Loved the book until I got to his discussion of "All You Need Is Love" where he says that John and George made some mistakes during the live recording but Paul played flawlessly. Paul makes a very obvious mistake at the end of the song (actually losing his place and stopping for half a bar)....that coupled with Geoff's continual pro-McCartney commentary made me wonder how much of his recollections were accurate. Very disappointing to me.
@sagnyc At the end of the song where they are repeating the "love is all you need" phrase, Paul is playing a "1-5" repetitive line (root/5) and then plays wrong note, stops, let's out a "whoa" and then picks up the 1-5 cadence/riff at the start of the next measure. If you focus on the bass during that section of the song, you can hear it pretty clearly. I really loved the book up until that point and just wondered how many of Geoff's other recollections were incorrect.
Geoffs book is outstanding as is his work for the Beatles and other notable rock bands of that era. What a loveable and humble gentleman, not to mention a brilliant example to our youth what hard work and determination can do. God Bless you Geoff!
NOT happy about the inaccurate memories of George's guitar playing. Come on Geoff, you should know why George was last to add his guitar solos ? Let's get the facts right in the second edition.
They couldn't get the American bass sound because they didn't understand the sophistication of the production coming out of LA. They didn't understand that Brian Wilson was using three basses playing the same part.
@powerleg Maybe but a lot of the records they were comparing were motown stuff, also there was a limit to the amount of low frequency they could put on a record because the label was concerned with records skipping after some 250,000 singles they pressed skipped due to excessive low frequency.
I read the book, and it's interesting - although not exactly the "holy grail." of Beatledom. Sure, Emerick is due his 15 minutes of fame, but it's still one man's biased remembrances and I take it with a grain of salt. For instance, he constantly disparages George Harrison's abilities - he couldn't nail his guitar parts, etc. One gets the impression the later Beatles records should have been credited: "PRODUCED BY GEOFF EMERICK (assisted by George Martin, and the Beatles.)" :
@dumont1957 - Those are his recollections. Maybe those were the circumstances with George. The thing is, he was there, so why wouldn't his words have credit? Most of the history of the Beatles' sessions were written by historians after the fact, who weren't there. I think to underestimate his credibility would be a mistake, and a little disrespectful. After all, he got the gig! And I think the fact that George didn't play the solo on "Taxman" says something.
This trio of videos were so enjoyable. Thank you for posting them!
I concur with everyone who feels that Sir Geoff deserves far more credit for the "mature" Beatles sound than he's generally received so far, though Ken Scott engineered my personal favorite Beatles album.
Yep, one of the best music books ever. Hard to believe he can remember it so perfectly though...like George Martin telling John to play the harmonica on Love me Do when he'd already played it before...maybe he or his co-author did some reading before hand ;-)
@bestofwatch - I'm guessing the co-author put much of the book together after hours and hours of interviews with Geoff. Therefore, Geoff could have been recalling memories of a particular session taken from interviews from different times. Just a theory.
Of all of the books I have read about the Fabs, Emerick's seems to be the one that allows the reader to feel they are right there in the studio! His book is a MUST READ for all Beatles fans. What he and everyone else had to work with was so primitive that it really had to be a guy like him with a real knack and knowledge of how sound is recorded, to make them sound as well as they did. Major hats off to Emerick, cannot say enough how cool this man is!!
i read his book..i liked it...BUT..he favored paul way to much...now paul is still recording and uses geoff still....as he did during the wings period as well
so that may have some reason as to him favoring him...
he also took a bit too much credit...and slighted george martin as well as he did john, george and ringo
Loved the book until I got to his discussion of "All You Need Is Love" where he says that John and George made some mistakes during the live recording but Paul played flawlessly. Paul makes a very obvious mistake at the end of the song (actually losing his place and stopping for half a bar)....that coupled with Geoff's continual pro-McCartney commentary made me wonder how much of his recollections were accurate. Very disappointing to me.
usrphil77 2 months ago
@usrphil77
Where's Paul's mistake? I'm curious.
sagnyc 2 months ago
@sagnyc At the end of the song where they are repeating the "love is all you need" phrase, Paul is playing a "1-5" repetitive line (root/5) and then plays wrong note, stops, let's out a "whoa" and then picks up the 1-5 cadence/riff at the start of the next measure. If you focus on the bass during that section of the song, you can hear it pretty clearly. I really loved the book up until that point and just wondered how many of Geoff's other recollections were incorrect.
usrphil77 2 months ago
hey, great video. Id liuke to cite this as a refernce for my essay. where is this taken from?? thanks
metalupyourass9 7 months ago
@Rightsideup I completely agree. I was fascinated with his book and I'd kill to tip a few pints at the local with this guy.
jrichview 8 months ago
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Geoffs book is outstanding as is his work for the Beatles and other notable rock bands of that era. What a loveable and humble gentleman, not to mention a brilliant example to our youth what hard work and determination can do. God Bless you Geoff!
dagocrazy1 9 months ago
NOT happy about the inaccurate memories of George's guitar playing. Come on Geoff, you should know why George was last to add his guitar solos ? Let's get the facts right in the second edition.
FoxyFreedomvideo 11 months ago
@FoxyFreedomvideoOkay brains, sounds like you know plenty. What are the facts ?
steve999m 10 months ago
They couldn't get the American bass sound because they didn't understand the sophistication of the production coming out of LA. They didn't understand that Brian Wilson was using three basses playing the same part.
powerleg 11 months ago
@powerleg Maybe but a lot of the records they were comparing were motown stuff, also there was a limit to the amount of low frequency they could put on a record because the label was concerned with records skipping after some 250,000 singles they pressed skipped due to excessive low frequency.
flugtager 9 months ago
Thanks for posting this...wow...so %$^&! interesting...
Rockestra63 1 year ago
Amazing book, amazing man!
Love you, Geoff!
LuciaBBG 1 year ago 4
I read the book, and it's interesting - although not exactly the "holy grail." of Beatledom. Sure, Emerick is due his 15 minutes of fame, but it's still one man's biased remembrances and I take it with a grain of salt. For instance, he constantly disparages George Harrison's abilities - he couldn't nail his guitar parts, etc. One gets the impression the later Beatles records should have been credited: "PRODUCED BY GEOFF EMERICK (assisted by George Martin, and the Beatles.)" :
dumont1957 1 year ago
@dumont1957 - Those are his recollections. Maybe those were the circumstances with George. The thing is, he was there, so why wouldn't his words have credit? Most of the history of the Beatles' sessions were written by historians after the fact, who weren't there. I think to underestimate his credibility would be a mistake, and a little disrespectful. After all, he got the gig! And I think the fact that George didn't play the solo on "Taxman" says something.
LanceATL 10 months ago
Comment removed
dumont1957 1 year ago
This trio of videos were so enjoyable. Thank you for posting them!
I concur with everyone who feels that Sir Geoff deserves far more credit for the "mature" Beatles sound than he's generally received so far, though Ken Scott engineered my personal favorite Beatles album.
wesleman47 1 year ago
Yep, one of the best music books ever. Hard to believe he can remember it so perfectly though...like George Martin telling John to play the harmonica on Love me Do when he'd already played it before...maybe he or his co-author did some reading before hand ;-)
bestofwatch 1 year ago
@bestofwatch - I'm guessing the co-author put much of the book together after hours and hours of interviews with Geoff. Therefore, Geoff could have been recalling memories of a particular session taken from interviews from different times. Just a theory.
LanceATL 10 months ago
Of all of the books I have read about the Fabs, Emerick's seems to be the one that allows the reader to feel they are right there in the studio! His book is a MUST READ for all Beatles fans. What he and everyone else had to work with was so primitive that it really had to be a guy like him with a real knack and knowledge of how sound is recorded, to make them sound as well as they did. Major hats off to Emerick, cannot say enough how cool this man is!!
Rightsideup 1 year ago 8
@Rightsideup
i read his book..i liked it...BUT..he favored paul way to much...now paul is still recording and uses geoff still....as he did during the wings period as well
so that may have some reason as to him favoring him...
he also took a bit too much credit...and slighted george martin as well as he did john, george and ringo
ChiroQuacker 10 months ago
@ChiroQuacker Uhhh, he was there. His opinion and experience count a LOT.
myrtlebox 4 months ago
Sir Geoff Emerick Great Book~!
grammarsongs 1 year ago
Fascinating book, so overflowing with real details about how the Beatles created their masterpieces. Puts all other books about the Beatles to shame.
wildshovel 2 years ago
Awesome hearing from the man
bibliac 2 years ago
i cant believe this has had so little views! amazing! thanks for uploading
crazykat13 2 years ago 2