'Fifth Beatle' Sir George Martin dies

[Jimbuna]

Simply the best...RIP Sir

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35761464

[Sailor Steve]

Yes, he was the best. Without him the music world would have been a far different place.

His humor was as great as that of The Beatles. When he engineered the 1977 album The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl, he included the following story in his liner notes:

In the multiplatinum sophisticated world we live in today, it is difficult to appreciate the excitement of the Beatles breakthrough. My youngest daughter Lucy, now nine years old, once asked me about them. "You used to record them, didn't you, daddy?" she asked. "Were they as great as the Bay City Rollers?" "Probably not." I replied. Someday she will find out.

The Beatles changed the music world, and George Martin was the one who made it happen. Of course he did so much more, but that is what I will always remember him for.

[eddie]

Really sorry to hear this. He was the best at what he did in the studio! May he rest in peace.

[vienna]

When you go back and listen to the Beatles recordings, you tend to forget all those marvelous effects and sounds were made on analog machines and mainly on 4-track decks. When the Beatles started to record with Martin, technology was still mainly in the vacuum tube (valve) era; by today's standards, primitive doesn't even begin to describe the state of recording in 1962. If you made a splice or edit in a recording, you did it by actually cutting the recording tape with a razor and taping the bits together. Very, very few people were as gifted as Martin in the art of recording. His background prior to the Beatles was first in classical music, then, later, in novelty records. It was Martin's connection to and production of the Goon Show recordings that sold him as a producer to the Beatles, particularly John Lennon and George Harrison, who were avid fans of the Goons...

It is also an example of the twists of fate as precursors to later history how Martin came to work with the Beatles. Beatles manager Brian Epstein had pounded the pavement, going from record label to record label, trying to get the Beatles signed to a contract and had been turned down by every one. Martin, by chance, got an opportunity to listen to the demo recordings and decided to take a chance with the band. If he had not taken that chance, the Beatles may not have gone anywhere, professionally, since EMI was the last of the labels Epstein could have gone to and try to sell his act...

The history of rock and pop music is filled with tales of bands having to fight against label execs and/or producers who wanted to shape and mold acts to their vision rather than the artist's and this was particularly true when the Beatles started to record. But, Martin was very open to the experimental, "what if we..." sort of attitude of the Beatles. Remember, none of the Beatles could read or write musical notation; they couldn't just write a chart and communicate their ideas as other, more technically educated musicians. Martin thus became their interpreter to the technical side of recording. There is the famous story of how Lennon couldn't decide between two different takes of Strawberry Fields Forever and told Martin he liked the first half of one take and the second half of the other: couldn't Martin just splice them together? Well, the two takes were in different keys and in different rhythms. George Martin somehow, using just analog equipment and techniques, did splice together the two halves into a seamless whole, creating the haunting classic song we hear today. Here is a clip of Martin discussing the track and how it developed; when you hear the strings and orchestrations, keep in mind it was Martin who arranged and wrote all the charts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFPMrXpWX04

Here is a BBC documentary about George Martin and his career showing how broad and great were his talents:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbSDcan7WWE

Finally, here is the Wikipedia entry on George Martin:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Martin

There are very, very few record producers who have been creative enough to have been considered artists in their own right; Quincy Jones and John Hammond, Sr., and Phil Spector come to mind. The list is very small and very elite. It can be argued George Martin is at the very top of the list. It can also be said George Martin forever changed the field of recording just as much as the Beatles changed modern music..

RIP, George Martin, thank you for taking a chance on four scrubby lad from Liverpool and thank you for giving them a voice...


<O>

[eddie]

Paul McCartney's reaction to the passing of his friend-

http://www.paulmccartney.com/news-blogs/news/paul-mccartney-on-george-martin

[u crank]

He was brilliant. A real innovator.

Thanks for all the great music Sir George.

R.I.P.

[Commander Wallace]

I'm really sorry to hear of George Martin's passing. I know many of the Beatles gave George a lot of credit for their success. Thanks to Vienna's YouTube postings and Wilipedia articles and a description of the recording sessions, I have a better understanding of George Martin's Importance to the Beatles recordings.

It goes without saying the Beatles Influenced a great number of recording artists and George Martin was a big part of it.

Rest in Peace George.