Tom Werman - Turn it Up!
Tom Werman - Turn it Up!
Got this for Christmas, and just finished it.
I presume pretty much everyone here knows that Tom was behind the desk for the early Motley Crue material, Twisted Sister, Winger, Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent, Poison, REO Speedwagon, Stryper...loads of bands, though definitely not all Dino.
He writes in a nice readable style, but I was disappointed - he's far too superficial when it comes to the actual production of the albums. There is the occasional nugget: eg. Mick Mars' cab sounded "tired" (old battered cones), so he double tracked everything to make it sound better, and didn't get what he considered to be a really good tone until Girls Girls Girls.
But often you pretty much get "I worked with the band and we came up with a good album".
He's done some interviews on YouTube (or one long one that's been carved up) and there was a lot more information coming from that than you get in the book.
The first part, when he's talking about working as an A&R man, is probably more interesting as a read, such as how his boss passed on Rush, Kiss and Lynyrd Skynyrd (so he got Molly Hatchet instead).
Wasted opportunity IMO. Trevor Horn's book (categorically NOT Dino) has way more of that sort of stuff.
I presume pretty much everyone here knows that Tom was behind the desk for the early Motley Crue material, Twisted Sister, Winger, Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent, Poison, REO Speedwagon, Stryper...loads of bands, though definitely not all Dino.
He writes in a nice readable style, but I was disappointed - he's far too superficial when it comes to the actual production of the albums. There is the occasional nugget: eg. Mick Mars' cab sounded "tired" (old battered cones), so he double tracked everything to make it sound better, and didn't get what he considered to be a really good tone until Girls Girls Girls.
But often you pretty much get "I worked with the band and we came up with a good album".
He's done some interviews on YouTube (or one long one that's been carved up) and there was a lot more information coming from that than you get in the book.
The first part, when he's talking about working as an A&R man, is probably more interesting as a read, such as how his boss passed on Rush, Kiss and Lynyrd Skynyrd (so he got Molly Hatchet instead).
Wasted opportunity IMO. Trevor Horn's book (categorically NOT Dino) has way more of that sort of stuff.
-
cvansickle
- Posts: 5970
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:40 pm
Re: Tom Werman - Turn it Up!
I'm about halfway through this book right now. It's a pretty good read, but certainly not as much as Ted Templeman's was. Still, it is cool to learn about how Werman got started. He makes being the A&R sound like the coolest job to have!
-
cvansickle
- Posts: 5970
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:40 pm
Re: Tom Werman - Turn it Up!
Finished it over the weekend. Again, a good read but not great. Lots of timeline inaccuracies. For example, Werman claims Tom Sholz recorded the FIRST Boston album with a Rockman!
Last edited by cvansickle on Mon Mar 25, 2024 8:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
Tatosh Guitar
- Posts: 3327
- Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:43 pm
- Location: Mexico
Re: Tom Werman - Turn it Up!
Absolute epic fail. If you know Boston (and maybe even if you don't) you would know the Rockman was created to emulate the first album sound... not the other way around.cvansickle wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2024 12:19 pm Finished it over the weekend. Again, a good read but not great. Lots of timeline inaccuracies. For example, Werman claims Tom Sholz recorded the FIRST Boston album with a Walkman!
Last edited by Tatosh Guitar on Mon Mar 25, 2024 8:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
cvansickle
- Posts: 5970
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:40 pm
Re: Tom Werman - Turn it Up!
I fixed my other post - I should have said ROCKMAN, not Walkman! But yeah, the first Boston album was 1976, and the Rockman didn't come out until the 80s.Tatosh wrote:Sat Jan 03, 1970 9:50 pmAbsolute epic fail. If you know Boston (and maybe even if you don't) you would know the Walkman was created to emulate the first album sound... not the other way around.cvansickle wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2024 12:19 pm Finished it over the weekend. Again, a good read but not great. Lots of timeline inaccuracies. For example, Werman claims Tom Sholz recorded the FIRST Boston album with a Walkman!
-
Tatosh Guitar
- Posts: 3327
- Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:43 pm
- Location: Mexico
Re: Tom Werman - Turn it Up!
Oh boy, let's not talk about fails then, will we? I just went along with it LOL.cvansickle wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2024 8:54 pmI fixed my other post - I should have said ROCKMAN, not Walkman! But yeah, the first Boston album was 1976, and the Rockman didn't come out until the 80s.Tatosh wrote:Sat Jan 03, 1970 9:50 pmAbsolute epic fail. If you know Boston (and maybe even if you don't) you would know the Walkman was created to emulate the first album sound... not the other way around.cvansickle wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2024 12:19 pm Finished it over the weekend. Again, a good read but not great. Lots of timeline inaccuracies. For example, Werman claims Tom Sholz recorded the FIRST Boston album with a Walkman!
