Reddit reviews Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles

A couple years ago I read this book by a former sound engineer for the Beatles:

Here There and Everywhere

It is the first book in 30 some years which actually provided new information about their musical development as well as insight into the Beatles' relationships and roles in the band.

I am no Beatles scholar but I understand that the breakup was bitter and that these guys were flawed human beings just like the rest of us.

I never want to detract from George Martin's contributions, but I have always been shocked and disappointed at how little credit is given to those Abby Road engineers. Geoff Emerick played such a key role in their music yet remained quiet and modest while virtually no mention is given of him in most Beatle biographies and documentaries.

Finally a few years ago he released an auto-biography a few years ago about being one their sound engineers. It's a great, fascinating read.

EDIT: Abbey Road...damit.

A producer sometimes makes a big difference in the end product. A big example of this was George Martin's role with the Beatles. It's arguable whether they would have gotten the exact tone in music had Martin not have been behind it all. Reading Here There And Everywhere by George Emerick I grew to appreciate not just the producer's role in music but that of the sound engineers. It's all a cohesive product and the better producers out there are known for what they bring to the table. Hell, even radiohead couldn't get through "In Rainbows" without eventually going back to Nigel Godrich. With electronic music, the influence that someone could have as a producer is magnified, since most of the time there is no band. Hip-hop producers like RJD2, Madlib and J Dilla especially are known for their unique sound and are highly sought after.

George did not write the solo. Eric Clapton wrote and played it at the time of the recording. The point is that George couldn't actually play nearly as well as Eric, in fact during the early years of the Beatles Paul had to play almost all of the solos in their recordings because George simply was not able to play them. Which is funny, since they're extremely easy.
I'm not trying to take away from George's worth as a musician or songwriter, but he was not a very good guitarist.

Source for what I said is http://www.amazon.com/Here-There-Everywhere-Recording-Beatles/dp/1592401791

Daniel Lanois

Ken Scott

Ken Caillat

Geoff Emerick

Michael Beinhorn

Sylvia Massey

In fact, this article is referring to this instance (the one in "Hey Jude"). The mention of the book Here, There and Everywhere near the beginning made me think that it was a swear in the song "Here There and Everywhere." After listening to that song twice and not even figuring out where the line this article mentions, I remembered that the lyrics he was referring to are actually in "Hey Jude," and went back and reread it to discover that you and the author of this article are in fact talking about the same instance.

So, basically the author of this article has the wrong Beatle. D'oh!

Put this on your reading list as well, it's by the recording engineer that was there for Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, and Abbey Road! Such a fantastic perspective, I feel like it paints a very honest picture of them.