On This Date in 1986: The first group of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame -- Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke and the Everly Brothers -- is officially accepted.

The Almanac Advises for January 23: "Upon being presented to and taking leave of royalty, it is customary for men to bow and women to curtsy. Address royalty as 'Your Majesty' or 'Your Royal Highness' at first, and from then on as 'sir' or 'ma'am.' Speak only when spoken to."

Prolific record producer Phil Ramone has touched upon genius for more than five decades. A musical prodigy, Ramone established A&R Recording, an independent recording studio, in 1959, launching what would become a 14-time Grammy-winning career, known as much for his work with legends like Ray Charles, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Elton John and Paul Simon, just to name a few, as his innovative technology. His journey is chronicled in the new book, 'Making Records: The Scenes Behind the Music,' co-written with Charles L. Granata. In the excerpt below, Ramone recalls his sessions with Bob Dylan on the rock 'n' roll icon's 1975 masterpiece, 'Blood on the Tracks.'


Chapter 13

I was delighted to receive "the call" from John Hammond in September 1974 asking me to engineer some sessions with Bob Dylan.

"Phil? John Hammond. Listen, Dylan's in town and he's ready to record for us again. He wants to come back to 799 Seventh Avenue, and we need to capture the magic."

Although he'd made his name at Columbia Records, Bob had briefly left the label to record two albums for Elektra. Hammond, who'd recognized Bob's talent and signed him to Columbia twelve years earlier, wanted to bring him back to the CBS "family."

I'd toured with and recorded Bob Dylan and the Band in 1974, but 'Blood on the Tracks' was the first and only Dylan studio album I ever recorded. Like many fans, I was in awe of Bob's talent and respected his polite, distant attitude. I'm private too, and I'm tenacious about protecting the privacy of artists. Traveling with Dylan gave me a glimpse of his idiosyncrasies, and I'd developed a real affection for him and his music.

Since many of Dylan's early recordings had been made in studio A1 at 799 Seventh Avenue when it belonged to Columbia, his return to A&R brought everything full circle.

It was clear that this album was going to be personal. Bob was going through a separation; he was emotionally fragile and at a creative crossroads. I was elated that he'd chosen A&R, and felt privileged to be the engineer who'd preserve this watershed moment.

James Taylor has often told stories through his songs, but now he's literally telling stories about them. On his newly released live CD/DVD set, 'One Man Band,' the celebrated singer-songwriter, equipped with just his voice, a guitar, some piano accompaniment and 40 years of his music and his memories, acts the raconteur, sharing the tales behind his deep musical catalog. On the collection, his repertoire spans early numbers like 'Something in the Way She Moves' through his most famous songs, such as 'Fire and Rain' and 'Sweet Baby James,' to newer ones inspired by his life as a recent father and grandfather as well as the current political climate.

Presently on tour with his full-size band, the 59-year-old Taylor takes the time to converse with Spinner about being the latest artist on Starbucks' label, in addition to the wider variety of options older performing artists have to get their songs across in the digital age. He also talks about his namesake nephew and inspiration for 'Sweet Baby James,' who has so far avoided the Taylor family business of music-making, as well as why it's tough being a member of Red Sox Nation now that his favorite baseball team has transformed itself into a winner.

What inspired you to do the 'One Man Band' concept -- just your voice, a guitar and some keyboards?

It's one of the ways that I have of playing. I have a sort of a large band, which has developed over the years, and I've written more and more music to be played by a dozen players and singers. But I also have a small-band version that we take into new territories, so we travel light and fast. And then I have an orchestral gig that I can play, too, with symphony orchestras that have large arrangements and a sort of core rhythm section. And then, finally and originally, what I do is just get up onstage with a guitar and a few songs and perform. That's how I started out, and it's good to go back there every once and a while. It somehow puts things in focus in a different way. It had been too long a time, I just needed to get back out and play small again.

And also, it's one thing to play for forty minutes on a stage, just piano, voice and guitar. If you want to do two one-hour sets, you need to start throwing in some other elements in order to make it work, or else it gets too monotonous. So I devised this idea of having one-half of the stage being me and [keyboard player] Larry [Goldings] in this comfortably lit, warm context. And then the other side of the stage just being empty except for a screen, and using the screen for a number of different things: old snapshots, family footage, pictures of Nixon resigning the White House.... I recorded and filmed a choir singing 'Shower the People' and a new song of mine called 'My Traveling Star.' They appear, also out of the blackness, on the other side of the stage and accompany me. So, basically, all of these things were ways of expanding the essential -- just piano, guitar and voice -- show that Larry and I had worked out.

World-class photographer Henry Diltz, to employ a lyric from his friend and Southern California neighbor Joni Mitchell, has looked at life from both sides now. Being a former musician himself, in the '60s group the Modern Folk Quartet, he has numerous friends in the California musical community, which has provided him with a varied pool of camera-ready subjects. In this photo essay, Diltz reveals, in his own words, the process behind his iconic shots of many of rock's greatest names and faces, as well as his uncommon access to them, which he has likened to being "a little kid who sneaked under the circus tent."

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Ray Charles, Los Angeles, 1980: This started with just a random call from a video company that was going to interview him at his studio in L.A. He had designed this whole building. He knew every inch of it. It was sort of like he could see in there, because he knew every room and step, and when you saw him sit at the board, his fingers were just constantly touching the knobs and the buttons and he just knew where everything was. We went out into the studio part of it and he just sat at the piano playing. I guess they were setting up the lights for this shot, 'cause I couldn't click while they were filming. Being a photographer on a documentary crew, you pretty much have to shoot pretty quickly just before and just after the camera rolls.



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Some artists make music so distinct and unto itself that it's easy to overlook, or at least forget, that these artists -- such as Miles Davis and the Beatles, for example -- were in fact heavily influenced by others. Caetano Veloso is one of those artists, as well. In nearly 40 years he's covered so much ground but with so distinct an approach at all stages that trying to characterize any particular phase or album as anything different from any other just seems pointless and wrongheaded. Some have termed his most recent release, 'Cê,' a "rock" album. But, really, it's simply a Caetano Veloso album, just as Miles Davis' 'Sketches of Spain' isn't a classical-fusion album, it's Davis. Or 'Rubber Soul' isn't a folk-rock album, it's a Beatles album.

Cold War Kids

Who: A Los Angeles quartet that used to practice atop a restaurant before selling out shows that draw celebs like Will Ferrell and Drew Barrymore.

Fun Fact: They once played a gig that turned out to be a highbrow dog show.

Sounds Like: Aggressive rock seasoned with the soul of Ray Charles and Curtis Mayfield.

Download: 'Hang Me Up to Dry' (MP3)

Cold War Kids

Who: An L.A. quartet that went from practicing atop a restaurant to sold-out shows with the likes of Will Ferrell and Drew Barrymore in the audience.

Fun Fact: They once played gig in L.A. that turned out to be a highbrow dog show.

Sounds Like: Aggressive rock seasoned with the soul elements of Ray Charles and Curtis Mayfield.

Download: 'Hang Me Up to Dry' (MP3)