1998-09 - Endless Summer Quarterly - "Adrian Baker: Thoughts on Participating" Interview

Interview text

thoughts on participating

Talk about your involvement on the Symphonic Sounds album.
It all started out with Bruce wanted to do “Disney Girls,” but wanted the same vocal effects as he had on the original. He knew that I knew the parts and that I sing it that way — we got together and recorded that and it sounded great! A few days later he started saying, “Maybe this album can be a bit more vocalized than just having an orchestra.”
Then he suggested doing a surf medley and left it up to me on however I arranged it, and whatever I felt like. So I came up with the tracks that are there. “The Warmth of the Sun” was originally gonna’ be the Willie Nelson thing [from Stars and Stripes]. Everyone agreed that the Willie Nelson thing would be kind of out of place. Bruce decided to stick with the song because the orchestra had already done the music for it. Again, Bruce told me to do my own thing — do what you like, so I did. He said, “Do a Four Freshmen thing.” So I did a Four Freshmen type opening in acapella. The first verse I worked really hard on. That's pretty much how that went.
I produced the harmonies and Mike’s voice on “Kokomo.” I did the arranging on that. A vocal standout on these songs has been Paul Bergerot. His voice has the same timbre as Al Jardine’s, and he does a great job in the “(Just for Fun ...) All Surf!!” medley and on “The Warmth of the Sun.”
What kind of exchange took place between you and Bruce?
It was a combination of us putting our heads together. A thing that happened when we were working on “Catch a Wave” — was that it was so different in tempo from the other songs that we had to come up with a different and unique way to record it. I told Bruce we could do it a cappella, so we sat down together and came up with the chord structure.
One of the great things about recording this album was being in the Abbey Road Studio One, London. Bruce had worked with me on all the vocal stuff; then the orchestra played to the tracks. What was really great was when Bruce pushed me out to conduct the orchestra (in the middle of the room, surrounded by these classical musicians) to fix a few things. When they would be off on a note, or wouldn’t be getting it right — I would correct them and direct them on what to play. So it was like acting as an arranger and that was quite nice. The whole symphonic part of the album was done there.
What was it like being in that building where the Beatles once recorded?
We went into Studio Two (where the Beatles recorded) just to look around. Standing in the center of that studio was a pretty amazing feeling! You just look around and imagine what’s gone on in there. It’s just hard to take it — you’re looking around and just going … wow!