Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I say we sign Ken Scott and Geoff Emerick up for the next WWF all-star slamdown...

If its true that Emerick said that the White Album was all but unlistenable then that would be an indication that he hasn't been taking his medications lately and surely puts many of his 'opinions' into question.

Got the book and can't wait until my London flight this friday do dwelve into it! Also have a Beatles Tour scheduled with Richard Porter: http://www.beatlesinlondon.com

Just read the first 100 pages, and Geoff does indeed slam George Harrison as fumbling, complaining and distracted. The biggest revelation, to me at least, was that they moved to four track recording beginning with the "I Want To Hold Your Hand" sessions. Somehow I had the impression that it wasn't till "Pepper." A pretty quick read, but it doesn't contain much wehaven't heard before. Oh ... no pictures, either.

I have yet to read G.E.'s book. However, in Tony Bramwell's book, George comes off as distracted, painfully chasing down his wife, Patti, who seemed prone to partying. George also is portrayed at one point as obsessed with Hari Krishna to the point of forsaking all things Beatles. Couple that with Lennon's drug and Yoko phase, it seems Paul and Ringo were the only ones motivated to work for a period.
As to TWA feeling unlistenable to Geoff, Keef has said the same thing about "Exile", which IMO is brilliant, so to each his own!

Jerry,

I've got to agree with everything you just wrote! As a manager, I know all too well how hard it is to keep things running smoothly sometimes. When I've seen the Let it Be film, I see Paul as someone trying to keep it all together. George's mind was preoccupied with other stuff. John had Yoko amoung other things. Ringo was Ringo.
GE probably has had a bad taste in his mouth about TWA all these years. He left half way through, didn't he?
"Exile" is in my top 10 must have CD's. The Stones have never been better. (except of course the super bowl show!) haha

Without a doubt, 'Exile' is superb!!

IMO, from reading the book, by the time TWA came around, everyone was sick of everyone else, Emerick included. They had spent so many long hours in the studio, mostly at night, for months on end from Pepper through MMT. Other than the trip to India it was pretty much non-stop. To add to the problems of TWA the Beatles were obviously going their separate ways. Emerick saw George meandering off as far back as Pepper, when Harrison would sometimes show up late for sessions. Harrison's life was likely, already heading elsewhere. The 'group' magic was gone as Emerick saw it by the time they got back in the studio in '68. I don't agree with his assessment of TWA, however.

I listened to TWA over the weekend. Although there are a few tunes I could do without, I doubt I could pare it down to a single album. There's just too much great music on there, with a strong preference toward the sound of the songs that GE worked on!

I think I read somewhere that Harrison was having a pool installed during Sgt Pepper, and wasn't around much at that time.

I think in the Anthology DVD George says he doesn't remember much of making SPLHCB. And I had read many times before he didn't show up for a lot of it.

Read the second hundred pages, and George H again takes a beating. Still no great revelations from Geoff except for one I should have suspected -- Paul often "punched in" his bass parts, using the best bits instead of one complete take. I've recorded, and I know this is standard practice but it kind of took the edge off for me. They are indeed brilliant bass parts, but it would be nice to think he could have played the entire part in one take ...

George said that he enjoyed making Rubber Soul and Revolver. Ringo said he learned to play chess on Pepper.

Judging by the posts here, seems like Emerick's book is not as significant as people were hoping, due to his failing memory. Think I'll wait.

I think I'll buy it now.... before I forget.

Soon all of the books will be written by people like us, who weren't there at all!

I'd rather read half memories by someone who was all there, than what will be written in the next century by people who've gleaned their information from all the books out now.

This post made sense when I was writing it, but now that I read it back...?

It makes sense to me Jerry, but I've been drinking.

I guess if we were expecting detailed techniques on how GE achieved sounds on each Beatles song, we were setting ourselves up to be disappointed. Much of what I've read here, I've read elsewhere before. At times, it seems like GE is remembering things he has heard elsewhere, also. One other revelation, at least to me, is that GE claims the cutting-up-tape-loops-and-reassembling-them trick used in "Mr. Kite" actually was invented for "Tomorrow Never Knows" I hadn't read that. As for GE defending Paul, he several times points out that McCartney does not like criticism and was (is) a perfectionist workaholic. GE also has bad words for George Martin, whom GE claims was an egotist who wanted to hog all the glory for himself. So far, the book seems honest, and supports the many contentions that the band started to fall apart after Brian Epstein's death. Of course any such memoir is colored by time and the skewed viewpoint of the person doing the remembering. I don't think any of us could have come through what the four Beatles survived and been any less affected.