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Topic: Olivia Newton-John, "Hopelessly Devoted" (Steel?) |
Chris LeDrew
From:
Canada
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Posted 26 May 2009 4:16 am |
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| I heard this tune on the radio yesterday. I believe it's from the Grease movie soundtrack. I didn't realize until now that there is pedal steel on this song, featured fairly prominently. Does anybody know who played on it? It's really nice playing; it suits the song to a tee. |
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John Roche
From:
England
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Posted 26 May 2009 6:04 am
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| I belive it was Gordon Huntley |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 26 May 2009 8:31 am
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It sounds like Jay Dee to me. 
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Danny Bates
From:
Fresno, CA. USA
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Posted 26 May 2009 11:07 am
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| Doug Livingston played on a lot of her stuff. |
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Larry Miller
From:
Dothan AL,USA
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 26 May 2009 12:18 pm
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| To me it sounds like the marvelous John Farrar using palm pedals on his 6 string guitar. |
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Tony Smart
From:
Harlow. Essex. England
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Posted 26 May 2009 1:54 pm
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I met John Farrar once at gig.
He was a really nice bloke, great guitarist and interested in the Steel. |
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Chris LeDrew
From:
Canada
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Posted 26 May 2009 4:16 pm
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Larry, it looks like it must be Jay Dee. Stu, if so, you have a good ear. I am, however, assuming those credits are for the collection and may not be accurate for every song. It would be great if Jay Dee could confirm. If not, Doug's guess of John Farrar with palm pedals is also plausible.
Here is a link to a youtube video of her synching to the studio track. You'll have to put up with looking at her while you listen, though.  You can hear the steel plain as day. Don't know how I missed it all this time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJpyG3PXoKw
(Over 2 million hits.....who said steel is not getting any publicity?  ) |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 26 May 2009 7:11 pm
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Chris,I'm sure Doug knows...getting a straight answer out of him might take a while,I had one good ear before I went to a rehearsal today,Stu 
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Dan Hatfield
From:
Columbia, Mo USA
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Posted 26 May 2009 7:54 pm
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Better listen to Earnest Bovine on this one. I saw this performed live years ago, and there was no steel and the six string player was nailing it perfectly. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. The guy was amazing!!
Dan |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 26 May 2009 9:41 pm
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Oh! That was a straight answer...Farrar that's the guy wrote Deeper Than The Night? 
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 27 May 2009 6:12 pm
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Though there's a second or two in there that sounds like it might be pedal steel, the somewhat "overworked" volume swells going into the bends leads me to be more inclined to go with Doug's opinion - that it's a well-manipulated palm pedal on a straight guitar.  |
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ebb
From:
nj
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Posted 27 May 2009 6:25 pm
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| if you guys thought that that was a steel then lets just delete all the tone threads right now and start over |
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Chris LeDrew
From:
Canada
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Posted 27 May 2009 6:52 pm
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Jeez.....sounds like steel to me. It sounds like it may have chorus or some other kind of modulation on it; but if it's not steel, they sure tricked me.
If it is a palm pedal guitar, good job on the player! |
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Gerald Menke
From:
Stormville NY, USA
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Posted 28 May 2009 5:34 am
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I have read and heard that the ear identifies a musical instrument by the attack and or transients of a note, and that if you remove the attack it's tough to tell what instrument generated the note. That said, considering that the volume swells eliminate the attack on the "hopelessly", it makes it a bit tough to tell. After listening to the track just now, I am going to go with a double tracked six-string, and lots of volume pedal. No experienced steel player I know would chop off their attack that way. I wonder if it might have been played on a psg by a new player, that's what it sounds like to me.
Nevertheless, I think the theme that guy came up with both defines the song and is probably the best part about it, no matter what instrument was used. |
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Tommy Shown
From:
Denham Springs, La.
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Posted 29 May 2009 8:57 pm
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| I thought it was Weldon Myrick on that cut. |
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Dan Hatfield
From:
Columbia, Mo USA
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Posted 30 May 2009 6:39 am
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Although this doesn't prove anything, here is small exerpt from a Wikipedia article on ONJ.
Grease became the biggest box-office hit of 1978[27] and remained popular enough that it was re-released in theaters on its 20th anniversary in 1998. [28] The soundtrack spent 12 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 and yielded three Top 5 singles for Newton-John: the No. 1 "You're The One That I Want" (with John Travolta), the No. 3 "Hopelessly Devoted To You," and the No. 5 "Summer Nights" (with John Travolta and the film's cast). The former two songs were written by Newton-John's long-time producer, John Farrar, specifically for the film.
So this establishes that Farrar wrote the song; I'm still looking for documentation that he did the "psuedo steel guitar" sounds on his six string, but I am quite confident that that is what happened.
Dan |
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Chris LeDrew
From:
Canada
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Posted 30 May 2009 7:25 am
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| Yes, the palm pedals seem to be responsible for this faux-steel track. Sure fooled me. Farrar is a great writer. Some may find those songs to be a bit cheesy, but I think the melodies and chord structures are very tasty. |
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Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 2 Jun 2009 8:28 am The older we get....................
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the dumber some of us get..........(Me!).
All those years when she was super popular.....I tho't she, like Peter, Paul and Mary, was just another coffee house trio......you know, Olivia, Knute & John.
Oh well, she's quite a vocalist. |
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Chris LeDrew
From:
Canada
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Posted 2 Jun 2009 8:44 am
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| She was the ultimate dream girl of my generation (born 1970). At around 9-10 years old, a boy would be more than a bit mesmerized with the Grease movie. |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 2 Jun 2009 11:07 am
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Ray I thought she was Olivia Neutron Bomb.
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 5 Jun 2009 6:33 pm Re: The older we get....................
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| Ray Montee wrote: |
| ...she's quite a vocalist. |
She sure is. She's always had a large proportion of country music in her repertoire. I've been one of the fans who's lusted after her for many years. Watch this video, the epitome of mellow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LitWc5mzFCM
Ironically, if you look at the band there's a steel guitar but no steel guitarist. He must have gone off for a drink. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnG6i7DWV7M
There's steel on the above, but it's been mixed down and you can't see the band in the dark. |
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Dan Hatfield
From:
Columbia, Mo USA
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Posted 5 Jun 2009 7:40 pm
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Alan, I don't mean to keep beating a dead horse, but I have $100 that says there is no steel on either of those cuts; want to take me on?
Dan |
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Micky Byrne
From:
United Kingdom (deceased)
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Posted 6 Jun 2009 2:34 am
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Hi Chris (Lebrew)...I just watched " hopelessly devoted to you" ... On the latter part, she looks straight into the camera...looking straight at "YOU" Damn ... On her earlier records done in England like "Country roads" she used the late great British steel player Gordon Huntly. To those who dont realise, she was born in Cambridge United Kingdom in 1948, and went to live in Australia when she was five...she returned home in 1965..the rest as they say is history. A most gorgeous person we all agree
Micky Byrne United Kingdom
www.micky-byrne.co.uk |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 6 Jun 2009 10:49 am
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| Dan Hatfield wrote: |
Alan, I don't mean to keep beating a dead horse, but I have $100 that says there is no steel on either of those cuts; want to take me on?
Dan |
Well, I'm not a gambling man. You certainly won't hear any steel on the first video. If you notice, as it zooms in, there's a pedal steel guitar standing there, but no-one is playing it. That's why I mentioned that he's probably gone off for a drink. I'll have to pull out my LPs of hers and check the sleeve notes. It should tell me which numbers of hers have a steel guitarist.
But whether she has a steel guitarist or not, she sure struts her stuff in that mini-skirt...
| Micky Byrne wrote: |
...she was born in Cambridge United Kingdom in 1948, and went to live in Australia when she was five...she returned home in 1965..
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I didn't realise that. I always thought she was born in Australia. Watch this duet with Cliff Richard, there's no steel, but it's a great performance...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkNDPQ4UfeU
How come since Cliff Richard is older than the Rolling Stones he always looks ten years younger ? Does he have a painting secreted in his loft ? |
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