HB and remembering the man that took the Beatles from mediocrity, to legend... Sir George Martin. Martin was told about Brian Epstein, who was managing a pop group that had been turned down by the majority of labels including Decca. He arranged to meet Epstein on 13 February 1962, where he heard the Decca recordings, which he thought unpromising. He did, however, think well of John Lennon and Paul McCartneys vocals. The pair met again on 9 May at Abbey Road, where they agreed on a contract without Martin having met The Beatles or seen them perform. The contract, which he felt gave him nothing to lose, promised The Beatles a royalty of one penny for each record sold. George Martin agreed to sign the contract only when he had heard an audition from the band. This took place on 6 June 1962, produced by Ron Richards with engineer Norman Smith. Martin was not present at the session, but did meet the band and listened to the recordings. While he thought the bands original songs below par, he was impressed by their wit: when he asked them if there was anything they didnt like, George Harrison replied, I dont like your tie. From then on the session was filled with jokes, which warmed Martin towards them. The Beatles returned to Abbey Road on 4 September, with new drummer Ringo Starr, for their first session with George Martin. He made them record How Do You Do It, which the band reluctantly agreed to, along with Love Me Do and a slower version of Please Please Me. Unhappy with Ringos drumming, Martin made them re-record Love Me Do a week later with session drummer Andy White. When it reached number 17 in the charts, Martin brought them back into the studio to record a follow-up. Please Please Me was recorded in November 1962. At the end of the session, he addressed the band from the control room, telling them: Gentlemen, you have just made your first number one record. Many early Beatles songs were rehearsed and arranged on the spot in the studio, immediately prior to recording. As The Beatles confidence and curiosity in the studio grew, George Martin encouraged them to experiment, and gradually the old conventions of recording was questioned and often discarded. Martin acted as the bands arranger, and he played piano on a number of songs from the release of the Please Please Me album. He suggested adding a string quartet to Yesterday, and scored other songs including Eleanor Rigby and Penny Lane. He was also called upon to offer solutions to the musically-untrained Beatles often wayward requests. These included the splicing together of two takes, recorded in different keys and tempi, of Strawberry Fields Forever, the circus noises on Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!, and the realisation of the orchestral climaxes during A Day In The Life.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 18:08:37 +0000