Shel Talmy
b. c.1940, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Having spent his early career in television, Talmy took up a post as engineer at Conway Recorders, an independent studio in Los Angeles. Here he made uncredited contributions to several ‘surfing’ hits, notably by the Castells and Marketts. In 1963 Talmy arrived in the UK where he successfully persuaded Decca to provide work on a freelance basis, making him the country's first independent producer. His early work was strictly MOR, but early hits with the homely Bachelors allowed a freedom to place groups with different labels and explore new styles of music. In 1963 he began a fruitful partnership with the Kinks which, over the next four years, resulted in a series of seminal '60s singles, including You Really Got Me (1964), Sunny Afternoon (1966) and Waterloo Sunset (1967). Such success inspired his relationship with the Who, which included two highlights of the exciting group's early work, I Can't Explain and My Generation. However, relations between the two parties were severed, rancorously, in 1966, when Talmy refused to renegotiate the group's percentage royalty. An out-of-court settlement ended their agreement, but the producer continued to earn a royalty from the band's records until 1970. Talmy also produced material for the Easybeats, notably the startling Friday On My Mind, as well as releases by Davy Jones (later David Bowie), the Zephyrs and Rockin’ Vickers. 
His skills lay in an ability to bring out a special performance and equip it with a requisite punch, rather than create a homogeneous sound which was moulded irrespective of the act's ability. In 1965 he founded the Planet label, but although its catalogue boasted the excellent Creation, arguably his exemplary act, the company's other work was largely undistinguished. Talmy continued his commercial success with Manfred Mann and Amen Corner, but by the late '60s switched to the album market with Roy Harper and the Pentangle. During the early '70s Talmy produced work for String Driven Thing and Fumble, but found little artistic satisfaction in the era's prevalent progressive rock style. Punk offered a return to quicker, simpler recording, as evidenced in a brief collaboration with the Damned, but Talmy had now become restricted by gradual blindness. He subsequently returned to California and although undertaking several production projects, including work for surf-revivalists Jon And The Nightriders (1983) and the Fuzztones (1989), has pursued concurrent interests in publishing. Talmy also retains the rights to many of his '60s masters, which have become the subject of judicious re-releases. 
Recommended listening—the Who MY GENERATION (1966), the Kinks THE HIT SINGLES COLLECTION (1987), the Creation HOW DOES IT FEEL TO FEEL (1982).