Lou Adler Quotes

I've had offers to sign a record deal, but the people I've talked to have wanted to package me and have me meet with songwriters who've written stuff for Whitney Houston, that sort of thing. That's not at all my style.

On my first album nobody asked me for a lot of advice. It was a producer's album. We were sent the same type songs with stock melodies. It was my first album and I was happy to do about anything they'd ask me.

I produce the records. I don't hand over control to some really expensive producer who then talks to the record company and then tries to bend me to their will - for commercial purposes.

If I want to do an orchestral record, if I want to do an acoustic record, if I want to do a death-metal record, if I want to do a jazz record - I can move in whichever direction I want, and no one is going to get upset about that. Except maybe my manager and my record company.

I got a couple on per album but my problem was that I wanted to sing the songs and not let Roger sing them.

I think the key to making records generally is to make 'em for yourself, regardless of the climate in the business.

I'm confident being at Universal, which is a great home for me, 'cause they understand what I'm trying to do.

It's difficult to find a movie that feels true to itself. You feel the hand of Hollywood, the moviemaking by committee, on everything.

There was no such thing as production at Starday. We'd go in with the band, we'd go over the song, I'd look over and tell the steel player to take a break or kick it off, and I'd get the fiddle to play a turnaround in the middle.

I wanted to put out a solo record because I was stuck on a major label and sick of it.

Generally, when a record label suggests album ideas for you, you smile politely, and then proceed to shoot it down, because it's never what you as an artist feel is right for you.

I don't like working with hitmakers. I don't want hits! You're not even allowed to say that word around me.

You don't necessarily pick the singles that you want when you're making a record, but for the most part it's the same process. You're the artist - you make the music that you want to make.

Well, when The Black Keys make a record, I never really feel limited. To me, it seems the possibilities are always endless. The big difference has been playing live and being able to recreate every little part of the record.

Songs are not on a conveyor belt. I'm not chopping them up and putting them out.

They told me that they are starting a classic label, and wanted me to be the first artist. So I signed, and am producing myself, and writing my own music, but I'm their first artist on their classic label. And I have creative control.

As a producer, you're pretty much creating a body of work that an artist has to stand behind.

In general, I don't feel artists should need producers.

I suppose we'll make money off our album and our singles and stuff, but, like, they were made as we wanted them, exactly with what we had to say, and done exactly how we wanted them, right? And, like, we didn't put them out to make money. We put them out because we wanted to do them, do you know what I mean?

A lot of my solo albums were produced by different people who had their idea of what songs I should do, and they had me doing a lot of ballads.

I've finally figured out how to make a Rodney Crowell record, and that's let it be, leave the mistakes.

With my previous record deal, it'd be like, 'OK, so I have this track then, EMI - do you know any singers, maybe? Do you have any singers on your little label there?' And funnily enough, they didn't. But I prefer finding unknown singers myself anyway.

I was never your average artist, happy to do whatever the record company told me.

I'd love more production houses to encourage artists to create what they want and not just churn things out.

I don't want to release a CD; I want to release the real deal, so we're just gonna take our time.