by Richard Skelly » Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:58 am
Sorry to go off topic. But this single’s engineer, George Semkiw, passed away about a month ago.
George had a stellar reputation, especially after he wowed Lou Reed with a Canadian remix for the album Sally Can’t Dance. George thought there was something wrong with the mastering tape sent by RCA New York and got to work “fixing” it. When Lou called him, George expected a dressing down for his temerity. Instead, the oft-temperamental Reed lavished praise and subsequently ordered RCA America to reissue the disc with George’s mix and, just as importantly, a mastering credit.
George also did yeoman’s work making Freeways by Bachman Turner Overdrive sonically interesting. It was the last studio album featuring Randy and Robin Bachman, Fred Turner and Blair Thornton. Things were tense as rebellion grew against Randy’s creative and production control. Randy left the band soon thereafter. No hit singles, but the individual tracks shone mightily, in my opinion, due to George Semkiw.