Stuart Price Interview from Channel 4 website
Ladies and gents, it’s Stuart Price! He’s the technical wizard who’s been producing Madge’s new album, ‘Confessions On A Dancefloor‘, and knock us down with a feather if he didn’t call us up for a chat the other day!
Aside from spilling the beans about Madge, he told us all about his favourite tracks on the album, one of which he had nothing to do with and the other of which he had plenty to do with. Over to you, Stuart!
“The last track, ‘Like It Or Not’, is my favourite of the songs I had nothing to do with. I like it because, as the title suggests, you can’t sit on the fence about it. It’s a pretty honest statement from her and one of the good things about the new record is she’s not complaining about anything. This song is someone baring their soul and saying: ‘You’ve just listened to what I do and this is who I am.’ It’s a good sentiment to end a record on. Musically, the reason I like it is because it sounds like an old folk Pentangle record with that acoustic guitar. It could’ve almost been in ‘A Mighty Wind’!
“My favourite out of the ones I produced, aside from ‘Hung Up, is ‘Forbidden Love’. The whole album was done in my flat and mixed by someone in a commercial studio but ‘Forbidden Love’ wasn’t. It was started in the loft and we finished it and mixed it there. It was really home-baked! That one will always be special for me.”
Aw! Isn’t he sweet!
Madonna Myth 1: She’s a religious nutter! “That’s absolutely false. I’d just describe her as an extreme intellectual. The girl has got far too much going on in her head to be passive to religion and spirituality. She’s always looking for answers, she’s a big questioner of life. I’m not surprised people call her a religious nut, but actually she’d be the first to say that her Kabbalah is not a religion, it’s a study. I’d quash all that religious bollocks in a second ’cause I’ve never got that from her. She’s quite pushy, she’ll say: ‘I think you should read about this because I think it’s good for you.’ But on a personal level that’s her being a friend rather than being a saleswoman.”
Madonna Myth 2: She’s past her sell-by date! “Bollocks! Whatever her age, it’s immaterial. When you sit in a room with her working on stuff, she could just be some 18 year old singer. Albeit an 18 year old with a lot of experience! She’s got this inherent understanding of dance music and pop music and she more than belies her age.”
Madonna Myth 3: She can’t actually sing! “Also bollocks. The first thing that impressed me about her, when we were in the rehearsal studio before the tour, was how well she could sing. We were doing that song from ‘Ray of Light’, ‘Substitute For Love’, and there’s no studio trickery. I just thought: ‘Bloody hell, she’s brilliant.'”
Madonna Myth 4: She doesn’t really produce her own records! “All my answers are ‘bollocks!’ I was hoping there was something I could agree with! She’s more like the old school producer. With modern producers, you expect to see them behind computers and keyboards, but the best thing about the way she produces is she never touches anything. She sits there on the couch at the back, pores over everything and tells you where it’s going wrong. I can stay up till three or four in the morning working on a song, thinking that I’m re-inventing the wheel. By 11am I realise it’s the biggest pile of bollocks I’ve ever made, but she can come in and tell you what the good bit is. I think that makes a good producer.”
Madonna Myth 5: She smells of horses! “I don’t think I’ve ever detected the odour of a horse on her. And it’s quite a distinctive smell isn’t it? Not that I’ve hung around that many stables or anything. I’ve never detected that kind of musky odour on her. I’m sure I found a long horsehair in her jacket once, though.”
Well, we’re convinced. Thanks Stuart! What a lovely fella. He knows Madonna, you know!
Source: Channel4
Thanks to Robster from MadonnaMad.com