By: Deborah Nicholls-Lee / BBC
Translation: Telegrafi.com
In 1974, seeking more creative autonomy and a more powerful rock sound, The Eagles broke with their London producer and returned to their hometown of Los Angeles, California. There, at Record Plant Studios—founded by legendary sound engineer Gary Kellgren and savvy businessman Chris Stone—they found a radical alternative. In this relaxed setting, where every aspect of a star’s life—from hotel suites to hot tubs—was catered for, they recorded their famous album, Hotel California.
Even when The Eagles brought the party atmosphere into the studio, the managers weren't worried. As Stone says in a new book published by [Publishing House] Thames & Hudson: “The longer we kept them there, the more money we made.” With musicians who - once they got there - could barely leave the studio environment, it was no surprise that within a year of the song's release Hotel California, rumors began to circulate that the Record Plant was the "real Hotel California."
Books Buzz Me In - Inside the Record Plant Studios, by veteran music journalists Martin Porter and David "Mr Bonzai" Goggin, tells the story of one of the most successful recording studios in the US during its most decadent years; from its beginnings (in 1968) in New York - where it was recorded Electric ladyland of Jimi Hendrix - to the "wild" versions in California, in Los Angeles and Sausalito where rock music legends like Fleetwood Mac, The Who and The Eagles recorded.
Buzz Me In, named after the password to enter the Los Angeles studio, invites the public into a world of rock and roll that few have ever seen. Accompanied by a playlist of iconic studio recordings, the book draws on Stone's memoirs and archives, behind-the-scenes photographs, and over 100 interviews with artists, producers, and studio staff who contributed to the success of the Record Plant.
In the 70s, Porter and Goggin had closer access than most to the secret world behind studio doors. “It took me years to realise that it was a really special time,” Porter tells the BBC. Forty years later, one figure who has emerged as a survivor of that crazy period is Chris Stone.
“Chris Stone was a huge figure in the music industry and a great storyteller,” says Porter, who believed Stone’s memoirs of the Record Plant’s wildest decade were material for a book. But he kept refusing, insisting, “The story dies with me, Porter.” But in the last two years of his life (he died in 2016), he changed his mind and teamed Porter with Goggin, his close friend and publicist, to help him make this project happen.
The Record Plant was a special studio. "The biggest artists wanted to go there," Goggini tells the BBC. The studio was a pioneer of the latest technology ("more recording channels, bigger speakers...") and created an environment that was completely different from traditional studios.
It gave artists more freedom from record labels, creating a new working model that was later exported around the world. The driving force behind this new path was Kellgren. He was “fun,” “creative,” and “innovative,” says Porter. “He knew how to use the mixer, how to produce great sounds, but he also knew how to create a party atmosphere — a space where artists wanted to create, stay, and socialize.”
When the duo opened a sister studio in Los Angeles in 1969 (and another in Sausalito in 1972), they fleshed out the original concept by creating a kind of “rock hotel,” complete with Jacuzzis for the band, rooms with mirrored ceilings, and—in keeping with the times—an array of illegal drugs to keep their artists there. “Mirrors were built into the mixing console, and assistants were instructed to make sure there was a clean razor and a pipe every morning,” says Porter.
It's no surprise that the Record Plant attracted the most outrageous rockers, including The Who's fiery drummer Keith Moon, who appears in the book in 1976 in front of the colorful sound-absorbing panels in the Los Angeles studio. During one difficult vocal session, he broke a ceiling light every time he missed a note - until the studio was plunged into darkness.
While Stone brought the business acumen, Kellgren was the creative force: an unpredictable character who spent much of the 70s under the influence of drugs and who tragically died young in 1977. He was the one who came up with the brick-shaped invitations to the Los Angeles studio opening, which were sent to rock stars everywhere, causing chaos in post offices. On opening night, the invitations were handed over to a tuxedo-clad bricklayer, who cemented them together to create an eye-catching “wall of fame.”
Working alongside producer Bill Szymczyk, The Eagles spent nine months at Record Plant LA working on the album. Hotel California, whose song was about a place where you could “go out whenever you wanted” but “you could never leave.” John Lennon was an example of this: he had made the studio his home for the better part of five years, taking the opportunity to jam with Mick Jagger or invite Elton John to a new song. It was there that Lennon went through his famous “lost weekend” phase, and in 1980 he signed an autograph for the receptionist at the Record Plant in New York City – just minutes before he was killed.
The Record Plant and its legendary parties attracted countless stars; they offered everything they wanted and kept them ensnared in the magic of the studio. In the book Buzz Me In, Ken Caillat - album producer Rumours of Fleetwood Mac - describes the band's experience in the Sausalito studio as "drugged" and "claustrophobic." In an echo of the famous line, he says, "There were days when I felt like I could never leave." The Record Plant had no qualms about fulfilling every wish in order to sell recording time. When Hendrix was expected at the New York studio, a bowl of freshly rolled joints would be placed on the mixing console.
In Sausalito, a laughing gas canister was installed next to Sly Stone’s bed; in the Los Angeles studio cafeteria, Glenn Frey of The Eagles racked up a $50 debt playing pinball. Even Stevie Wonder, known for his clean living, “was spending $175 an hour in Studio C [LA] just playing table hockey.” The studio culture was palpable even before you walked in.
Albumi Hotel California reached platinum status in December 1976, and the album's title track - with its captivating blend of rock, country and Latin influences, including a flamenco-style guitar intro - topped the US charts the following May. The similarities between the song's lyrics and the studio were clear to Kellgren. "Oh my God, they're writing for the Record Plant," he told producer Jimmy Robinson.
The “warm smell of colic [cabinets] rising in the air” resembled the marijuana smoke that filled the studios; while the “pretty face” at the reception desk could refer to Rose Mann, who guided visitors along an open, airy corridor that led to a maze of corridors like the one described in the song’s first verse.
Her “[Tiffany]-glass-clouded] mind” might have been inspired by the mosaic ceiling in the control room in Sausalito, or perhaps by the 125 stained-glass windows in “The Castle” — a Hollywood mansion purchased by the Record Plant in 1975, where Kellgren hoped to create a “rock palace,” with towers resembling the Beverly Hills Hotel featured on the album cover.
Some employees of the Record Plant were convinced that the night watchman, Michael Gately - the one who opened the door after the password - was the "man of the night" in the song; the "master's chambers" referred to the echo chambers next to Studio C; the studio's fenced-in parking lot was the "yard" where the staff liked to party. And could the "spirit" of "1969" be an allusion to the studio's star-studded opening night?
Rumors that the Record Plant was the real "Hotel California" were further fueled by Kellgren himself, who understood that myth-making was good for business and, as Goggin says, "certainly didn't try to stop it." The evidence was compelling. The "pink champagne on ice" may have been a metaphor for the extravagance of the Record Plant, but the "mirrors on the ceiling" were very real. There was a mirror above the vocal booth in Studio C, in every back room of the studio, and - most importantly - above the magnificent nautical-themed bed, a space frequented by The Eagles that had a secret compartment under the floor from which Kellgren would observe the recording sessions.
However, The Eagles have dismissed these speculations. "This is a song about the dark side of the American Dream and about excess in America - something we've had experience with," Don Henley told journalist Gayle King in a 2007 CBS interview.
“There are so many similarities,” Porter tells the BBC. “A lot of the lyrics and the atmosphere of the time were inspired by the place where the song was written.” This question is also addressed to Chris Stone in the book. “Was the Record Plant the real ‘Hotel California’?” His answer: “We were everything our customers wanted us to be.” /Telegraph/
