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Shel Talmy, the influential rock producer who cut such classics as The Kinks‘ “You Really Got Me” and “Waterloo Sunset” and The Who‘s “My Generation” and “I Can’t Explain,” died during the weekend at his Los Angeles home after a stroke. He was 87.
His death was confirmed in a post on his Facebook page that begins: “We are gutted to tell you that the great Shel Talmy has left the building.” It also includes a farewell note from Talmy that reads in part, “Please note, that if you’re reading this now, this is my final vignette, as I am no longer residing on this plane of existence, and have ‘moved on’, to wherever that may be.” See his message in full below.
Talmy produced The Kinks’ first seven albums from 1964-67, which spawned such landmark singles as “You Really Got Me,” “All Day and All of the Night,” “Tired of Waiting for You,” “A Well Respected Man” and “Sunny Afternoon.” He also worked on “Waterloo Sunset,” which influential rock critic Robert Christgau dubbed — quite legitimately — “the most beautiful song in the English language.”
In his 2012 book God Save The Kinks: A Biography, Rob Jovanovic quoted Talmy as saying of “You Really Got Me”: “When I first heard it, I said, ‘Shit, it doesn’t matter what you do with this, it’s a No. 1 song.’ It could have been done in waltz time and it would have been a hit.”
And a hit it was — No. 1 in the UK and Top 10 stateside in 1964. Bolstered by Dave Davies groundbreaking distorted guitar sound and brother Ray urgent vocal.
Pete Townshend, guitarist and songwriter for the band then known as The High Numbers, was said to be so taken with “You Really Got Me” that he asked Talmy to produce his group’s second single. The band renamed The Who got Talmy to cut “I Can’t Explain,” which went Top 10 in the UK.
He also would produce The Who’s 1965 album My Generation, whose title track remains a rock high-water mark, and a few of its other pre-Tommy singles including “The Kids Are Alright.”
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Along the way, Talmy produced such memorable tracks as The Easybeats’ intercontinental hit “Friday on My Mind,” Chad & Jeremy’s unforgettably melodic “A Summer Song” and Kinks guitarist Dave Davies’ solo European hit “Death of a Clown.” He also worked on a couple of David Bowie‘s earliest tracks among many others.
Born Sheldon Talmy on August 11, 1937, in Chicago body of producing career began as a recording engineer in L.A. in the early 1960s. He went to London in 1962 and quickly caught on with England’s burgeoning rock scene that would explode as the British Invasion two years later.
Here is Talmy’s full farewell post on Facebook:
“Hi to all, and many thanks to all of you who have been reading my rock stories for all this time, it has been greatly appreciated!
Please note, that if you’re reading this now, this is my final vignette, as I am no longer residing on this plane of existence, and have “moved on”, to wherever that may be.
I’d like to think there is something beyond where I was to where I am now, assuming that the millions of suppositions as to what is next, are accurate.
I’d like to think that I’m thoroughly enjoying my new “residence”, and that the countless rumors that there is a big working “studio in the sky” are true, and that we are, dare I say, making heavenly music!
I am also hoping that I am currently engaged in renewing relationships with a ton of friends and acquaintances, many of which go back for decades.
I’ve had a good run, and I am delighted it lasted as long as it did. I’m also delighted that I am told I have a legacy that will last even longer.
I look forward to meeting some of you in the future who are reading this, but LOL, don’t hurry to get here, I’m not going anywhere!”
