Jimmy Miller (producer)
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Jimmy Miller (1944-1994) was a Brooklyn-born record producer who produced albums for The Spencer Davis Group (in fact, he co-wrote the song Gimme Some Lovin' with Steve Winwood), Traffic , Blind Faith, Bobby Whitlock and The Rolling Stones (all albums from Beggars Banquet to Goats Head Soup), New York City's shock/punk rockers The Plasmatics and Motörhead. Among his last productions were two tracks on the 1991 Primal Scream album, Screamadelica.
Himself a percussionist, Miller was known for a distinctive drum sound, especially with The Rolling Stones. He sometimes played percussion on their recordings, including the famous opening cowbell on "Honky Tonk Women" and the drums on "You Can't Always Get What You Want", "Happy" and "Shine a Light". Most importantly, Miller's goal was to make a recording sound like what he and the band thought the recording should sound like instead of trying to achieve the best sound quality possible. If a song needed the vocals to be buried in the mix he would do it, even though it would make it unlistenable on AM radio. The Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street is the best example of this. To this day, many critics cite Exile on Main Street as one of the best rock albums ever made. The Stones stopped working with Miller after 1973's Goats Head Soup because of his heroin addiction, which lasted the rest of his life.
His father, Bill Miller, was a Las Vegas entertainment director and the man who booked Elvis Presley into the International Hotel for his 1969 return to live performance.
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