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Another Great Beatle Loss – George Martin dead at 90

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The so-called fifth Beatle has died according to a Twitter message by Ringo.

If true, it’s the sad loss of a great, great man.

http://i.imgur.com/lhnihfO.jpg

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  12. I watched the documentary Produced by George Martin a few weeks ago. Fascinating to see how he was known as the comedy man for producing albums by Peter Sellers and the like. George asks Macca whether the future HJHs felt a bit disappointed that they’d been signed to a comedy label. He hides it well if they were.

    The Jeff Beck albums George produced are among my favourites

    RIP

  13. its impossible to imagine a different producer for the Beatles now. No doubt they’d still have been massive – as Martin always said, they were the ones with the genius. But he seems to have been remarkable open, supportive, and sympathetic in the way he helped them realise their ideas. He never put himself in the spotlight, he worked for his artists not himself.

    Incidentally, isn’t Ringo tweeting this an odd way for the news to break? I hope he had the sanction of the immediate family.

  19. Johnny beat me too it. George was briefly the seventh Stackridge, producing their only LP to bother the charts – the Melody Maker LP charts, not the official UK charts.

    “When a third LP was planned, Stackridge received a boost. George Martin’s son had played Friendliness for his legendary father, and colleagues at Air Studios had pestered him to work with the band. Reluctant, until he heard some demo tapes for the new album, Martin agreed to produce what became The Man in the Bowler Hat, easily Stackridge’s most financially successful and well-known album. Reviewer Chas Keep reveals that Martin worked on the melodic and rhythmic patterns (especially the vocal harmonies), supervised the orchestration, and even contributed piano on “Humiliation.” Andy Mackay of Roxy Music added sax to “Dangerous Bacon,” an infectious tip o’ the hat to the Beatles.

  22. It’s a shame the presenters on BBC Breakfast this morning, including the arts correspondent standing meaninglessly outside Abbey Road, knew next to nothing about him bar a vague appreciation of the Beatles connection. Louise Minchin asked Mark Lewisohn ‘What were the best songs he wrote – the early ones?’ (*sigh*) Mark generously sidestepped that one.

  24. By the lights of the hip groovingest people of the day, he was probably the Ultimate Square. Over thirty, dressed conservatively, affected neither long hair (that came later) or mod mo/beard combo, didn’t drive a psychedelically-painted car or live in a house decorated like a Turkish bordello, indulged in no drugs…but rolled up his sleeves and played midwife to the birth of music so extraordinairily unheard of that Mr Saucecraft is still in denial about it.

  26. He and David Attenborough represent that very old school sensibility of never over-estimating one’s remarkable talent at the expense of hard work, hard graft and selflessness. They came at life whole-heartedly from the perspective of being in service to some kind of higher purpose, to apply their talents do something for the benefit of all, to do something that raised the quality of life for as many people as possible.

    Both men are great communicators above all else in their chosen medium. Attenborough brought the living world to life through his adventures in television and Martin brought the world of recorded music to life through his adventures in production and arrangement.

    Martin wore his greatness lightly and that, above all else, is why he deserves the accolade of being called ‘a truly great man’.

  30. Some lovely tributes paid already. Can’t stop thinking how serendipitous it was that they ended up with George Martin. Can you imagine the Fabs with some dreadful old hack like Norrie Paramor? (One for our elderly readers)
    He spotted there was something there that others hadn’t; he encouraged their experimentation and was able to translate their ideas into musical form and was, almost always, possessed of impeccable taste.
    His background in comedy was very appealing to The Fabs, given their love of the Goons and Peter Sellers and he, in turn, loved their sense of humour. He had a lovely quote where he noted the power of their personalities and that whenever they’d left his company, he found himself missing them keenly.
    He never overplayed his hand and never sought unwarranted credit.
    I had the pleasure of meeting him and his wife briefly on a couple of music biz occasions. He was unfailingly charming, polite and gracious. Lovely man.
    The BBC documentary on him was absolutely excellent, though it rather surprised me to discover that this suave, urbane, polished gentleman was a Cockney from Hackney born in rather impoverished circumstances.

  33. Best George Martin production?

    An obvious choice perhaps, but I think Strawberry Fields Forever must be the one. It’s a stonking tune and it also sums up more than any other single track the genius of George Martin in honing and translating John Lennon’s often (ahem) wayward talent into cutting edge, commercially-minded releases.

    Most notably, and rarely, almost every stage of the process has been preserved in some way on various bootlegs and anthology releases (and in a stroke of genius, these were all masterfully segued together into a single track as part of Giles Martin’s otherwise patchy Love project of 2006).

    1966: An initially formless, meandering, strummed ditty by Lennon… Martin rallies the boys and lets Paul play with a Mellotron to try and create a bit of colour in the piece (first use of what was previously a boutique novelty instrument, I believe, which then went on to be the cornerstone sound in acts as diverse as The Moody Blues and Tangerine Dream)… Which leads to a lazy, dreamy-sounding piece (the apex of psychedelia, no less)… But of course Lennon’s unhappy, and demands that Martin starts from scratch with a full on, funky orchestral maelstrom (which of course Martin pulls out of the bag: brash horns, double (or triple?) tracked drums…)… And Lennon is still not happy… I like both versions, he says, can you stick them together?

    And from what could have understandably resulted in a mental breakdown for our George (balancing the unrelenting needs of a petulant musical moron against a record company nagging him for the next hotly awaited release from their prize act the world hasn’t heard a peep from in months), he instead pulls of the editing job to end all editing jobs. Against all odds (and formal musical logic) he stitches both versions together and ends up with a technicolour masterpiece.

    In truth, his lackeys probably had all the technical nous (I think I heard he rarely touched a console or set up a mic stand), but Martin had the vision and the classical heft to put it into practice.

    • Thanks to @Mousey for bringing this to my attention via Facebook.

      i’ve just watched this again and the two of them in Brian’s studio is fascinating. 1. In they go and muck around with the sound of one of pop’s finest songs suing the master tapes. 2. Look at the intensity of concentration on Brian as George plays around with levels etc. Mapping the thought processes of those 2 would be fascinating and then 3 the last shot there is urbane George and Brian is at the desk drinking straight out of a large plastic bottle of schweppes, no can , no drink size bottle , no glass.

        • That clip is just beautiful. Couple of gentlemen, mutual respect and admiration, both in love with pop. Please don’t take this next bit as a pop against the Fabs, but Brian is transparently honest when he describes his songwriting as coming from the heart – like his heart is physically bursting. The Beatles composed from the head.

          • Agreed, beautiful clip. Thanks.

            But Beatles = head, Wilson = heart? Hm…. Lyrically maybe (Say, Surf’s Up vs Let It Be, to take two tracks of superficially similar intent), but surely not musically? Lennon an Macca were musical primitives, with very little filter between the spark of an idea inside and their fingering of the chords needed to turn it into a song…. Bri was far more about craftsmanship and technical musical knowledge (ie: he could write music).

            • I can’t imagine any Beatle saying something so guileless (and honest) as “the music comes straight from my heart”. Yes, Bri could notate it and arrange it as a musical score, which the Beatles couldn’t, but it’s the source that’s interesting here. It’s not in the lyrics either – Wilson frequently used writing partners because he realised (or thought he did) his own inadequacy in this department. I think Wilson was in awe of the Beatles as “art intellectuals” – one of the reasons he worked with Van Dyke Parks. So I can understand him when he says the music comes direct from his heart – welling wordlessly up from it – whereas the Beatles never considered they had any trouble coming up with the wordy stuff as part of the compositional process. Which happens in the head.

              • Ah, I see what you mean. If by implication that means Brian Wilson’s music is more “honest”, then I think I agree with you. (But what do I mean by “honesty”…. I’m not even sure…)

                • You can be honest with your noggin, too. I’ve given this a bit of thought out on the deck, as I watch the wind whipping up a storm across the Mekong.

                  It’s spirituality. Brian was never afraid to say his music was spiritual; teenage symphonies to God. The Beatles would have felt very uncomfortable making any such claim. But Brian’s heart – bless him forever – was always as open as a child’s in that regard.

                  That’s it, I think. Brian opened up his heart and the godlike music poured out.

                  • Ah, see, I didn’t want to bring G*d into it but you’ve gone and done it.

                    But I’ve also given this some thought as I watch some neds whipping a dead cat beside the Clyde, and I think you’re spot on.

                    Still prefer the Beatles, though.

                  • What an utter load of tommy rot.

                    The Beatles had plenty of songs from the heart- ‘Julia’, ‘Here There & Everywhere’ being but two examples, and as for spirituality and openly mentioning, and singing, about God, ever heard of a chap called George Harrison, and ‘Long Long Long’ for another example ?

                    Hari Bol

                  • The Beatles were dragged up in Irish-Catholic Liverpool. Not the best environment to be imbued with belief in a deity. However, they certainly believed in Love and were very open to spirituality.

                    Have you listened to Lady Madonna lately? It’s almost a parable and, like the best ones, is grounded in grim reality. Paul often wove spiritual images into his songs. Great production. I know George Martin was absent for a lot of the White Album but I think his fingerprints are all over this.

                    http://youtu.be/r9LJp39-lDE

                    • Lennon was most certainly not dragged up, materially speaking. Nice semi with siamese cats and books, a dairy owning Uncle, Dentist cousin etc. ‘Bit of a fruit compared to the others’ (sic). A Lower Middle Class Hero perhaps.

                    • Diddley, I think the main drive behind the song is both an admiration for the lady in question and anger at her plight. The fact it is inventive and smart is secondary, IMV.

    • Ah, the ker-ching of the cash-in rings down through the years. The concept of ‘Beatle girls’ doesn’t survive much beyond the second track. I suppose a Yellow Submarine could be a ‘she’, like with ships… ‘And Your Bird Can Sing,’ that’s about a woman, right? Girls like sunshine and sleeping, bung them on…

              • Notice how the hand-wringing Corbynite lefties have now have retrospectively declared that the excellent Piggies is a “mean spirited song” and “one of the weakest tracks” in the Beatles’ canon?

                    • “Notice how the hand-wringing Corbynite lefties have now have retrospectively declared that the excellent Piggies is a “mean spirited song” and “one of the weakest tracks” in the Beatles’ canon?” – CITATION NEEDED.

                      I’d be surprised if “Corbynite” “lefties” occupied themselves with the relative merits of White Album tracks. That’s for frothing Trump-loving wingnuts, who have nothing better to do, Shirley?

                    • Whatever you do, don’t mention ‘Run for your life, little girl’ at the next plenary meeting.

                    • The clear implication of your post was that some idiot handwringing Corbynite lefty had responded to George Martin’s death by applying some political correctness to the Beatles’ back catalogue. Whereas in fact you simply dug out some tendentious Beatle factoid on the back of ianess’s really rather witty quote with the intention of actually annoying handwringing Corbynite lefties.

                      I think that’s called trolling, isn’t it? Whatever, Saucecraft and I fell for it hook, line and sinker, as so graphically illustrated above, so I guess you’re happy.

                    • Not quite.

                      The Piggies thing has been raised several times on the forum in the past. It seems to annoy some of the more right-on posters which is very odd indeed because the song seems to be aimed squarely at the fat cat capitalists and straights, one of the reasons it was originally adopted by the Manson family.

                      And yet, here we are almost 50 years later and George’s anti-capitalist song is being roundly condemned as “mean spirited” by the luvvies on the left.

                      What a turn-up for the books. That’s worthy of comment on a music forum, surely?

                    • I completely agree with you. Condemnation of Piggies for being ‘mean-spirited’ is absurd, and any right-on posters on this forum who hold such a view should come forward for a damn good whacking. I doubt you’ll be killed in the rush though. As for whether it’s one of the weakest tracks in the Beatles canon, that’s a matter of opinion, and I doubt it divides down party lines.

                      A much more interesting question is, why now? Why here? Why bother? Unless it’s to get a rise out of people?

                    • No particular reason other than I’m reminded of the absurdity whenever the song is mentioned.

                      An equally interesting question could be, why does it bother you enough to make such a federal issue out of a throwaway post? Are you now policing the blog in order to stamp out such comments?

                    • Because your post arrived in the middle of a fond, celebratory and respectful thread about George Martin like a fart at a funeral.

                    • I never cease to get joy from pointing out to frothing lefties the error of continually posting ‘Revolution’ on social media as a call to arms for the morally pure to lynch and guillotine the better off.

                    • I’d have thought there were many obvious parallels between Charlie and Jezza. Both are short, bearded, institutionalised, thick, rebellious, rejected by mainstream society, zealots, holders of bizarre worldviews which have bafflingly attracted a few young, damaged individuals into their orbit.
                      As for the White Album, plenty of pickings for Jeremy – Back in the USSR, Revolution, Goodnight, Piggies, and Everybody’s Got Something to Hide (especially me and John McDonnell)

                  • Since it’s my “fond, celebratory and respectful thread” I think that’s my prerogative.

                    And in any case there are any number of dismissive/unpleasant/irrelevant comments on this thread from other posters. No one cares except you. As usual.

                    • … taking into account of course, that the frothing morally pure quite often live in plush and spacious more than above average houses, employ foreign domestic staff for a paltry wage
                      whilst preaching the gospel of a cardiganed twat in The Gaurdian, written before his bedtime at 7pm. He does get tired you know, and that makes him very cross and even more deluded than usual.

  37. Let’s not forget that George produced The Action…..a West London mod group who made five terrific Parlophone 45s in the mid-60s that rival The Who, The Stones, The Yardbirds, Spencer Davis, The Kinks et al every step of the way.
    I wonder why he didn’t use his influence to make an LP?

    If I only had room for 50 CDs, ‘The Ultimate Action!’ would definitely be one I’d keep.

  40. RIP GEORGE MARTIN YOU DID A CARELESS WHISPER IN THE BOGS THAT TIME ARE THUOGHTS ARE WITH ANDREWE RIDGLEY AT THIS TIME GUESS ILL BE PLAYIN SOME WHAM TONITE – LOUD. RIP MATE JASE FROM SALES

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