Geoff Emerick (1945–2018)

This book should be read by every Beatles fan. Similarly, it is probably just as important for any musician to delve into this story of the engineer who worked on almost every Beatles album. And, while I am not removed enough from these two titles to properly evaluate the reaction, I would think anyone with a passing acquaintance to either of these subjects would find it fascinating.

This is the autobiography of Geoff Emerick. Emerick started working with EMI just as the Beatles were getting show more started and, in short order, he was a part of their initial work. As time went on, Emerick became more and more involved and in charge of engineering their albums.

This leads to what is probably the most fascinating part of the book – the recording of Seargent Pepper’s. The Beatles needed innovation, and he was there to innovate.

His story also lays the groundwork for the eventual breakup. This has all been chronicled in Peter Jackson’s “Get Back”. But Emerick was there during the White Album. And the fractures were already there.

Because it is an autobiography, there may be more of his private life – life as a child, dating, etc. – than most of us care about. But it does paint the picture of who he was/is.

My one quibble is that there are very exact quotes throughout the book and, unless Emerick has an eidetic memory, one has to question just accurate those are. (As poet Olen Miller said, “Of all liars, the smoothest and most convincing is memory.”) I think these must be taken with a grain of salt. But I think it is safe to assume that, while the words might not be perfect, the sentiment behind them is probably accurate

A fascinating, engrossing piece of pop culture history. show less

Geoff Emerick was the recording engineer on many of the Beatles records, such as Revolver, Sergeant Pepper and Abbey Road (and parts of the White Album). The book has a ton of interesting details on how the records were made, and about the personalities of the four Beatles.
In particular it was extremely interesting to learn how they experimented and developed new sounds on Revolver and Sergeant Pepper. There is also a lot of information about John, Paul, George and Ringo, and many other show more people in their orbit, including many interesting anecdotes. The book is well written, and easy to read.
If you are interested in the Beatles, and want to learn more about how their music was developed and recorded, this is an excellent read. show less

I have to add a disclaimer on here - I'm a huge Beatles nut, so I'm going to devour just about anything written about them. But I have to say that this book is by far one of the best I've read so far. Geoff Emerick worked on several of the Beatles' early albums, and in 1966, he became their main sound engineer, which meant he helped create Revolver, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Abbey Road, and part of the White Album. This also means that he had a lot of insight into how the show more Beatles worked together, both creatively and personally.

The book is fairly straightforward: it chronicles Geoff's initial love of music, his first job at Abbey Road studios under producer George Martin, and his first encounters with the Beatles in 1962. While the narration deviates slightly to talk about other side projects Geoff was working on, it always comes back to his time with the Beatles in the studio, and watching their music evolve over the years.

The middle part of the book is where it really starts to get interesting, though, because these are the chapters when Geoff explains how Revolver & Sgt. Pepper were made, and how the tensions between the Beatles began to grow. The stories behind these innovative songs are fascinating, but the true heart of the book is Geoff's account of how the band came together to make music, and how outside pressures and creative differences ultimately drove them apart. There's a lot of emphasis on the Beatles' personalities, both individually and as a group, and it's this perspective that makes the book unique, as there weren't many people allowed inside the studio when the Beatles were recording.

There's a brief account of the work Geoff did on the Paul McCartney & Wings album, Band on the Run, but for me, this wasn't as interesting as his accounts of working with the entire band. The book is also very heavy on the technical details, which are likely to be foreign to anyone who doesn't have a background in music or in sound engineering, but I found it easy to skim over these parts. At any rate, the technical passages are a good representation of how much work went into these songs, particularly in the last half of the Beatles's career.

Despite the jargon-heavy nature of this book, there's a real sense of tragedy and loss when Geoff recalls the last few months before the Beatles dissolved for good. As a reader, I was present from the first energetic recording sessions at Abbey Road, so to see the Beatles grow, transform, and then fall apart before my eyes was heartbreaking. But Geoff's account also breathes new life into these songs; after all, who would have guessed that there was so much stress associated with the production of "All You Need is Love?"

This book is highly recommended for music fans & for Beatles fans, regardless of their familiarity with the technical aspects of music and recording. It breathes new life into the near-mythic story of the Beatles's rise and fall from power.

For an even more in-depth look at the Beatles's career, try Bob Spitz's biography, which tops out at one thousand pages - plenty of well-researched information to satisfy even the most die-hard Beatles fan. show less

I enjoyed this a lot and read it almost straight through. Emerick's recollections of events that happened 35-40 years before seem almost too detailed to believe, but given their importance and the personalities involved, I'm willing to give him he benefit of the doubt. He is definitely in Paul McCartney's camp, showing Paul as the leader and the stabilizing force who kept the Beatles together as long as he could. George Martin gets a lot of credit, but Emerick clearly considers his own show more contributions to be equal to achieving the best moments in the Beatles' recordings. (I didn't find Emerick to be the modest fellow Elvis Costello portrays him as in his introduction.) Throughout the book, George Harrison's guitar playing comes in for a LOT of criticism, as he fails take after take and, in a few cases, Paul McCartney has to step in to reel off an effortless solo after hours of Harrison's attempts. John Lennon emerges as the conflicted character we expect him to be. Certainly he's the most erratic and ultimately most interesting person here, but Emerick's depiction of Lennon's interactions with Yoko Ono are just plain weird. And I guess they were...

Definitely a book any Beatles fan will want to read. There are lots of details about the recordings that will have you pulling them out again, or streaming them, to see what Emerick is talking about. Most of us will agree with his observations on more modern music when there are unlimited recording tracks and unlimited digital tricks so that what emerges lacks the human element that made the Beatles such a lasting phenomenon. show less