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

by Emerick, Geoff; Massey, Howard

• ISBN13: 9781592401796
• ISBN10: 1592401791
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-03-16
• Publisher: Gotham

Summary

"In 1962, at the age of fifteen, Geoff Emerick landed his dream job as an assistant recording engineer at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London. At the time, the facility was world-renowned for classical recordings, but it was also the home of an obscure comedy label named Parlophone, run by producer George Martin. On just his second day there, Emerick was present as a scruffy-looking quartet from Liverpool called the Beatles came in for their first-ever recording session. Their sound was rough, but the band made an indelible impression on EMI's staffers and on young Emerick in particular, not least because of the way John and Paul confronted George Martin, insisting on recording a song they had written themselves, rather than the bland fare the label wanted. That song, "Love Me Do," soon rocketed up the charts, and popular music has never been the same." "Over the next seven years, Emerick would work alongside the Beatles as they transformed from teenage amateurs into an international sensation unlike anything the world had ever known. At the age of nineteen, Emerick would be promoted to full engineer, charged with recording the group's groundbreaking album, Revolver. As he and the band pushed the limits of recording technology, he pioneered methods that created a new signature sound for the Beatles. A year later the bar would be raised further still as he and the group recorded what many have called the greatest album of all time: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band. The book also provides rare insight into the relationships of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, revealing the complex and often contentious creative process of the band at work."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

GEOFF EMERICK joined Abbey Road Studios as an assistant engineer in 1962 and was promoted to full engineer in 1966, leaving to build the Beatles-' Apple Recording Studios in 1969. After the dissolution of the Beatles, he continued to engineer for Paul McCartney, as well as artists such as Elvis Costello, America, Jeff Beck, and Art Garfunkel. He has won four Grammy Awards, including a Technical Grammy Award in 2003.
HOWARD MASSEY is a veteran music journalist, former technical editor for Musician magazine, and the author of eleven books.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Elvis Costello
Prologue: 1966	1	(14)
Hidden Treasure	15	(16)
Number Three Abbey Road	31	(8)
Meeting the Beatles	39	(9)
Early Sessions	48	(15)
Beatlemania	63	(17)
A Hard Day's Night	80	(31)
Innovation and Invention: The Making of Revolver	111	(21)
It's Wonderful to Be Here, It's Certainly a Thrill: Sgt. Pepper Begins	132	(33)
A Masterpiece Takes Shape: The Pepper Concept	165	(28)
All You Need Is Love . . . and a Long Vacation: Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine	193	(31)
The Day I Quit: The Making of the White Album	224	(35)
The Calm After the Storm: Life After the White Album	259	(12)
An Anvil, a Bed, and Three Gunslingers: The Making of Abbey Road	271	(26)
And in the End: The Final Stroll Across Abbey Road	297	(9)
Fixing a Hole: The Apple Years	306	(29)
Drainage, Lizards, and Monsoons: The Making of Band On The Run	335	(21)
Life After the Beatles: From Elvis to the Anthologies	356	(11)
Epilogue: I Read the News Today, Oh Boy	367	(6)
Acknowledgments	373	(2)
Index	375