Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #637378 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 204 pages

Customer Reviews

Beatles Sessions!
"The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions" is a fine book, covering the recording, mixing and release of the Beatles songs, from the demos in 1962, to Phil Spector's reworking of "Let it Be" in 1970. There's a fair few photos too, which are great.

This book was originally a project for John Barrett, an Abbey Road audio engineer who fell ill in the early 1980s and needed something to take his mind off things, and was commissioned to go through the Beatles tapes and catalogue them all. He died, sadly, and Mark Lewisohn (the writer of the liner notes for the Beatles "Past Masters" CDs) was asked to come in and write up Barrett's research. Together, they've put together a pretty thorough book. It lists how each song was recorded, credits for session men (where possible), and reflective comments from producer George Martin, engineers Geoff Emerick, Norman Smith, Glyn Johns and Alan Parsons, among others. There's also occaisonal bits of Beatle banter from the sessions (which is always great to hear/read), and a Paul McCartney/Mark Lewisohn interview as an introduction.

After reading it I think I know the Beatles a bit better now. In particular, I definitely understand why they broke up. Their schedule was pretty hectic, recording and re-recording everything, looking at the same four walls of the Abbey Road studios. It was exhausting just reading their 1967 sessions (where they did "Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band", then straight after "Magical Mystery Tour", the first, high-pressure live broadcast "All You Need is Love" and the tracks especially for the "Yellow Submarine" film). It's amazing they handled it all so well for so long. It was also interesting to read about how Abbey Road studios was in the 1960s, a rather formal sort of place, and to read about all the innovations they initiated (like automatic double tracking, etc). It was great fun going through year by year too.

A bit technical for casual Beatles fans, but for fans (like me) who love every detail of Beatles songs, and still want to know more, it really is worth checking out.

Addictive, but in dire need of revision
I can't give it all five stars, due to the errors that could have easily been corrected between the first edition and this (fourth?) one -- new things have come to light since the book's initial appearance, thanks to the Anthology episodes and the great book, Recording the Beatles.

Much of the information in this book is erroneous, although nothing more was known as of 1988. So it's not a bad job; it's just out of date. The sheer work and research involved deserves a revision, and not just a reprint to cash in on the recurrent waves of Beatles interest.

One little problem is that Mark doesn't seem to know much about the writing or recording of music; he often uses confusing terminology that doesn't quite fit (he seems misguided about what a middle eight is, for instance, and has no idea what the difference is between an "overdub" and an "edit piece").

When he tries to interject his own opinion -- which isn't indicated in a book of nonfiction data like this -- he's often comically out of line. One instance that stands out is when he claims that "Martha My Dear" is not about Paul's sheepdog. It obviously is (not only judging from Paul's comments, but also considering that lyrics like "Hold your head up, you silly girl" were certainly not written about a human being!).

Having said all of that, this is highly addictive reading, the prose having been painstakingly researched and optimally assembled. It's an obvious recommendation to any more-than-casual Beatles fan who likes to read, wishes the music would always be focused on instead of irrelevant soap-opera stories about the musicians' personal lives, and has an interest in the only big instrument that the Beatles actually were virtuosos at: the recording studio.

Just apply some salt to the precise information about overdubs, amounts of session takes, specific dates and whatnot.

Amazing...
First, I find it amazing that anyone kept this information in such detail in the first place.
Secondly, it is amazing that it was ever complied and put into a book.
Thirdly it was amazing that anyone would a.) Publish the book, b.) Buy the book in the first place and c.) Actually read it, which I have. Perhaps most amazing of all is how imminently readable and enjoyable it really is.
I imagine prerequisite being that it is important for the reader to have a love of the art of recording as well as a serviceable knowledge of the Beatles' collected body of work. Mine is the first edition and, yes, there are minor flaws, but honestly they are few in number and nothing of the "glaring" type which actually demeans the book.
I had initially picked up the book in a shop and glanced through the photographs, then I absently read an entry and was hooked. I think this is, all-in-all, a very exceptional journal and a valid history of one of the greatest recording acts of all time. Over the years I have met numerous musicians who, although they might not be dyed in the wool Beatles fans, still recognize their incredible contribution to recording technique and innovation. Kudos of course to Sir George Martin as well.
I cannot conceive of a more definitive account than this.