RIP Martin Birch. This is hitting me a little hard; I hadn't lost hope that he might come out of retirement. He was a record producer, and to my ears the best ever. I doubt he ever acted this way, but if there was one producer who had every right to strut into the studio in a leather jacket, like Christopher Walken on SNL, and be immediately revered it was Martin Birch. He worked with Deep Purple in a more junior capacity, before following Ritchie Blackmore to Rainbow and moving up to the role of producer for Rising. After Rainbow he followed Ronnie James Dio to Black Sabbath, where he helped give us Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules. He produced Whitesnake in their pre-hair metal days, and went on to work exclusively with Iron Maiden for the last eight years of his career. He retired after producing Fear of the Dark in 1992, younger than I am now. Pardon the length of the list (I'd spoiler- or NSFW-tag it, but I'm dumb and it's not working), but this might be most of Martin Birch's resume: Fleetwood Mac 1969 - Then Play On (engineer) 1970 - Kiln House (engineer) 1972 - Bare Trees (engineer) 1973 - Penguin (producer, engineer, mixing) 1973 - Mystery to Me (producer, engineer, guitar) Deep Purple 1969 - Concerto for Group and Orchestra (engineer) 1970 - Deep Purple in Rock (engineer) 1971 - Fireball (engineer) 1972 - Machine Head (engineer)[4] 1972 - Made in Japan (engineer)[5] 1973 - Who Do We Think We Are (engineer) 1974 - Burn (engineer, mixing) 1974 - Stormbringer (co-producer, engineer, mixing) 1975 - Come Taste the Band (co-producer, engineer, mixing) 1976 - Made in Europe (co-producer, engineer, mixing)- recorded live in April 1975 1977 - Last Concert in Japan (co-producer, engineer) - recorded live in December 1975 Jon Lord 1971 Jon Lord - Gemini Suite (engineer) 1976 Jon Lord - Sarabande (producer, engineer, remixing) 1974 Tony Ashton & Jon Lord - First of the Big Bands (engineer) 1977 Paice Ashton Lord - Malice in Wonderland (engineer) Wishbone Ash 1970 - Wishbone Ash (engineer) 1971 - Pilgrimage (engineer) 1972 - Argus (engineer) Rainbow 1975 - Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (co-producer, engineer, mixing) 1976 - Rising (producer, engineer, mixing) 1977 - On Stage (producer, engineer, mixing) - recorded live in 1976 1978 - Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (producer, engineer, mixing) 1986 - Finyl Vinyl (producer) - collection Whitesnake 1978 - Snakebite (producer) 1978 - Trouble (producer) 1978 - Live at Hammersmith (producer) 1979 - Lovehunter (producer, engineer) 1980 - Ready an' Willing (producer, engineer, mixing) 1980 - Live... in the Heart of the City (producer, engineer) - recorded live in 1978 and 1980 1981 - Come an' Get It (producer, engineer, mixing) 1982 - Saints & Sinners (producer, engineer, mixing) 1984 - Slide It In (producer) Black Sabbath 1980 - Heaven and Hell (producer, engineer) 1981 - Mob Rules (producer, engineer) Blue Öyster Cult 1980 - Cultösaurus Erectus (producer, engineer) 1981 - Fire of Unknown Origin (producer, engineer) Iron Maiden 1981 - Killers (producer, engineer) 1982 - The Number of the Beast (producer, engineer) 1983 - Piece of Mind (producer, engineer, mixing) 1984 - Powerslave (producer, engineer, mixing) 1985 - Live After Death (producer, engineer, mixing)[5] 1986 - Somewhere in Time (producer, engineer, mixing) 1988 - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (producer, engineer, mixing) 1990 - No Prayer for the Dying (producer, engineer, mixing) 1992 - Fear of the Dark (producer, engineer, mixing) Other artists 1969 Jeff Beck - Beck-Ola (engineer) 1970 Peter Green - The End of the Game (engineer) 1970 The Groundhogs - Thank Christ for the Bomb (engineer) 1971 Stackridge - Stackridge (engineer) 1971 Canned Heat and John Lee Hooker - Hooker 'N' Heat (Mixdown Engineer) - recorded in 1970 1971 Skid Row - 34 Hours (engineer) 1971 Toad - Toad (engineer) 1971 Faces - Long Player (engineer) 1971 Rock Workshop - The Very Last Time (engineer) 1971 Jodo "Guts" LP (engineer) 1972 Silverhead - Silverhead (producer) 1972 Toad - Tomorrow Blue (engineer) 1972 Flash - Flash (engineer) 1972 Flash - In the Can (engineer) 1973 Gary Moore - Grinding Stone (producer, engineer) 1978 The Electric Chairs-"The Electric Chairs"(producer) 1978 Wayne County & the Electric Chairs - Storm The Gates Of Heaven (producer) 1978 Wayne County & the Electric Chairs - Blatantly Offensive E.P. (producer) 1978 Roger Glover - Elements (producer) 1979 Cozy Powell - Over the Top (producer) 1982 Michael Schenker Group - Assault Attack (producer, engineer)
They're not releasing the cause of death, and I know a lot of people will speculate that it's COVID based on them not saying what it is, but it doesn't seem to fit. Reports are that he was in and out of the hospital multiple times, which doesn't seem to fit the COVID profile.
I want to know if this guy was a good or bad person before I start on the "even Trump's brother didn't want to see him re-elected" jokes
Not in this political climate. You're either pro or against, there is no gray area. Burn in hell or condolences to the family. Choose wisely.
Sounds like he fell and had a brain bleed and was on blood thinners. Hasn’t been able to talk on the phone for 2 weeks. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/15/us/politics/robert-s-trump-dead.html
I'm trying to thread the needle with "I care about Robert Trump's death as much as Donald Trump does," which, one a scale from 1-10, is apparently "go golfing with Jay Feely."
I went down a Wikipedia rabbit hole on the Renaissance period after watching The Borgias today, and apparently a king of France died by hitting his head on a doorjamb while trying to walk through it. I'll never cease to be amazed at how fragile the human body is at some times, while being insanely tough at others.
Meh. I don’t care about him dying, nor do I revel in his death “because Trump”. I tend to think anyone who politicizes death is just another sign of how far the country has fallen. Just so much lack of respect everywhere.
Our country is so fucked. The president's brother, that no one paid attention to before, passed away. One portion of the country is celebrating Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead style. As far as I know, the guy did nothing wrong other then be related to the president. I'm ashamed of my country.
i didn’t know his name or that he existed until an alert came up on my phone. Easy jokes make for an easy laugh, but beyond that very fleeting and superficial entertainment value, it’s nothing. I feel bad that someone with I presume a wife and kids and who was loved by people has died, in the same way and to the same extent I’d feel bad about the death of a stranger. now that being said, with all the delays at the post office, what’s the over/under on number of days his hospital room still receives “get well” cards?
Justin Townes Earle, dead at 38 https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/justin-townes-earle-dead-died-obit-1048627/
Damn. Did anybody at all (other than family/friends) know that he had cancer? It says he didn’t publicize it, but...damn. My mom died of colon cancer back in 2008. Two years from diagnosis to hospice, with little success from any treatment. We’re all getting older around here...so get your guts checked out, folks.
It was also Jack Kirby’s (creator of Black Panther) birthday. I saw something talking about how TMZ or some other gossip site didn’t break the news, it was released by his family. He, and they, had peace.