| Author | Message | ||
  steve w (steve_w) 1-Arriviste Username: steve_w Post Number: 1 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 81.174.218.105 |
anyone tell me if harry is in good health and do you think one day he could tell some stories to the forum It just makes me smile when I see people dancing at a soul do to duke browner "crying over you" and wonder what he would think of it all great new layout by the way | ||
David Meikle (david_meikle) 3-Pundit Username: david_meikle Post Number: 58 Registered: 3-2004 Posted From: 62.252.128.10 |
Hi Steve Ralph will fill you in on Harry. I phoned him from a phone booth while in Detroit 3 years ago, thinking that he lived up the road or something. Turned out he was on the West Coast. I told him about our love of Impact Records and Duke Browner but he hadn't seem him in years. Harry was genuinely interested in our story. Sadly his Wife died just a few weeks later. | ||
Dennis Coffey (dennis_coffey) 1-Arriviste Username: dennis_coffey Post Number: 1 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 152.163.252.166 |
Hello. I remember Harry well and played guitar on Duke Browners's Crying Over You. I did a lot of sessions with groups like The Volumes and Dell Shannon for Harry. Harry signed us under the group name The Royaltones. I think Harry was one of the first real record producers I knew. | ||
Lynn Bruce (lynn_bruce) 2-Debutant Username: lynn_bruce Post Number: 13 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.41.110.49 |
The first time I met Harry,I was working with Jamie Coe and the Gigalos at Roses bar on vernor avenue in Detroit.Harry and Irving Michanic came in to hear me play as they needed a replacement for Bo Savich the drummer with Johnny and the Huricanes.(He was leaving the group).We played a couple sets then they got up to leave. I thought they were just going to walk out. Instead Harry walked up to me on stage and said "you got the job kid,but tighten those god damn heads up".It was mid july and hot and humid and I had calf-skin heads.Roses wasn't air conditioned.(All you drummers know what humidity does to calf-skin. Be down to our office" Artists Incorperated" on Alexanderine tommorrow and bring your set with you to rehearse and meet the boys. Harry was very cool and hip and when we recorded at Bell Sound in NewYork or were in the hotel lobby he would go out of his way to introduce me to a lot of important and famous people that were always around.I've always respected him for doing that as he could have treated me like the young 19 yearold Detroit bar drummer that I was. He really had an ear for music.He knew what sounded good on a recording and what didn't. What he had us do in the studio would have sounded empty on a live stage.But he was always right as it would have been to mushy or busy doing it the driving way we would have done it on stage. He liked his very long cigars and always seemed to have one handy.Sometimes lit other times just something to chew on. lol | ||
Lynn Bruce (lynn_bruce) 2-Debutant Username: lynn_bruce Post Number: 15 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.41.110.49 |
Also,I never saw him without his very cool pork-pie hat on!!! | ||
ralph (ralph) Moderator Username: ralph Post Number: 44 Registered: 3-2004 Posted From: 209.240.205.61 |
Lynn, Yeah, Harry and his long thin cigars. He came into Tera Shirma one day holding a cigarette. I asked him why the cigarette. He just looked at me in that cool Harry Balk way, smling and said " Kid, when things get tough ya gotta learn to compromise " . | ||
ralph (ralph) Moderator Username: ralph Post Number: 45 Registered: 3-2004 Posted From: 209.240.205.61 |
Harry had a way of cocking his head to the side when he was sizing you up about something. Mickey Denton's manager, John Brooks had even given Harry a present of a beautiful framed owl with it's head cocked, to hang in Harry's office at Motown. He said it reminded him of Harry. The last time Harry was here in Monterey, I took him to the airport for his flight home to L.A. We had some time to kill before his dparture so he suggested we get something to drink while waiting. We went to the airport snack bar. I ordered coffee and Harry had a Coke. When the girl told Harry how much the tab was ( which was high as is the case with airport facilties ) He looked at her, cocking his head in that owl sort of way of his and said " I didn't say we were going into partnership. " | ||
count (the_count) 2-Debutant Username: the_count Post Number: 15 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 69.14.221.162 |
Wish i would of takin Harry more seriously then we did when with the 5ive Invictas, but as you know Lynn and Ralph, we were know it all kids and wanted things our way. Harry did point us in many good directions and held no grudges with us. Harry was the producers producer, and he knew just about every bonds men in the business, i think i still have a few of the kards he gave me back then.I have an IMPACT rekord by ROD RIQUEZ (RODRIQUEZ) that i heard is impossible to find "I'll Slip Away"/"You'd Like To Admit It" produced by HARRY BALK and arranged by our own great Detroit guitarist DENNIS COFFEY/THEADORE. I think this was about 1966 and it's said to be that this was rekorded at TERRA SHIRMA STUDIOS, but Tom Cetnar from Cetnars rekords told me it was rekorded at UNITED SOUND STUDIOS in DETROIT. I know much of Harry's material was rekorded at United Sound but the mystry of this 45 kould probably only be konfirmed by Ralph or DENNIS COFFEY.If i remember korrectly, the words "you'd like to admit it" is not even sung in the title, but some kool guitar kords kan bee heard by Dennis,as all of D.Coffey's talents.I'am going to have to shuffle thru the 45's and play it again to refresh my memory. Is this as rare as some say it is? "COUNT" | ||
ralph (ralph) Moderator Username: ralph Post Number: 46 Registered: 3-2004 Posted From: 209.240.205.61 |
Count, Your friend is wrong. The Rodriguez project was done at Tera Shirma. I understand what you say about us headstrong kids. There were many times I would disagree with Harry about one thing or another and argue with him about something I was planning for the future. He used to tell me he was going to " Write out a little itinerary " and seal it in an envelope. In six months I was to open it and see that that what he said back then was true. The man was never wrong Count. | ||
ralph (ralph) Moderator Username: ralph Post Number: 47 Registered: 3-2004 Posted From: 209.240.205.61 |
I've told this one before, but for the benifit of the many new forum members..... Record producers are superstitious. They like to record in studios that have track records. Hitsville is the classic example of this. Harry, at one time did a lot of recording at United Sound. Del Shannon's Runaway was done there. The haunting keyboard solo was an instrument brought in for the session called an Ondiolene. When the record hit, everyone was booking time at United so they could use United's organ to get that magical, hit record sound. I think there were more than a few disappointed producers. | ||
Lynn Bruce (lynn_bruce) 2-Debutant Username: lynn_bruce Post Number: 16 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.41.110.49 |
Ralph,how about Harrys way of pulling his eye lid down to show that he thought what you or someone else was saying was bull shit. I still use it to this day because of him. lol | ||
steve w (steve_w) 1-Arriviste Username: steve_w Post Number: 2 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 81.174.205.33 |
thanx everybody for some great stories I just can't enough of these studio tales from back in the day, I hope harry can make it to the UK one day soon | ||
ralph (ralph) Moderator Username: ralph Post Number: 48 Registered: 3-2004 Posted From: 209.240.205.61 |
Lynn, HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! Harry had more ways than one to show you he was on to your bull shit. What about his famous line when he was done with you?..." Hit the door! " Steve, Glad to be able to pass on the Harry Balk stories. I'm an unabashed Harry Balk fan and admirer. He was a true mentor to me in so many ways and one of the most loyal friends I have had the pleasure to know. | ||
Ron Murphy (ron_murphy) 1-Arriviste Username: ron_murphy Post Number: 8 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.42.90.140 |
it was 1960 when I walked into "Artists Inc." at 20 West Alexandre right off the corner of Woodward Ave. just North of Detroit's downtown area, it was a small free standing one floor building, the lobby was huge with one desk close to the front door with 2 or 3 offices in the back.. ....I had some of their records on the Twirl and Storm labels and wanted to see the studio, but found out they did not have their own studio there,and also no one was there except for the girl at the front desk....about 8 years ago I get a phone call... who says "Ron this is Harry Balk"..I said "Harry Balk- the Twirl man!!"...he said yes and asked me if I could help his neice with her father's old home disc cutting machine(which I did) then asked some questions about his Impact label catalog stating that people in europe wanted the tapes for a CD, and I gave him my opinion on that....Harry Balk a real pioneer of the record business and truly professional record man. | ||
brian d (brian_d) 1-Arriviste Username: brian_d Post Number: 1 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 4.165.45.221 |
Ralph: Del Shannon's "Runnaway" couldn't have been recorded at United. Are you sure? I have read more than one story stating that Del and the group drove all night to New York, in the middle of January, without heat in the car, to cut the record, which of course is one of the reasons it was a huge hit. The record doesn't sound like Detroit or United. As for Mr. Balk, I only met him a couple of times at Tera. I echo the sentiments that wish he were to share his stories with us. Big Top Records, right? Also, the ac unit at Tera came from Harry's office, if I recall. | ||
ralph (ralph) Moderator Username: ralph Post Number: 67 Registered: 3-2004 Posted From: 209.240.205.61 |
Brian, I'm not sure about the recording history of the song. Maybe there was just some over-dubbing done there. I'll ask Harry the next time I talk to him. Yeah, the AC unit that cooled the studio, control room and waiting room came out of Harry's place. Just getting that thing out of Harry's is a story in itself. | ||
mhc (mcrenshaw) 1-Arriviste Username: mcrenshaw Post Number: 1 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 204.210.140.23 |
"Runaway" was definitely recorded in New York, at Bell Sound, I think. Other Del records were cut at United Sound over the years, but not "Runaway". A good friend of mine was Del's best friend, so I know.. | ||
ralph (ralph) Moderator Username: ralph Post Number: 97 Registered: 3-2004 Posted From: 209.240.205.61 |
OK..I just got off the phone with Harry. I was wrong. It WAS Bell Sound. After the song became a hit everyone wanted to record there because of the Ondiolene sound which was mistaken for the studio's organ. The song, by the way, was recorded live. | ||
Ritchie (ritchie) 4-Laureate Username: ritchie Post Number: 91 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 62.254.0.32 |
I know we've been down this road before, but I'm always happy for any excuse to talk about Del Shannon - a favourite artist of mine  The unique keyboard sound on Runaway was provided by Max Crook's 'Muzitron', and Max co-wrote the song with Del. The song was cut on three-track, as evidenced by a genuine stereo mix I have, (though it's an alternate take to the single.) In his book - which I highly recommend - Dennis Coffey recalls going to New York to record with Del, but some of the later hits were definitely recorded at United. Little Town Flirt was 100% Detroit, recorded there with the Royaltones, and the Young Sisters as backing singers. Incidentally, Del's follow-up to Runaway - Hats Off To Larry - was a disguised tribute to Harry Balk, (Larry = Harry). |
