Posted by Mike M
on May 26, 2012, 11:30 pm, in reply to "Columbia Records Sessions"
68.44.234.x
Behind the Scenes 5: ISN’T IT GRAND BOYS album
Here are a few documents from Teo Macero’s archived papers about the the album Isn’t It Grand Boys, including information on the recording session and the producer of the album David Rubinson’s opinion of the album.
It also includes information about the different takes for the songs that were to be included on the album. Circled take numbers seem to be the takes they wanted to go with; ones they didn’t like are marked with an x. In the end, the Mingulay Boat Song and Galway Races were also added to the album (I would assume they were from a different recording session). Also note that Paddy’s solo (or “Patrick Solo” as the Columbia people called it) “My Son Ted” was originally listed by its more commonly known title “Mrs. McGrath.” I’m not sure why they changed the title.
Clearly, different versions of the songs were tried out to see what worked best. For example, the boys’ fourth take of Nancy Whisky had a 12 string guitar as part of the accompaniment. Apparently, the previous three takes did not include one. It also appears that the tin whistle on My Son Ted was probably from a different take than the singing and guitar accompaniment. And the shout at the end of What Would You Do If You Married a Soldier was from take 6, while the song itself was take 5. The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem clearly had the greatest trouble getting a good recording of Galway City, since it took them 14 takes to get one that Columbia wanted to use.
Also, this is the folder that contains the handwritten liner notes for this album by Tommy Makem that I mentioned in my first post.
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Memo from David Rubinson to Harold Leventhal, Jan. 18, 1966:
“The Clancy Brothers album which we just cut last week, I think is going to be marvelous.”
Memo from David Rubinson to Jerry Campbell, Dec. 22, 1965:
“The recording dates of the Clancy Brothers are as follows: Tuesday December 28th at 2.30 p.m. in studio A at Columbia Records (7th floor, 799 7th Avenue). The second date is on the next day, December 29th at 2.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. and 7.00 p.m. to 10.00 p.m. in the same place.
“Please give my best wishes to the boys for a Merry Christmas and best of the season.”
Songs/takes list and comments:
Nancy Whisky
Take No. 1 “2 false starts”
2 “2 breakdowns”
3 “complete”
4 [#4 is circled] “12 string guitar”
Eileen Aroon
Take No. 1 2 [#2 is circled]
Mrs. McGrath - “Patrick Solo Tin whistle punch to 2 track”
Take No. 1x 2x 3 4FS 5x 6 7x 8 [#8 is circled]
“3 good whistle”
What Would You Do If You Married a Solider – “Tom C. Solo”
1 2
3x 4
5 [#5 is circled]
6 “6 with a shout edit shout to tk 5”
The Cobbler
1 2 [#2 is circled]
Isn’t It Grand
10 takes listed [#10 is circled]
Westering Ho
10 takes listed [#10 is circled]
O’Donnel A Boo [sic]
1 “complete (noise)”
2 [#2 is circled]
Galway City
14 takes listed [#14 is circled]
Mike M180 
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