Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
*****
The following is a comment Chap2Power included in his response within a thread about debunking disco rumors :
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.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.
Hopefully more information about Wally MacDonald will find its way to be be added here .......:icon_cool:
*****
Last edited by remicks; November 19th, 2008 at 03:37 AM.
you'd still be waiting for me at the airport
while my ship was coming in
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
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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you'd still be waiting for me at the airport
while my ship was coming in
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
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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you'd still be waiting for me at the airport
while my ship was coming in
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
----------Jussik:
Fact: Amanda Lear liked the mix in question a lot.
you'd still be waiting for me at the airport
while my ship was coming in
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
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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you'd still be waiting for me at the airport
while my ship was coming in
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
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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you'd still be waiting for me at the airport
while my ship was coming in
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
----------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???JOL??? Can you shed light on the end of this paticular mystery???:icon_confused:
you'd still be waiting for me at the airport
while my ship was coming in
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
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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you'd still be waiting for me at the airport
while my ship was coming in
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
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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you'd still be waiting for me at the airport
while my ship was coming in
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
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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you'd still be waiting for me at the airport
while my ship was coming in
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
******
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:
*******
Last edited by remicks; November 19th, 2008 at 04:03 AM.
you'd still be waiting for me at the airport
while my ship was coming in
Underground Hit [Level 5]
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.Originally Written by 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:
*******
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
Gold Record [Level 7]
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 ???
KRIS
Double Platinum Record [Level 9]
*****
That's what I'm talking about! :icon_biggrin: What wonderful information :icon_biggrin:
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and here they are ( I'll presume! ) in the song's official video release:
Harlow TAKE OFF
*****
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you'd still be waiting for me at the airport
while my ship was coming in
Chart Hit [Level 6]
. 
. 
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
You got to bone it like you own it
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