RE: Wally MacDonald

[remicks]

*****

The following is a comment Chap2Power included in his response within a thread about debunking disco rumors :

Chap2Power :

Amanda Lear hated Wally MacDonald's remix of "Follow Me". But anyone who's heard it knows that Wally, a legendary DJ/mixer in Toronto poured his heart out doing it. One of my all time favorite re-works.

This lead to a series of replies concerning Wally MacDonald and I hope no one minds that I've compiled them onto this thread about Wally specifically so that this information might not wind up buried within a thread about a different subject.

Hopefully more information about Wally MacDonald will find its way to be be added here ....... :icon_cool:



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[remicks]

JOL:

Vince,

Wally was a very good friend of mine and I'm suprised to hear that there was a rumour circulating that Amanda hated his mix. I remember Wally being very excited at the time when ask to do the remix and that Amanda had agreed to go back into the studio lay down more vocals for that remix. I agree it's one of the most powerful remixes of that time.

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[remicks]

Chap2Power:

Hey JOL, he was a very good friend of mine as well, a mentor and during the twilight of his career worked alongside me at a club.

I remember this being problematic in the beginning, because his masterpiece was so radically different than her original Anthony Monn produced record. If she had, I've erred, but at the same point, this was a rumour that circulated around the Disco Sound universe at that time. Anyhow, we all adore it for the right reasons. I hope I'm wrong...

To close, for those of you who never knew Wally, he was the most creative, inventive, musically demonstrative and brilliant DJ the city has ever seen. There will never be another one like him. His tape reels and his 92 edits on La Bamba by Antonia Rodriguez are only a part of his legacy...

Vince

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[remicks]

Jussik:

Fact: Amanda Lear liked the mix in question a lot.

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[remicks]

Chap2Power:

I'm sure that both JOL and I are elated to hear that ..... it really honoured the collective work...

Vince

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[remicks]

Markydefad:

Both those Wally MacDonald mixes mentioned---"Follow Me " & "La Bamba"---are on my personal best list. What else did he remix? :icon_question:

God bless the child that answers his own:

Wally MacDonald Discography at Discogs

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[remicks]

STEPHEN L. FREEMAN

Unfortunately, to me the downside of Wally's remix was something he had no control over. Unless you have the original IGM 12" single, or the EPIC/IGM pressing, your copy was not mastered from Wally's original 15ips / 2-track tape.:icon_evil: (Mine's an IGM pressing, on yellow-gold vinyl, with the most beautiful "flaw"... There were air-bubbles in the vinyl-glob that dropped onto the press. When the vinyl went through the press, the air-bubbles were streeeeetched-out to form a starburst-like pattern within the vinyl. :icon_smile:) The Siamese and all subsequent releases (which make-up the majority of copies produced worldwide...) were mastered from needle-drops. Hence the mid-highs and high-end suffered terribly.

Which, wouldn't matter much, unless you have the original LP (particularly the German ARIOLA pressing) and came to know all those intricate Anthony Monn elements, that appeared-to-be inexplicably lost, in Wally's remix.

This was so disappointing to me, that I'd created my own version from the LP version and reprise, and used my Siamese press of Wally's to mix-in, then would cut to a Cassette, or reel-2-reel (depending on where I was playing) of my own mix. Juggling 2 volume knobs, as well as mid-high and high-end crossover knobs, all at the same time! With only a 16-beat window of opportinity to cross-fade! (Happily :icon_biggrin:, after I obtained my IGM 12", I never had to do that again.)

It just escaped me as to why why:icon_eek: Wally would mix such a sparkling track, and make it sound as if it was underwater??? Then I got my original IGM pressing and heard the vast difference. Shortly thereafter, I caught-up with the history of the pressings, and understood why. Although, in all my searching and reading-up on the subject... It appears that no one knows exactly what happened to Wally's original Master tape, after the EPIC/IGM release? JOL??? Can you shed light on the end of this paticular mystery???:icon_confused:

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[remicks]

BrunoRepublic:

I've heard that the original Canadian 12" singles go for big bucks in Europe (Jussi, was it you that told me this?) Yet in my time I've found the IGM on yellow vinyl cut at 45RPM, and two copies of the Epic cut at 33, and the most I paid for any of them was $10... and that was probably more because the IGM was on pretty yellow vinyl.

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[remicks]

Chap2Power:

Dear Steven,

JOL, just jumping in here, as I was in the midst of the firestorm when Wally was mixing this, mostly because I was working at Disco Sound of Canada, which, for the most part was the centre of the Universe during those days in English speaking Canada and where, indisputably, Wally and the late Greg Howlett and various others amongst the powerful DJ elite of Toronto were kings.

Mastering engineers in Canada simply were ill equipped to cut anything 'hot', and cut almost everything flat. Outside of Quebec, even the engineering of the actual mix was almost the cause for lost art. The engineers always printed things for sonic dynamics and never 'challenged' the VU meters on the Studer / Otari tape machines until the mid to late 1980's. In Wally's case, he was also a true perfectionist and his concise edits within the Amanda mix attempted to compensate for the studio shortcomings. He attended the original mastering session. I'm almost SURE of that. But Steven, you are 1000% correct when claim the other pressings are needle drops because they are. To hear Wally in his glory, I would suggest getting the Buddah US 12" pressing of La Bamba. THAT is what it should have sounded like.

Somewhere in the Sony BMG vaults, or in a safe owned by Anthony Monn, a virgin copy of Wally's mix is somewhere on a 1/4" tape, and it's truly mindboggling that "Follow Me" was never re-issued in Germany.

One of Wally's key highlights as well was with an editing block: his re-work of Jet Boy Jet Girl by Elton Motello : the English version of Plastic Bertand's Ca Plane Pour Moi is another example of his genius. Wally just knew. Just as his talented brother Larry used to as well.

I was honored to have one of Wally's mixes on a lesser known record Ambiance's "Na Na Hey Hey" cover which was the first release on Power. As that was the way for a kid to start his label, I did the right thing three releases later: by re-issuing La Bamba !

Vince

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[remicks]

JOL:

I'm not 100 percent certain but I think that Wally's ex Michael Hamilton who now lives near Deroit has the original master reel of Follow Me plus many other reels that Wally made. I've been trying to contact him for quite some time now to see if I can borrow them to digitalize them before they break down. Unfortunately I've haven't been able to get in touch with Michael as of yet.

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[remicks]

******

There probably was a better way to do that ..... :icon_confused:

____________________


-- Wally MacDonald has been someone of special interest while being mostly a mystery .... so little information exists about him and so its exciting to learn that others here knew him well !!!:icon_biggrin: :icon_cool:

Maybe more details about Wally can be shared JOL .... Chap2Power?? ???

And I don't believe Wally MacDonald has a bio entry over on this site's PEOPLE section ....


I suspect we must all (mostly?) here highly prize his FOLLOW ME and La BAMBA mixing achievements ....disco shining stars both .....

....and then there was also this one he was involved with :




which wasn't too shabby either .....


:icon_cool:


*******

[Chap2Power]

******

There probably was a better way to do that ..... :icon_confused:

____________________


-- Wally MacDonald has been someone of special interest while being mostly a mystery .... so little information exists about him and so its exciting to learn that others here knew him well !!!:icon_biggrin: :icon_cool:

Maybe more details about Wally can be shared JOL .... Chap2Power?? ???

And I don't believe Wally MacDonald has a bio entry over on this site's PEOPLE section ....


I suspect we must all (mostly?) here highly prize his FOLLOW ME and La BAMBA mixing achievements ....disco shining stars both .....

....and then there was also this one he was involved with :




which wasn't too shabby either .....


:icon_cool:


*******

This is a great record. I kept trying to remember if Wally and Peter had done it, because Peter used to play the acetate over and over at Disco Sound prior to its release.

There is so much history attached to Wally's mix of Harlow for Canadian dance fans, such as:

-the owners of the label, Quantum, were the Alyanak brothers, Mike and Berge and Vezi Tayyeb. They also owned Kensington Sound, which became one of the best studios to produce dance music in here in Toronto.
-the voices on Take Off are Yohanna Van Der Kley, Linda Hanchar and Joanne Perica. They were Harlow. The record received numerous international releases.
-Yohanna and Linda (who was nicknamed Quincey by me) were Crystal In The Pink, Yohanna alone was Boiling Point, Linda sang my cover of "Danger" by the Flirts, Joanne became the lead voice of "Try A Little Harder" by Fire and Ice, with Glori Gage.
-My Forbidden Lover, Back To You, the original version of Savin' Myself are amongst the many that were recorded and mixed here in their debut form.

I'll keep digging through my archives on Wally. I'm hoping that JOL has some photos. I'm sure I have a few.

He had a hysterical sense of humour.

As an 'rookie' DJ, I once went to visit him at the Wonder Bar. He had a white line in his booth that was a piece of tape. He told one person not to cross it because it got in the way of where he did his work behind the turntables. Well, naturally, I didn't think that applied to me so here I am shuffling through his records seeing what he didn't have, did have etc.

Suddenly I get this look of bemusement with a half smirk from him, and Wally cracks up, puts his hands on my shoulders, moves me behind the line and says "It's safer here". It was my introduction to DJ booth etiquette, and there was nobody better to teach me that Wally. After all, he was playing Bali H'ai by Liza Minelli at the time, which was almost as difficult to get to "go over" than trying to drill some sense in the head of yours truly.

Wally wrote columns for the Ontario disco pool. I know I have some kicking around somewhere..

There'll be more...

Vince

[kdavid13]

This is a great record. I kept trying to remember if Wally and Peter had done it, because Peter used to play the acetate over and over at Disco Sound prior to its release.

There is so much history attached to Wally's mix of Harlow for Canadian dance fans, such as:

-the owners of the label, Quantum, were the Alyanak brothers, Mike and Berge and Vezi Tayyeb. They also owned Kensington Sound, which became one of the best studios to produce dance music in here in Toronto.
-the voices on Take Off are Yohanna Van Der Kley, Linda Hanchar and Joanne Perica. They were Harlow. The record received numerous international releases.
-Yohanna and Linda (who was nicknamed Quincey by me) were Crystal In The Pink, Yohanna alone was Boiling Point, Linda sang my cover of "Danger" by the Flirts, Joanne became the lead voice of "Try A Little Harder" by Fire and Ice, with Glori Gage.
-My Forbidden Lover, Back To You, the original version of Savin' Myself are amongst the many that were recorded and mixed here in their debut form.

WOW thanks for the info Vince.

Anytime I listen to Crystal In The Pink - I still picture the tape running off the spool as you were printing the final mixdown.

p.s. See how interesting your liner notes were on the REUNION Power's Greatest Hits CD ???

[remicks]

*****

There is so much history attached to Wally's mix of Harlow for Canadian dance fans, such as:...............

That's what I'm talking about! :icon_biggrin: What wonderful information :icon_biggrin:


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.............. the voices on Take Off are Yohanna Van Der Kley, Linda Hanchar and Joanne Perica. They were Harlow.

and here they are ( I'll presume! ) in the song's official video release:

Harlow TAKE OFF


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[JOL]

Great story Vince and so typically Wally. I remember that after he had to stop DJing because of HIV complications that gave him seizures whenever he came in contact with strobe lighting he decided to sell off his record collection by holding a garage sale (he gave me his copy of Antonia Rodriquez's La Bamba red vinyl IGM pressing & signed it). Besides the records he also had the regular bric-a- brac for sale also. There was one table full of pictures with a big sign that said "Is it Art or is it Garfunkle". He also helped raise money for the fledgling A.I.D.S. Committer Of Toronto (ACT) back in the early days of the epidemic. I'll post a picture of him and two others at a fund raiser at the Barn where they put on a show to raise funds. They called themselves The Beaton Sisters. Wallly was Brut-A-Lee Beaton and he's on the right of the picture and another picture of him out of drag. Also here's a link to a block edit that he did called Gimme Some (More) ft. Jimmy Bo Horne it's 14.13 long but I only giving posting the first five minutes of it just to give you guys a tease.

https://download.yousendit.com/Q01ITkF2YWJRR2V4dnc9PQ

.

I'll keep digging through my archives on Wally. I'm hoping that JOL has some photos. I'm sure I have a few.

He had a hysterical sense of humour.

As an 'rookie' DJ, I once went to visit him at the Wonder Bar. He had a white line in his booth that was a piece of tape. He told one person not to cross it because it got in the way of where he did his work behind the turntables. Well, naturally, I didn't think that applied to me so here I am shuffling through his records seeing what he didn't have, did have etc.

Suddenly I get this look of bemusement with a half smirk from him, and Wally cracks up, puts his hands on my shoulders, moves me behind the line and says "It's safer here". It was my introduction to DJ booth etiquette, and there was nobody better to teach me that Wally. After all, he was playing Bali H'ai by Liza Minelli at the time, which was almost as difficult to get to "go over" than trying to drill some sense in the head of yours truly.

Wally wrote columns for the Ontario disco pool. I know I have some kicking around somewhere..

There'll be more...

Vince

[the disco kid]

JOL

Thanks for the download! It speaks to the imagination and and talent of Wally, obviously a DJ that took it to the next level.

[markydefad]

JOL,

That Wally remix of "Gimme Some" was great fun!!! Was that ever released back in the day of the Stars on 45-type medleys? "The rhythm & cowbell [MORE COWBELL!!! is my musical mantra!] in "Gimme Some" rocks my world and using that as the underlying rhythmic hook under all those old pop songs was very clever. Would loved to have been able to dance to that!

[JOL]

Your welcome, What's was really amazing was that he did most of these block edits at his home studio with nothing more than two turntables (on occasion three) a tape deck, a reel to reel, an editing block and of course a razor blade. I had the priviledge to watch him work his magic on several occasions and he taught me how to do it but I never became quite accomplished at it as he was. He was a true artist.

JOL

Thanks for the download! It speaks to the imagination and and talent of Wally, obviously a DJ that took it to the next level.

[remicks]

Your welcome, What's was really amazing was that he did most of these block edits at his home studio with nothing more than two turntables (on occasion three) a tape deck, a reel to reel, an editing block and of course a razor blade. I had the priviledge to watch him work his magic on several occasions and he taught me how to do it but I never became quite accomplished at it as he was. He was a true artist.

dittos .... great mix !! Those were fun times weren't they !!!! :icon_biggrin: :icon_cool: :icon_biggrin: :icon_cool:


And bonus surprise!!

Wally's c-u-t-e!!! :icon_mrgreen: :icon_cool:







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[markydefad]

remicks wrote:
And bonus surprise !!

Wally's c-u-t-e!!! :icon_mrgreen: :icon_cool:

I thought so too :icon_exclaim:

[kdavid13]

I thought so too :icon_exclaim:

I thought so 3.

[BrunoRepublic]

I thought so 4 sure.

[JOL]

Yes they were and we all thought it would last forever until HIV came along put a total ko on the party. BTW that picture is a fairly young Wally he got much better looking as he aged. He went from cute to being a real wooooooooooofer. As my mother is fond of saying when she see a stunning man "He's not for believing, He's for fainting and dying" (lol)

dittos .... great mix !! Those were fun times weren't they !!!! :icon_biggrin: :icon_cool: :icon_biggrin: :icon_cool:


And bonus surprise!!

Wally's c-u-t-e!!! :icon_mrgreen: :icon_cool:







*****

[Chap2Power]

Yes they were and we all thought it would last forever until HIV came along put a total ko on the party. BTW that picture is a fairly young Wally he got much better looking as he aged. He went from cute to being a real wooooooooooofer. As my mother is found of saying when she see a stunning man "He's not for believing, He's for fainting and dying" (lol)

Wally also did an edit where he used Lily Tomlin called Lock Up The Liquour, a bootleg of sorts. JOL, do you have this ?

[JOL]

No not as of yet. I've heard it back in the day and it was great. The only other two edits that I have of his is the Rock & Roll mega mix which features I believe Gary Glitter and It's Good 4 The Dub. I'm awaiting on Andree who used to do the lighting at Stages to lend me a whole bunch of reels which may contain that edit. Most of the reels that she has lent me previously to digitalize were from Greg Howlett with a few of Wally's thrown in. So keep your fingers crossed it might show up.

Wally also did an edit where he used Lily Tomlin called Lock Up The Liquour, a bootleg of sorts. JOL, do you have this ?