STUDIO
THE PRODUCERS: SIR GEORGE MARTIN The Beatles’ producer Sir George Martin is a true legend; Ten years retired yet still winning accolades
for his Beatles recordings…Martin Jerram offers a brief overview of this incredibly talented producer’s remarkable career.
rudimentary equipment of the day (engineer Norman Smith, deserves a mention here too). From their second single, Please Please Me, the hits started fl ooding in with every new release sounding suffi ciently different from the last
Paul & Ringo along with backwards guitar and vocals and the fi rst use in mainstream pop of tape loops. Again, Martin acted as facilitator and quality control, allowing the envelope to be pushed to the limit but not beyond that of good taste!
As the Beatles’ success grew, Sir George Martin remained their loyal producer and devoted mentor…
White collar worker: Sir George Martin oversees a Beatles’ session
Born in 1925, George Martin studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Classical Music department of the BBC after being demobbed from the Royal Navy at the end of WWII. In 1950 Martin joined Parlophone at the EMI Studios in Abbey Road, London, eventually accepting the role of Manager of Parlophone upon the retirement of Oscar Preuss. At this time Martin was fully aware that out of the three EMI labels (Columbia, HMV & Parlophone) his was the smallest and had the least impressive roster of acts. Indeed within the walls of EMI it would seem that Parlophone was even considered a bit of a poor relation. However, that was soon to change…
Meet the Beatles One of the fi rst genres that Martin brought to Parlophone was the comedy record and he quickly made a name for himself producing LP’s for The Goons, which proved extremely popular. Further hit comedy records by the likes of Rolf Harris and Bernard Cribbens, whose ‘Right Said Fred’
demonstrated Martin’s skill with creating sound effects, established Martin as a skilled and inventive producer but Martin really needed an artist to compete with the likes of Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard, both of whom were releasing records in the UK under the EMI umbrella. Fortune smiled on him in 1962 when an inexperienced band manager by the name of Brian Epstein contacted Martin to discuss an audition for his band, the Beatles. Everyone else so far had turned the Beatles down... until in desperation Epstein contacted this ‘comedy records’ label. Despite remaining generally unimpressed the Beatles musically when he fi rst heard them, Martin was nevertheless rather taken with their charisma (or should that be X-Factor?) and decided to take a punt...
Mersey, Mersey me… Martin’s work with the Beatles of course shouldn’t be underestimated. In the early days he was able to nurture these four young Liverpudlians, capturing that raw power and energy utilizing the
but still carrying all the energy and hallmarks of the Beatles sound. Martin was besieged with acts from the north of England and he was only too happy to oblige. To give you an idea of Sir George’s level of success in 1963 George Martin productions accounted for a whopping 37 week’s worth of number ones! No-one was mocking his little Parlophone label now! Martin’s encouraging, almost tutoring nature with the Beatles meant he encouraged the boys to try new things, and the string arrangements Martin created for both Yesterday and Eleanor Rigby (1965 & 66) show the Beatles entering a continuous phase of change and experimentation that was way beyond the accepted confi nes of a simple pop band.
The End…
By 1966 the Beatles decided they were going to quit touring and with the extra time this provided along with the arrogance that must come from being the biggest band in the world they decided they were going to make the recording studio their playground with George Martin playing the part of the ever present school master! Their next two albums explored pop/rock music in a way that was unheard of at the time. Revolver (1966) was the Beatles fi rst sojourn into the world of Psychedelia and from a production point of view is noticeable from the new deep hypnotic bass guitar and drums of
1967 saw the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which is now considered the soundtrack for the ‘Summer of Love’, whilst imaginative orchestrations on the single Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever almost pushed into the classical world. It is diffi cult to discuss Sir George Martin without feeling like he only produced the Beatles but their careers were so intertwined that it is actually diffi cult to see where one ended and the other began. After the Beatles split George Martin went on to produce many other successful artists including Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Webb and The Mahavishnu Orchestra although unfortunately a life spent in recording studios and maybe age has taken its toll on Sir George’s hearing and he has been virtually retired for the last 10 years or so. It is fi tting then, that in 2007 Martin won two Grammy Awards for the work he did for the Beatle’s Love project which also included a fantastic string arrangement he wrote to accompany George Harrison’s solo demo version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps. As a footnote, in a recent interview Sir George was reminded of his 37 weeks of Number Ones in 1963 and having produced over 20 number one records... He was asked whether he felt he was the Simon Cowell of his day. With which he replied with a gentlemanly wry smile, “I hope not!” PM
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