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One of the favourites among Arizona's following is their performance of REM's wonderful ballad 'Everybody Hurts'. In particular, it's Kevin's emotional rendition of the Michael Stipe vocal performance that really impresses people. So, when looking for a suitable number for him to record at Middle C, it seemed the most obvious choice. By the time the day came for the recording, we had already laid down the percussion, drums, and bass guitar tracks, the last part to be added in pre-production being the Wurlitzer electric piano section. Kev arrived for the session armed with his vintage candy apple red Fender Stratocaster - also the man's axe of choice for his live work. We decided to mic up Middle C's Fender Princeton valve amp and cranked it up for just a hint of distortion - lovely! Kevin first played the guitar arpeggios which run through the whole song. Next up was the overdriven guitar sections during the middle section and at the end of the song. For this, we patched in Kev's Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal and the effect was immediate - instant crunch. After the guitar duties, Kev was up to the mic for the vocals and after delivering three takes and a backing vocal, we settled on the faultless take 3 you hear on this MP3. Now, the most demanding part for us here at Middle C was to do Kevin's performance justice by creating the sublime orchestral strings part of the song. A whole evening was spent layering up violins, violas, cellos and basses to get that haunting accompaniment. We hope you agree the results are bang on! A couple of hours on the mix and - thanks Mr Skingley - bagged & tagged!
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Original song written by Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe ©1992 R.E.M./Athens Music Ltd. |
