It is not that hard to pinpoint British producer David M. Allen's entry into the professional music business. From 1977 through the end of the decade, Allen played bass guitar, sang, and programmed keyboards in Pinpoint, a band that created one album, three singles, and played about 400 gigs. And that is really just a needle compared to the haystack careers of some of the bands Allen has engineered and produced as a part of various studio teams. His list of credits could pass for a list of some of the top British rock and pop acts from the '80s and '90s. Allen's first series of hits included some of the key new wave sounds of the '80s, including the Human League's Dare album, as well as releases by Altered Images, Dexy's Midnight Runners, the Go-Go's, and the Teardrop Explodes. He was heavily involved with the Cure, toiling on the group's entire discography between 1983 and 1996. In the mid-'90s, he showed his continuing relevance by working with vocalist and songwriter Nenah Cherry. Another highlight of that time period surely was being called in as a technical assistant on the horrifying series of duets -- Duets II, to be precise -- that Frank Sinatra recorded over the telephone with a variety of younger vocal performers. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi