Dr Feelgood and the Secret to Stupidity

• The Place – De Lane Lea, Wembley
• The Time – August 1976
• Artist – Dr Feelgood
• The Album – Stupidity
• Engineer – Vic Maile

Dr. Feelgood formed in 1971 was one of the best British pub rock bands to emerge from the UK. They came from Canvey Island in Essex.

Their most commercially productive years were the early to mid 1970s.

They were best known for their high-energy live performances which was captured on their 1976 live album Stupidity which reached number one in the UK album charts.

The band were a fabulous bunch of guys who were very much enjoying their status in the industry.

On August the 26th 1976 my good friend Vic Maile, producer and engineer, booked Studio Two for a week to remix a live album he had finished recording with the band.

Vic had produced the previous two albums, Down by the Jetty and Malpractice but the Feelgoods felt they only needed Vic’s engineering skills for their third album, recorded live at the Southend Kursaal, Essex.

A Real Disaster

After the show was over Vic was checking through the tapes before the band arrived, he noticed that during recordings he had accidentally selected the hi-hat mic to record on the rest of the drum tracks.

This was a real disaster and when we listened to the drums individually all you could hear was the bloody hi hat.

The studio had just purchased a new device called an ADM noise-gate, these had been designed to eradicate small problems of this nature but this went beyond its capabilities so Vic settled for using plain EQ.

The first few days we spent overdubbing and repairing various vocals, harmonica and guitar solos. Vic then completed mixing in his inimitable style.

That night, when the album was finished and the band had left the studio, Vic and I sat chatting and it was apparent that he was very disappointed with the outcome of the mixes due to his error with the hi-hat.

I tried to convince him that it was no big deal but Vic, forever the perfectionist, wasn’t having any of it. He thought the mixes could have been so much better.

Convinced that the album would be slated in the music press and would not sell, he assumed that everyone would hold him responsible for the downfall of Dr Feelgood.

The album was released in September and one month later reached the number one spot in the UK album charts.

The Melody Maker’s review of the album hailed Vic’s fantastic live recording technique making special mention of the crisp clarity of the hi-hat in such a rock ‘n’ roll fusion of sound.

Just goes to show – There Ain’t No Rules In Rock n Roll

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