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Here, There and Everywhere : My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles | ||
| Author: | Geoff Emerick, Howard Massey | ||
| ISBN: | 1592401791 | ||
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A fascinating memoir featuring never-before-told stories from Beatles recording engineer Geoff Emerick—the industry legend who made music history by crafting the groundbreaking sound of the group’s most famous records, including Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, and Abbey Road Geoff Emerick was only fifteen years old when he began working with the Beatles as assistant engineer for their early classics “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You.” Incredibly, at the age of nineteen, he was promoted to full engineer, taking the helm for the group’s groundbreaking album Revolver. Ten months later, he joined forces with the Beatles for the recording of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, hailed by Rolling Stone as the greatest album ever made. In their constant quest for experimentation and new sounds—and despite the technical limitations of the pre-digital age—Emerick developed a slew of innovative recording techniques, many of which are still in use today. In Here, There and Everywhere, Emerick tells his story for the first time, taking the reader through the hallowed (though somewhat dingy) corridors of Abbey Road Studios to give rare insights into the Beatles’ unique creative processes and personalities and provide a behind-the- scenes look at how the greatest band of all time made their greatest records. As Emerick describes the Beatles’ transformation from wide-eyed Liverpool teenagers into tour-savvy professionals, he provides a startling picture of the Fab Four. Fascinating and moving, Here, There and Everywhere illuminates the creative tensions within the band that fueled their early success, but would ultimately lead them to record in separate studios while the partnership was disintegrating. FROM THE PUBLISHER A fascinating memoir featuring never-before-told stories from Beatles recording engineerGeoff Emerick¿¿¿the industry legend who made music history by crafting the groundbreaking sound of the group¿¿¿s most famous records, including Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, and Abbey Road Geoff Emerick was only fifteen years old when he began working with the Beatles as assistant engineer for their early classics "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You." Incredibly, at the age of nineteen, he was promoted to full engineer, taking the helm for the group¿¿¿s groundbreaking album Revolver. Ten months later, he joined forces with the Beatles for the recording of Sgt. Pepper¿¿¿s Lonely Hearts Club Band, hailed by Rolling Stone as the greatest album ever made. In their constant quest for experimentation and new sounds¿¿¿and despite the technical limitations of the pre-digital age¿¿¿Emerick developed a slew of innovative recording techniques, many of which are still in use today. In Here, There and Everywhere, Emerick tells his story for the first time, taking the reader through the hallowed (though somewhat dingy) corridors of Abbey Road Studios to give rare insights into the Beatles¿¿¿ unique creative processes and personalities and provide a behind-the- scenes look at how the greatest band of all time made their greatest records. As Emerick describes the Beatles¿¿¿ transformation from wide-eyed Liverpool teenagers into tour-savvy professionals, he provides a startling picture of the Fab Four. Fascinating and moving, Here, There and Everywhere illuminates the creative tensions within the band that fueled their early success, but would ultimately lead them to record in separate studios while the partnership was disintegrating. "We all owe some debt to Geoff Emerick¿¿¿s self-effacing work as an engineer and producer . . . there is very little that any group of scruffy musicians can throw at him that he cannot put into some kind of good sonic order. I feel fortunate to have worked with him." ¿¿¿Elvis Costello Author Biograpy: FROM THE CRITICS Publishers Weekly Emerick was a fresh-faced young engineer in April 1966 when producer George Martin offered him the chance to work with the Beatles on what would become Revolver. He lasted until 1968, when tensions within the group, along with the band members' eccentricities and the demands of the job, forced him to quit after The White Album, exhausted and burned out. In this entertaining if uneven memoir, Emerick offers some priceless bits of firsthand knowledge. Amid the strict, sterile confines of EMI's Abbey Road studio, where technicians wore lab coats, the Beatles' success allowed them to challenge every rule. From their use of tape loops and their labor-intensive fascination with rolling tape backwards, the Beatles-and Emerick-reveled in shaking things up. Less remarkable are Emerick's personal recollections of the band members. He concedes the group never really fraternized with him-and he seems to have taken it personally. The gregarious McCartney is recalled fondly, while Lennon is "caustic," Ringo "bland" and Harrison "sarcastic" and "furtive." Still, the book packs its share of surprises and will delight Beatle fans curious about how the band's groundbreaking records were made. (Mar.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. Library Journal What more can be written about the Beatles? If you happen to have spent most of your formative adult years recording them alongside producer George Martin, quite a bit. With an amazing memory for detail, Abbey Road engineer Emerick paints vivid pictures of a decade of intense recording sessions that quite literally shook the world and of the attendant strain on those who made and shaped the music. Charmingly geeky tech talk abounds, which will prove a little heavy going at first for Beatles novices, though hard-core Fab-o-philes will eat it up with a spoon. Thankfully, Emerick is not above a little dishing: though he's an admitted Paul partisan, each of the Beatles's cuddly public personae gets a reality check. (And, boy, must Yoko's ears be burning!) All in all, Emerick's sincere love for the Beatles and their music shines through. This would make a good fly-on-the-wall companion to the The Beatles Anthology and Bob Spitz's recent The Beatles, or could partner with George Martin's All You Need Is Ears for a look behind the control room glass. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 12/05.]-Matthew Moyer, Jacksonville P.L., FL Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. Kirkus Reviews The Fab Four's sound engineer, present from their first single to their final album, tells all about sharing studio time with the biggest rock band in history. Raised in North London, Emerick became enamored with recorded music as a tot, and with recording it as a teen. A combination of luck and persistence led to his first job, at age 16, at EMI Studios (later renamed Abbey Road), where he spent the next few decades. Within a month, he witnessed the first recording session of a quartet of scruffy Liverpudlians; just three years later, he was thrown into the fire as their sound engineer, working under the legendary "Fifth Beatle," producer George Martin. Decades of all-night recording sessions, simultaneously invigorating and frustrating, followed, and album upon album of innovative, groundbreaking pop classics were recorded, peaking with the universally adored Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and falling to a painful nadir with the spotty Abbey Road. The author writes little of his personal life outside the studio, as he seemed to live and breathe his work. In the end, the reader knows the Beatles about as well as Emerick did-that is, not all that well, as he repeatedly admits. Admirably evenhanded, Emerick makes no secret of his affinity for Paul, whom he characterizes as polite and good-natured, but remains diplomatic when discussing each Beatle (and even Yoko). This British politeness at times works against the book, which can be dry. Overall, however, Emerick provides an informative introduction to the creative process of the 20th century's most influential rock musicians. Extremely technical and sure to alienate non-geeks, but nonetheless an illuminating chronicle.
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