Glyn Johns

IBC Studios and as performing artist

In 1959, Johns began his career as an assistant recording engineer at IBC Studios on Portland Place in London.^[15] IBC was an independent recording studio and had no affiliation with a label.^[16] Johns recounts that his early duties included odd tasks and providing basic support for the experienced engineers.^[3] His first session as a recording engineer was for the popular skiffle singer Lonnie Donegan.^[17]

At the time IBC had a busy schedule. Coats and ties were required to be worn by recording engineers (and white lab coats for technical engineers). Most recordings were done then in mono (except for classical music).^[18] During Johns's first year at IBC, the popularity of rock and roll increased and demand for records that sounded more American.^[19] Engineers were confronted with the challenge of capturing louder music.^[18] Younger engineers were more apt to try new approaches, and Terry Johnson, another young engineer at IBC, convinced Johns to move in this direction.^[19] Johns recounts that Jack Good, one of the UK's early successful television rock and roll producers, made regular use of IBC Studios, and did many of his recordings with Johns and Johnson engineering sessions.^[20] They engineered pre-recorded tracks for the Oh Boy! television programme, which featured leading British rock and roll performers of the day, such as Joe Brown, Marty Wilde, Billy Fury, Wee Willie Harris, and others.^[20]

Johns recounts that in the early 1960s, he was signed to Decca Records as a solo musical performing artist at the urging of Jack Good.^[21] Johns's first single, "Sioux Indian", was produced by Jack Good^[21] and the next two produced by Tony Meehan.^[22] Johns later went on to record for Pye Records^[22] and Immediate Records,^[23] but none of his solo records became hits.^[1]

During this time, Johns was playing in the Presidents,^[24] who, according to Johns, began to put the phrase "Featuring Decca Recording Star Glyn Johns" on their posters.^[25] Johns realised that he could invite musicians to IBC on Sundays, when the studio was not booking sessions—letting musicians play in the sound room whilst he honed his engineering and producing skills at the console.^[26] The makeshift sessions attracted many of the best young musicians in London, such as Jimmy Page, Ian Stewart, Alexis Korner, Brian Jones, and Nicky Hopkins.^[25] Johns recounts that his first session as chief engineer was for a recording by Joe Brown, which was produced by Tony Hatch.^[27][a] In 1962, Johns entered into an arrangement with George Clouston, the manager at IBC studios, to let him produce records by certain artists.^[28]

The Rolling Stones 1962–1963

Johns's friend, Ian Stewart was playing piano with the Rolling Stones.^[29] The two lived for a while in a house nicknamed "the Bungalow" with one of Stewart's friends, Brian Wiles, who played in a group with Jeff Beck.^[30] It was through Stewart that Johns became involved in recording the Rolling Stones on their earliest recordings.^[29] Johns mentions that in March 1963, he brought them to IBC to record several tracks.^[31] After Andrew Loog Oldham became the Rolling Stones' manager, Stewart was asked to leave the group, and Oldham took over the role as producer of the group's recordings.^[32] Oldham moved the Rolling Stones' sessions to other studios, such as Regent Sound, using other engineers, and for more than a year Johns was not involved with the Rolling Stones recordings.^[33]

As engineer for Shel Talmy

In 1963, Johns made arrangements to produce and record a session with Georgie Fame,^[33] but was paired, only as engineer, with producer Shel Talmy.^[34] Initially he was skeptical, but unexpectedly enjoyed working with Talmy, and the two formed a successful partnership on many recordings for the next couple of years, recording hit songs for acts such as the Kinks and the Who.^[35]

The Kinks, the Who, and Eric Clapton and as independent

During the mid 1960s, Johns worked with several of the popular British beat groups of the era. With producer Shel Talmy he engineered many of the early records by the Kinks and the Who,^[34] such as "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night" by the Kinks, and "My Generation" by the Who.^[36]

In 1965, Johns left IBC studios to further pursue his solo career as a singer and performer and promote his latest record "Mary Anne", but the record failed to chart.^[37] At the urging of Talmy, Johns began working freelance as an independent producer and engineer—one of the first independent engineers in the UK.^[34] Subsequently, he did sessions at various studios such as Decca, Pye, Marble Arch, and Olympic.^[34]

In 1971, Johns reunited with the Who for the first time since the mid-1960s, this time as a co-producer, to work on what became the album Who's Next.^[14][b] According to Pete Townshend in his autobiography:

Glyn was my model of what a good producer should be—someone who guides the music and creates the right sound—and there was a great mutual respect and fondness between us. We were both perfectionists in the studio who worked quickly. It was his work as an engineer on the early Who sessions ... that made them sound so great.^[40]

Johns continued to work with the Who throughout the 1970s as an engineer on parts of Quadrophenia in 1973.^[14] He produced and engineered The Who by Numbers^[41] (1975) and produced early sessions for Who Are You (1978) with engineer John Astley, who later took over as producer.^[42] Johns returned to work with the group, producing and engineering 1982's It's Hard.^[43]

Pete Townshend recruited Johns to engineer Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert in 1973.^[44] Johns produced and engineered Eric Clapton's 1977 album, Slowhand,^[45] which featured hits such as "Lay Down Sally", "Wonderful Tonight", and his version of J. J. Cale's "Cocaine",^[46] and Clapton's next album, Backless in 1978, which contained another hit "Promises".^[47] In his autobiography Eric Clapton wrote about Johns:

He was a disciplinarian who did not like people mucking about or wasting time. When we were in the studio we were expected to work and he'd get frustrated if there was any goofing off. Even though we were all getting stoned or drunk we responded to that quite well. He brought out the best in us, and as a result that album [Slowhand] has great playing and a great atmosphere."^[48]

The Rolling Stones 1965–1975

Though Johns briefly ceased recording the Rolling Stones in late 1963 and 1964, in 1965 he returned to the role as chief engineer on their British sessions and assisted the group with much of their most famous material.^[c] That year, with producer Andrew Loog Oldham, Johns engineered the group's hit "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"^[51] and the albums December's Children (And Everybody's)^[52] and Out of Our Heads.^[53] Johns worked with the Rolling Stones regularly, though not exclusively, as engineer for the remainder of the 1960s and up through the mid-1970s.^[54][d]

Starting with the sessions for Between the Buttons in late 1966, Johns and the Rolling Stones began to record extensively at Olympic Studios.^[56] Olympic Studios became Johns's preferred studio for many years,^[57][e] and it became one of the most in-demand recording facilities in England.^[60]

In 1968 the Rolling Stones expressed the desire to work with an American producer and Johns recommended Jimmy Miller, who he had seen working with Traffic.^[61] Johns stayed on as engineer, and with this team the group recorded Beggars Banquet (1968)^[14] and Let It Bleed (1969).^[14] Glyn Johns engineered some of the tracks on Sticky Fingers (1971),^[62] and Exile on Main St. (1972),^[63] both produced by Jimmy Miller. On these two albums his brother, Andy Johns, also worked as an engineer.^[64][f] His brother engineered Goat's Head Soup, the last Rolling Stones album produced by Jimmy Miller.^[67] Glyn Johns contributed to certain tracks on It's Only Rock 'n Roll,^[68] and returned as chief recording engineer during the earlier sessions for Black and Blue, but became frustrated with delays in progress and left following a bitter disagreement with Keith Richards.^[69][g]

The Small Faces, the Faces, Humble Pie, and Ronnie Lane and Pete Townshend

In the 1960s, Johns engineered many of the records made by the Small Faces,^[71] such as "Whatcha Gonna Do About It"^[71] "Tin Soldier",^[72] their 1967 hit, "Itchycoo Park",^[73] which featured the use of bizarre phasing effects^[72] Johns learned from another Olympic engineer, George Chkiantz.^[74][h] Johns engineered the Small Faces' 1968 LP, Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake.^[76]

After the group's breakup, guitarist and lead vocalist Steve Marriot formed Humble Pie, whose membership included Peter Frampton—Johns produced and engineered their third and fourth albums, Humble Pie^[77] and Rock On.^[78][i] The other former Small Faces, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, and Kenney Jones, joined with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, both from Jeff Beck Group to form the Faces, and Johns engineered and co-produced (with the band) the albums A Nod Is as Good as a Wink... to a Blind Horse^[80] and Ooh La La.^[81] During the 1970s, after leaving the Faces, Ronnie Lane worked on several projects including the Rough Mix album with Pete Townshend, which was produced by Glyn Johns.^[82] Lane began to experience health problems and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.^[83] In 1983, Eric Clapton and Johns helped organize the ARMS Charity Concerts to raise money for Lane's medical bills and research for the disease,^[84] and assembled a cast of musicians for the show, which included Clapton, Jimmy Page, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Steve Winwood and others.^[85]

Led Zeppelin

Johns engineered Led Zeppelin's debut album recorded in October 1968. Though Jimmy Page was credited as producer, Johns was involved in the production during the making of the album.^[86] According to Johns, when working on the album, he developed his method of using three microphones to record drums for stereo mixes.^[87]

The Beatles

Glyn Johns worked as the chief recording engineer on the Beatles' "Get Back" sessions, which were both taped and filmed.^[88] The project resulted in the Let It Be album^[89] and the documentary films Let it Be (1970)^[90] and The Beatles: Get Back (2021).^[91] In 1969, Paul McCartney called Johns and asked him to assist with sessions.^[92] George Martin, though officially listed as the producer, only made occasional appearances.^[93] During taping and shooting, John Lennon in jest referred to him as "Glynis" (referring to the apparently unrelated actress Glynis Johns).^[94]

Johns says it was he who suggested the band play live on the rooftop of their Apple Studio building in Savile Row, London; setting up the recording equipment for their last live performance.^[95][14] He also recommended that the album be structured as an "audio documentary" with talk and banter included between each track.^[95] Johns helped the band compile several versions of the album,^[96] all of which got shelved^[97] before the project was turned over to producer Phil Spector in 1970, who reworked it and released it as the album Let It Be.^[98] Johns was critical of Spector's re-produced version, calling it "a syrupy load of bullshit".^[99]

Johns engineered early recorded parts of the song "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" at Trident Studios^[100] on 23 February 1969, that in later finished form appeared on the Abbey Road album.^[101] For Abbey Road's remaining tracks, the group returned to EMI Studios and re-united with producer George Martin and a team of engineers including Geoff Emerick, Phil McDonald, and Alan Parsons.^[102]

Johns assisted with early sessions of Paul McCartney and Wings' Red Rose Speedway.^[103][j] Johns quit the project due to what he described as his lack of satisfaction with the material.^[104]

Procol Harum, Joe Cocker, the Move, and the Easybeats and others

Johns also worked with other British acts such as Procol Harum,^[105] Joe Cocker,^[14] the Move,^[106] and Fairport Convention.^[107] He engineered several songs by Australia's the Easybeats,^[108] including their 1967 hit "Friday on My Mind", which was produced by Shel Talmy.^[109] Johns worked with the French musician Johnny Hallyday.^[110]

The Steve Miller Band, Bob Dylan, the Band, the Eagles

In the late 1960s and 1970s, Johns was in demand on both sides of the Atlantic and worked with American acts such as the Steve Miller Band, and the Eagles.^[1] Johns did his first work with an American act in 1968 with the Steve Miller Band, whom he had seen perform live at the Fillmore in San Francisco.^[111] The group came to England to record their debut album, Children of the Future, at Olympic with Johns as engineer.^[112] During the sessions, Johns assumed the role of producer.^[113] Johns produced and engineered their next three albums, Sailor,^[114] Brave New World,^[1] and Your Saving Grace.^[115]

At the request of producer Bob Johnston,^[116] Johns engineered the live recordings of Bob Dylan's performance backed by the Band at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1969,^[116] some of which appeared on his 1970 Self Portrait album.^[117] He later produced and engineered Dylan's 1984 live album, Real Live.^[118] Johns also did one of the mixes for the Band's Stage Fright in 1970.^[119][k]

Johns engineered and produced the Eagles' first three albums, bringing them to Olympic Studios in London to record their self-titled debut,^[121] followed by Desperado,^[14] and the early sessions for On the Border.^[122] During these years they achieved success, recording hits such as "Witchy Woman", "Tequila Sunrise", and "Best of My Love", which became their first number one hit single.^[122] Increasingly the group began to develop internal friction and with Johns.^[122] They also objected to Johns' ban on use of drugs in the studio.^[122] By 1974, singer/guitarist Glenn Frey and drummer/vocalist Don Henley gained control of the band,^[122] and sought a more hard-rocking approach.^[122] Johns, who preferred their early country-rock orientation,^[123] fell out of favour with the group and left during the making of On the Border, so they moved the sessions to California and brought in producer/engineer Bill Szymczyk to finish the album.^[122] Eventually, Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon departed,^[124] and the band recruited Don Felder, Timothy B Schmit, and former James Gang guitarist Joe Walsh.^[125]

Other American acts

Johns engineered and co-produced the first two albums by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, which provided the hits "If You Wanna Get to Heaven" and "Jackie Blue".^[126] Johns worked with others such as Spooky Tooth,^[110] Billy Preston,^[127] and Howlin' Wolf.^[128] Johns engineered the song "A Man Needs a Maid" on Neil Young's 1971 Harvest album.^[129] Johns has also worked with Emmylou Harris.^[1]

Joan Armatrading

After assessing the disappointing sales of Joan Armatrading's second album, A&M Records selected Johns to produce her next three albums,^[130] beginning in 1976 with Joan Armatrading,^[131] followed by Show Some Emotion (1977), and To the Limit (1978).^[132] Providing Armatrading with her first chart hit, "Love and Affection", the eponymous third album cemented her career, and was once described by Johns as his best work.^[130]

The Clash

In 1982, Johns worked with the Clash during the late stages of making the album Combat Rock.^[133] Initially it was intended to be a double album tentatively under the working title Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg.^[134] The group's chief songwriters Mick Jones and Joe Strummer disagreed on how to proceed, and according to Johns even booked separate studios in New York to do their own competing mixes of the album.^[135][l] According to Clash biographer Marcus Gray, the group's manager Bernie Rhodes, pushed to bring in either Gus Dudgeon, who had produced Elton John, or Glyn Johns.^[133][m] Johns recounts that the chief of London's CBS Records A & R department, Muff Winwood (brother of musician Steve Winwood), having been dissatisfied with Jones' and Strummer's mixes, asked Johns to remix the album.^[135] Johns agreed and, upon hearing an acetate of one of the previous mixes, was concerned about the record's apparent self-indulgence, but was also impressed with many of its tracks and realised that there was enough strong material to make a good album.^[136] Johns recommended that the album be shortened to one disc, and proceeded to reduce the number of tracks for inclusion, plus he edited down the length of several tracks in addition to remixing all of the songs that ended up on the final release.^[137][n]