A second part as good as the first

This is an ex Ellen’s insight into one of Britain’s greatest producers ever, as well as being another perspective on the phenomenon that was the Beatles and some of their work after. What is also fascinating is what else George Martin contributed to and completed. A true innovator, hugely talented English gentleman. Yes the narration is awful, the accents impersonated are at best laughable - think Stewie’s voice from Family Guy - and at worst painful, and in danger of putting the listener off. Nevertheless, hang in there - speed up to 1.2 - because it’s another well-constructed and structured excellent piece of writing from Mr Womack.

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Great follow up

This book is like the first great biography of a great man love this great read

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Great on the making of Sgt Pepper

It's great on the making of Sgt Pepper. Full of detail, it chronicles the long sessions from a new song being brought in to the enormous amount of takes before it's finally signed off by the group (irritatingly referred to as 'the bandmates') and George Martin. Would they have been as good in 1967 without George Martin? It's hard to say probably not, they would have got there somehow, but the work at Abbey Road was undoubtedly groundbreaking. On 4 track recording machines which was all they had at the time.
Outside the making of Sgt Pepper it's a bit thin and feels a bit rushed and I don't feel as though I know much about the man.
The writing is rather uninviting, and, taken with the poor narration and execrable attempts at doing the accents, it sounds like an account by a solicitor or bookkeeper

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3 people found this helpful

Great Book But The Dodgy Accents Suck!!

Really enjoying this book!! Fantastic, insight into The Great Producer and his work.

However. The Narrator’s attempt at Accents is TRULY AWFUL!!!

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Good story

Some details are repeated. The reader needs help with the pronunciation of some words.

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Great Story - Slightly Iffy Impressions

This is a really enjoyable audiobook with a potted history of George Martin’s career from the late 1960s to his passing - You just need to push past Paul Woodson’s wildly eccentric impressions of The Beatles sounding Scottish the Indians musicians and the Maharishi sounding Irish and the EMI recording staff having ‘cock-er-ney’ accents that Dick Van Dyke would be proud of….

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Loved it

I absolutely loved this booked. There is great insight into the recordings of The Beatles from 66’ Revolver, right up to Abbey Road. The chapters dealing with Sgt Pepper were definitely a highlight. If there was one criticism about the book it’s the accents the narrator adopts when reading the quotes can be quite jarring, however, saying that I personally got used to it as the book went on. I would highly recommend this book to Beatles’ fans. Also check out ‘Solid State’ and ‘John Lennon 1980’ by the same author

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More a studio diary than biography

You won't learn much about George Martin the man here. The author is a 'Beatles Historian' and 'How George Martin Recorded The Beatles' would be a fairer title. The author really needed an editor for many reasons especially the heavy repetition of certain expressions and in some cases actually using words incorrectly. The accents though very poor didn't irk me so much as some of the pronunciations. How on Earth can someone not know how to pronounce 'Graham' for example? To be fair the narration most of the time is just fine though.

If you want to know more abut the detailed recording process of Beatles records without buying the authors own 'Beatles Encyclopaedia' or some similar title this audiobook does the job but by its very nature it is rather dry and repetitive. There are some fascinating moments though and for background listening whilst working in the kitchen or similar it's OK. Just don't expect a polished professional title.

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The Beatles

I say the Beatles as I think this follow up book is more about them than George Martin. As I said in my previous review up the speed on this book and I can assure you you’ll love it.

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What’s with the impressions??

All I wanted when I got this book was for a straight forward story about the great producers work? Instead however, I got 23hours of irritating rubbish English accents trying to be done by the narrator! Who happens to be American? 🥴

Really hard to listen to!

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5 people found this helpful