Customer Reviews

The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962-1970

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"The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions" is a fine book, covering the recording, mixing and release of the Beatles songs, from the demos in 1962, to Phil Spector's reworking of "Let it Be" in 1970. There's a fair few photos too, which are great.

This book was originally a project for John Barrett, an Abbey Road audio engineer who fell ill in the early 1980s and needed something to take his mind off things, and was commissioned to go through the Beatles tapes and catalogue them all. He died, sadly, and Mark Lewisohn (the writer of the liner notes for the Beatles "Past Masters" CDs) was asked to come in and write up Barrett's research. Together, they've put together a pretty thorough book. It lists how each song was recorded, credits for session men (where possible), and reflective comments from producer George Martin, engineers Geoff Emerick, Norman Smith, Glyn Johns and Alan Parsons, among others. There's also occaisonal bits of Beatle banter from the sessions (which is always great to hear/read), and a Paul McCartney/Mark Lewisohn interview as an introduction.

After reading it I think I know the Beatles a bit better now. In particular, I definitely understand why they broke up. Their schedule was pretty hectic, recording and re-recording everything, looking at the same four walls of the Abbey Road studios. It was exhausting just reading their 1967 sessions (where they did "Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band", then straight after "Magical Mystery Tour", the first, high-pressure live broadcast "All You Need is Love" and the tracks especially for the "Yellow Submarine" film). It's amazing they handled it all so well for so long. It was also interesting to read about how Abbey Road studios was in the 1960s, a rather formal sort of place, and to read about all the innovations they initiated (like automatic double tracking, etc). It was great fun going through year by year too.

A bit technical for casual Beatles fans, but for fans (like me) who love every detail of Beatles songs, and still want to know more, it really is worth checking out.

I can't give it all five stars, due to the errors that could have easily been corrected between the first edition and this (fourth?) one -- new things have come to light since the book's initial appearance, thanks to the Anthology episodes and the great book, Recording the Beatles.

Much of the information in this book is erroneous, although nothing more was known as of 1988. So it's not a bad job; it's just out of date. The sheer work and research involved deserves a revision, and not just a reprint to cash in on the recurrent waves of Beatles interest.

One little problem is that Mark doesn't seem to know much about the writing or recording of music; he often uses confusing terminology that doesn't quite fit (he seems misguided about what a middle eight is, for instance, and has no idea what the difference is between an "overdub" and an "edit piece").

When he tries to interject his own opinion -- which isn't indicated in a book of nonfiction data like this -- he's often comically out of line. One instance that stands out is when he claims that "Martha My Dear" is not about Paul's sheepdog. It obviously is (not only judging from Paul's comments, but also considering that lyrics like "Hold your head up, you silly girl" were certainly not written about a human being!).

Having said all of that, this is highly addictive reading, the prose having been painstakingly researched and optimally assembled. It's an obvious recommendation to any more-than-casual Beatles fan who likes to read, wishes the music would always be focused on instead of irrelevant soap-opera stories about the musicians' personal lives, and has an interest in the only big instrument that the Beatles actually were virtuosos at: the recording studio.

Just apply some salt to the precise information about overdubs, amounts of session takes, specific dates and whatnot.

Anybody with even a passing interest in The Beatles must have this book. Set out in a diary format it gives details of all recording sessions by the group. Sometimes it gets fairly technical with details about recording equipment, overdubs, etc but it is still essential information. One criticism, if you can call it that - most Beatles songs have gained legendary status and it can be quite disconcerting at times to have them clinically dissected in this fashion. But that is a small criticism. The fact that the book is apparently out of print is deplorable. It would be good if it were issued free whenever anybody buys their first Beatles CD, it is that important. It isn't a book, it's a rite of passage.

I am simply dumbfounded that this book has gone out of print. There is simply no other source for the information contained in this book, and it is consistently fascinating, entertaining and enlightening. In view of the never-ending interest in The Beatles CDs, and the fascination with how the band was able to make such huge strides forward in the evolution and revolution of pop and rock music, not to mention our popular culture in general, it is amazing that this book even exists in the first place as a miraculous wellspring of information. It contains virtually everything you would ever want to know about how all of the Beatles songs were recorded, from many different perspectives including producer George Martin, engineer Geoff Emerick, the Beatles crew members, and anyone and everyone who was present. You will see the exact sequence of events as song ideas turned to demos, demos to masters, overdubs, special effects, recording accidents, mixes and mastering. You will see how albums took shape, and songs from one period ended up on albums from another period. Amazing facts abound...how about the fact that in the entire recording history of The Beatles, drummer Ringo Starr never made a musical mistake which caused the tape machines to stop rolling. Think about it...a perfect record of studio drumming! With all the complexity and variety of the music, not to mention 16-20 hour recording sessions for months on end, with guitars hitting wrong notes, voices cracking, piano note bloopers etc. A truly amazing feat! As the owner of both a Hardcover copy and a Softcover copy of this book, I suddenly realize that I am far richer than I thought! Find this book, read it, study it, and treasure it!

"The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962-1970," is EMI Records' official diary-format history of every Beatles recording session. Mark Lewisohn researched hundreds of unreleased Abbey Road archive tapes and the result features literally thousands of previously unpublished studio documents and interviews with many of the key recording personnel. The goal is to put together a definitive reference book for Beatles fans, and in light of what we say on the Beatles "Anthology" CDs, where there were alternative takes of various songs, even casual fans will have an appreciation for what Lewisohn is detailing in this 204-page oversized volume.

Following a preface and an interview with Paul McCartney, which includes the revelation that "You Know My Name (Look Up My Number)" is probably his favorite Beatles track, we get to the recording sessions. These are arranged chronologically by dates, and you need to go to either the Contents (3) to find out when each year begins, or to the Index (202-03) to track down specific songs. Once you get your bearings you will find that on the top of each two-page spread the month appears on the left hand page and the year on the right. Each entry has the day of week and date, which studios were used, starting and stopping times, what was done (recording, mixing, etc.), and who the producer, engineer, and second engineer were. Lewisohn then provides details on who was doing what, and quotations from some of the people involved, both behind the controls and in from of the microphones.

For example, if you are interested in "A Day in the Life," you will find a photograph of Paul and John with the alarm clock from the recording in the foreground, and the "Daily Mail" item that inspired the 4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire line. After recording and mixing "Penny Lane," the first four takes of "In the Life Of..." (the working title for the song), were done on Thursday, 19 January. The following day saw tape reduction take 4 into takes 5-7 (where Lennon's song with a beginning and end but no middle was merged with McCartney's song that had a middle but no beginning or end). Ten days later the mono mixing for the song was done without the Beatles in attendance, with more overdubs being recorded on 3 February, and then on 10 February the 40 orchestra musicians showed up to record the orchestral build-up. Mono-mixing and overdubs continued on 13 and 22 February, with the stereo master completed on 23 February, with a final unused piano overdub on 1 March. So you can see how the major parts of the song came together as well as what else the Beatles were working on for their "Sgt. Pepper" album during this same period. Hopefully this brief description is enough to tell you if this is the sort of minutia that you love to pour over in your copious free time.

Of course this book also allows you to see how the way the Beatles recorded music changed over the years from the early days, such as Monday 11 February, 1963 when they went into the studio and in 585 minutes recorded all ten new songs for their first album, which went with the four sides of their first two singles for a 14-song album. There are also 350 color and black & white photographs and illustration, including rare photos taken by Linda McCartney, so it is not just all production notes. You will also find the first facsimile reproductions of Abbey Road recording sheets, tape boxes, album sleeve roughs, memos, contracts, press releases and the proverbial much, much more. The Index in the back of the book is sandwiched between a Discography of all Beatles records issued in the UK and USA between 1962 and 1970, showing original release dates and catalogue numbers, and a Glossary of vocabulary unique to recording, from "Acetate" to "White noise generator." There is also a note from Ken Townsend, General Manger of Abbey Road Studios, on the Recording Technology employed during that time. This reference book might not be for the casual Beatles fan, but along with "A Hard Day's Write" by Steve Turner, that tells the stories behind the Beatles songs, you can find out most of what this is to know about everything the Beatles ever recorded.

First, I find it amazing that anyone kept this information in such detail in the first place.
Secondly, it is amazing that it was ever complied and put into a book.
Thirdly it was amazing that anyone would a.) Publish the book, b.) Buy the book in the first place and c.) Actually read it, which I have. Perhaps most amazing of all is how imminently readable and enjoyable it really is.
I imagine prerequisite being that it is important for the reader to have a love of the art of recording as well as a serviceable knowledge of the Beatles' collected body of work. Mine is the first edition and, yes, there are minor flaws, but honestly they are few in number and nothing of the "glaring" type which actually demeans the book.
I had initially picked up the book in a shop and glanced through the photographs, then I absently read an entry and was hooked. I think this is, all-in-all, a very exceptional journal and a valid history of one of the greatest recording acts of all time. Over the years I have met numerous musicians who, although they might not be dyed in the wool Beatles fans, still recognize their incredible contribution to recording technique and innovation. Kudos of course to Sir George Martin as well.
I cannot conceive of a more definitive account than this.

This book is addictive. The seemingly insignificant, minute details of the Beatles' day-by-day recording sessions are actually very interesting. The book goes into detail about the technology used, the recording and creative process, and the background knowledge of an insider. Armed with exclusive access into the vaults at Abbey Road, Lewisohn has produced a gem. Beatles Recording Sessions is surprising, entertaining, and always intriguing.

This is the real thing. Instead of concentrating on third-hand gossip and rumors or the trivialities of a group that was much more humble than its devotees, Mark Lewisohn delves into the actual music of the Beatles. I loved the accounts of the Fab Four recording "A Day in the Life," "Strawberry Fields Forever," and "Tomorrow Never Knows." This amazingly rich book gives detailed accounts of how the Beatles, AS A GROUP, came up with the sounds that broke down the barriers of pop music. As a musician, I found Mark Lewisohn's portrayal of the Beatles genius (especially that of John Lennon and Paul McCartney) to be completely thorough and accurate, as well as insightful. If you are to buy any one Beatles book, buy this one!

Some Beatles books are gossipy, and others feature questionable armchair critical analyses of their music. Lewisohn takes a totally different approach. Working with the original Abbey Road studio logs, he's created a day-by-day record of what the Beatles were doing in Abbey Road studios, who played what instruments, and how long it took them to record and write their songs.

I own a first edition of this book and have used it ever since I bought a used copy sometime in the early 1990s. I reread it many times that summer, and that somewhat battered, oversized copy still sits on my shelf. It's a book I returned to when I set up a mini home recording studio, and returned to yet again when I was learning how to mix my sounds. Although this is not a "how-to" book, you can learn an awful lot about good recording and mixing technique by carefully reading it.

Furthermore, Lewisohn packed his text with surprises. I, for one, was shocked to learn how primitive Abbey Road's technology was, even by the standards of a British studio in the 1960s. I was also surprised to learn why the mono and stereo mixes of the Beatles' music often sounded so different from one another even though they were mixed from the same masters. Also, it's amazing to learn just how quickly some seemingly complex tracks were put together, while some seemingly simple songs took far more work. As a side benefit, Lewisohn's comprehensive notes probably knocked the wind out of more than one bootlegger trying to pass off BBC radio performances as lost studio recordings of Beatle tracks! Throughout, there are many, many excellent photos - many of which have not been reproduced elsewhere. Just when you think Lewisohn's run out of goodies, there's a rare interview with Paul McCartney that touches on the songwriting process.

I can't rate this as a five star book although I'd like to. As good as Lewisohn is, there are a lot of minor details here that are misleading or just plain wrong. Lewisohn can't seem to tell phasing from flanging (two very different techniques to create swirling electric guitar sounds). He also prints quotes from studio musicians without elaboration, leading me to believe he has a weak grasp on performance and theory. For example, one horn player describes a McCartney song as being "between the cracks" of two different keys; the song in question actually seems to have been recorded slightly flat and sped up to normal pitch upon playback, but we have no way of knowing what the horn player actually meant without more information. The average reader might walk away thinking that the song used two different keys, unless he also knew that the song was in a single key. I'm surprised an editor didn't catch this stuff.

If you're a Beatles fan who could care less about their personal lives, but would love to learn more about how they created their studio albums - this book is for you. If you're interested in home recording, you'll learn lots of tidbits here too. Lewisohn deserves a lot of credit for creating this resource, and I wish that it weren't such a difficult book to find.

This book has been a constant source for Beatles trivia- not to mention a roaring good read! I read through it 3 or 4 times a year. As a musician myself, I find its insights into the Beatles "what the hell- let's try it!" mentality refreshing (in a time where the music business has become stiflingly boring and so much music is trite and disposable). Unfortunately, my cat had a great love for the book as well-especially page 91 and 92, so now I'm screwed!! Please reprint this book!!!