Paul Buckmaster, whose arranged the strings heard on records by Elton John, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, and many others, has died. The death was tweeted by his management company, McDaniel Entertainment.
His dense, emphatic arrangements—which could split the difference between Phil Spector and Elmer Bernstein—gave songs such as Elton John’s “Levon,” David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” and Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” heft and majesty. But we are especially fond of his work on the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers, especially “Moonlight Mile,” which adds to the song’s moody sense of exhaustion.
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