Shel Talmy: One of Rock’s Great Producers

One of music’s premier record producers of the 1960s/1970s passed away on Nov. 13, 2024. Sheldon “Shel” Talmy, who is considered by many as the “godfather of the hard rock sound,” died at his LA home. Talmy was 87 and left a legacy of groundbreaking hits and innovations.

Born in Chicago in 1937, then moving to Hollywood to attend UCLA in the early 60s, Talmy dabbled in the pop music scene, producing the top 10 hit for The Bachelors with “Charmaine.”  When vacationing in the UK in 1962, he was motivated to enquire about production work by showing up at various London record companies without an appointment. “Everyone here [the UK] expects Americans to be brash and loud, so that was exactly what I was.” Talmy reflected. “I walked into Decca and said, ‘Here I am’ and reeled off a list of hits I’d made, which of course I hadn’t.”

He eventually gained a deal with their Pye Records division that gave him the discretion to bring acts of his own choosing to the studio. Over the next few months, he recorded with several upcoming pop bands including The Orchids, a Liverpudlian girl group, before another talent came to his attention. It was a local band from the Muswell Hill section of London called The Ravens, soon to change their name to The Kinks.

It took two failed singles for writer/singer Ray Davies to come up with the blockbuster “You Really Got Me.” A song initially written on piano, its original structure was softer and more blues-oriented. Talmy and Davies worked together to come up with something different. “That signature riff was also later credited with laying the groundwork for the heavy-metal movement,” Davies reflected in 2012. “Even though I still claim that it was a naïve attempt on our part to write a legitimate blues-jazz track.”

Central to the single’s sound was the hard, dirty guitar that produced a sound like nothing else on the radio in 1964. “While working as a studio engineer in LA, I’d figured out various techniques to make stuff sound even more powerful.” Talmy shared in his biography. “On ‘You Really Got Me,’ I recorded the guitar on two channels, one distorting and the other not. The combination makes the sound seem louder. We’d even kicked [guitarist] Dave Davies” green amp as we walked past, to make it sound rougher.”

The sound proved to be a landmark in pop recordings, and Talmy was on his way to a string of Kink’s hits such as “All Day and All of the Night”, “Tired of Waiting for You”, “Set Me Free,” Dedicated Follower of Fashion,” Sunny Afternoon’” and “Waterloo Sunset.”  Talmy later joked, “By the time [Decca] found out [his self-promotion] was all BS, I’d already had my first hit, and they were very gentlemanly about it.”

Not far from Muswell Hill, a young songwriter named Pete Townshend took notice of the sound that the Kinks were getting from their producer.  He was determined to have Talmy hear what The Who was developing. Townshend pushed for Mike Shaw, a friend and business partner of their manager Kit Lambert, to get hold of Talmy and introduce their demo of the newly written “I Can’t Explain.”  “It was left up to Shaw to actually play the demo to Shel Talmy over the telephone,” Townshend reflected years later. “He liked it, and then it all got going from there.”

Working with The Who at Pye Studios in London in January of 1965, Talmy remembered “’I Can’t Explain’ was basically worked out before they got to Pye. It lasted about a minute and thirty seconds. I rearranged the whole thing and added a couple of choruses…..and asked Ivy League [a pop singing trio] to do the backing vocals.”

That would not be the only Shel augmentation The Who would get for that session. John Entwistle told author Roy Carr, “Talmy didn’t like our backing vocals, so he dragged the Ivy League. Likewise, he was a little unsure of Townshend’s ability as lead guitarist, hence Jimmy Page.” The future Led Zeppelin star was there to lay down anything Shel asked him to do, as he’d already known Talmy for several years. “Talmy kept Jimmy Page permanently on hold, just in case a group guitarist didn’t cut the mustard.”

Townshend reflected, “Talmy was a great believer in making groups who were nothing into stars. He was also a great believer in pretending the group didn’t exist when they were in a recording studio. Despite that, our first few records are among our best, they were at the least fun to make.” History note: Pete ended up doing the solos we all hear on the record with Page contributing strumming on rhythm guitar.

Talmy’s influence continued over The Who as he would produce the band’s first six singles and their breakthrough debut album, My Generation. He would also spot the talent of a young engineer named Glyn Johns, who would serve as their producer for their smash album Who’s Next in 1971.  “Shel Talmy’s forte was definitely finding artists and selecting material, and as far as producing records’ is concerned, he has a pretty good method, too.” Johns stated in the past, “I don’t think he was brilliant as a producer, [but] within a year of arriving in England, he’d picked a lot of really successful acts and made some great records.”

Talmy would diversify his stable of talent, recording David Jones (soon to be David Bowie) in 1965, the Easybeats (“Friday on My Mind”) in 1966, Manfred Mann’s Dylan cover (“Just Like a Woman”), and Chad & Jeremy (“A Summer Song”).

Diagnosed at an early age with the genetic eye disease retinitis pigmentosa (RP), Talmy suffered from poor vision throughout his life. That did not stop him from expanding his business interests into film and book publishing. He took occasional stints as a record producer in the 70s & 80s, working with the Small Faces and the Damned. Shel Talmy returned to the United States permanently in 1979 and remained active in production and A&R until his death.

-Steven Valvano

Photo: The Kinks (Getty)