George Martin RIP

https://twitter.com/ringostarrmusic/status/707420462620381184

rip

Not processing. RIP.

Boo to this.

RIP

Gerry & The Pacemakers wouldn't have been the same without that production. Oh, and The Action...and The Beatles.

jesus, 2016 has been a bad year. RIP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIfBNk5UQsY

He basically made Strawberry Fields Forever. RIP https://youtu.be/8UQK-UcRezE

Don't forget all those America albums with titles starting with "h."

His piece "Theme One" was given this rousing version by Van der Graaf Generator. RIP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGHat7IeNaA

Perhaps it's time to play the second side of Yellow Submarine.

90 years is quite something, but man I am very sad nonetheless

His professorial collaboration with "the boys" is so inspiring. They could have easily been churned through the meatgrinder on another label & someone else's watch, but cool George with his deep wells of musical knowledge & humor & innovation was exactly what they needed

Especially (but not limited to) all that he did for Paul in particular. It's hard to think of Paul as the musician he is without George's tutelage & collaboration

Probably said this before: I don't think there's anyone I'd rather see interviewed than George Martin talking about some problem he solved on a Beatles track. In a very quiet, dignified way, he just radiated joy and a sense of pride in what he accomplished with them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoGAU6mfJm8

Despite the band members insisting otherwise, George Martin was always the Real Fifth Beatle for me. He had so many great little ideas that worked their way onto the records, a way of taking ideas fed to him and turning them into the actual notes played on an ever-widening palette of instruments, sometimes by himself

Aside from the Beatles, the two Jeff Beck jazz-fusion albums from the mid-'70s Blow by Blow and Wired are my favorite Martin productions.

http://www.overgrownpath.com/2011/01/george-martin-finest-album-ive-ever.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjwnWU6OsaI

90 years is quite something, but man I am very sad nonetheless

His professorial collaboration with "the boys" is so inspiring. They could have easily been churned through the meatgrinder on another label & someone else's watch, but cool George with his deep wells of musical knowledge & humor & innovation was exactly what they needed

Especially (but not limited to) all that he did for Paul in particular. It's hard to think of Paul as the musician he is without George's tutelage & collaboration

― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, March 9, 2016 1:25 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes otm good post

http://www.overgrownpath.com/2011/01/george-martin-finest-album-ive-ever.html

Paul McCandless - heh, not too confusing.. Is there a d/l link on that page? They are always well hidden..

I don't think there's anyone I'd rather see interviewed than George Martin talking about some problem he solved on a Beatles track

paul talking about george here:

"if you're stuck, if you say to him, 'eh, excuse me, what are we going to do?,' he'll take the problem. he won't kind of just go 'ohhhhawwwgggh.' he knows that's his job: 'well, how's about this?' work it out some way."

Done with affection, I think...

(Big Train, BBC sketch show, 1998)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIA_NVFnXZ8

... thank you, I was trying to remember which programme this was from!

Kevin Eldon is a big Beatles fan apparently so it probably was meant to be affectionate

I had a sense late last year that he'd go this year.

Watch the first couple minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZDWgQHRE78

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB4n6rAvHU8

RIP
what a great producer

I just read the monster pt 1 of the Beatles bio by Mark Lewisham and really found the parts about Martin (and Brian Epstein) to be the most interesting

I'm reading it too and before going to bed last night and checking the political thread I got to the scene in which Martin hears the audition tape.

I love that book so much.

Finished Placemats book, guess maybe I should finally read this.

it's so good

They could have easily been churned through the meatgrinder on another label & someone else's watch
yeah i think this is so true -- martin obviously believed in the beatles' talent, as opposed to just believing in the "phenomenon" ... lesser producers would've just wanted to stick with the formula.

One of the major puzzle pieces that fell into place for me reading the Lewisohn book was learning that one of Martin's heroes was Meade Lux Lewis. I always wondered how a conservatory-trained musician, who professed to knowing little about rock 'n' roll, was able to play such credibly driving piano on "Long Tall Sally" -- he likely heard the connection between Little Richard and Lewis.

... lesser producers would've just wanted to stick with the formula.

That's what's so crucial -- he never said "no" or "that can't be done." Sitar? Sure. A song consisting mostly of tape loops? Why not?

After they recorded the two versions of "Strawberry Fields," John wanted to use both. George said, "How?" John said, "I dunno, but I bet you'll figure it out."

The crux of the Lewisohn book to me was how much of the Beatles story was incredible timing/luck. From getting the Hamburg gig to hooking up with Martin (shepherd, steward and skilled technician). So many things had to go right for the Beatles to even happen, and that's taking into account that the book stops more or less with the release of the first album. I'm looking forward to Lewisohn getting beyond capturing the band as is to enabling the band's vision.

The crux of the Lewisohn book to me was how much of the Beatles story was incredible timing/luck.

Ian McDonald doesn't hold back in Revolution In The Head on their timing/luck finding Martin:

Left to his own devices, [Epstein] would have been at a loss to develop the group's creativity. Doing that would require someone highly qualified yet unhampered by the hidebound UK studio scene of 1962. By a coincidence so unlikely as to be positively mind-boggling, The Beatles were about to encounter such a man.

this was mentioned as an early George Martin production in the Beatles book, Nadia Cattouse - "Long Time Boy", love this song...people should post their fav non-Beatles Martin stuff would be interested

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUBg4nR3Rss

did he and George ever reconcile?

RIP.

Thanks for your Beatles-related work, AIR Studios and your work with Ultravox.

who else has bought this one for a buck hoping it'll be some amazing hidden gem?
http://www.superseventies.com/oaaa/oaaa_americanflyer.jpg

This is cool...George Martin meets Brian Wilson, and remixes "God Only Knows":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnVyCuc9_P8

x-post:

I haven't heard it, but I have heard No Place Left To Run by UFO, which is shit!

i love some of these Sellers records, esp the Olivier "Hard Day's Night"

http://www.avclub.com/article/back-day-george-martin-made-some-wild-records-pete-233455

that "A Hard Day's Night" parody I checked out of the library on some Goon Show comp or other a loooong time ago and I wept from laughter

RIP

AHDN even funnier if you've seen Lord Larry's Richard III at least twice

Yeah, I used to own the American Flyer album. Can't remember a single thing about itzzzzzzz.....

This Seatrain record (first Martin production post-Beatles iirc) was one of the first 45s I ever owned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=War3BgTQ68Q

american flyer was sold back by me but quick

i love this, god forgive me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ6UI_8h-YY

Perhaps it's time to play the second side of Yellow Submarine.

― Jesperson, I think we're lost (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, March 9, 2016 1:07 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes! i loved those as a kid. all the orchestral stuff he did w the Beatles is still some of my favorite stuff ever.

RIP producer genius

x-post:

'Reap The Wild Wind' is fabulous and you have nothing to be embarrassed about.

I mentioned it in my own quick obit.

It seems a little strange to say this, but when I heard about Martin's passing earlier, the first album I reached for was Quartet rather than any Beatles record, but that may have something to do with the fact that I've heard those Beatle records so many times that I very rarely feel the need to actually listen to them again. Quartet isn't my favourite Ultravox album either, but there's still quite a lot of good stuff on it.

A very early example of multi tracking..

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OHfseN9nSVE

was going to mention the goons...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqqNsyHajb0

also ivor cutler!

Ure was insufferable by the time of Quartet.

There's three songs on it that I'm not so keen on: 'Serenade', 'We Came To Dance' and 'The Song (We Go)', I absolutely love the rest.

I briefly once met the charming ne'er-do-well son from his first marriage. Looked exactly like him. He wrote a scandalous memoir and was allegedly disowned because of it. He once had a little acting career and is now an astrologer.

I always enjoyed Ray Cathode, his pre-Beatles collaboration with Maddalena Fagandini of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhVYEgMrxOg

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/04/ray_cathode_aka.html

Why am I feeling like there's been so little fuss made over this?

response did seem a little muted tbh -- maybe just because he was 90?

This strangely neglected topic

Not neglected, just oddly muted.

like a french horn

I was always rather beastly to the George Martin RIP thread.

apparently a bunch of ppl thought it was the game of thrones guy who died

RIP, geez

RIP. Just the fact that he allowed the Beatles to perform their own songs at that time is startling. He didn't even like "Love Me Do", but he gave them a shot.

Lewisohn's book (in addition to really fleshing out Martin's pre-Beatles story) basically says the Beatles were already signed by EMI by the time they met Martin. They were essentially foisted on him because he was having an affair with his secretary, which his boss wasn't happy about.

Why am I feeling like there's been so little fuss made over this?

Because you aren't living in the UK perhaps?

... because I heard more than enough.

Because he was 90, and a producer, not a musician.

he played keys on multiple Beatles albums. i consider that a musician.

Wish you'd told the BBC that. (xp)

Because he was 90, and a producer, not a musician.

― flappy bird,

are you fucking kidding me

Yet another pointless and downright stupid post from the nest of flappy bird, this surely must be some kind of record.

If the question was about why this is getting less notice than Bowie's passing, that seems like a reasonable answer to me, tbh.

(I don't even count on music tech students to know the names of major producers when they come in.)

I'm wtfing at George Martin, a trained oboist and piano player and string arranger, wasn't a musician.

If only flappy bird would come over and post some silliness on the 'Mats thread to unite the crowd which is otherwise currently involved in a little narcissistic of small differences tiff over what songs are good and bad on Don't Tell A Soul.

Oh, yeah, I'd definitely call him a musician (and this is definitely getting more coverage than the deaths of most trained oboists and piano players and string arrangers).

x-post to Tom:

I'm very much in the UK! I haven't seen how the BBC have been reporting it, but knowing the BBC I would have expected them to give this quite a great deal of attention and I suspect they have. The reaction of the British media was not what I was talking about, though. I was mainly talking about discussion on here and elsewhere amongst dedicated music fans.

maybe cos the works most people know Martin from are mostly from a 6 year period

Reminds me of a a similar eye-rolling moment when a guy I was in band with said to the owner of the rehearsal studio, "oh, you're a musician too?

A lot of dedicated music fans don't really care about the Beatles though. (xxp)

(xp) nowadays it's all about owners of rehearsal studios saying to guys in bands, "oh, you're an engineer too?"

lol

what is a dedicated music fan and where do i apply

You seriously never had a Beatles phase, Tom?

I mean, okay, at this stage I've heard Beatles stuff so much that I don't really need to listen to it anymore, but I can still acknowledge the great work Martin did even though I'm tired of it. I mean, the guy produced 'Tomorrow Never Knows'!

feel like i've seen the same (5 Beatles songs that George Martin made his mark on) article a dozen times by now.

they all talk about him doing the tape loop stuff in Mr. Kite but nobody seems to mention that btw he was also playing along with the Beatles on all the live takes, which meant playing a harmonium, which is a hand-pumped air organ, requiring you to constantly pump air otherwise you get no sound at all.

let's see your "non-musician" put up with 4 hours of that.

Martin's harmonium part on 'The Word' is the best part of the song for me!

yeah dude was laying down drone rock a year before the Velvet Underground

Isnt that a farfisa on the Word...?

You seriously never had a Beatles phase, Tom?

Not sure why anyone would be surprised by that.

Because he was 90, and a producer, not a musician.

― flappy bird,

are you fucking kidding me

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, March 10, 2016 4:16 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's the public perception - i know how important he was and how much he played on Beatles' records. Should've clarified. Feathers were ruffled.

Should've said he wasn't a performer.

Isnt that a farfisa on the Word...?

― Οὖτις, Thursday, March 10, 2016 5:21 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

according to Lewisohn it's a harmonium.

B-b-but what does he know?

W that bright overdriven tone? Huh

It's credited as a harmonium on the record sleeve!

That is the one album i do not own a physical copy of tbf

there are also the actual session notes printed to the right of that claim in pg. 68 of "Complete Beatles Recording Sessions".

you can find the book in full for free on a Peruvian Beatles site. not gonna link it though, use your google.

As an aside, I maintain that Rubber Soul sounds the best in its mono version. That's the way that I first heard it, and it sounds really thick and punchy in mono. I remember being sorely disappointed when I heard the stereo mix, because it sounded less powerful to me.

There's two stereo mixes: the original, and a digital remix Martin did in 1987 for the CD. Haven't compared them back-to-back myself, but the '65 stereo sounds decent (prefer mono, though).

Martin did the same with Help!.

Guys i believe u no need to freak out

not sure if they were still working this way as of rubber soul, but in the early days they spent their time on the mono mix, since that was considered the main version, and then they would toss off a stereo mix as an afterthought in a matter of minutes. which has a lot to do, presumably, with why their mono mixes tend to sound better.

Maybe you guys could help with this: a while back on one of the Beatles threads somebody shared some YouTubes of some taped sketches from a British comedy show that were about "What If The Beatles Never Took Drugs", showing them as old men still in the grey suits and playing Merseybeat songs. They were pretty funny, but I've had a hard time finding them again (taken down perhaps?).

Oh man yeah i remember those

x-posts:

The mono is the primary mix up until and, yes, including Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Stereo was the primary mix from The Beatles onwards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgnaAiAi1Pk

The mono version of SPLHCB is fucking revelatory....it's like, Oh! This is what this record is supposed to sound like

for some reason i watched The Rutles again today and was in absolute hysterics for much of it.

Trivia question for y'all: what is the name of The Rutles equivalent of George Martin?

to whoever it was that said the Big Train sketch was 'affectionate' yep yr right:

Kevin Eldon ‏@ItsKevinEldon

Thank you Sir George Martin for your wonderful life that gave ours so much joy.
We love you and we'll never forget you.
-KE

The mono version of SPLHCB is fucking revelatory....it's like, Oh! This is what this record is supposed to sound like

― Iago Gladstone, Thursday, March 10, 2016 6:51 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah I hadn't heard it until like three years ago. The vocals on Lucy in the Sky are incredible, all that flange.

late to this thread, but yeah, massive respect to Sir Martin. As a musician, I wish I had a George Martin. Imagine someone whose entire M.O. was making you sound good, better than you had any right to sound, translating all your wildest ideas into viable, effective arrangements-- and who btw happened to know all the best classical and session players, should you ever want, say, a piccolo trumpet solo on your psyche pop track (which happened to utilize a chain of 4-track recording modules you didn't even realize was possible, much less available). Not to mention, WAY more emotionally stable than Phil Spector. RImfnP

xpost - and yeah, he was obv a fine musician. Never mind his piano playing, you don't write string arrangement like the one on Eleanor Rigby without a DEEP knowledge of not just basic orchestration, but aesthetic nuance (eg writing in the vein of Bartok and Herrmann, as opposed to slapping together 4 lines and calling it a quartet).

^^^real shit

Yup

glumdalclitch: That's It! Thank You!

As an aside, I maintain that Rubber Soul sounds the best in its mono version. That's the way that I first heard it, and it sounds really thick and punchy in mono. I remember being sorely disappointed when I heard the stereo mix, because it sounded less powerful to me.

― // 166,000 W A N K E R S // LOVE (Turrican), Thursday, March 10, 2016 2:48 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There's two stereo mixes: the original, and a digital remix Martin did in 1987 for the CD. Haven't compared them back-to-back myself, but the '65 stereo sounds decent (prefer mono, though).

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, March 10, 2016 3:12 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Martin did the same with Help!.

― Now I Know How Joan of Arcadia Felt (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, March 10, 2016 3:17 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I had forgotten that the official stereo versions of both albums are now the '87 mixes. I've got the Help! CD, but not sure I ever heard the Rubber Soul and it is sounding really nice on the Spotify right now. Compare with the archaic sounding stereo mixes of "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" on Past Masters.

"Paperback Writer" stereo was apparently done for A Collection of Beatles Oldies and "Rain" was done for Hey Jude.

archaic sounding stereo mixes of "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" on Past Masters

Or "Eleanor Rigby!" Compared to how it sounds on Yellow Submarine Songtrack...

they better curate the music for his funeral just right. send that man off with a dope orchestra imo

also sidebar, the remix stuff he & his son did for the Love thing in Vegas was kinda great

Or "Eleanor Rigby!" Compared to how it sounds on /Yellow Submarine Songtrack/...
--timellison

The "Love" album SOUNDS so good !
it made me enjoy songs I never liked before ("Back in the USSR" for instance).
And the version of "While my guitar" with strings is lovely.

i think everything until The White Album is vastly preferrable in mono compared to the stereo mixes

I don't think I have ever listened to their albums in mono (and I have always loved to put the balance fully right or left to isolate some tracks !).
I might have to download them since I don't think I'll buy again the albums (and they're only stereo on spotify)...

Mono White Album is interesting, but it's the first one that just doesn't sound right in mono. And as it turns out, "Revolution 9" was only mixed for stereo, and the mono is just a fold-down; loses much of its effectiveness.

Yeah, there's some very interesting differences between the stereo mix and the mono mix on The Beatles, but it's definitely the first album of theirs where the mono version was considered to be secondary to the stereo mix. If I remember, there's small parts of 'Helter Skelter' and 'Don't Pass Me By' which sound very different, but it's been years since I last heard it.

I listened to Revolver this morning for the first time in a very, very long time and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it... I thought I'd burned out on that album a long time ago.

Played those records so often that it this point it is very difficult to listen to any one from beginning to end.

If I remember, there's small parts of 'Helter Skelter' and 'Don't Pass Me By' which sound very different, but it's been years since I last heard it.

"Helter Skelter" is way different and, for me, significantly inferior in mono -- it's missing "I'VE GOT BLISTERS ON MY FINGERS!" [clang-ang]

Mono Revolver is the best. Not only does it sound so much punchier and immediate than the stereo, but there's so many more little differences to notice.

I recommend that anyone who is tiring or has tired of the stereo Revolver to give the mono a listen. The way the tape loops fade in and out of 'Tomorrow Never Knows' is different, for one!

otm

Early albums sound way better to w/o all that arbitrary pan one thing hard left pan the next thing hard right stereo mixing

I couldn't listen to, say, A Hard Day's Night in stereo, it wouldn't feel right at all!

Musical excerpts and good conversations here, with Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick, Emerson College music prof/ Beatles book writer Tim Riley, and maura:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2016/03/11/george-martin-obituary-beatles (stream or download)

http://s3.amazonaws.com/media.wbur.org/wordpress/12/files/2016/03/Beatles.jpg

(Riley makes fun of "Goldfinger," but it's always been awes in its own right---still got the 45)

For some reason I prefer the stereo of Beatles for sale to the mono but otherwise yeah mono all the way up through mmt.

I'm really surprised nobody has mentioned Martin's arrangement on 'Good Night', which is so wonderfully over the top.

& "Glass Onion," the creepy strings make it, the solo Lennon version is garbage

and how he made the Mike Sammes Singers do batshit things on "I Am The Walrus."

Talking about The Beatles, George Martin was always part of the "should have been a single LP" camp regarding that album, but I don't think he ever divulged which songs he would have chosen if he had to make a single LP out of it. I've always wondered how he would have tackled that.

Yeah that always bugged me. He talks about in Anthology... total guess, but I can't imagine he was fond of "Why Don't We Do it in the Road?," "Wild Honey Pie," "Birthday".... those are the only remotely "throwaway" / B-sidey songs on the white album. It's my favorite - the sprawl and the lopsidedness is the best part.

'Birthday' is great, and one of my favourites on the album. You can hear how vibed up and into it they are on that track.

but I can't imagine he was fond of "Why Don't We Do it in the Road?," "Wild Honey Pie," "Birthday".... those are the only remotely "throwaway" / B-sidey songs on the white album

"Yer Blues" too

and yeah I wouldn't include "Birthday", that song and performance are v strong

There's a number nine elephant in the room

great track

Yeah, Martin had nothing to do with "Revolution 9," and the avant-garde wasn't really his bag -- Paul McCartney liked to play Albert Ayler records around Martin because Martin found them annoying. I'd be surprised if 9 was on Martin's White Album sequence.

For that matter, Martin said he "tolerated" Harrison's fascination with Indian music, and wasn't too keen on "Within You Without You" (despite doing an amazing orchestration, and in getting Western-conservatory-trained musicians to play relatively microtonally).

yeah didn't Martin argue to keep 9 off the album? would assume he would leave it off.

I don't care for WYWY but the way the strings whirl around the Indian charts is amazing.

I don't think he particularly liked George's songs except "Something" so I suspect "Long Long Long" and "Piggies" ("I was always raster beastly to George," he said once) would've gotten the ax.

Oh god, I completely agree about the orchestration on 'Within You Without You', it's one of the reasons I like that track so much, as well as the tabla fills and the way it slips into 5/4 in the middle section. I don't think it's a particularly great song at its core, but there's plenty of great musical moments happening in the arrangement.

I've often wondered what Martin thought of 'It's All Too Much', because apparently The Beatles started that one without him and he only came in towards the end of that one to oversee overdubs etc. I suspect he didn't rate it much... the final mix on that is fucking bizarre, to say the least!

he would toss out "Savoy Truffle" no doubt. but losing "Long Long Long" would be a big loss. i think it's one of the best songs the Beatles ever recorded.

My favourite part of 'Long Long Long' is the spooky ending.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htM-dIf5Lpw

Didn't Martin actually go on record once saying he absolutely loathed 'Only A Northern Song'?

That's one where I don't know if I'm crazy about the Songtrack mix. Original mono mix seems to be the one on the official Yellow Submarine album now, but the bass is so low.

Was there ever really a final mix on that one? The way I heard it, they did the mono at some point during the Pepper sessions, quickly discarded it, and then just as quickly pulled off the shelf and did a stereo mix for YS a year or so later.

I think there was only fake stereo. There's a bizarre tidbit on the Wikipedia page about the mono version of the album:

"For the monaural version of the album, originally available only in the UK, the engineers combined the two channels from this duophonic mix, rather than using the April 1967 mono mix."

I'd imagine this sounds horrible.

'Only A Northern Song' is one of those where I like the production of the track more than the song itself. I like the idea behind the song, but melodically it always sounded a bit too close to 'If I Needed Someone' for me, which was always one of my Rubber Soul highlights.

George apparently wasn't too enthusiastic about Pepper until he came up with WYWY.

It's kind of sad watching the Anthology...Paul is bursting with pride about Sgt. Pepper; Martin is obviously raving about it; then John goes, "It wasn't a 'concept;' any of those songs could've gone on any album;" Ringo said, "That's where I learned to play chess" (because of how bored he was); and George said his heart was still in India.

The Beatles quitting playing live to solely focus on studio work had its good sides and bad sides, really. On one hand, it enabled them to make Sgt. Pepper's, but on the other hand I think it kinda destroyed the power that The Beatles had as a "live" unit. I just listened to some selections from The Beatles and Let It Be followed by Help!, and the performances on Help! easily sounded like they had more excitement to them.

That's true, but on Help! they were also rushed; they had x number of weeks (or days) to finish an LP, so they couldn't plod through it and/or take tentative stabs at various approaches too much.

And by Let It Be they didn't have anything left to prove, and they all pretty much despised each other (or, more accurately, they all despised Paul).

Stopping playing live definitely messed up their group dynamic, but it had gotten pointless: for a band that had prided themselves on their shit-hot live shows, playing inaudibly to an audience that cheered wildly at everything, regardless of quality, must've been really frustrating. I do wonder what would've happened if they'd started using a monitor system and/or moved up to Marshalls or something, though.

There's a richness of beauty to some of the post-touring years music that doesn't exist if they stay in rock band mode.

(Ha, I'm kind of contradicting my usual line there, which is that they remained more of a musical ensemble than people sometimes seem to suggest in the later years.)

Yeah, and it's telling that the post-touring moments the Beatles rave the most about are those where they're really challenged as a unit ("Happiness Is A Warm Gun") or playing together like in the old days ("Yer Blues," the 3-guitar thing at the end of Abbey Road).

Stopping playing live definitely messed up their group dynamic, but it had gotten pointless: for a band that had prided themselves on their shit-hot live shows, playing inaudibly to an audience that cheered wildly at everything, regardless of quality, must've been really frustrating. I do wonder what would've happened if they'd started using a monitor system and/or moved up to Marshalls or something, though.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, March 12, 2016 4:00 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

They also quit just as the industry started to come up grips with the sound systems needed for bigger crowds and venues, and the hippie crowds that would have come out in say a theoretical show in like 68 would have behaved way different than a Beatlemania teenybop crowd so I feel like a lot of their purported problems with playing live would have evaporated

Oh, don't get me wrong, I fully understand the reasons why they quit touring, and I agree that they achieved some great things in the studio that they couldn't have possibly put together unless they'd had the time and focus to do so. I also agree that they never really stopped working as an ensemble, The Beatles in particular features a lot of ensemble playing, but the excitement and adrenaline rush that characterised, say, 'It Won't Be Long' and 'Any Time At All' begins to appear far less frequently, aside from the odd track like 'Helter Skelter' and 'Birthday' ... but I suspect even these would have benefitted far more from being performed by a band that had just come off the road, rather than by a band that hadn't actually played in front of an audience for a couple of years. While being in the studio helped some of their tracks gain a richness they wouldn't normally have had, I think their performances suffered a little from not having an audience to vibe off.

They also quit just as the industry started to come up grips with the sound systems needed for bigger crowds and venues

They actually played one show with a powerful sound system, and with stage monitors -- the first ever, supposedly -- in Atlanta in '65. The band raved about it, and Epstein offered the local soundman a job doing the Beatles' live sound (which he turned down):

http://www.cbs46.com/story/24667227/beatles-atlanta-65-the-most-memorable-show-of-the-tour

To be fair, though, it wasn't just sound issues that caused 'em to quit touring. By the time they got off the road in 1966, they'd been through enough threats to their safety that I'm guessing that this was the main reason, above all, that they stopped. McCartney seemed to be able to brush it off after a while, Lennon had no issues with performing live as a solo artist but thought the idea of performing with The Beatles again was "daft", and Harrison was undoubtedly the most burned out by it all.

the excitement and adrenaline rush that characterised, say, 'It Won't Be Long' and 'Any Time At All' begins to appear far less frequently

a lot of this is probably chemical. a lot of those early Beatles songs were written when they were popping speed pills. for a couple of years they had some insane schedules so maybe they kept that up to handle the work load.

While being in the studio helped some of their tracks gain a richness they wouldn't normally have had, I think their performances suffered a little from not having an audience to vibe off.

which, funny enough, is one of the reasons they quit playing live in the first place. they couldn't vibe off the audience bc it was just a wall of screaming. they couldn't even hear themselves!

Yeah, in '66 they played shitty in Japan, got manhandled and robbed in the Philippines, then had to deal with death threats from the Klan in the US. In that context, "I can't really hear myself" is a minor concern. Also, they'd already finished Revolver when they went on tour; going from their most positive studio experience to their most negative live experiences made the choice pretty clear.

xp

x-post:

Yeah, as I said, I'm aware of that I completely understand why they stopped touring, I just think there's an excitement in their work when they were a touring band which started to disappear when they weren't... I think McCartney, in a way, recognised this, which I suspect was one of the reasons he wanted The Beatles to tour again towards the end, but I think Lennon and Harrison were so soured by the experiences of touring in '66 that it put them off entirely.

I think that was the thing about the Get Back project, actually... most of the band didn't actually want to go back!

*and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXF66qZgSR8

"Blue Jay Way" production is amazing, MMT has always been a magical sounding record to me. This is futuristic music? It is electronic sounding, almost like dark hip hop. Also that ambient mellotron intro which is featured at the end of "Flying" and fades into the BJW organ drone. So killer.

Maybe it is proto industrial? The intro feels a little like Throbbing Gristle.

When I first started seriously investigating the Beatles discography, I often found myself surprised by how Harrison managed to craft so many pop songs based on Indian classical music and/or drones. 'Blue Jay Way' is a fantastic example of this approach, and I too love the production on it... it's possibly the darkest•sounding psychedelic track the band ever did.

Also, I'm not much into the US configurations of Beatles albums, but expanding Magical Mystery Tour into a full-length LP with assorted 1967 singles and B-sides on side two was a stroke of genius, IMO. I'm glad they kept it that way when the 1987 reissues happened!

I've always thought that the Yellow Submarine/MMT/Lady Madonna sessions should have been released as one album. Would have been a nice cohesive mix bridging Pepper and the White album.

1. Magical Mystery Tour
2. Baby You're a Rich Man
3. It's Only a Northern Song
4. Flying
5. Fool on the Hill
6. Blue Jay Way
7. Your Mother Should Know
8. I Am the Walrus

9. Hello Goodbye
10. Hey Bulldog
11. The Inner Light
12. All Together Now
13. Lady Madonna
14. Across the Universe
15. It's All Too Much
16. All You Need is Love

The version of 'Across The Universe' on Let It Be is superior to the "wildlife" on Past Masters, but I don't think they ever did a decent recording of it. I think Lennon had a point when he criticised the way that song was treated.

For me, "Lady Madonna" is like the first definitively post-psychedelic period record, so it doesn't feel like it fits the on MMT or the Yellow Sub soundtrack. All the Yellow Sub songs are '66 or '67 recordings except for "Hey Bulldog," which kind of feels like it could go either way for me - on one of the psychedelic records or on the White Album. "Lady Madonna" feels like a White Album song to me.

Yeah, 'Lady Madonna' feels as though it would fit in snugly on The Beatles, without a doubt!

I've hesitated to jump into all the speculation/Beatles fun stuff in this thread (generally of high quality) just cause, y'know, RIP thread and all. But I'm only human, so: yeah, leave off Lady Madonna/The Inner Light and you actually have a pretty reasonable record there, and closer to a 'period' running time anyway. Heck, leave out All You Need Is Love as a standalone single, and finish with It's All Too Much... very good record IMO.

"Hey Bulldog" could easily have bumped "Glass Onion" and made its way onto the Beatles too. I always thought "Hey Bulldog deserved better than b-side treatment.

Yeah, but it was the first time Yoko had seen John at work in the studio with the Beatles, and he got somewhat embarrassed at doing something as silly as that.

I hate to be that guy, but Hey Bulldog was recorded three months before Yoko and John became a couple. She definitely wasn't attending Beatle sessions until the white album.

'Hey Bulldog' is definitely one of my favourites and I agree that it deserved better than just been snuck away on Yellow Submarine. It would have made an excellent single.

Anyone else watched Under the Volcano yet? It looks at George Martin's studio built on a remote Caribbean island in 1979 and is ultimately destroyed by a volcano. Lots of anecdotes provided by The Police, Elton John, Earth, Wind and Fire, Paul McCartney and Duran Duran. Fascinating if you can get past the colonialism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWf7_eXZ-bo

this always seemed like the New Jerseyof recording studios to me, wasnt brothers in arms recorded there?

gets a shout-out in the trailer! with a costanza-esque "and it didn't take me very long, either" aside.

Been watching this this am – have been interrupted a bunch of times and still have a bit to go but it’s definitely enjoyable.

Agreed. I stopped at the part where Nick Rhodes observes how tropical tranquility + Nick Rhodes are chalk and cheese.

Indeed that also describes the color of his skin.

All in all, I really enjoyed it. For all the colonialism stuff, Martin didn’t exactly abandon the island after he closed the studio. According to Wikipedia, it appears he did quite a bit of fundraising in the heads that followed.

Relatedly, I was a bit surprised there was no mention of Chris Blackwell’s Compass Point Studios which Alex Sadkin ran until he died in a car wreck in the late 80’s. Looking at their webpage, it says:

“But in 2010, several unfortunate local incidents occurred at or near to Compass Point Studios,
and both Blackwell and Manning determined that it was unwise to continue operations in The Bahamas.”

Does anyone know what those “unfortunate local incidents” were?