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MO’ ON MOULTON
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Tom Moulton talks with us about some of the landmark songs his fingers touched over the years.
“T.S.O.P. (The Sound of Philadelphia)” // performed by MFSB feat. The Three Degrees Mine always had ‘People all over the world, doo-doo.” That’s my version.
“Love Is The Message” // performed by MFSB
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In fact, I tricked [Leon] Huff into playing the piano on that, on the piano part. It was funny because I came up with the idea to do that album (Philadelphia Classics). And I said you know you gotta put like a Rolls Royce or an old classy car on the cover. And they thought it was a great idea. And I picked the songs I wanted to do the song and the one song I picked that wasn’t a hit was “Love Is The Message.” And they couldn’t understand why I wanted to do it. And I said, “Well, let me put it to you another way: If I don’t do that song, I don’t want to do the album.” I felt the song was so important.
“More More More” // performed by Andrea True Connection
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DANCE HALL DAYS: (1) Tom Moulton with record execs at West End Records. (2) Today, Tom Moulton is still giving the people what they want. (3) The proof can be found on these recently-released compilations.
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ne would believe that tom Moulton’s recent “comeback” – if that’s what you want to call it – has everything to do with the tempo of today’s top 40. Everywhere you turn these days, pop acts are fueling up their albums with nightclub workouts that would have easily substituted for a round Frisbee at a disco demolition party. but the disco sucks bandwagon has been broken down for quite some time, with acts like Ke$ha, Lady gaga, Katy Perry, rihanna, david guetta, deadmau5 and the black Eyed Peas constantly pumping their four-on-the-floor seasoning into their electro pop. Moulton prefers the real stuff, hearing real musicians making the music rather than an emotionless drum machine performing studio gimmickry. but he claims he enjoys much of the music of today. “i like today’s music,” he says. “i think people really appreciate the music aspect of it.” once again, the mix master, the original sir Mix-a-Lot, is a bit short in his response. this is probably one of those subjects he wishes i would change. it’s a strong possibility that sir Moulton may not be all that familiar with today’s radio airplay due to the high volume of work he’s been meticulously toying with lately, but so much of today’s dance music rests on the backs of his creativity. they are still pumping out the instrumental breakdowns, 12” inch single mixes and mega-mix tapes. if sir Moulton is still hard at work in his senior years, you best believe deadmau5 is going to be around for quite a long time, until he falls upon some strange music industry rat trap.
Did you know the story about Andrea True? I didn’t know when I did it. If I knew it then, I wouldn’t have done it. That’s why I made it so pretty. I thought she was talking about the music. I’m serious. While reading the history on the track, I was like, “Whoa, I wonder if Tom knew that.” No Tom didn’t! I didn’t know she was a porn star. I wanted to take that line out of the song that says “If you wanna know how I really feel, just get the cameras rolling and get the action going.” I wasn’t listening to that part ever. I was more focused on ‘more more more, how do ya like it?” That’s why I made it so pretty. I thought she was talking about the music. I never once made the connection that it was. And everyone was like you was wondering if I was just naïve. No I wasn’t. If I told you the real reason why I wanted to mix that song originally, you wouldn’t believe me. You wanna know what it was? It was that hokey Herb Albert-sounding trumpet solo. You gotta remember now it had only been four or five years that everything was Herb Albert and then everybody got so tired of him that no one wanted to hear the trumpet again. And I was like maybe it’s time for the trumpet to come back. And that was the whole reason I wanted to do the song. It was so interesting.
“Do It Till You’re Satisfied” // performed by B.T. Express When they played that for me originally, they said what do you think of this And I said, I can do something with that. And when they told me the name of the group, I almost laughed. Brothers Truckin. What is that? A tribute to Eddie Kendricks? And I said, “Where are they from?” They said New York. And I said, “Well, for God’s sake, why don’t you name them after a subway or something?” Brothers Truckin! Oh my god. I said I don’t know how you people come up with this crap. It sounds like an artificial band. B.T. Express sounds like a bad-ass name, but you don’t wanna know what it stands for. Now we know.
“Honey Bee” // performed by Gloria Gaynor The guitar buzz on the opener? It was Bobby Eli playing that. (Humming) That’s him on the bee. See “Never Can Say Goodbye” was done in Philadelphia.
“Dr. Love” // performed by First Choice The timing kept changing and I was so frustrated. And I had to constantly speed it up and slow it down til’ it matched. I was going out of my mind because the tempo changed so much. Earl [Young] kept changing the hi-hat pattern and it gave the appearance that it was slowing down and speeding up and so I wanted to make it all consistent and that’s why I was having all the trouble. It will always be one of my favorites.
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MARCH/APRIL 2012
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