Geoff Emerick was actually THERE. We’ve heard a million times about what happened when the Beatles were recording, from the early days until the bitter end. But he was actually there to see and work on a lot of the music. His accounts of the Beatles pushing the limits of the studio again and again offer a world of insights into their music process. He sometimes seems to brag a bit about his record prowess, but then again you can’t argue with the results. His accountings of the Revolver and Sgt Peppers sessions alone make the book worth buying. But there’s much more than that.
Those of us who want to know all the details of this groundbreaking music will find much to like and a myriad of insights into their musical process. The Beatles wouldn’t accept any limitations on the sounds they wanted and they worked with Geoff to figure out a way to do it, time and time again. Many of those techniques, from Automatic Double Tracking to backwards guitar to looping and more are standard today. But it was the Beatles, their main engineer Geoff Emerick, and their producer George Martin who created musical masterpieces that are still brilliant and hugely popular fifty years later.
The downside to the book, is that Geoff was most friendly with Paul and speaks very highly of him. However, he tends to have a very mixed opinion of John, acknowledging his massive talent but often criticizing him and his personality. He never seems to think much of George until near the end of the book when he says George’s talent was finally developed, and while he understands that Ringo was a good drummer he paints him as “blah” as a person for the most part. I had heard these opinions of his before I read the book but I was surprised at how much he favored Paul over the rest of the group.
Aside from a sometimes (not always) one-sided view of the talents of the members of the group, he does have a bit of a tendency to portray himself as a studio wizard. But then again, maybe he was! Whatever. I enjoyed the book and the more you like the Beatles, the more you should read it.
Have you read it? If so (or if not) leave me a comment below!
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Yep, I read it. Great review, Steve. Emerick has engineered several McCartney albums and shows a definite bias towards Paul. But, a fun read. Mark Lewisohn’s book about their recording sessions is also very interesting. His take is a tad different, in that he thinks John is the greatest R&R singer ever. Maybe he was.
Thanks for the comments Mike. Emerick knows his stuff, no doubt. He also did Elvis Costello’s “Imperial Bedroom”, one of EC’s best IMHO.
Lewisohn’s Recording Sessions book was pretty thorough (to say the least) but a good one too.
And yeah, that Johnnie Boy could sing…
I have not read it. Sounds interesting so I’ll look for it. I’ve been listening to The Beatles a lot lately . Probably because of Sirius finally coming up with a Beatles channel.
At the moment, I just started reading ” Shout” by Phillip Norman for the second time.
I’ve been trying to get a sense of whether the Beatles knew how to read music? Did any of the Beatles have absolute pitch? Playing music strictly by ear is one thing. But writing songs, with intricate chord changes and modulating to a different Key in a song is quite another.
It’s amazing what the Beatles accomplished. Thanks for the review. The book sounds fascinating. I look forward to reading it.
Thank you all for the comments!
After seeing the Beatles Deconstructing movie I made a mental note to read the book. I was very interested in the goings on of the recording sessions. It started slowly with him talking about his early years and getting hired by EMI at the age of 17, but once he talked about recording Revolver and Sgt Peppers I was all in. I liked how Paul n John were pushing the boundaries on obtaining the right sound and how Geoff had to go to extremes to get the sound. Whether is was Instruments not play on rock albums before or the new tricks used on the tape machines. When Geoff would mention bits about a song I would play it to see if I could hear them. Rarely did.
Geoff brought to light the personality differences between Paul and John, I felt Paul n John used these differences to push each other to places never reached before. I felt Geoff was very intimidated by John and Paul is such the Politician. He had nothing good to say about George.
He talked about recording White Album and Abbey Road, but mostly the dysfunction between the boys. He also talked about his post Beatles life recording Paul’s solo projects and time with Elvis Costello, whom he had a high regard.
My reason for reading this book was for the Beatles studio experience and not Geoff’s story. For the most part I was not disappointed. I was impressed on how Geoff was able to perform magic in the studio despite George Martin putting major restraints on him, so he says.
Well said, John.
I felt sorry for George, Geoff gave him no credit until late in the game, and I think he was more talented than that. But then again, I wasn’t actually there. Also, the personality difference between John and Paul have been talked about many times but Geoff had examples and insight.
I enjoyed the book quite a bit and recommend it to any true Beatles fan.