Geoff Emerick Interview

[rick36]

Tracks #2 - #9 (less Helter Skelter) on the Anthology #3, Disc #1 are in fact Kinfauns demo's (taken from George Harrisons original tape copy). The whole lot of about 20 tracks were available on a VigoTone (now defunct) CD in basically awful audio quality. I'd love to hear all of them in Anthology quality...

[shamustwin]

Thanks, J.W., I'll have a listen. My Anthology listening sessions have been limited to disc two, primarily, my fave.

[8mileshigher]

J.W. is correct. The "Kinfaun demos" are a term coined by writer Walter Everett in his authoritative book "The Beatles as Musicians - Revolver through The Anthology". The Anthology #3 tracks listed by J.W. above are the same, the Kinfaun demos that Everett mentions in his book.

If only all bootlegs could be of superior sound quality ..... Regards Rich F.

[brammy]

>>>how quickly a Beatles song went from demo to fully recorded song.... and then out the door to the public.

good observation.... we all know that in the early days they would complete multiple songs in one session, but even during Pepper (I'm just getting to that part) the total amount of time spent on Strawberry Fields Forever was only a few days.

Amazing. I sometimes take longer than that to get out of bed in the morning.

[lennonon]

Actually I recently heard a private non-professional remaster of the Kinfaus demos, done in protools and it easily rivaled the Anthology quality. Well, perhaps not easily, but it sounded FAR from inferior.

[firstbassman]

I don't wish to rehash old issues (what Emerick actually did or didn't do) but having just finished reading the book all I wanted to say was that it was VERY interesting (to someone such as myself who knew little about the inner workings of Beatle records). I assume at least most of it was true.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

Going back a bit, my hats off to Paul as a lead guitarist. I never knew he did the Taxman lead. If he did that, then I'm guessing he also did the one on Good Morning Good Morning? Sounds similar, and that strident, overdriven rococo lead sound seems to me to have influenced many British bands of the late 60's, most notably the Moody Blues. Wow, Paul!

[rick36]

I'm sure Paul also played the lead on Fixing A Hole, one of my favorite leads. For that matter, he probably played the lead guitar on just about all of 'Pepper'. I think that, for the most part, George did mainly Sitar and vocals.

[firstbassman]

Yeah, that was pretty much what Geoff wrote as I recall.
And that McCartney played drums on a lot of Beatle cuts too.

Besides slamming George's playing (as mentioned VERY early on in this thread) Emerick claims that Ringo was a very insecure drummer who had trouble keeping the beat. (!)
Sort of puts a damper on the old story about Pete Best kicked out because Ringo was a better drummer.

Uh-oh. I am bringing up the old issues, aren't I?

[jt10824]

No, Mark, that's NOT what Emerick said in his book.

He does NOT say that McCartney played drums on a lot of Beatles cuts, only that he showed Ringo the parts he wanted played on a lot of cuts. As I believe is documented pretty much everywhere, Ringo played drums on virtually all Beatles recordings (notable exceptions being Back In The USSR, Dear Prudence, the remake of Love Me Do, and The Ballad Of John And Yoko), and Emerick's book does not say otherwise.

He also does NOT claim that Ringo had trouble keeping the beat, nor that he was unsure of himself... except when it came to doing fills. In point of fact, he is quite complimentary to Ringo's drumming, talking with great admiration about how hard he hit the drums (apparently, there would be a pile of wood chips around the drums after sessions from all the splintered sticks) and about how GOOD a timekeeper he was (the one exception he names was during the backing track of I Am The Walrus, due to its length and slow tempo).

I also disagree with your opinion that Emerick "slams" George Harrison's playing, though I know that seems to be the popular myth surrounding the book. The way I read it, Emerick simply describes everyone's frustration with Harrison's ability to create and play his solos in the early days, and he talks sympathetically about how he got short shrift from the others, talking specifically about how Paul in particular used to give Harrison a hard time and was often all too ready to show him up. And Emerick's admiration for George Harrison as a guitarist and songwriter grows by leaps and bounds the further you read on -- by the time of the recording of Abbey Road, he has only positive things to say about him musically.

Emerick has absolutely nothing to say, BTW, about Pete Best, because he was fired from the band before their first session (which Emerick sat in on). FWIW, I happen to think Ringo was a MUCH better drummer than Pete Best, at least based on the recordings I've heard.

[shamustwin]

I read it the same way, John.
Lennon and McCartney and even Ringo were more natural musicians in the early days.

George kicked butt later on. And he always had the coolest hair.

[rickboy88]

I really liked the book as well. I literally stumbled on it when I drifted into Borders one day. I had no clue it was out, and remember mentioning it on the Rickenbacker corporate forum. I liked the insights to the various personalities, including Lennon who often was unpleasant to be around, especially during the White Album sessions (mainly due to the drug use). I found it interesting that Ringo might have been his least favorite Beatle - at least that is the impression I got from more than one comment.
Can someone clear up for me who recorded on "I, Me Mine?". I thought it was just Paul and George, but I think that Emerick also refers to Ringo being there. I thought that he and Lennon were away though. The drumming sounds more like Paul.

[rick36]

I also enjoyed the book tremendously. I'm sure that Geoff has no ill feelings toward either George or Ringo, he's just telling it from his own myopic viewpoint. It had to be subjective in that his role was that of collaborator, albeit one who was generally dismissed by the group as a being a necessary evil, especially in the beginning.
There is a great deal of technical information which only a few have access to - let alone the anecdotes (such as the hysterically funny tale of the mealtime rituals and the sampling of one of George's bisquits by the ever present and generally reviled Yoko). I think the book is revealing, funny, and sad all at once. I recommend it highly to everyone, especially to those whose concept of music was forever altered by The Beatles.

[jt10824]

Every memoir or autobiography is by definition myopic and subjective. But the joy of reading a good one like Emerick's is that you get an honest sense of how he viewed the world around him (which, of course, centered around the Beatles for seven amazing years), without sugar-coating.

[jt10824]

David,

According to both Emerick and Lewisohn, only John was missing from the "I Me, Mine" session, so presumably it was Ringo playing drums.

Lewisohn also provides an interesting quote from the session tapes: Before the final take, George Harrison is heard mock-reading a formal press statement to the handful of people in the studio, saying, "You all will have read that Dave Dee is no longer with us. But Micky and Tich and I would just like to carry on the good work that's always gone down in Number Two." The reference is to a short-lived British pop group of the sixties called Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Micky & Tich, and I believe they left the dialogue in on the version on the Anthology. (No word on whether Harrison was calling himself Dozy or Beaky! )