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Just wondering who you would like to see Bernard work with if you had a choice - other than NO!!!! He's had his fair share of collaborations in the past (Johnny Marr, Chemical Brothers) and they have always been pretty good IMO.
Personally I wouldn't mind seeing what a Massive Attack/Sumner
collaboration would sound like!
Total fantasy, but Bernard Sumner meets Johnny Jewel (Glass Candy/Chromatics/Desire) or David Sitek (TV on the Radio/Telepathe) would be cool. Then again, his songwriting has taken a major detour even from the days of Technique, so maybe he'd be at a loss to meet them halfway.
The American collaborations have always been interesting. John Robie was too saturated in gimmicks, but Arthur Baker must've been a breath of fresh air after the oppressive atmosphere Hannett indulged on Movement. People on here crap on Stephen Hague, but considering he's from the state of Maine he certainly had his ears on the dance floor. Plus he was a very positive influence on Bernard's vocals, much as I love the raw emotion of the PCL era.
I Agree, all his collaborations have been fruitful - From 808 State, to PSB/J.Marr, and the Chems.
What about an Underworld Track with Sumner ? Tim Burgess with Sumner ? Jon Marsh (Beloved) with Sumner ??
Female collaborators could be Miki Berenyi(Lush), Or even a strange call & response track with Bjork ?!!
Wishful thinking, I know.
LOL
Jed Stephens wrote: sumner, hook, morris and gilbert, just once more, please.
Only collaboration i want to see him do
JV wrote: Total fantasy, but Bernard Sumner meets Johnny Jewel (Glass Candy/Chromatics/Desire) or David Sitek (TV on the Radio/Telepathe) would be cool. Then again, his songwriting has taken a major detour even from the days of Technique, so maybe he'd be at a loss to meet them halfway.
The American collaborations have always been interesting. John Robie was too saturated in gimmicks, but Arthur Baker must've been a breath of fresh air after the oppressive atmosphere Hannett indulged on Movement. People on here crap on Stephen Hague, but considering he's from the state of Maine he certainly had his ears on the dance floor. Plus he was a very positive influence on Bernard's vocals, much as I love the raw emotion of the PCL era.
I agree, Stephen Hague did get some top notch recordings with NO (IMO - True Faith, 1963 and Regret). Did he do the session for BLT94 too? That was cool. And like you say, he always got Barney to stretch himself vocal wise.
I dont know who produced the Technique album but I think they did a great job and so a collab again might be good.
Im dont think the producers on WFTSC did such a great job. Too much in the mix and a bit all over the place (the exceptions Hey Joe and Turn).
I'd like to hear him work with his twat cousin Gordon from Wallsend. Sumners unite!
Know what's even stupider? I'd like to hear the Bernard Sumner/Johnny Marr record I imagined I was going to hear. I love the first Electronic record, but I always thought it was a little light on the Marr. I'd dig another Electronic single with Johnny in full-on Smiths jingle-jangle mode.
I would love to see him do a full-on Marr collaboration too (Bernard doing singing, Marr doing music), but Johnny Marr seems to almost have given up being the main (only) musician to a singer these days - I read somewhere recently that he said he liked adding 'texture' to music and bands, rather than taking the lead - which is fair enough but a bit of a shame.
Otherwise, as also a massive 70s & 80s soul fan (as well as NO !) I'd love to see Bernard sing over a good soul backing band - eg: Al Green's or Booker T and The MGs. He has such a distinctive voice I think you need a very "normal" but tight musical style to complement it, rather than someone who has a very distinctive leftfield musical style or an over-elaborate musical backing. All my favourite soul singers have one thing in common - you can tell it's them within one line (usually just one word) of their voice - Bernard's voice too is like this. Which modern singers can you say that's true of? Not many.
NO Regret wrote: I dont know who produced the Technique album but I think they did a great job and so a collab again might be good.
Self-produced, no? Although in one interview, AHW was careful to give a lot of the credit to engineer Michael Johnson.
Dunno about collaborations. As someone said over on the Never Cry Another Tear thread, is this really the kind of music Bernard wants to be making at this late stage in his career?
Well, clearly it is, and I've been happy to take what I can get from 91 onwards, always realizing it doesn't match up to what came before.
But what I would really like to hear is a solo Sumner electronic record full of textures and melodies but moving away from dance rhytms, from rock rhythms and even conventional songs - something like Boards of Canada or, maybe, like Eno's more pop-oriented albums. A framework where he feels liberated from verse-chorus-verse and only writes lyrics as and when he chooses.
how odd. agent cooper started this thread. my first name is agent, and my middle name is cooper....
This probably sounds crazy but I always wondered how Madonna would sound if she ever crossed paths with New Order. The two giants of dance music on one record. It would either be really cool or really awful....
Tony Casanova wrote: But what I would really like to hear is a solo Sumner electronic record full of textures and melodies but moving away from dance rhytms, from rock rhythms and even conventional songs - something like Boards of Canada or, maybe, like Eno's more pop-oriented albums. A framework where he feels liberated from verse-chorus-verse and only writes lyrics as and when he chooses.
Ooh! Total agreement here. It'd be cool for him to go in the studio with Eno and focus on electronic - but not dance - music, with lyrics as one (optional) element, but not the focus. Eno was profoundly influenced by Giorio Moroder, too.
I think Eno would encourage Barney to push the music forward. I'd love to hear what they could do together.
Still crossing my fingers for an Andrew Weatherall produced New Order album, but I should probably keep dreaming.
Weatherall producing A Certain Ratio would likewise be welcome.
Tony Casanova wrote:
NO Regret wrote: I dont know who produced the Technique album but I think they did a great job and so a collab again might be good.
Self-produced, no? Although in one interview, AHW was careful to give a lot of the credit to engineer Michael Johnson.
Prduced by New Order and Michael Johnson, mixed by Alan Mayerson. Have a read of the Sound on Sound article from April 89 here: SOS April 89 Technique article
