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142 of 149 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
FINALLY A BEATLE BOOK ABOUT SOMETHING NEW, March 25, 2006
This review is from: Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles (Hardcover)
When it comes to books about The Beatles, they usually fall in one of two categories: "memoirs" and "archives" (including timelines, analysis, photos, recording info, etc). Now Geoff Emerick has joined the throe of Beatles authors by publishing his account that actually falls in between the memoir/archive genre. His new book "HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE-My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles" is no "cash in", but a valuable insight to the workings of the group. While there are no real "Beatles revelations" contained other than those that true Beatle aficionados already know, such as the working title of the "White Album", John's accidental acid trip on the rooftop of EMI etc), the true value of this book is the first hand observances of the Beatles in their most important environment: the recording studio!
Some people are lucky enough to realize their "calling" early in life - and Geoff Emerick was one of those lucky few. An early love of music caused a natural fascination with the mechanics behind recording. His experiments with tape recording and his persistence led him to a job at EMI! While Geoff Emerick wasn't the Beatles recording engineer during their early years at EMI (he started as an assistant engineer), his employment there did grant him occasional views of The Beatles at work during the time of 1962-1966 when Norman Smith was their engineer. However, when Smith left to become a producer (going on to produce Pink Floyd's first two albums at EMI) it was Emerick who was promoted to the position of Beatles' engineer. So, Emerick was there during the true renaissance of the Beatles studio years: Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour, (part of) The White Album, and Abbey Road.
What about Let It Be, you ask? Well, it is well documented how bad tensions were during the recording of The White Album, prompting Ringo Starr to be the first Beatle to quit the group at the time. Further evidence of the bad feelings during this album can be seen in the departure of Emerick - he also quit halfway through the recording (but unlike Ringo, didn't come back for the album). So, he missed the whole Let It Be fiasco, until being asked to return for Abbey Road. He went on to design the Beatles personal recording studio, which sadly wasn't finished in time for The Beatles to actually use!
As witness to one of the Beatles first recording sessions ("How Do You Do It?"), Emerick paints a fascinating picture of the individual dynamics and personalities of each Beatle in the recording studio. Paul was the easiest to get along with, a true workaholic in the studio who, curiously enough was pegged as "the leader" by Emerick during the early sessions. John was often impatient, but curiously enough - it was always a new Lennon song that was first recorded for each new album session! Later, John's impatience actually paid off when they discovered they were one song short for completion of Revolver - they quickly finished John's "She Said She Said". Other tales include a funny story of the "fan siege" during the recording of "She Loves You" in which fans were running loose at EMI - which gave Emerick a first-hand view of Beatlemania and he comments that this "atmosphere" seemed to lend to the electricity of the recording. George Harrison was probably the least 'at ease' in the recording studio and had problems nailing his solos, such as his solo on "A Hard Day's Night". Ringo was basically quiet in the studio.
I read as quickly as possible to get to the Revolver/Sgt. Pepper recording sessions, and Emerick's descriptions did not disappoint! I was in Beatles heaven hearing how each song was recorded and the whole spirit of invention that went into Beatles' records - not just by the Beatles themselves, but by Emerick's ingenious solutions to the seemingly impossible requests of the Beatles, especially John. It was Emerick who came up with a solution for Lennon, who wanted his voice to sound like the "Dahlai Lama chanting from a mountaintop" on "Tomorrow Never Knows". His solution? Using a Leslie speaker(Which rotates) to achieve the proper effect on John's voice. Also, in regards to Revolver, I wasn't aware that the tape trick (cutting up random bits of tape and putting them back together) that George Martin used on "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" was first used on "Yellow Submarine"!
Of course, Sgt. Pepper was the pinnacle of the Beatles collective studio experimentation and it is amazing to hear the casual attitude the Beatles had during the sessions - it being the very first time that they weren't under any time restraints. George Harrison's lack of participation in this groundbreaking album is discussed. Fresh from his trip to India, George just wasn't interested, especially with Paul taking a lot of the lead guitar breaks and his first contribution to Pepper ("Only a Northern Song") being kindly put aside. The mysterious, still unreleased Beatles song, "Carnival of Light" (recorded during a five-hour session that also included vocal overdubs for the then-unreleased "Penny Lane") is discussed.
It is amazing how the Beatles went from the happy, creative Pepper sessions to the dreary White Album sessions in just one year! While Emerick left EMI for Apple, he avoided the bad scenes of the White Album and Let It Be, to concentrate on building the Beatles recording studio. However, he did get to attend one Phil Spector Let It Be session and his observations are contained within the book. Finally, the Beatles swan song, Abbey Road is detailed, from John's sometimes lack of interest (and Yoko's bed being brought into the studio!) to George's emergence as a studio talent.
Geoff Emerick went on to win a total of 3 Grammy awards for his Beatles work. While most of the book concentrates on The Beatles, he does mention some of his other projects, such as Paul McCartney's Band on the Run, as well as his work with The Zombies and Elvis Costello. Finally, he comes full circle with his involvement with the "Threetles" reunion sessions for the Beatles Anthology.
"HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE-My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles" is truly a Beatles' book that delivers! A descriptive story of the Beatles in the recording studio has been sorely missed...until now.
Ronnie
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86 of 97 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, A Book About the Beatles, March 27, 2006
This review is from: Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles (Hardcover)
Other recent books about the Beatles,like Spitz's biography or Bramwell's gossip collection, had tended to be more about group politics than about the one thing that made the Beatles great: their music. In his book, Here There and Everywhere, Geoff Emerick, along with music journalist Howard Massey, correct this trend, presenting Beatles fans with a memoir of how the Beatles, along with the production team of George Martin and Geoff Emerick pushed the boundries of recording during act of creating the greatest music of the 20th century.
Beginning as an extremely young boy, Emerick learns the ropes of recording according to EMI policies, which he shows are anti-intunitive and throttling. Using their financial clout, the Beatles override all sense about the technology, allowing Emerick to experiment in various dire ways, trying (and mostly suceeding) to please the Princes of Pop. He is plainspoken about the musical deficiencies of the band, showing Paul McCartney to be the consummate music within the group. The rise of George Harrison from the fumbling guitarist who had his solos rerecorded by the ever more invented McCartney, to the writer of his later hits is one of the more interesting pieces of the book. Happily, Emerick is light on the Lennon/Ono debacle, although perforce by his observation of the recording studio during the White Album and Abbey Road session, we see how Lennon's new obsession ruined the band. Interestingly, the only verge into rancor is directed towards Ringo, who unforgivingly to Emerick, ruined the new Apple recording studios. Et tu, Rings?
Having now read many many books on the Beatles, I can say that Emerick's memoir is among the best. Compare this book, if you will, with George Martin's two slight memoirs, and you may find yourself agreeing with me, especially if you want to know about the music, as opposed to the mayhem.
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34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Insider's View of Beatle Music Making!, October 11, 2006
This review is from: Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles (Hardcover)
In the early 1960s Geoff Emerick landed the dream job music fans would have killed for; assistant recording engineer at EMI Studio working with George Martin. It was a dream job because one of the first groups Emerick worked with was the Beatles. The next seven years of musical magic and misery Emerick spent in the control room are wonderfully chronicled in this book.
Though Emerick was a Beatles insider, he wasn't the 'Fifth Beatle' and makes no claim to that title in this book. Rather he was a young, impressionable teenager who worked with the Beatles for thousands of hours and occasionally helped them in realizing the musical vision they heard in their heads.
What was most enjoyable about Emerick's book was his recounting of the group's musical development, the friendship and chemistry between John, Paul, George and Ringo and especially those magical moments when a song came together. Later on, when the group started to self-destruct, the magical moments were much fewer but even then, as for instance when recording 'Abbey Road,' making the music would melt away the animosity.
Emerick was never a confidant or even a friend of any of the Beatles. He was an employee working in the control booth and the Beatles were down in the studio and the twain didn't meet that much. Some may object to his opinions about the four but, given his vantage point, those opinions are perfectly valid. Having read lots of Beatle books, I didn't come across any smoking guns in Emerick's book. Could John be short-tempered and nasty? Sure. Could he be a wonderfully funny and compassionate man? Yup. Was Paul the most approachable Beatle? Well, duh! And on and on.
What I find most impressive about the Beatles in the studio was this fact. Despite being virtual prisoners in the drab, soul-deadening EMI studios, they still managed - with some help from their friends - to create some of the most inventive, joyous pop music the world has ever seen!
I enjoyed Emerick's book immensely. It's an eminently readable, affectionate, warts-and-all record of the high spots, low points, craziness and tedium and you are there! Thanks, Geoff!
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