5 MISTAKES of George Martin Producing The Beatles
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- Опубліковано 25 лис 2024
- It was unusual for George Martin to get it wrong. Unlike the Beatles, Martin was an academically trained musician, and that made his contributions to the Beatles very significant, because with his knowledge he was able to materialize the ideas that the group had for their songs. However, he was not always absolutely right, and he had several disputes with the beatles to define the sound of their work, and that is why, in today's video we will analyze some occasions in which George Martin was wrong about how a beatles song had to sound.
Martin’s biggest mistake was wearing a tie that George Harrison disliked.
That was on their first meeting then...They all started wearing the "Martin" tie.....
That's what opened the door . A good thing .
@deanevangelista6359 To me, George Martin's biggest mistake was ruining America the band.
LOL
@@newspapertaxis1 Back then, Paul McCartney was alive.
I always see George Martin getting so much credit, and, of course, he deserves it because he was amazing, but Geoff Emerick deserves much credit as well. He joined them as their engineer during Revolver and he was a young man at the time. Of all of the songs he started with, it was Tomorrow Never Knows. He brought in the Leslie cabinet for John's voice which he loved. He broke the studio rules for mic placement on Ringo's drums and Ringo noticed it right away and loved it.
Thanks for Geoff! I was going to write the same thing so it's ok. Yes, Geoff was very important in the making of the Beatles recordings from Revolver to Abbey Road (with the exception of Let It Be (recorded by Glyn Johns) and some tracks on the white album (recorded by Ken Scott).
@@MichaelDBauer he sure doesn't get enough credit but good thing that McCartney continued to work with him well after the Beatles
Martin later said that he regretted not giving George Harrison and his songs more respect during the Beatles' years together.
That's exactly what I said. George was a phenomenally talented artist his only problem was that he was in the same band and having to compete with two of the greatest composers of the 20th century. He also started composing a lot later than them and had to play catch up but his best songs are amongst the top Beatles songs ever. I'm not trying to attack George Martin because he produced some of the best music in history but hindsight being 20/20 I think if he had spent a bit more time helping George in the beginning then he could have blossomed as an artist sooner and probably knocked out a few more classic tunes. I would have loved to hear something like My Sweet Lord done by The Beatles. Their vocal harmonies on that song would have been stunning.
In Mr Martin's defense, Harrison was never in the same league as John and Paul. Enough of this "poor George" nonsense.
@@chipgaasche4933 There actually is a rough rehearsal tape of The Beatles playing "All Things Must Pass." It's hardly in the same league as George's finished solo version, but it's a sheer joy to hear John and Paul singing backing vocals on this great song.
Yes, but I think he said this in the context that at the time, under unrelenting commercial pressure he concentrated on the hit makers. Under that rationale he didn't put a foot wrong, because all Beatles records were No.1* . *Apart from Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane released as a double A side, which was a massive mistake not mentioned on the vid, and which George regretted ever after. Under the counting system at the time, each side was counted as a seperate record, so even though they sold more records than Englebert, they only got to Number 2.
@@mgconlan George was much younger than the others, when you are in your early 20s that counts for a lot - he got better as he grew , but he was only 27 or so when they split. Remember too that Let It Be was a specific project - songs that could be played live, as they came together - they still had lots of other music at the same including the song Let It Be itself, and they might have been fighting but they weren't expecting to permanently break up at that point. - the Fabs never rejected All Things Must Pass. The whole Let It Be project was only 3 weeks end to end, and three weeks after THAT they were back recording Abbey road. They stopped working together because they were rowing and needed a break, but the management woes and Klein chaos made that permanent. Not Linda, certainly not Yoko
I'm go glad the white noise and abrupt endings were kept on I Want You (she's so heavy)!
the whole ending has a very "falling into the abyss" or walking against all reason into a raging storm, which is pretty much what obsession is all about.
Remember Bobby Weir making CBS engineers crazy asking for "thick air" on their second album? LOL
I can’t imagine this song as being any other way except for maybe the white noise completely taking over - that I would like to hear! But as they say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…
I heard somewhere that the first weeks the album came out, people would try to return it as defective, because of that ending.
@@theLeftHandedDog LOL!
Like the white noise, but not the abrupt ending, it’s very jolting every time I listen to the song.
Sometimes I think how lucky we were that The Beatles existed at all.
True
it could be down to as little as Martin suggesting Please Please Me be played much faster, compared to the slow Roy Orbison style original.
The became the template for most Beatlemania era hits (1963-5 especially the early hits)
At that point (late 1962) The Beatles had not written much & nothing special.
Almost certainly had Martin not suggested speeding PPM way up into a fast, exiting, lively loud number we would not know of The Beatles today.
They would have likely sold a few tens of thousands of records, maybe hundreds of thousands (if very lucky & dedicated), but not several hundred million.
Without Ringo to tighten the band up & give them confidence. I doubt they'd have even sold 10,000 records & the Lennon/Macca hit factory would likely have never got going.
AMEN!!
Totally 100% agree.
absolutely. It's a strange phenomenon, but one that is bound to happen over the centuries. Mac and Lennon meeting couldn't have been more perfect. Harrison to be honest could have been better or worse, but learned from the greats (what if Brian Jones had randomly been in Liverpool is my point... Harrison was really good though... but his solo career shows he was absolutely human). Ringo was perfectly fine as well... thank god it wasn't someone like Keith Moon. But the Lennon/McCartney thing is pretty one in a million. Like if Bowie at age 16 met Billy Joel or some shit. And then they recruited Gordon Lightfoot (ya, I'm comparing Harrison to around the talent of Gordon Lightfoot... Lightfoot also would have been a lot better had Lennon/McCartney raised him)
When listening to Abbey Road on cd or digital files, the yuxtaposition of the end of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and the beginning of "Here Comes the Sun" is both brutal and magnificent at the same time... and I love it!!
Different from the effect you get from listening to the LP, which is going from the cacophony of I Want You, into dead silence... until such a time as you (dare to) flip it over and play Side Two. Listening to a digital version where Here Comes the Sun comes right after, is a unique effect, but no less shocking.
Here Comes the Sun is almost like the 'antidote' to She's So Heavy. If the noises at the end of She's So Heavy are the blizzard of the 'long, cold, lonely winter'; Here Comes the Sun is exactly that: the breaking of winter, and the return of the light.
As with all artistic endeavors, what makes a "mistake" and what doesn't is entirely subjective. Of course, George Martin's opinions of his production miscues are valid to him. But when you look at the entirety of his career and his work with the Beatles in particular, its hard to criticize him at all. He was charting unexplored territory, and there's no question that his work with the Fab Four changed the landscape of popular music forever. You have to give him credit for being self critical, but you also have to recognize his fearlessness in the studio and the legacy he left behind. I suppose we can always nitpick the "mistakes" of great artists, but his innovations and body of work cannot be questioned, even by him. Respect 🙏❤️
Absolutely.
I knew all these stories already… But I still enjoyed the video…
Why is there so much negativity on youtube? Is this all anybody can do to get clicks is run down things like the Beatles. The greatest music group ever. But let’s find something negative we can post about them. It’s sickening, “The Bands George hated,” “The songs John hated,” “The mistakes George Martin made.” The things UA-camrs dig up so they can post negative videos. Doesn’t anybody just celebrate life anymore. The internet has become a total cesspool.
“It's always easier to be a critic than a creator.” - Nathan Myhrvold
Agreed. The Beatles were the greatest thing to happen in 20th century popular culture, yet there’s plenty out there wanting to find fault.
So it is
All You Need Is Hate :)-
@@Arkinals Please seek help.
Leaving Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane off of Sgt. Pepper was a pretty big error. They would have made the album much stronger in my opinion. There were a few other's I can think of. That horrible roller rink organ in Mr. Moonlight, the cheesy piano in Not a Second Time and Misery. And I don't know if it was his call but whoever decided to have Dizzy Miss Lizzie follow Yesterday as the closing number on Help should have been sued for production malpractice. But that's nitpicky stuff. John had some harsh critiques about him after the breakup but then he had harsh things to say about everyone and everything that time. I think John resented his close relationship with Paul, which I can see, but those two were more symbiotic than John and George Martin ever were. Sometimes it just goes that way.
Magical mystery tour album genuine psychedelia not dated music hall from paul
Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane, replacing lovely Rita and Fixing a hole, would’ve turned it into the super album of all time.
They were on Magical Mystery Tour, after the greatest two A sides of a single.
@@Powertuber1000 I've had this discussion with friends, which two would you bump, and I agree with taking Lovely Rita down. Most of my friends disagreed with that one. But I would remove Good Morning Good Morning before Fixing a Hole. That said, your point is valid Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane are better than Lovely Rita and Fixing a Hole so if those were the two taken off I would have no problem with the selection.
@@MarkFencke Strawberry Fields and I am the Walrus are, in my opinion, the best two tracks on that album. It's really not a bad LP outside of Flying and Blue Jay Way. I saw McCartney open with Magical Mystery Tour live in 2006 and I gotta say it was one of the best Beatle tracks from that show, that and Good Day Sunshine.
George Martin really is the fifth Beatle in terms of the sound and quality of the arrangenents we hear. He created that whimsical world and the touch of class that is heard in every recording.
I don't think he was whimsical. He appreciated whimsy, but he was kind of a stuffed shirt, in some ways. And he was putting out some pretty shitty music. The Beatles were the whimsical ones.
@@theLeftHandedDog definitely a stuffed shirt and the most innovative producer in the world at that time
Yea Martin came up with some great stuff.
No the fifth beatle was billy preston
@@KentuckyBrad Before he signed The Beatles, George Martin had worked with a then-unknown British entertainer who became an international superstar: Peter Sellers. Much of the wit in the Beatles' records came from Martin's previous experience producing Sellers with the Goon Squad, Flanders and Swann and Beyond the Fringe (from which came Dudley Moore). His experience making these elaborate comedy records helped Martin when The Beatles decided to get into oddball sound effects on their records.
It's important to reiterate from time to time how much the Beatles' appeal relied upon the synergy of classical music practises and popular music forms, which at that time hadn't really been explored much, and which, in the case of the Beatles, profoundly affected the strength and appeal of the songs and their presentation. Without this, the Beatles would surely still have been a great band, but perhaps not with the iconic, seminal appeal which has carried their legacy onward into the next century, and will likely continue to do so for centuries to come!
This was a partnership like no other and..There will never be no other partnership like this one again...
I think it was a great thing that the Beatles kept their single separate to the albums. It’s a mark of their talent that they’re able to do both very well make albums and chart topping singles.
I think it's impressive as hell but I still don't like it. Strawberry Fields is begging to be on Sgt Peppers. If they combined the best songs from Sgt Peppers and Magical Mystery Tour then that would be the greatest album humanity has ever created closely followed by DSOTM and Pet Sounds
Strawberry Fields & Penny Lane fit perfectly on Pepper. I think that's what he meant. It's not just about putting the best songs on one album, nor about keeping hit singles separate from albums. It's musical artwork. Those two songs "fit" on that album so well that it's unbelievable they didn't get put on it. I think they all underestimated how big Sargent Pepper's would be.
Except that they _didn't_ keep singles off (UK) albums.
PPMe has PPMe, LMDo, and their b-sides.
AHDNight has AHDNight, CBMLove and their b-sides.
Help! has Help! and TTRide.
Revolver has ERigby and YSubmarine.
The US MMTour album has both sides of their three 1967 singles.
YSubmarine has YSubmarine and AYNILove.
ARoad has Something and CTogether.
LIBe has LIBe, GBack and TLAWRoad and FYBlue from the US single.
So only five of their 13 albums don't contain singles.
Which makes George Martin's opening statement in this video an error in itself! 😃
@@EltonoutoftheclosetOfficial smug git
@@EltonoutoftheclosetOfficial Capitol Records who controlled/managed Beatles' releases in the States (until Apple) did want and put Beatle singles onto albums.
Singles were often separate from albums in the UK then. Not just the Beatles, most of the "British Invasion" bands. For example the electric version of Honky Tonk Women by the Stones was released as a single in 1969 but not on the Let It Bleed album a few months later (although they did put on the acoustic country version).
Country Honk is radically different than Honky Tonk Women.
It's a complete myth that Beatles albums didn't contain songs released as singles - in the UK (in the '60's), I make it 7 albums with, 5 without & Magical Mystery Tour EP contained a B side!
This is a good one.
The only example I have seen to point out that the Gerry and the Pacemakers version of How do you do it was, in fact, the Beatle's arrangement of the demo. Really the Beatle's first number one.
Regarding the release of Strawberry fields. The Elenor Rigby/Yellow submarine single was released on the same day as the album it was on so, in effect, the single was released before being included on the album. Against group policy.
Written by Mitch Murray, the Beatles recorded it, but greatly disliked it, and it was sent over to Gerry and the Pacemakers. It was a good song for them, but was not a number one for the Beatles since it was never officially released.
I seriously doubt any other producer would've given the Beatles that much elbow room. You have to give the man credit. It's easy to judge in hindsight, but the first time he heard them was in 1962. Let that sink in for a moment, folks. And by all accounts, what he heard was not exactly something to write home about. He could've easily dismissed them, as did Decca. Coming from the comedy world, he detected something in their wit and sense of humor that he thought could make the difference. But it was still a big risk and he had his reservations. In spite of that, he took his chances. Initially, he guided them quite sternly, and they needed it. They had no idea what the world of a recording studio was about. But he never bullied them. He knew how to steer them with a supple wrist. As time went on and they got big, he was sensitive enough to let them have more control over the artistic decisions. Towards the end, they sort of phased him out, in some cases (notably Lennon) with disrespectful and disparaging remarks and attitude.
To all the bigshots in this comment section who trash him over one thing or another, just remember that the only Beatles album he was not involved in is the weakest of the lot, and by a far cry. To sum it up, without George Martin, chances are there would've been no Beatles. Just think what we'd missed out on. And here you people are shooting your big mouths off as if the world required your "learned" opinion.
2:24 To illustrate the point, it would have been wiser to use a sound bite in which the 6th can actually be heard.
I think it might have been due to trying to outwit the bots that are out searching for copyright strikes.
@@StevePemberton2: That’s a possibility I’d never thought of, so I checked another UA-cam video of that particular ‘63 Royal Command Performance and the 6th in the final “Yeah” can clearly be heard. So it seems that, in this sound bite, it has been either accidentally or deliberately filtered out. Probably accidentally, because I doubt if a bot can be outwitted by the omission of a 6th from a three-part harmony.
He was a human being who had a collection of geniuses dropped into his lap, and thankfully, he knew when to not go to war over a detail in the scope of the whole picture. He was orchestral in experience, and in the early period, his mixes of guitars could have been better, but remember he had to make mono mixes for radio and stereo for albums. He did a great job considering all the variables.
I love the string quartet which George Martin contributed to "Eleanor Rigby." I think that the song was written primarily by Paul McCartney. Paul, John Lennon, & George Harrison brilliantly performed Paul's chords vocally.
George Martin figurated Paul's chords brilliantly and brought in guest musicians to deliver a top-notch stringed accompaniment. So good. ❤ it!
George Martin acknowledged he got the string arrangement of "Eleanor Rigby" from Bernard Herrmann's score for the shower murder scene in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho."
@@mgconlan And Tina Weymouth has said that the Psycho score was her inspiration for the bass line on Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer."
A rather unfair video. The Beatles were so lucky to have someone as open and generous as George Martin. The example of How Do You Do It is ludicrous. In those days artists rarely wrote their own material. George Martin was just doing his job in scouting popular songs. But the thing is that he gave in: he did go with Please Please Me over How Do You Do It, so where was the mistake? With any creative process you have to and fro over what will work best. The She Loves You example was again George giving in and going ahead with The Beatles proposal. So it is not a mistake. He is allowed to question. When you hear of experiences the other notable bands had with their producers and record labels you realise how fortunate The Beatles were. Look at Tomorrow Never Knows. For 1966 it was totally out there and yet George Martin helped them to make it one of the most innovative tracks of all time. Paul later said his biggest gift was having the humility to go from being the person who said how things were done to allowing them to do it. They - and we in the wider world - are so lucky that The Beatles and George Martin found each other. He was also the only man in the music industry who gave them their big break when no-one else would. The Beatles were looked after by honest men and that is one of the most unique elements to their story.
I think the video was interesting, it just stated some lesser known (to some people) facts, without making a judgment, some of which are of course easier to see in hindsight. And several parts of the video highlighted Martin's importance to the Beatles sound, especially the comments by Lennon.
Absolutely agree. Even it you do consider them "mistakes," 5 mistakes in a catalogue of how many songs? To be fair, the Beatles made quite a few more mistakes than he did. Revolution 9 is the first one I can think of. By then, George really didn't have much say on what was going to be released. He always said he felt the White Album should have been a single album with the best songs. He was absolutely right. There was a lot of rubbish on it.
George’s Cheap Trick album is often criticized as “off the mark”, but I love that album. See the album “All Shook Up”. It’s a gem imho.
Moog synth is pronounced 'Mogue' to rhyme with vogue or rogue.
Right. We must pronounce it correctly in memory of Mr. Bob Moog…. 🎶
Thanks for this
He should have put an umlat on there or something because it's usually like cows go moo in a good mood goo soon the moon loon bafoon baboon looms
@@cameronlewis1218 Or just because it's the correct way to pronounce it.
I had no idea the Beatles played with a Moog synth, because I don't recall hearing it on their tracks, thankfully.
Somehow I feel disappointed the mistakes weren't huge and surprising, but still an interesting vid. Surely Martin and the Beatles had bigger clashes than THIS! For example, I am the Walrus, which Martin initially hated.
"I am the Walrus, which Martin initially hated." And with good reason. It's rubbish.
Nice photo at 6:07. Looks like the session that George, Paul, and Linda overdubbed harmony vocals on Let It Be.
I'll never understand how Martin let the stereo version of "Please, Please Me," with the error on the 1st verse refrain, make it to vinyl.
I agree putting Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields on Sgt Pepper would've made it a more impressive album, but it would've conflicted with the original idea for writing those songs. The album was originally going to be about their lives and places they lived, but after the singles were released, Paul revised the concept to be about Sgt. Pepper and his band which the Beatles were pretending to be. The only song on Pepper that would've fit in with the original concept was probably A Day In the Life which also represented a step up in their musical maturity. Two totally different concepts, so in the final analysis, Sgt. Pepper is a complete package as it was presented, like a variety show featuring a fictitious band. That worked just fine even though I wasn't particularly enamored with When I'm Sixty-Four as a stand alone track. It does segue nicely into Lovely Rita and I've loved listening to the album from beginning to end since I first heard it in 1970 when I was 7...on 8-track, lol.
The sixth mistake was to allow significant others in the studio.
Move on, dude. Like he was going to “allow” John to have his partner in the studio in 1969? That is some fucking misogynistic bullshit thinking right there.
Not sure what he would have done about it
Mal? Derek? Geoff? Alan? Billy? Eric?...I don't think so!!!
@@newspapertaxis1 I believe he was implying Ms. Oh No!!!
That was the number 1 mistake, but I don't think you can blame it on George Martin.
cool video, didnt know some of these, like the one about the G6 at the end of she loves you or the white noise one, both such iconic parts to their respective songs!
I like side B of Yellow Submarine. I didn't play it as often as side A, but I did like it, specially Pepperland, the first track. It's perfect for a sunny Sunday morning.
It's an unjustly underrated work. Some wonderful evocative passages.
George Martin (and John) could have given a little more time to the orchestration of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" which always sounded somewhat weak on the low end.
Whatever mistakes Sir George Martin might have made, it was his producing genius combined with the Beatles innovation and thei willingness to experiment that made all 5 ICONS in the music industry!
George Martin's decision not to orchestrate She's Leaving Home because he was busy with another artist.
Paul’s decision.
He wanted to do it but paul impatiently called someone else. George was offended by it.
@@rodrigosobrosa Still Martin's error.
Well, then who DID orchestrate it then? I thought it turned out just fine.
@@johngraves6878 Mike Leander arranged the piece and George Martin "conducted the string section in a session on 17 March 1967 that generated six takes" (Wikipedia)
I thought 'I Am The Walrus' was the most outrageous thing yet from the Beatles and loved all of the quirks and unusual sounds and radio broadcasts. Not to be outdone, the musical collage on the B side was unlike anything I had heard of in my youth. I was the drummer in a rock band from age 12-19 so I paid especially close attention to all of the music coming out and the Beatles never ceased to amaze us all, from Revolver forward. They will always be my favorite rock group of all time!
I love the end of this video with the backward vocal on Rain played forward and the rest of the song turned around ❤
Strawberry fields is a great song and honestly it’s a great single bc idk where it would go on Pepper
It was recorded during the Pepper sessions. Of course it would’ve fit on Pepper
@@elementrypenguin3116albums had limited track count when they were released on vinyl. This means two songs that are on pepper would not have appeared if strawberry fields and penny lane did.
@@elementrypenguin3116 Where in the Pepper track order would you put SFF and PL? Imo, completely unnecessary for Pepper's success (obviously). In fact, I love that the Beatles had those non-album singles and the albums themselves were still fantastic.
Replace When I'm Sixty-four.
I would put them in to replace any 2 of these: Getting Better, Fixing a Hole, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, Within You Without You, Good Morning Good Morning.
The white noise WAS too loud. The song didn’t need it. It was great on its own. The abrupt ending may have been “borrowed” from the Jeff Beck Group’s song Rice Pudding included on their album Beck-Ola which was released in England in August of 1969 just as the Beatles were finishing up the Abbey Road album.
Leaving Strawberry Fields / Penny Lane of the Sgt Pepper was criminal as they would have fitted perfectly into the theme and and continuity of the album.
Within You , Without You ( which Martin said was " a dreary song " ) and When I'm 64 ( which is a classic but has hit single written all over it ) would have been the two songs I'd have omitted from the album .
I recently created my own custom mix of Pepper - I substituted Strawberry Fields for Mr. Kite and Penny Lane for when im 64 - I like it soooo much better!
@@robertcarey4948 I'd have left Mr kite on but each to their own
Appreciate the video; however, you take the very American definition of Sir George Martin, saying “… The biggest mistake I ever made…“ As though he were presenting a mea culpa. it was almost tongue in cheek, the statement. A roll of the eyes if you will. Even if you were accurate in his making five mistakes in his production of the Beatles career, that would be five out of how many songs? Without Sir George Martin, we would not have the Beatles as we know them in any shape, form or fashion. The man was brilliant, erudite and extremely free with his time and generous with his knowledge/talents.
It seems today, at least most certainly with Paul, Brian Epstein is a forgotten person - “we had a manager who told us…“ Or “… I told our manager that we wouldn’t [do this or that]…“ As though he has forgotten Eppy’s name. John, Paul and George did the same thing with George Martin after the band broke up, and they were on their own: Sir Paul would use him still as a producer on his solo albums from time to time - and they always stood out as some of his best work; still, they would all claim that George Martin was a “facilitator” of Their Genius when in fact, he was much more than that. Perhaps it is hard for the Beatles to see that when they were the ones who reaped the tangible money, drugs, and women with which Sir George was too busy working for “the lads“ - or too grown-up - to be involved. The hero worship dumped upon the Beatles and accepted by them with glee for quite awhile, in my humble opinion, may have changed their view of just what Sir George Martin meant to their careers. Cheers / Slainte 🇬🇧🏴🇺🇸. 🎸👨🏼⚕️🫶✌️♾️. And I am a rabid Beatles fan… I am simply old enough to see through the scrim of Fame now… things are a wee clearer.😊
Regarding the major sixth harmony at the end of 'She Loves You', the story I remember reading about it _wasn't_ that the boys said "nobody's ever heard it before". But rather, after Martin characterized it as "Glenn Miller-ish", they retorted by basically saying, "Well, no one in *_this_* generation [kids in the 1960's] has heard it, so we're gonna use it." In other words, it wasn't a chord they considered new to _humanity._ Only to _Boomers._ 😄
I remember trying to figure out what album "Penny Lane" was on because I loved it. I just listened to the radio and thank god they played it a lot.
They must be misquoting Martin saying "George doing the sixth and John and Paul the third and fifths"
There is no third sung in that final chord of She Loves You. It is, top down, GED, i.e. root sixth fifth in the key of G. Surely Martin knew that.
If there had been a third (B) in the chord, it would indeed have sounded corny like Glenn Miller.
George Martin is quoted in Roland Gelatt's "The Fabulous Phonograph" as saying he signed The Beatles even though "I didn't think their songs were very good." He actually planned Mitch Murray's "How Do You Do It" as the second Beatles single, the follow-up to "Love Me Do." Martin changed his mind about The Beatles' songwriting when John Lennon brought in a revamped version of "Please Please Me," instead of the first version which was a rock ballad modeled on Roy Orbison's "Only the Lonely." Also the hit version of "How Do You Do It" by Gerry and the Pacemakers doesn't sound like The Beatles' version. The Beatles played it in strict time and Gerry gave it a sprung ragtime-y rhythm that really helped the song.
I thought it was George Martin's idea to speed up Please Please Me.
Martin's biggest mistake was not seeing how important the White album was.
Agree. After the perfect album Sgt. Pepper, it was just fine to have all sorts of fillers and lesser songs an d wacky material on an album to let the audience have a surprise again. The variety on WA is even broader than on Sgt. Pepper, except Within You Whitout You is so off the wall as a music from a pop group that it is hard to top.
Wrong. He was absolutely right. The WA was full of rubbish, the epitome of which was Revolution 9. In fact, they were not even functioning as a proper band by then. Much of the material was recorded by them separately. And it shows. I was a huge Beatle fan and I remember having to skip songs that were just awful when playing the WA, something I had never done before with any of the their albums. I would usually put the needle on the first track and listen all the way through, then turn it over. Not with the WA.
@@piscesman54 Revolution 9 is better than many John Cage electroacoustic works. Quality and liking are not the same. The worst (and only bad) Beatles album is Yellow Submarine (due to the repeated songs and the forgettable orchestral versions in the second half), followed by Beatles for sale and Let it be.
@@nivac5227 I don't know who John Cage is, but if it was worse than Revolution 9, it must've been unsufferable. I have never believed in that kind of "art." Any idiot can do something like that and pass it for avant-garde. Revolution 9 was really Yoko's pathetic attempt at trashing the Beatles. Paul and Martin were right about it not representing what the Beatles were in any way, shape, or form. John got away with it just like he got away with many things at that time--by being overbearingly insistent. Real avant-garde was prog rock. It was innovative, and some of it, certainly not easy listening. But it had its own inherent aesthetics, and it was written and played by actual musicians.
In America, "Strawberry Fields Forever," and "Penny Lane" were included in the Magical Mystery Tour compilation. Of course, those two songs came out before Pepper, but should have been on that album. But I think of those 1967 releases as one big, wonderful album, with "Sgt. Pepper" being the main event. For the definitive chronology and discography of 1967, see the BBC/PBS documentary, "Magical Mystery Tour Revisited." It's great if you can find it.
Someday, they'll do a documentary on George Martin and Paul McCartney's relationship because in my humble opinion, they were driving that band towards the end and they had a special friendship and collaboration, McCartney and Martin
True. The reason being that Paul was capable of traveling back to Martin's time, musically speaking, while Lennon wasn't. Paul is a music lover. He was always the most eclectic of them all. Who else could sing something like I'm Down and two years later, She's Leaving Home?
@@piscesman54 I have a really really cool story to tell you, when I was about four or five years old, my parents who were classical musicians gave me a cassette tape of the revolver album, the American version, so it left off I'm only sleeping and and your bird can sing............... My parents told me the story about John Lennon who was the leader of the band, and they remarked on what an amazing songwriter he was, and they thought his voice was Paul's.... So, I listened to for no one and here there and everywhere and my parents really intimated to me basically that John Lennon was the one who sang Eleanor rigby, here there and everywhere, for no one......that was his voice, that was the man who had been shot on December 8th............................................. I'm on the autism spectrum undiagnosed.............. Paul McCartney is the genius in the band, that's not to take anything away from John Lennon because I absolutely love him and I think he had a hidden genius as well but, that's one of the most eloquent and well-written statements about Paul McCartney that I've ever heard, what you wrote, because, his musicological breadth, extended back centuries.... McCartney listened to Brahms, he listened to Bach.... McCartney is really the one who is going to sort of go down as being an Einstein of music.........
A few albums did have singles. Please Please Me, A Hard days Night, Help, Revolver, Magical Myster Tour(an album in the US,;the double EP in England had a single B side) yellow Submarine, Abbey Road and Let It Be all had singles.
3:19 I think you mistook what George is saying here. The regret was not that the songs were left off SPLHCB, it was issuing them as a double A-side single and therefore not getting to number one for the first time since Please Please Me. According to George Martin himself: "in his book Summer of Love he claims the two songs were counted as two separate singles on the chart, severely hampering the record's chances of reaching the top..." Wikipedia quote. Whether that was true or not, issuing SFF/PL as a double A-side is what he regretted.
The Beatles were lucky to have the "wrong" producer. George Martin was known for comedy albums and other lesser artists, but that made him perfect for the Beatles. He was willing to experiment and let the Beatles release "Love Me Do" as their first single. A more successful producer would say "my way or the highway". He also had the classical training which let the group expand their musical range.
George Martin was an incredible producer and he definitely deserves to be called the Fifth Beatle but if did make any mistakes then I think it was hhat he might have favoured Paul too much. Macca was undeniably brilliant but I think towards the end it might have been better to try and give John and George more attention too. Martin was especially critical of George Harrison especially in the early days and I think if GM had giveb him more support and encouragement we might have got a few more classics out of George too and Paul wrote some stunning tunes but he also wrote quite a few stinkers which I wouldn't miss at all. Overall I think John was the most consistent in terms of quality.
his harpsichord solo on In My Life...is classic
it was a perfect marriage in ways. a classically trained and educated academic with guys who simply felt music and had a drive and ambition to match. they played off of and were improved by the yings and yangs of their relationship. similar to how paul and john's differences helped create a unique and incredible end result the differences in Lennon/McCartney and Martin helped push their music to a really unique place.
The Beatles's no-single releases in albums policy has been a bit confusing to me because it wasn't that consistent. If you take the UK, Europe (Non-UK) and US singles list, you'll find that barely a 40% (even less!) followed that policy of both A and B side being different songs from an album, and by album I mean mainly the official British discography. A few examples of those singles, I Want To Hold Your Hand/ This Boy, I Feel Fine/ She's a Woman, We Can Work it Out/ Day Tripper (both A-sides), Penny Lane/ Strawberry Fields Forever (both A-sides), etc. There are others which followed the policy partially leaving that new track in the B-side***, like Ticket to Ride/ Yes It Is***, Help!/ I'm Down***, Get Back/ Don't Let Me Down***, Let it Be/ You Know My Name (Look Up My Number)***. And there are album songs that did appear on singles, too. Just to mention a few song titles either from the UK or the US single discography: Love Me Do, PS I Love You, Please Please Me, Ask Me Why, There's a Place, A Hard Day's Night, Things We Said Today, Can't Buy Me Love, And I Love Her, If I Fell, Eight Days a Week, Nowhere Man, What Goes On?, Michelle, Yellow Submarine, Eleanor Rigby, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Something, Come Together, etc...
I think it is not entirely clear what he added other than he was someone they listened to and he was invested in their success and creative expression. Mutual respect.
I grew up during the Beatles - one always wondered “what’s next?”
The edit in Strawberry Fields was entirely the invention of Geoff Emerick. George Martin had no idea what to do and left it to Emerick.
🙏🏾
I think George Martin was a little too hard on himself. A few questionable choices that he made just makes him human. Nobody else would take on the Beatles, and we should be forever grateful that he did!
Lennon was enamored with the sonics introduced when speeding up or slowing down recorded material. The segments of Strawberry Fields were no accident, but carefully calculated to fit. Martin enjoyed having his gentle joke about mismatched takes accidentally pairing up so well.
I thought The Beatles had a five movies contract with the UA, not three.
To get an idea of the kind of input that George Martin gave to bands, listen to Cheap Trick’s “All Shook Up.” It’s different than their other albums, and was the only one that Martin produced.
This was excellent!
Martin contributed a great deal, we see that when you listen to an album by and band other than The Beatles Martin produced. The Four borrowed a great deal from that in their immediate solo efforts, and for the most part you see their innate genius could come through only as much as their “translaters” (producers) could do their job. But, Martin’s efforts are only heard as much as you know the song
Everybody has their sacred cow. The White Album was my very first purchased Beatles LP, so it has a very dear place in my heart. However, Martin suggested they pare it down to the standard 14-song release. To this day, I still wonder which 14 of the 30 would have made it. Maybe the Fab Four should've made Rubber Soul and Revolver in to Rock's first double album instead of it being Blonde On Blonde...
What do y'all think?
Most of these ‘mistakes’ show his willingness to listen to other opinions and not force his opinion… I would call this wise
producing music is really not an exact science there's always going to be disagreements if you're doing hundreds of songs but by and large George Martin was really a large part of the Beatles success
Sergeant Pepper: I think it's a masterpiece and The Beatles' best album along with Abbey Road; not a bad son on it. However, it could have been even better with 'Strawberry Fileds Forever' and 'Penny Lane' instead of good-but-not-great songs such as 'Within You, Without You' or 'Lovely Rita'. I agree with George Martin. ... Yellow Submarine: should have been a four track EP, definitely. ... Abbey Road: John Lennon wanted lots of white noise to build up 'I Want You', a big crescendo with... no conclusion. I agree with George Martin.
Even though I haven't fully listen to all of George Martin scores from yellow submarine but you know if the Beatles weren't going to add more songs to the album I believe George Martin have every right to put his scores on the album especially since those scores are actually in the movie and weren't all previous Beatles songs I like the 1999 reissue album better for the purposes of putting that album together back then it was already bad enough set the ReUse yellow submarine (revolver) and all you need is love (single then put on Magical Mystery Tour in the US) and the Beatles only put four songs on the album I think it was the right thing to do especially since George Martin essentially was the fifth Beatle they could have put two more George Harrison songs on the album maybe gave one or two songs to Ringo are Rango could even have written one the fact that they didn't only justified the score being on the album in the first place I don't think it's a mistake since the Beatles essentially want to give an incomplete album to the public essentially they should have delayed the album to maybe March or something to give the Beatles more time to put songs on the album again they didn't so I don't think anyone especially not the Beatles themselves should complain about George Martin scores Bing on the album
No Sergeant Pepper's without strawberry Fields is just fine, magical mystery tour, shall I say, a lot of drugs for the Beatles❤
It was amazing how the Beatles put out great singles and great albums apart from each other in England.
For the beautiful harmonies of because allegedly, John asked Martin what else they could do for harmonies, and he suggested harmonies in fourths instead of in thirds.
They didn't "record" their movies. They filmed them.
They recorded some of them.
@kosmokritikos9299 no. All 5 Beatles movies were filmed, not recorded.
A Hard Day's Night, Help!, and Yellow Submarine were filmed on 35mm movie film.
Magical Mystery Tour was filmed on 16mm movie film.
Let It Be was filmed on 16mm movie film and blown up to 35mm for theatrical release.
None of them were recorded. All were filmed.
More and more I read about mistakes in the great Ära of music! why does any music marked as musicologically brilliant have to be increasingly dismantled? where does this need come from? Since the 1990s, only the simplest, computer-generated pop music has been played. Should it be made bigger than it is or should we disguise the fact that hardly any new and inspiring music is flowing into the masses?
I've always enjoyed the orchestral side of Yellow Submarine, personally.
It's interesting how the perception of the "album" has changed back and forth over the the last 100 years.
Listen to Martin's sped-up piano solo during "In My Life." Even sped up, it doesn't fit within the space allotted for it. Martin therefore has to speed up the solo's ending to an absurd rate, and it comes off cartooniish and abrupt. No one mentions this.
that doens't necessarily come off as a bad thing, to me it sounds more experimental than anything, that's why I like the solo
Love the solo!
You are one of the few who think that. "In My Life" is one of the greatest tunes in the Beatles catalog. The sped up piano was pretty unique back then.
One day, I'll be able to watch a UA-cam vid without the word iconic in it.
The word is part of the "all-sizzle-no-steak" shallowness of the times.
they did release singles that were on albums
What mistakes? What band was ever bigger than The Beatles?
It's never a mistake when you are open for experimentation. That's how music production works, you try stuff and see what sounds best. Gotta hate the click bait
It's an old furphy -- half their LPs had singles on them even the british ones ! 😹
6:39 Seems many don't know Robert Moog pronounced his last name MOH-g, therefore also the name of his remarkable inventions
As a former employee of Moog Music, I'd like to tell you that I stopped Dr. Moog in the factory one day and said: "How do you properly pronounce your surname?" He answered "Moog, as in Rogue"! It's not MOOG, as in Fugue. You could get that right next time.
I want you (she's so heavy) is their gteatest track, their mangum opus. It's perfect.
One error (in my opinion) are the swift, rather clumsy fades on many songs. One of the few great things Phil Spector understood was how to slowly dramatically fade a song. George Martin was very clumsy about a fast, instant fade on many Beatles songs.
The Beatles would’ve had a hit with “How Do You Do It”, so it can’t be considered a mistake just because the Beatles didn’t like it. “Please Please Me” settled that argument and showed George he didn’t need to bring them songs from outside writers.
I heard a long time ago that it was the Beatles who objected early on to putting singles on albums, having been fans themselves not that many years prior, they felt it was double dipping making fans pay twice for the songs. They didn't have enough clout initially to prevent it on their first album. But I don't know if that was an actual fact, all I hear now is George Martin taking credit for the idea or ar least partial credit by saying "We". I wonder what the actual story is, I like to think it was the way I first heard it.
Leaving singles off albums didn't occur with several of their albums and just 6 months earlier with Revolver(Eleanor Rigby/Yellow Submarine),so why did they do this with Sgt Pepper
I have always had a feeling that "In my life" was too fast for its rather sad content, and on my old Player I took it down in speed.
John's hilarious impersonation of GM. 😅
People seem mad that you’re voicing your opinion I guess. If we keep talking about how genius talented big dick having these guys are, then we’re not moving music forward. Thanks for the video❤️
Capitol records included Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields on Magical Mystery Tour. That was one of the differences between UK and US music releases. We released songs on albums as singles,they did not
I like the US approach . You're getting your money's worth when you buy an LP.
Many songs by the Stones and Beatles were released in the US off albums that were not in Britain and became big hits. For instance, the Stones' Ruby Tuesday and She's A Rainbow
Just about everyone dislikes Side Two of Yellow Submarine with all the George Martin music, but I for one can’t begrudge him earning some of that sweet Beatles money, just that one time.
Imagine Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane on Sgt. Pepper!!! Take out Lovely Rita and Fixing a Hole.
Take out Lucy in the sky. Terrible song!
Harrison's guitar solo on the album version of Let it Be is so great, but Martin didn’t like it and made George re-record it for the single release.
I’m am still angry about this.
The other one is John’s Good night on the WA.
There is a track where Martin plays this beautiful piano track on the song but in the end it was removed for a string arrangement. It’s a great song ruined by excessive strings and the beautiful chord progression is lost.
5 biggest mistakes and there were many from GM
1. Not putting Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane on Sgt Pepper
2. Not putting Day tripper and We can work it out on Rubber Soul instead of What goes on and Run for your life
3. Leaving the mixed up words on i WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND on the record
4. Letting them release Mr Moonlight - :( :(
5. Not putting Rain and Paperback writer on Revolver
AND ALLOWING RINGO TO SING
@@GordonWilkinson-t8b I disagree. Ringo gives a good performance when the song is written for him. My favorite Beatles song is "A Little Help From My Friends."
Whatever disagreements they had they worked together to make some spectactular music.
Well - I think that George Martin also over-reacted where Pete Best was conerned. Right off - Martin was pretty much used to working with perfection, and Best seemed to not deliver His best. I think that ALL the Beatles over-reacted!
Oh yeah George Martin should have kept his mouth shut and they should have kept Pete and then gone nowhere.
There was a lot more to it. Pete marched to his own drummer so to speak. The other three cut their hair in the same style, not Pete. John mentioned that in Hamburg Pete would sort of go his own way. He also said they had only taken him with them to Hamburg because he had a drum kit and could play it well enough and that the other three would work at their craft to get better, Pete not so much. Then there was Pete's mother, who was strong-willed and butted heads in a bit of a power struggle with Brian Epstein.
George saying what he said gave the other the guys the excuse they were looking for to get rid of him. And if you listen to the Decca recordings, Ringo was just better. And most importantly, he had the right temperament and personality. I've seen a few interviews with Pete, when he was young and later, and he came off as quiet, shy, reserved, whatever, but the one thing he wasn't was charismatic. I think they made the proper choice. Someone attributed the quote to John about Ringo being an okay drummer but a great Beatle. The quote has been debunked, but when you compare him and Pete, it fits.
Nothing to do with Martin, it was Ron Richards ( who took the session) who didn’t like Pete’s drumming . George just passed the news on to Brian that they would use a session drummer next time.
@@thekitowl in that case then Ron Richards may be the most influential engineer in modern music.
No, they didn't. It wasn't just a musical issue. He was different. They didn't hang out together.
Some of George Martin's contributions are hard to evaluate. The instrumental break in "In My Life" pops in and out of nowhere, and I feel like something else would have been better, but I don't know what that something else would be, and I can't imagine the song any other way.
No,its a very suitable solo and is Perfect for the song!
It has no real connection to the rest of the song. As I said, I don't know what else would fit (and everyone is so accustomed to what's there so any replacement would sound strange) but I sometimes wonder what else might have worked. As one Beatles writer put it, the solo pops up like one of those old-time movie organs, does its bit, and then vanishes under its trap door and doesn't return.
@@ruppertale3319 i see what you mean but the solo is so brilliant. Im so used to it and thinks it lifts the song.
McCartney's father, himself a working musician, was less than thrilled about their slang usage. "We played it to my dad and he said, 'That's very nice, son, but there's enough of these Americanisms around. Couldn't you sing, "She loves you, yes! yes! yes!"' McCartney told Barry Miles in Many Years From Now. "At which point we collapsed in a heap and said, 'No, Dad, you don't quite get it!'"