"Watching the influence of George on Paul was terrific - he could bring something out of him." -- Paul's friend Eric Stewart of 10cc, who's known Paul since 1962 and worked with Paul and George for years in the '80s ua-cam.com/video/O9s950VfMxA/v-deo.html
Jennifer Small ~ Yeah, if you haven’t already seen it before, Check out the amazing video Called = “Paul to Faul 1966/1967 interviews more differences” By Sandpit123 Fascinating !
Unless your ABBA. ABBA did everything themselves. The two B's, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaes were the bosses. They produced their own stuff. ABBA were rare. Self contained. Indie band that met it huge around the world. A huge grassroots success.
I met George Martin in February 1986 at Abbey Road. Not only was I thrilled, but I spent an hour with him. Class act. He treated me like royalty and I was impressed with all aspects of his personality. Not arrogant and quite a gentleman....One of the biggest thrills of my life...
@@adammartin7007 One could say that but believe me that many songs would be nothing without good production. In the case of martin it was great production and in many cases he wrote the arrangements. Then, i would say it is true that because of Martin it is that many songs are still relevant.
@@eduardocervantesaca Name one other artist he has worked with? I think sentiment surrounding his contribution to the Beatles can be a bit excitable. He was terrific, but they did also make great music without him.
@@adammartin7007 george Martin had worked with all kinds of artists before the Beatles and thats why he was on Top of EMI Studios. And I am saying artists because they were true artists. The Beatles I consider also artists but most rock n roll bands in my opinion couldnt be called artists. My point is would you say Roger Daltrey is an Artist? well, far from Paco de Lucia who was a true artist and not a simple guitar player. I would say Hendrix is a guitar player and Paco de Lucia an artist. Once i have said that, I understand your point, the production of songs is the most important but believe me when I say thatnthe Beatles wouldnt be the same without George Martin. He arranged many songs and was able to put on tape what Paul and john wanted to hear.
Haut Strange multitracking now is entirely different to what it was then, though. There was no going back and fixing a guitar take. Once the submix was done, and bounced down, you're stuck with it. Sure, you can get more tracks down that way, but you can only fix so much, and besides that, tape does deteriorate, just listen to Heroes and Villains by The Beach Boys,
The Fidget Spinner Movie you’re talking about anything after Sgt Pepper right? Everything afterwards was 8 track, Sgt Pepper was 4 despite 8 being a thing. Please Please Me was recorded on 2 tracks if you can imagine that. Just lets you appreciate the finer things in life when listening to the isolated tracks from The Beatles Rock Band when they had to use studio wizardry to split each of the four key instruments (bass drums guitar vocals) into different tracks despite massive bleeding. Even songs with 8 tracks have their fair share of bleeding like Hey Buldog, I Me Mine and Something. This video didn’t go over just how intricate George Martin was with recording The Beatles with the limited resources he had despite having a 9 min video about just that. This man was a legend and totally deserves his title as the 5th Beatle.
@@ClaptonsWig Yes and it was due to the band using a Dead sound studio that the Beatles had such bad bleeding on some songs. Dead studio refers to the way the studio is open and not a smaller space to limit the space for sound to move about.
googoo gjoob I 100% agree with you on Hey Jude. SFF isn’t my personal favorite Beatles song, but it is a good candidate for number 1. My personal favorite Beatles song is “Long, Long, Long”
@@FragmentedR_YT , read about the tech/skill used to put together the 2 halves of SFF. you may not be aware, they had 2 versions. they loved the first 1/2 of ver 1, the 2nd 1/2 of ver 2. but they werent 'blendable'. greatest song ever recorded. the more you know, the more youll love it.
for me , that medley is a adiction . I have to listen the whole side , otherwise it feels like somethings wrong with me . Please dont mind my bad english . Greetings from belgium and Peace to you .
George Martin actually hired Andy White to sit in for Pete Best before he knew the rest of the band had already asked Ringo. So Ringo showed up to the studio only to be dismissed by Martin and have to sit on the side for their first session.
Thank you! Although George Martin was undoubtedly considered a "5th Beatle" by all rights, perhaps it should be worth noting that the late, great sound engineer, Geoffrey E. Emerick, also played an integral wizardly role in shaping the Beatle's early "sound" while recording at EMI. Geoff wrote a book, "Here, There, and Everywhere" which should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in Music Production...
To all this information you can add that he ACTUALLY PLAYS piano (or organ) in 31 Beatle songs, from "Misery" to "In My Life", to "All you need is love", to "Maxwell's silver hammer". (The Beatles recorded officially 213 songs).
Keith Spinney Music I have to disagree: they just did what any great artist would do, that is, they sought their own limits, and then transcended them. If other artists can't live up to that, it's hardly The Beatles' fault.
BertyFromDK The fact that your saying it’s not The Beatles fault many artist can’t live up to what they accomplish makes your comment irrelevant. So I have to disagree, The Beatles were and will always be ahead of their time. Many known and unknown bands out there try to accomplish the impossible, which is walk the road the Beatles did. Yet all of them fail, so for that reason alone it is The Beatles fault. Like the first comment said, they set the bar way too high.
Not taking anything away, but it's easy to be "ahead of your time" when you're one of the literal first bands of the rock era and pretty much nothing has yet been done... and even at that they themselves admitted lifting things from people that came before like Little Richard. So imagine how much harder it is now, after 70 years of artists have come down the pike, to try to take the 7 notes in music and be unique. They also had the advantage of being personable and having charisma... which is also very rare (for the entire band) They could have as easily had a successful comedy career as been musicians.
If you read my comment again, you'll realise that I didn't commend any of the technical side of his videos, what you refer to as "bad interlude music" or "ridiculous images", (which, btw, I don't think are bad or ridiculous at all, but very fitting for this topic), but rather the videos themselves, the way they are put together, the research put into them and the delivery.
George Martin was definitely the 5th Beatle when they stopped touring and went into the studio. Revolver was a high point. I stared at that freaky album cover with "Tomorrow Never Knows" for countless weeks in the late 60's. Oh, and the epic guitar Paul solo on Taxman =)
Led Zeppelin are one of those bands that are not half as good as people make them out to be. Don't get me wrong, I love their music, but to call them the best band ever is a huge exaggeration.
You missed one of George Martin's earliest influence. Martin inisted the group change the tempo of Please Please Me from a ballad to the up tempo number and it became their first big hit in 1963 in England.
I always knew he contributed, but I never knew a song by song breakdown of his efforts. My respect for George Martin just shot through the roof. So many of my favorites have his fingerprints on them!! Much love to Mr. Martin aka the fifth beatle.
I think George Martin had the best job on the planet. He never changed his suit in all the years he worked and he worked with the best song writers you will ever find on the planet. Top job
A wonderful piece. I am 73 and a die hard Beatle fan. The author of this video did a very nice job. I don't look at Martin as the 5th Beatle but as the 4 1/2 Beatle....he did so much and he played a number of instruments on certain songs. I am glad that his son is involved today. He worked with his dad and appears to be the real thing....Thank You Mr. Martin.
The 2006 "Love" album included George Harrison's solo demo version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," but backed with a new string arrangement by George Martin. Those strings actually made the demo sound more like a Beatles song. Listening to it brings home clearly what Martin added to the band's sound.
I totally agree. The Beatles owe a lot of their success to the genius of George Martin. He was much more musically sophisticated than John or Paul. John and Paul were young and inspired. He took their ideas and made magic. Without George Martin, the Beatles would not be seen as such an incredible band.
Geoff Emerick deserves credit for a number of these things. For example, George Martin couldn't figure out how to combine the two Strawberry Fields takes and turned to Geoff to make it work.
George Martin was one of the all time greats and a total class act. His legacy will go on forever. The only person who deserves the title of the fifth Beatle. Thank you for the video tribute.
It's my understanding that Paul had the germ of an idea for the string parts of Yesterday, Elenanor Rigby, and A Day in the Life, even humming some of the parts, but George Martin was able to make them a reality, particularly by transcribing Paul's humming into sheet music.
Definetly the greatest producer who ever lived. I mean eleanor rigby, something, yellow submarine, all you need is love. The entire Abbey road medley. None of these songs would've been half as good without Martin's genius string arrangements.
The greatest?Eno,Moroder,Spector,Jones,Thomas Baker,Goldrich.Parsons Martin: BEATLES:YEAHH¡ Gerry & the Pacemakers? Billy Kramer & the Dakotas The Fourmost Cilla Black David and Johnatan América (mmm) Martin as composer.. James Bond The Family Way... Are you Kidding?
@@JorgeGoica You minimized Martin's film score work just a bit. There is ion fact a pretty strong list of films, not just Live and Let Die and The Family Way but also the scores for: Pulp Ferry Cross The Mersey Crooks Anonymous The Optimist of Nine Elms Honky Tonk Freeway in addition to his work for the Yellow Submarine Film and arrangements for Hard Days Night. As a producer it's important to note that he produced the moster hit song "Goldfinger" for Cilla Black, which puts that relationship in better context. One could argue that Goldfinger and Live and Let Die are the two greatest Bond theme songs. Those are not small accomplishments. He also produced albums for Jeff Beck, Cheap Trick, Little River Band, Celine Dion, Kenny Rogers, and Neil Sedaka, among others. That's not a small or unimpressive list of great pop and rock artists. That in addition to producing Pepper, Revolver and Abbey Road, IMO the three greatest Beatles LPs, as well as the other Beatles albums do indeed make him an extremely impotant rock producer. That doesn't take anything away from Eno, Quincy, Spector (total douche of a human being but a great producer) or the other producers you named, but seriously, why minimize one of the greats?
Where would they be without him? He gave them a polish, depth, sophistication, and innovation they could have never had on their own. He not only knew how to score/arrange musical charts, but he played a variety of instruments, mixed and produced music as well as mastering contemporary innovations in cutting edge studio techniques...and his taste in music was utterly superb....he made them great in my book. ...none of them knew about music like that.
Love all your videos! They are presented really well and always on interesting topics. You do a great job! However, George Martin did produce the White Album. He took a break later on during the sessions for Let It Be, produced by Phil Spector, and returned for Abbey Road. Abbey Road was the final album The Beatles recorded although they released it before Let It Be. George was a genius and he was definitely an integral part of The Beatles' sound.
Actually Martin was a producer during Let It Be (Get Back) sessions as well. The single version of Get Back / Don't Let Me Down and Let It Be were produced by him. Phil Spector only took the tapes that was already produced by Martin and "over"produced them, by adding reverb or strings or some other tricks here and there. And he did it like 14 months after the songs were actually recorded in the studio and 5 or 6 months after The Beatles already broke up. Basically he did a remix of what Martin produced before.
I am sentimentally bonded to Martin's contributions; just a happy, creative, strange and wonderful addition that took them into a different place than any other band then or ever
You forgot his piano solo in In My Life, he spent hours perfecting it with more studio tampering. John immediately loved it for the song. Unbelievable he never got any writing credits.
The tape loops on Tomorrow Never Knows were thought out and created by Paul and Ringo. The backwards guitar solo on I'm Only Sleeping was written out by George Harrison. The whole idea of backwards music was discovered by John while playing back tapes at his home after recording sessions. Also, the orchestral build-up of A Day In The Life and the connecting of the two different parts was John and Paul's idea, Martin only realised it. Just like he did on the arrangements of Yesterday, Strawberry Fields Forever, I Am The Walrus, Penny Lane, For No One, the whole Abbey Road album, etc: Paul, John and/or George (Harrison) hummed or sang or played the ideas and melodies for the arrangements that they had in their head to George Martin, who then noted it down. He realised their ideas and sometimes corrected them. For example, Paul wrote the ''For No One'' French Horn solo and hummed it to Martin who then noted it down. The harpsichord riff on ''Because'' was written out by John after suggesting Yoko Ono to play ''Moonlight Sonata'' backwards. The piecing together of the Abbey Road medley was mostly Paul's idea, Martin only helped with the transitions and the tape cuts. George Martin was a creative and musical genius, but don't try to downplay the Beatles' role in the making of these unique touches. Most of the times they were the ones who came up with it.
the personal and occasional moments about Martin in books about the Beatles are usually either hilarious or inspiring. Martin: "...well, we've laid into you guys about what all we expect of you. Do you have anything you'd like to say to us?" George: "Yeah, I don't like your tie." Laughs around the room in hysterics......priceless
This was outstanding! The orchestration pieces you mentioned are my favorite and thus those songs are my favorites because of GM's work on them. Please do one video that includes the rest of the songs he contributed on. No one has done it to such detail. It would be so great relevant to go to Paul and go over each song he contributed on, and how, for example the french horn in Penn y Lane, maybe It was Paul idea and the high pitch but it was maybe GM that created the melody and arrangement.
Don't forget some of the piano solos he played on Beatles songs, most notably "In My Life" and "Lovely Rita". He also composed the guitar solo for "Michelle".
This video is incorrect as he was not the composer for the Beatles. He was producer and arranged orchestra. The songs were written by the Beatles and this is the reason why they are credited for those songs. Martin himself explains this in the US interview.
It's probably appropriate to give the 5th Beatle credit to Martin... But never forget Billy Preston or how much influence he had on the band's later music. I believe he was the only non-Beatle musician to get an album liner credit, he had direct songwriting influence during the recording of certain albums, and he even played organ on the famous rooftop concert. I personally think of Billy Preston as the 5th Beatle and George Martin the Beatles' Dad.
I agree Billy was great. However your claim that he had influence on songs over certain albums is not correct. Billy on appeared on one album, Let It Be. And the film clearly shows them rehearsing the songs before Billy was asked to join. And the only reason he was asked to join is George Harrison had quit and one of the conditions for his return was to use Billy to help flush out the live sound. And to ease tensions. He appears on two songs on Abbey Road. Not hardly the influence that Martin had.
You can hear someone, presumably Martin, playing harmonium uncredited behind many of the songs as early as the Help album. From this video, it becomes much more clear to me how Martin stitched the Beatles disparate ideas together, and made them seem coherent on vinyl. He was truly an indispensable part of their success.
Martin was indeed the 5th Beatle. But a lot of the things the video attributes to him, were actually Paul´s ideas. The medley in Abbey Road, the strings in Yesterday, the orchestral ending and the big E chord in A day in life... all Paul´s ideas. Martin did what Paul asked him to do, and he did it brilliantly.
I know it’s been beaten to death, but I’d love to hear you do one on Sgt Pepper, Abbey Road, Revolver, or the White Album. Even one on how The Beatles and Beach Boys influenced each other. I think you have a very distinct and interesting way of breaking down explanations of these huge icons in a unique fashion that lifelong fans like myself and new fans can still enjoy. Great work!
I totally agree with you on what you said and appreciate as much the great videos put put out for us with such good quality and interesting information.
if you watch McCartney's Pitchfork interview he says it was him that came up with the idea of the 'orchestral swells' on 'A Day In The Life', just Martin orchestrated it.
You are the clearest and best musical essayest on UA-cam. Each video is entertaining but not sensationalistic; words are precise but not sterile; background music is complimentary but not annoying/screeching/rap/rock. You don't have to use the words "cool" and "awesome" like every other copycat-poser does to impart a sense of being in the know. The result- the most informative, entertaining and worthwhile videos of their type. Please don't change or stop.
Billy Preston was the only other contender as the 5th Beatle. It was when Billy was recording with them on their last couple of albums that this title began. In time people realised, that if it was really relevant for anyone, it had to be for George, because he was creatively involved with most of their albums.
Whereas some have also suggested Billy Preston, he was there at the very end and could only be seriously considered if the band had continued on, recorded more records, and played out with him. George Martin was deeply involved in all aspects of the band. From playing " harpsichord"(sped up piano) on In My Life, to having them speed up Please ,Please Me to John , suggesting a "feel" to a song and trusting Martin could musically flesh it out.
YES!!!!!! FINALLY someone besides me says this! NO ONE was more responsible for the Beatles sound outside of the Beatles themselves more than GM!!!!!!!!
I feel like you could have even mentioned his work on Love. 40 years later and using only existing songs, he and his son did some of the best sample work that puts many modern producers to shame.
Some of the things you point to Martin for were actually the genius of Geoff Emerick. Not taking anything away from Martin but he wasn't the sole person in the control room.
I love that he was never in studio to replace the Beatles or to work for them. The guys talent is still undeniable. What Martin did was to help them to shape their ideas and bring them to life. He never impose himself. Yesterday's string part was composed by both Martin and McCartney, the same as Eleanor Rigby, he actually thought Paul how to transcribe his music from guitar to strings. The idea of a messy loud climax in A Day In The Life was John and Paul's. Martin came up with the idea of an orchestral crescendo.
Music has changed a lot. I think one thing we're missing in todays music isn't talent but a great producer. A lot of people do not realize how important the producer is to most of your favorite songs/records. A lot of bands work within their own box and the producer can give the band insight and help them play with their ideas even further which is exactly what George did. We need better producers.
George Martin is ABSOLUTELY the fifth Beatle; if we’re thinking musically, there’s no contest; he was the only musician who consistently played with the band in the studio; a musical player coach for the greatest band in the land
As I though you wouldn't mention his contribution to 'In my life', you just did. And even if you didn't, it would be a great look on Martin's music work. Thanks a lot for this post.
Don't forget that in the case of Strawberry Fields, he's not pitching the song down, it is actually an ability of the Mellotron Keyboard to do that, who in that song was played by Paul.
Great piece as always. I would recommend a piece on Paul Weller one of the most influential and least known in North America. Drove the popularity of mod and pre- punk with The Jam, pushed new wave fusion with the style council and was a big influence on Oasis. The Godfather of Mod.
Not to be a contrarian, but i believe George Martin needed the Beatles as much as they needed him. Pauls cloyingly sweet sense-of extreme jazz band musicality, Lennons sense of surrealism and menace, Harrison’s Indian interest, use of altered chords and poly rhythms and Ringo Starr’s nasal voice mixed with righty/lefty drum control/contortions. You also get the feeling with all the talents in the Beatles they could never have stayed together because of divergent interests.
George Martin never told The Beatles to fire Pete Best. That is hogwash. He may not have thought that Best was good enough to make records but it didn't matter anyway because although The Beatles had already hired Ringo, Martin still wasn't convinced and brought in Session Drummer Andy White to record Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You. Eleanor Rigby used a Double Quartet, not a String Quartet as on Yesterday. The Bealtes never wanted to repeat themselves.
Don't forget the ground breaking innovation by mister Geoff Emmerick, the sound engineer of the beatles. He had to endure a lot as the band just pummeled him with absurd request after absurd request and it led to true innovation.
I saw Paul McCartney last week and he gave massive shoutouts to Martin during his set. Definitely well respected.
Russell Chee Dane I saw him last year
I think it was one of the best days of my life
"Watching the influence of George on Paul was terrific - he could bring something out of him." -- Paul's friend Eric Stewart of 10cc, who's known Paul since 1962 and worked with Paul and George for years in the '80s
ua-cam.com/video/O9s950VfMxA/v-deo.html
You saw Faul.
Jennifer Small ~ Yeah,
if you haven’t already seen it before,
Check out the amazing video Called =
“Paul to Faul 1966/1967 interviews more differences”
By Sandpit123
Fascinating !
A band can only dream to work with someone like George Martin
It was my dream as a little kid until I learned he died
Oval Teen Thats sad, funny and cute, all at the same time
Aldahir Ojeda him and mutt Lang are two of the greatest producers ever
@@maxegan2398
Nope. George Martin & Eddie Kramer are.
Unless your ABBA.
ABBA did everything themselves.
The two B's, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaes were the bosses. They produced their own stuff.
ABBA were rare. Self contained. Indie band that met it huge around the world. A huge grassroots success.
I met George Martin in February 1986 at Abbey Road. Not only was I thrilled, but I spent an hour with him. Class act. He treated me like royalty and I was impressed with all aspects of his personality. Not arrogant and quite a gentleman....One of the biggest thrills of my life...
Yea he just exhudes that energy through even his photos, the most gentleman looking guy ever.
George Martin is a big reason why the Beatles are still relevant today.
bad shoes
Not really. It's the songs that last the test of time.
@@adammartin7007 One could say that but believe me that many songs would be nothing without good production. In the case of martin it was great production and in many cases he wrote the arrangements. Then, i would say it is true that because of Martin it is that many songs are still relevant.
@@eduardocervantesaca Name one other artist he has worked with? I think sentiment surrounding his contribution to the Beatles can be a bit excitable. He was terrific, but they did also make great music without him.
@@adammartin7007 george Martin had worked with all kinds of artists before the Beatles and thats why he was on Top of EMI Studios. And I am saying artists because they were true artists. The Beatles I consider also artists but most rock n roll bands in my opinion couldnt be called artists. My point is would you say Roger Daltrey is an Artist? well, far from Paco de Lucia who was a true artist and not a simple guitar player. I would say Hendrix is a guitar player and Paco de Lucia an artist. Once i have said that, I understand your point, the production of songs is the most important but believe me when I say thatnthe Beatles wouldnt be the same without George Martin. He arranged many songs and was able to put on tape what Paul and john wanted to hear.
George Martin can do more with 4 tracks than most producers do with 32+ tracks
Richard Watson True, though the Beatles used TONS of multitracking and were pioneers of it.
Haut Strange multitracking now is entirely different to what it was then, though. There was no going back and fixing a guitar take. Once the submix was done, and bounced down, you're stuck with it. Sure, you can get more tracks down that way, but you can only fix so much, and besides that, tape does deteriorate, just listen to Heroes and Villains by The Beach Boys,
They used way more than 4 tracks, but perhaps about a dozen or so tracks on some songs were combined into one track
The Fidget Spinner Movie you’re talking about anything after Sgt Pepper right? Everything afterwards was 8 track, Sgt Pepper was 4 despite 8 being a thing. Please Please Me was recorded on 2 tracks if you can imagine that. Just lets you appreciate the finer things in life when listening to the isolated tracks from The Beatles Rock Band when they had to use studio wizardry to split each of the four key instruments (bass drums guitar vocals) into different tracks despite massive bleeding. Even songs with 8 tracks have their fair share of bleeding like Hey Buldog, I Me Mine and Something. This video didn’t go over just how intricate George Martin was with recording The Beatles with the limited resources he had despite having a 9 min video about just that. This man was a legend and totally deserves his title as the 5th Beatle.
@@ClaptonsWig Yes and it was due to the band using a Dead sound studio that the Beatles had such bad bleeding on some songs. Dead studio refers to the way the studio is open and not a smaller space to limit the space for sound to move about.
As soon as I heard strawberry fields I had to pause and go listen to it and another hour of Beatles and I'm back haha
in my opinion, its the greatest song ever recorded.
@@googoo-gjoob Then you obviously haven't heard "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen or also "Hey Jude" by The Beatles.
@@raymofarrell19 B.R. is a def contender. Hey Jude is quite lame.
googoo gjoob I 100% agree with you on Hey Jude. SFF isn’t my personal favorite Beatles song, but it is a good candidate for number 1. My personal favorite Beatles song is “Long, Long, Long”
@@FragmentedR_YT , read about the tech/skill used to put together the 2 halves of SFF.
you may not be aware, they had 2 versions. they loved the first 1/2 of ver 1, the 2nd 1/2 of ver 2.
but they werent 'blendable'.
greatest song ever recorded. the more you know, the more youll love it.
The Medley on on Abbey Road is just sheer brilliance. I can listen to it over and over.
kiyoto kurijada Especially Sun King.
for me , that medley is a adiction . I have to listen the whole side , otherwise it feels like somethings wrong with me . Please dont mind my bad english . Greetings from belgium and Peace to you .
@@patrickbooten7028 Yes, Because.. right on through to her Majesty!
Their best album hands down!
@@TheJFerg24 listen to sun king slowed down, it's even more awesome!
How can this video skip over George Martin's piano solo on in my life?? It's his most iconic contribution to the group!!
For the record, Ringo's drumming on Tomorrow Never Knows was NOT a loop, even though the sound effects were
Billy Shears Of course a great drummer wouldn't loop.
Billy Shears! Huh
Just goes to show you how good his timing is
So Billy is wrong?
oh yes, the one and only billy shears!
We owe a lot to him.
Pretty impressive for a guy who went on to write Game of Thrones
He really let himself go when he started writing though.
I do like how he chose to wear his experience in Rock 'n Roll - the R.R. is a nice touch
Debbie Smith No Shit.
No, they does not.
Debbie Smith ssssssarcasm
George Martin actually hired Andy White to sit in for Pete Best before he knew the rest of the band had already asked Ringo. So Ringo showed up to the studio only to be dismissed by Martin and have to sit on the side for their first session.
Liam M-D lol of course he did.
Although they let Ringo play tambourine on that session, Ringo’s version was also released.
George did that cos he had never heard Ringo play, the session had been booked so they had to do a recording
Bernie purde claims that he played on 25 songs of the beatles , but he doesnt tell which songs . Do you think its for real ? Greetings from belgium
@@patrickbooten7028 an attempt by Mr. Purdy to be relevant.
Thank you!
Although George Martin was undoubtedly considered a "5th Beatle" by all rights, perhaps it should be worth noting that the late, great sound engineer, Geoffrey E. Emerick, also played an integral wizardly role in shaping the Beatle's early "sound" while recording at EMI. Geoff wrote a book, "Here, There, and Everywhere" which should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in Music Production...
Geoff Emerick did a lot of amazing work, and The Beatles would have been a lot less without him.
Thanks for the recommendation 😀
George Martin will never be forgotten imo.
To all this information you can add that he ACTUALLY PLAYS piano (or organ) in 31 Beatle songs, from "Misery" to "In My Life", to "All you need is love", to "Maxwell's silver hammer". (The Beatles recorded officially 213 songs).
The Beatles. even after all these years, still ahead of their time.
Yep. They raised the bar a little too high.
Keith Spinney Music
I have to disagree: they just did what any great artist would do, that is, they sought their own limits, and then transcended them. If other artists can't live up to that, it's hardly The Beatles' fault.
BertyFromDK The fact that your saying it’s not The Beatles fault many artist can’t live up to what they accomplish makes your comment irrelevant. So I have to disagree, The Beatles were and will always be ahead of their time. Many known and unknown bands out there try to accomplish the impossible, which is walk the road the Beatles did. Yet all of them fail, so for that reason alone it is The Beatles fault. Like the first comment said, they set the bar way too high.
Not taking anything away, but it's easy to be "ahead of your time" when you're one of the literal first bands of the rock era and pretty much nothing has yet been done... and even at that they themselves admitted lifting things from people that came before like Little Richard. So imagine how much harder it is now, after 70 years of artists have come down the pike, to try to take the 7 notes in music and be unique. They also had the advantage of being personable and having charisma... which is also very rare (for the entire band) They could have as easily had a successful comedy career as been musicians.
@@56squadron *There are 12 notes in music, not seven. You must have forgot to count the sharps/flats
That solo in "In my life"...
Nils
Harpsichord4Life
George Martin composed and performed that solo!
One of the deepest songs ever
@@cognitivedissonance8406 It was a piano sped up to sound like a harpsichord
If there's anyone deserving the title of Best Video Essay Channel, it is Polyphonic.
This channel is pretty great, but as long as Lindsay Ellis is doing videos that title belongs to her.
Every Frame a Painting
Kaptain Kristian
Hands down!
Bold of you to have a contest like that and not include the amazing works of EmpLemon or Lemmino in this
His score for "Live and Let Die" is fantastic
Next vid: how Axl Rose sounds like a completely different person when he’s just talking and it weirds me out
I vote for this!!!!
I demand a vid on this subject!
Without his diapers
Add Dave Mustaine to that video.
I'm for that.
no one:
George Martin: Guys lets add orchestra to this song
😴
It works though
Thats more on Phil Spector
Like Freddie mercury with opera lol
hilarious
Your videos are incredible. They always help me to understand and appreciate great music and the hard working people behind it.
If you read my comment again, you'll realise that I didn't commend any of the technical side of his videos, what you refer to as "bad interlude music" or "ridiculous images", (which, btw, I don't think are bad or ridiculous at all, but very fitting for this topic), but rather the videos themselves, the way they are put together, the research put into them and the delivery.
I second that. Hands down!
George Martin was definitely the 5th Beatle when they stopped touring and went into the studio. Revolver was a high point. I stared at that freaky album cover with "Tomorrow Never Knows" for countless weeks in the late 60's. Oh, and the epic guitar Paul solo on Taxman =)
The best band ever in existence. I can't believe how they people forget about him. Thanks Polyphonic for introducing him to new fans!
Ben Baker shit band
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin are one of those bands that are not half as good as people make them out to be. Don't get me wrong, I love their music, but to call them the best band ever is a huge exaggeration.
Same thing with The Beatles
Fuck You
You missed one of George Martin's earliest influence. Martin inisted the group change the tempo of Please Please Me from a ballad to the up tempo number and it became their first big hit in 1963 in England.
I always knew he contributed, but I never knew a song by song breakdown of his efforts. My respect for George Martin just shot through the roof. So many of my favorites have his fingerprints on them!! Much love to Mr. Martin aka the fifth beatle.
I think George Martin had the best job on the planet. He never changed his suit in all the years he worked and he worked with the best song writers you will ever find on the planet. Top job
A wonderful piece. I am 73 and a die hard Beatle fan. The author of this video did a very nice job. I don't look at Martin as the 5th Beatle but as the 4 1/2 Beatle....he did so much and he played a number of instruments on certain songs. I am glad that his son is involved today. He worked with his dad and appears to be the real thing....Thank You Mr. Martin.
The 2006 "Love" album included George Harrison's solo demo version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," but backed with a new string arrangement by George Martin. Those strings actually made the demo sound more like a Beatles song. Listening to it brings home clearly what Martin added to the band's sound.
It wasn’t a new arrangement. They only used tapes from Beatles sessions. Nothing new was added to Love.
Thanks for the insight. Love learning about why I love the Beatles
@@IanOrmistonMusic the string arrangement was recorded specially for Love, only george's demo was in existence before
@@roundtable3501 theres photos and footage of paul mccartney conducting an orchestra
He always gets forgotten...
not by me
Are you kidding?
Who always get forgotten?
G martin? I don't think so, everyone that know something about the Beatles knows about Martin
So true. If there were no George Martin, there would be no Beatles. At least not as we know them.
I totally agree. The Beatles owe a lot of their success to the genius of George Martin. He was much more musically sophisticated than John or Paul. John and Paul were young and inspired. He took their ideas and made magic. Without George Martin, the Beatles would not be seen as such an incredible band.
Geoff Emerick deserves credit for a number of these things. For example, George Martin couldn't figure out how to combine the two Strawberry Fields takes and turned to Geoff to make it work.
George Martin was one of the all time greats and a total class act. His legacy will go on forever. The only person who deserves the title of the fifth Beatle. Thank you for the video tribute.
Billy Preston too
It's my understanding that Paul had the germ of an idea for the string parts of Yesterday, Elenanor Rigby, and A Day in the Life, even humming some of the parts, but George Martin was able to make them a reality, particularly by transcribing Paul's humming into sheet music.
Exactly
Apu was the fifth.
This needs to be top comment
I'm Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club man
Billy Preston!
"Sure you were, Apu..."
I don’t get it
Definetly the greatest producer who ever lived. I mean eleanor rigby, something, yellow submarine, all you need is love. The entire Abbey road medley. None of these songs would've been half as good without Martin's genius string arrangements.
He’s up there with Kanye west to me
The greatest?Eno,Moroder,Spector,Jones,Thomas Baker,Goldrich.Parsons
Martin:
BEATLES:YEAHH¡
Gerry & the Pacemakers?
Billy Kramer & the Dakotas
The Fourmost
Cilla Black
David and Johnatan
América (mmm)
Martin as composer..
James Bond
The Family Way...
Are you Kidding?
To be fair the Medley was mostly Paul's idea and work, though Martin is responsible for some structure.
@@JorgeGoica You minimized Martin's film score work just a bit. There is ion fact a pretty strong list of films, not just Live and Let Die and The Family Way but also the scores for:
Pulp
Ferry Cross The Mersey
Crooks Anonymous
The Optimist of Nine Elms
Honky Tonk Freeway
in addition to his work for the Yellow Submarine Film and arrangements for Hard Days Night.
As a producer it's important to note that he produced the moster hit song "Goldfinger" for Cilla Black, which puts that relationship in better context. One could argue that Goldfinger and Live and Let Die are the two greatest Bond theme songs. Those are not small accomplishments.
He also produced albums for Jeff Beck, Cheap Trick, Little River Band, Celine Dion, Kenny Rogers, and Neil Sedaka, among others.
That's not a small or unimpressive list of great pop and rock artists.
That in addition to producing Pepper, Revolver and Abbey Road, IMO the three greatest Beatles LPs, as well as the other Beatles albums do indeed make him an extremely impotant rock producer.
That doesn't take anything away from Eno, Quincy, Spector (total douche of a human being but a great producer) or the other producers you named, but seriously, why minimize one of the greats?
Goldfinger Cilla Black? o Shirley Bassey?
That transition from “Golden Slumbers” to “Carry That Weight” is one of my favorites
Where would they be without him? He gave them a polish, depth, sophistication, and innovation they could have never had on their own. He not only knew how to score/arrange musical charts, but he played a variety of instruments, mixed and produced music as well as mastering contemporary innovations in cutting edge studio techniques...and his taste in music was utterly superb....he made them great in my book. ...none of them knew about music like that.
Love all your videos! They are presented really well and always on interesting topics. You do a great job!
However, George Martin did produce the White Album. He took a break later on during the sessions for Let It Be, produced by Phil Spector, and returned for Abbey Road. Abbey Road was the final album The Beatles recorded although they released it before Let It Be.
George was a genius and he was definitely an integral part of The Beatles' sound.
Actually Martin was a producer during Let It Be (Get Back) sessions as well. The single version of Get Back / Don't Let Me Down and Let It Be were produced by him. Phil Spector only took the tapes that was already produced by Martin and "over"produced them, by adding reverb or strings or some other tricks here and there. And he did it like 14 months after the songs were actually recorded in the studio and 5 or 6 months after The Beatles already broke up. Basically he did a remix of what Martin produced before.
I am sentimentally bonded to Martin's contributions; just a happy, creative, strange and wonderful addition that took them into a different place than any other band then or ever
Thank for filling the Beatles documentary fix I needed.
You forgot his piano solo in In My Life, he spent hours perfecting it with more studio tampering. John immediately loved it for the song.
Unbelievable he never got any writing credits.
You forgot George Martin's masterful orchestration to John Lennon's "All You Need Is Love".
The tape loops on Tomorrow Never Knows were thought out and created by Paul and Ringo. The backwards guitar solo on I'm Only Sleeping was written out by George Harrison. The whole idea of backwards music was discovered by John while playing back tapes at his home after recording sessions.
Also, the orchestral build-up of A Day In The Life and the connecting of the two different parts was John and Paul's idea, Martin only realised it. Just like he did on the arrangements of Yesterday, Strawberry Fields Forever, I Am The Walrus, Penny Lane, For No One, the whole Abbey Road album, etc: Paul, John and/or George (Harrison) hummed or sang or played the ideas and melodies for the arrangements that they had in their head to George Martin, who then noted it down. He realised their ideas and sometimes corrected them. For example, Paul wrote the ''For No One'' French Horn solo and hummed it to Martin who then noted it down.
The harpsichord riff on ''Because'' was written out by John after suggesting Yoko Ono to play ''Moonlight Sonata'' backwards. The piecing together of the Abbey Road medley was mostly Paul's idea, Martin only helped with the transitions and the tape cuts.
George Martin was a creative and musical genius, but don't try to downplay the Beatles' role in the making of these unique touches. Most of the times they were the ones who came up with it.
the personal and occasional moments about Martin in books about the Beatles are usually either hilarious or inspiring.
Martin: "...well, we've laid into you guys about what all we expect of you. Do you have anything you'd like to say to us?" George: "Yeah, I don't like your tie." Laughs around the room in hysterics......priceless
This was outstanding! The orchestration pieces you mentioned are my favorite and thus those songs are my favorites because of GM's work on them. Please do one video that includes the rest of the songs he contributed on. No one has done it to such detail. It would be so great relevant to go to Paul and go over each song he contributed on, and how, for example the french horn in Penn y Lane, maybe It was Paul idea and the high pitch but it was maybe GM that created the melody and arrangement.
Don't forget some of the piano solos he played on Beatles songs, most notably "In My Life" and "Lovely Rita". He also composed the guitar solo for "Michelle".
Oh, the guitar solo in "Michelle" is his? Wow. I did not know that
Thanks and I entirely agree. Martin is the best candidate for this title, and a great artist in his own right.
All that and he wrote Game of Thrones, talented guy
Yup, check it out the author of Game Of Thrones. He's definitely called George Martin.
Lex Man HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Different martin
This video is incorrect as he was not the composer for the Beatles. He was producer and arranged orchestra. The songs were written by the Beatles and this is the reason why they are credited for those songs. Martin himself explains this in the US interview.
😂😂😂
Greatest band of all time and the greatest producer of all time.
This channel is dope
What we've all been waiting for! Your videos are truly amazing for musicians and music fans, thank you very much.
We're lucky that sir George Martin joined The Beatles to Create most profound achievement in history of popular music
what about in unpopular music?
I hope this channel never dies. I love these and hope you continue to crank out more
It's probably appropriate to give the 5th Beatle credit to Martin... But never forget Billy Preston or how much influence he had on the band's later music. I believe he was the only non-Beatle musician to get an album liner credit, he had direct songwriting influence during the recording of certain albums, and he even played organ on the famous rooftop concert.
I personally think of Billy Preston as the 5th Beatle and George Martin the Beatles' Dad.
Valid point
Billy was great, but he wasn't that much of an influence over the full course of their career. He was only a feature on some of Let It Be.
I agree Billy was great. However your claim that he had influence on songs over certain albums is not correct. Billy on appeared on one album, Let It Be. And the film clearly shows them rehearsing the songs before Billy was asked to join. And the only reason he was asked to join is George Harrison had quit and one of the conditions for his return was to use Billy to help flush out the live sound. And to ease tensions. He appears on two songs on Abbey Road. Not hardly the influence that Martin had.
You can hear someone, presumably Martin, playing harmonium uncredited behind many of the songs as early as the Help album. From this video, it becomes much more clear to me how Martin stitched the Beatles disparate ideas together, and made them seem coherent on vinyl. He was truly an indispensable part of their success.
Ah, this video could have been 20minutes long. 8 is too short for my curiosity on the subject, but great work nonetheless!
FishTales there’s a series on PBS and they have an album focusing on the Beatles pretty prominently. I think you’d love it.
Thanks so much, I'll definitely check it out. If you want anything new- the Beatles' Vevo channel uploaded a bunch of great new releases.
Martin was indeed the 5th Beatle. But a lot of the things the video attributes to him, were actually Paul´s ideas. The medley in Abbey Road, the strings in Yesterday, the orchestral ending and the big E chord in A day in life... all Paul´s ideas. Martin did what Paul asked him to do, and he did it brilliantly.
I know it’s been beaten to death, but I’d love to hear you do one on Sgt Pepper, Abbey Road, Revolver, or the White Album. Even one on how The Beatles and Beach Boys influenced each other. I think you have a very distinct and interesting way of breaking down explanations of these huge icons in a unique fashion that lifelong fans like myself and new fans can still enjoy. Great work!
I totally agree with you on what you said and appreciate as much the great videos put put out for us with such good quality and interesting information.
if you watch McCartney's Pitchfork interview he says it was him that came up with the idea of the 'orchestral swells' on 'A Day In The Life', just Martin orchestrated it.
I think he's pretty handsome. Love his blue eyes. Wow, he did a lot to make Sgt. Peppers a fantastic album!
Excellent video. Everything was on point. I really liked the coloring of Martin in the photos as well as the text you used in the beginning. Thanks
Please make a video on Black Sabbath
Rodney Rebello +1
I had no idea Martin was responsible for the orchestral arrangements in many of the Beatles’ songs. Thanks for the upload!
How about, doing a video on the genious that is known as Weird Al Yankovic? :)
j0hnn13K "Weird Al and the Importance of Parody"
Honestly, Al is a musical genius. But what he chooses to apply that genius to allows it to be easily over looked.
Yes, but without the "importance of creating something TO parody", there is no parody.
No
You are the clearest and best musical essayest on UA-cam. Each video is entertaining but not sensationalistic; words are precise but not sterile; background music is complimentary but not annoying/screeching/rap/rock. You don't have to use the words "cool" and "awesome" like every other copycat-poser does to impart a sense of being in the know. The result- the most informative, entertaining and worthwhile videos of their type. Please don't change or stop.
Billy Preston was the only other contender as the 5th Beatle. It was when Billy was recording with them on their last couple of albums that this title began. In time people realised, that if it was really relevant for anyone, it had to be for George, because he was creatively involved with most of their albums.
This channel is a must for those who really dig music.
Man I love this channel
The music mastering from videos of the polyphonic are incredible amazing!
To be fair Yesterday would have been a massive hit no matter what. The song speaks for itself.
Agree. It sounds fine the first time too
Whereas some have also suggested Billy Preston, he was there at the very end and could only be seriously considered if the band had continued on, recorded more records, and played out with him. George Martin was deeply involved in all aspects of the band. From playing "
harpsichord"(sped up piano) on In My Life, to having them speed up Please ,Please Me to John , suggesting a "feel" to a song and trusting Martin could musically flesh it out.
Let’s not forget the solo on Michelle he wrote
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite is one of my favorite Beatles songs. I love that you educated me on George Martin because I had no idea. :)
valarya
Actually, I’ll educate you. This video is very inaccurate and in no way is George Martin the 5th Beatle.
You should do a video about The Who (Great video btw)👍
YES!!!!!! FINALLY someone besides me says this! NO ONE was more responsible for the Beatles sound outside of the Beatles themselves more than GM!!!!!!!!
Paul has also said if there was a fifth Beatle it would have been George M. So there you have it. George Martin inducted as a member of the group.
I feel like you could have even mentioned his work on Love. 40 years later and using only existing songs, he and his son did some of the best sample work that puts many modern producers to shame.
I never thought of George Martin as the fifth Beatle but now I can't believe I DIDN'T think of him as the fifth Beatle.
the oldest member of the band
Some of the things you point to Martin for were actually the genius of Geoff Emerick. Not taking anything away from Martin but he wasn't the sole person in the control room.
Iconic, Iconic, I conic. Every video. Try "definitive" or "quintessential" or "classic" perhaps.
I love that he was never in studio to replace the Beatles or to work for them. The guys talent is still undeniable. What Martin did was to help them to shape their ideas and bring them to life. He never impose himself. Yesterday's string part was composed by both Martin and McCartney, the same as Eleanor Rigby, he actually thought Paul how to transcribe his music from guitar to strings. The idea of a messy loud climax in A Day In The Life was John and Paul's. Martin came up with the idea of an orchestral crescendo.
Don't forget Geoff Emerick's contributions
Music has changed a lot. I think one thing we're missing in todays music isn't talent but a great producer. A lot of people do not realize how important the producer is to most of your favorite songs/records. A lot of bands work within their own box and the producer can give the band insight and help them play with their ideas even further which is exactly what George did. We need better producers.
Can you do a video about jimi hendrix
George Martin is ABSOLUTELY the fifth Beatle; if we’re thinking musically, there’s no contest; he was the only musician who consistently played with the band in the studio; a musical player coach for the greatest band in the land
half of this is Geoff Emerick's work
As I though you wouldn't mention his contribution to 'In my life', you just did. And even if you didn't, it would be a great look on Martin's music work. Thanks a lot for this post.
Make a video on Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones
One of the best producers ever!!
Can you do something about radiohead?
Watch warrenmusic or something like that. The guy has a lot of content on Radiohead.
David Orbet Cárdenas good call
YES
pleb
1:56
I was listening using only my right earbud and there was no change at all
Give us smth about King Crimson please or Tool..
jojo ?
Love how you put these videos together, excellent.
Don't forget that in the case of Strawberry Fields, he's not pitching the song down, it is actually an ability of the Mellotron Keyboard to do that, who in that song was played by Paul.
The Mellotron was played that way, yea. He pitched the orchestra part down a bit to fit in with the band's take.Two different things here.
Great piece as always. I would recommend a piece on Paul Weller one of the most influential and least known in North America. Drove the popularity of mod and pre- punk with The Jam, pushed new wave fusion with the style council and was a big influence on Oasis. The Godfather of Mod.
Not to be a contrarian, but i believe George Martin needed the Beatles as much as they needed him. Pauls cloyingly sweet sense-of extreme jazz band musicality, Lennons sense of surrealism and menace, Harrison’s Indian interest, use of altered chords and poly rhythms and Ringo Starr’s nasal voice mixed with righty/lefty drum control/contortions. You also get the feeling with all the talents in the Beatles they could never have stayed together because of divergent interests.
DAVID KORNBLATT
You’re not being contrarian at all... you just made a stronger case for George Martin being the fifth Beatle... smh.
I didn't know any of this. Very informative! Thank you!!
George Martin never told The Beatles to fire Pete Best. That is hogwash.
He may not have thought that Best was good enough to make records but it didn't matter anyway because although The Beatles had already hired Ringo, Martin still wasn't convinced and brought in Session Drummer Andy White to record Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You. Eleanor Rigby used a Double Quartet, not a String Quartet as on Yesterday. The Bealtes never wanted to repeat themselves.
Don't forget the ground breaking innovation by mister Geoff Emmerick, the sound engineer of the beatles. He had to endure a lot as the band just pummeled him with absurd request after absurd request and it led to true innovation.