Just heard about this while listening to Michael Des Barres' show on Little Steven's Underground Garage Sirius channel...
David Bowie and Elton John Arranger Paul Buckmaster Dies at 71
Not a star per se, but one of the greats of the background support club of many an artist in the 60's and 70's. Providing not just ornamental string bits, but essential parts of select songs that would sound much different, if not empty, without his arrangements. In particular, for me, is his work on the Rolling Stones' "Sticky Fingers"; on the otherwise rough-and-tumble soul ballad of "Sway", his swelling orchestration was a perfect backdrop to one of Mick Taylor's stellar guitar solos, and the etherial but surging string pads on the bring-it-in-for-a-landing closer, "Moonlight Mile" was the perfect ending to that album. You could always tell his work. He managed to make Elton John's "Madman Across The Water" sound so heavy, without any Marshall stacks involved.
David Bowie and Elton John Arranger Paul Buckmaster Dies at 71
Not a star per se, but one of the greats of the background support club of many an artist in the 60's and 70's. Providing not just ornamental string bits, but essential parts of select songs that would sound much different, if not empty, without his arrangements. In particular, for me, is his work on the Rolling Stones' "Sticky Fingers"; on the otherwise rough-and-tumble soul ballad of "Sway", his swelling orchestration was a perfect backdrop to one of Mick Taylor's stellar guitar solos, and the etherial but surging string pads on the bring-it-in-for-a-landing closer, "Moonlight Mile" was the perfect ending to that album. You could always tell his work. He managed to make Elton John's "Madman Across The Water" sound so heavy, without any Marshall stacks involved.
