul Simon's John Denver joke too, but then I learned the following:

 

Quote

In 1985, Denver asked to participate in the singing of "We Are the World" but was rejected, despite his obvious genuine commitment to charity work, and musical talent. According to Ken Kragen (who helped to produce the song), Denver was snubbed because many people felt his image would hurt the credibility of the song as a pop-rock anthem. "I didn't agree with this assessment," Kragen said, but he reluctantly turned Denver down anyway.[37] Denver later wrote in his 1994 autobiography "Take Me Home" about the rejection; "It broke my heart not to be included"

 

In this context, the joke just feels mean. They did John dirty, imo.

 

Oh, and it's a testament to Willie Nelson's professionalism - or perhaps his tolerance - that while Al Jarreau got himself problem-drunk, Willie held steady despite definitely toking up every single time they took a break.

[stoken6]

3 hours ago, SMcD said:

while Al Jarreau got himself problem-drunk, Willie held steady despite definitely toking up every single time they took a break.

Remember what they say:

- 5 drunk guys will start a fight

- 5 stoned guys will start a band.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Mitch Towne]

On 2/14/2024 at 1:50 PM, MathOfInsects said:

I think the "angle" of the doc--that it's all the legends in one place at the same time, and the logistics required for it--pretty much precludes spending any film time on the studio musicians who recorded the track in advance--the guys doing their paid job. As famous as they are to us, the public doesn't know them, and what are they going to say, really, aside from, "I played this song." They may have been interviewed and had their parts cut, but I think  the inclusion of the choir director was probably about as far into the weeds as the doc wanted to go. I would bet that even Quincy Jones' role wasn't completely clear to the layperson, given the place Lionel Ritchie held in the narrative of the film. 

 

But, they DID show the studio musicians cutting the track! And the producers couldn’t even bother to mention them in the credits. That’s the travesty. 

[MathOfInsects]

2 minutes ago, Mitch Towne said:

 

But, they DID show the studio musicians cutting the track! And the producers couldn’t even bother to mention them in the credits. That’s the travesty. 

This is reaching back a bit in time now, but I honestly didn't remember ever seeing any of the initial tracking. Maybe even more to your point in that case!

[Mitch Towne]

8 hours ago, MathOfInsects said:

This is reaching back a bit in time now, but I honestly didn't remember ever seeing any of the initial tracking. Maybe even more to your point in that case!

They definitely did have tracking footage in the movie. 

[MathOfInsects]

11 hours ago, Mitch Towne said:

They definitely did have tracking footage in the movie. 

Got it. Well, the original question was about why they didn't talk to those guys, and I think that's explainable by saying there's only so many people they can talk to, and even if they shot that footage I could see it not making the final cut. Any decision not to include people who are in the documentary in the credits seems suspect, those guys or anyone else, and I have no idea about that. I wouldn't have watched the credits with that kind of specificity even to see if Lionel Ritchie was in them, let along the incredible studio band that cut the original track!