by
R. O'DONNELL
I met Harry Weinger thanks to my buddy Jim Bessman of Billboard Magazine. Always turning me on to the best characters in the biz, Bessman (people person extraordinaire) arranged a dinner at this hot-spot veggie bistro on 74th street in Manhattan. On the way over, Bessman kept saying, "Harry's the coolest, man, just the coolest." And after finishing our carrot/spinach paté while talking everything from tinsel town to Motown, I looked at Bessman, exchanging a glance that confirmed, yes indeed-Harry Weinger was one of the coolest cats in town.
A tall lanky guy, Harry is a 27-year veteran of the entertainment industry, and is currently Vice President of A&R for Universal Music Enterprises, catalog reissue arm of Universal Music Group. Harry has produced, mixed, written, and edited liner notes for hundreds of reissues and compilations such as Motown family of classic recordings, the James Brown catalog and prominent artists in the Universal/PolyGram "Funk Essentials" series, and is a two-time Grammy® Award winner t'boot. Oh, and um, he's an honorary member of The Temptations, a privilege bestowed upon him by founding members Otis Williams and the late Melvin Franklin, in 1994. Unsurprisingly, Harry's nickname among Bessman and I is now "Mr. Cool."
Well, "Mr. Cool" is nonetheless on a reissue rampage these days. He's helping to produce some of America's premium musical moments. Mr. Cool is simply doing that producing thing. As the man emphatically states, "I am part of a wonderfully creative A&R team at Universal, and that atmosphere elevates everyone's projects." Cool. So we sat down with Harry Weinger, delving into gobs of veggie pâté while chatting up his hottest projects for Universal Music, his rage for music conservation, and finally answering why, the Godfather of Soul, James Brown says, "He's a genius."
Your gold and platinum awards are numerous; like Lionel Richie's The Definitive Collection, Barry White's Ultimate Collection and a Definitive Collection from Stevie Wonder. So what collection are you working on now?
Harry Weinger: First, any mention of sales awards has to point back to the artist and to the sales team at Universal Music Enterprises. I got to hand it to Bruce Resnikoff, UM's president, who put together a great team of sales and marketing people who best know how to get records up to gold and platinum. Don't get me wrong - A&R guys worry over every last track and which version and how to sequence the album for the best listening experience, and we like to think we give sales something to sell - but kudos to Bruce and the head of sales, Richie Gallo.
Recently I've finished up a Definitive Collection on Rick James. I miss him - Rick could be crazy but he was involved in his catalog and always had great insight. He remembered everything. Rick was underrated and I think he's gaining more musical respectability now, ironically at the same time that the Chappelle catchphrase has such legs.
Also working on a Sammy Davis Jr. Definitive Collection. Fascinating that in all the years he's been around, alive or dead, there's been no single disc collection encompassing his career, until now.
And coming in March is a 2-CD Martha Reeves & The Vandellas "Gold" set, which includes her solo singles as well. She's had some great hits, and even the lesser-known ones from the later 1960s are superb. Funny how it works sometimes: A couple of years ago we got hip to a great, unreleased Vandellas track in the Motown vault, "It's Easy To Fall In Love (With A Guy Like You)." Somehow it got picked for the movie Hitch. The soundtrack had the mono version - and we did a new stereo mix for this set.
And check out this ongoing series of all the Motown Singles in a 12 big box sets. Talk about going for the gusto. Just finished Vol. 4
Of course, we had fun working with The Temptations on their new album, "Reflections."
In 2000 you were a NAACP Image Award Winner for "Outstanding Album of the Year," Stevie Wonder / At The Close Of A Century (box set). Tell us about that.
Putting the box set together was a dream. Of course, the award was really to honor Stevie's great career and I am sure it was a great moment for him. Although the award was for Stevie, I did produce the set, and though I wasn't at the ceremony I was lucky that my boss Andy McKaie made sure I got a physical award. I don't display it with a spotlight or anything, but it means a lot. It was a wonderful experience to show it to my folks. They were pro-active in civil rights and I am grateful to have grown up in that household. In fact, my father once met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at a dinner in 1963. The photograph of that instant used to hang in my childhood home, and a copy of it is displayed prominently on my desk at home now. In it, Dad has apparently - and I am sure very politely - interrupted Dr. King chatting with Rabbi Dr. Joachim Prinz. You look and blink and realize that the two great Drs. taking a moment with my dad were otherwise planning the Great March on Washington D.C. Where King gave his famous speech. Which my mother attended. So, in a private moment, I sometimes glance over at the NAACP Award and think, my musical hero, Stevie Wonder, was the guiding force behind all these things coming together for me personally.
Early on in your career you produced the successful radio show "The Sunday Funnies," featuring comic greats such as Bill Maher, Paul Reiser, Carole Leifer, and Larry Miller, so why not stay in the comedy biz?
Wow. You did your homework. Yes, that show was the first national media exposure for a lot of great comics. I used to go to all the New York clubs three nights a week at crazy hours. I remember getting turned down by Jerry Seinfeld, though. He wanted his jokes to be on the Tonight Show first - very confident guy. Six months to the day, there he was. HBO's comedy shows got started a few years later. The comedy clubs exploded. By then I had started working in the record business and the comedy world seemed to be doing fine without me. One thing I retained is a sense of when a comic is ready with material. I watch stand-up on TV and wonder if some of the comics out there have more than a few minutes of dick jokes.
You're a highly acclaimed scholar of American popular music, having written everything from liner notes to features for Rolling Stone magazine, when's the book coming out?
I like making records too much. Maybe one of these days.
Currently, you're a member of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Nominating Committee. How did that come about?
I was honored to be asked and I am honored to say yes and serve. Besides, those meetings get pretty lively.
You received the Heroes & Legends Leadership Award in 2004 for your outstanding contributions to the Motown legacy. What is the Motown legacy, and who are some of its biggest contributors?
Motown has always been about great music. Relatable songs, wicked basslines and a happy melancholy in the feel and sound. Those records and the songs are both specific to an era and will last forever. Motown was also about a family vibe, and when you get in with Motown, you become part of the family. You find yourself wanting to go to Detroit. Berry Gordy of course is the man who started it; his sisters are the ones who nurtured his dream; the songwriters from Janie Bradford to Lamont Dozier and the Holland Brothers, from Bobby Taylor to Ivy Jo Hunter, Gloria Jones to Sylvia Moy and Mickey Stevenson and on and on... they all had incredible, simple stories to tell. And all those producers, arrangers, the recording and mixing engineers! And those voices... you can't recreate it. You can just admire it, enjoy it, study it and learn.
Why is music preservation your heart and soul?
I hear music everywhere. I am lousy at parties - I can't chat with background music playing. It's not background to me. But I am not sure I could say why I do what I do. I was always fascinated by how records get made, the layers and the nuances. I remember my first experience with a deeper appreciation of a record through headphone listening - you know, where you've got on the big-ass cans and you "fall into" a record? For me it wasn't "Dark Side Of The Moon" - it was Marvin Gaye's "Super Hits" album. When I started hearing the layers, I was a goner. That, and stories of how one step led down another path - an engineer saving a take an artist dismissed, or a record getting finished despite what the company thought - all those stories enhance the enjoyment for me. I want to share that. Of course the artists' finished results are utmost. Preserving that is #1. There's a great engineering staff in NY and creative design department out West who have the same goals - get it done but get it right.
What project are you most proud of?
I've enjoyed them all, from the Marvin Gaye Deluxe Editions of "Let's Get It On" and "What's Going On" to the Stevie Wonder iTunes box, the Four Tops box to little "Best of's" from lesser-known acts. Great albums and great songs with great stories. If I had to nail it down, that James Brown box set, "Star Time," was the first big thing I helped put together. Being the first, it holds special memories. I had a specific purpose with the set - to make a great James Brown album - and was given time to get it done in that way.
It's gotten all the accolades, Grammy, etc.. But the best and most memorable responses for me are: 1)James Brown thought enough of what we had done to write his own liner notes; 2)It's still in print, after 15 years; 3)It's a door-opener to other artists - I once stood next to a bored-looking Jimmy Page from Led Zep, with nothing to say except, "uh, er, I'm the guy who..." and once he heard "Star Time" he shook my hand so vigorously I thought he'd had a little extra in his coffee; and 4)Branford Marsalis was once asked what his favorite album was and it wasn't that he said this box that brings a smile. It's that he prefaced it with, "Of course..."
That's when I knew James Brown had the career retrospective he deserved.
It's known that the Godfather of Soul, James Brown says that you're a genius. What were the circumstances behind his praise?
You have to consider Mr. Brown's thought process. There are several meanings to that statement: - James Brown is the greatest, and since I have devoted a good portion of my life to his great catalog, I therefore must be a genius. Right? - Mr. Brown is a master at building people up and back down. So far, so good. - I should have done much better on my SAT scores 30 years ago.
What is the most important thing you would like people to know about the work you produce?
It's more than one person. It's more than taking a tape off a shelf and here you go. It's a long slog and there are many people working hard to make it right or at least doing their best to do so. And although this is fun to talk to you, it's never about any one person except the artist on the front cover.
Any comments about the current state of the music biz?
Every new evolution in technology in the last 10 years is driven by music: computers, MP3 players, cell phone downloads...it's a business in transition, but things will be OK. People love their music. They are doing anything they can to get it. We're here to get it to them.
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