Reply With QuoteI recorded it but so far I have only watched a small part. What I did see was very good so I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of it. George Martin is always very interesting to listen to.
merge me please if this has been mentioned elsewhere, but this really was an excellent profile. Full of interviews with notable people he's worked with, the Beatles' record producer came across as I have always viewed him - a man of calmly expressed judgements, seemingly making the right ones all the time. Unabashed about his disappointment over EMI's pay, and the Let It Be fiasco, he opens his garden twice a year and now I want to go and meet the man in person.
I recorded it but so far I have only watched a small part. What I did see was very good so I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of it. George Martin is always very interesting to listen to.
george martin was the fifth beatle,his influence (especially with john lennons songs) is often overlooked.he must have been very hurt when lennon insisted on having phil spector produce the 'let it be' album,i think lennon made some negatve remarks about martin and thought that he favoured mccartney (it probably seemed that way with paul being a more accomplished musician) but i think martins imput is far more evident on the lennon penned tracks.
Pity I missed it, but fairly recently I did read his excellent book "All You Need is Ears"....
George Martin mentions in his book his dislike for a character called "Magic Alex" who had sweet-talked his way into the Beatles inner circle, and was now in the studio at the Beatles behest but much to the chagrin of Mr Martin. Magic Alex apparently full of hair-brained ideas which had captivated John in particular, was proving to be a pest in the studio making promises that never came to fruition...Needless to say Mr Martin was left to sort out the mess.......
Cheers
Sgt S
This was another excellent Arena - its biographical documentaries are consistently good. I particularly enjoyed the one on Paul Scofield a few years ago. So interesting to learn of George Martin's talent, total dedication to the Beatles and all the other bands he worked with - for so little remuneration at the time apparently. A grievance he has yet to get over, he admitted!
Great programme about an exceptionally talented modest man. Excellent!
Interesting, too, to discover so many of his other productions - I knew about the Goons and other Merseybeat, but that he produced what became the theme to The Archers (!) And Rolf Harris' Sun Arise - one of the most remarkable singles we'd ever heard in the 60s and still pretty bloody good.
I loved this too. Hadn't realised he'd produced all those early 60s comedy songs, such as "Goodness Gracious Me!" and "Right Said Fred", which I adore for their wit and musicality. Very sweet of him to build a Cultural Centre for the people of Montserrat, where he'd based his post-Beatles recording studio, until the studio was wiped out by a hurricane.
He mentioned the orchestrated instrumental hits of the 50s, which to my ear sound very twee now but have a period charm to them. One was played that I recognised, and apparently it's entitled "Coronation Scot". Now, wandering OT a bit, there are probably three 1950s orchestral instrumentals that are typically played when someone on TV wants to spoof the 50s. I don't know the other two titles, but "Coronation Scot" was certainly one of them. Anybody got any ideas? One was played during an comic advert of the 1990s that involved Russ Abbot hitting a golf ball onto a double decker bus, I believe. Another was typically played on TV in the 1950s with interlude film of someone at a potter's wheel.
Great posting! The Georhe Martin box-set is a superb investment with many, many artistes on the set. All the discs have the original 'Parlophone' record label logo's faithfully reproduced. You'd give your ears a birthday if you heard the two trax by Ron Goodwin in (stereo) 'Serenade To A Double Scotch' and 'The Miss Marple Theme' originally released on the Long Player 'Serenade' by R. Goodwin in (1961)!Originally Posted by icetorch
Thanks for the info - must check this out!
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