RIP George Martin

[YankeeFan]

 

[Football_Bat]

Confession: I had forgotten he was still alive (probably conflating him erroneously with Brian Epstein). He'd been out of the limelight in the U.S. for so long.

Of course, he could've easily called it a day after Abbey Road and never would've had to work a day again. But I see that after the Beatles he worked with a number of artists, including McCartney, America, and the Little River Band among others, and produced a few James Bond themes as well.

His greatness in the Beatle universe is unquestioned, though the title of "fifth Beatle" could go to any of a handful of others and Lennon wasn't fond of him.

RIP, Sir George.

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

What becomes of Game of Thrones now?

 

[Riptide]

Martin's legacy, of course, speaks for itself ...

 

[I Should Coco]

A good column by BBC music reporter Mark Savage, who obviously had this ready to go:

'Fifth Beatle' Sir George Martin dies, aged 90 - BBC News

To echo Football_Bat's point, he also produced a Cheap Trick album or two in the early 1980s, among many other bands.

In my (sometimes obsessive) reading about the Beatles' studio tricks, Martin always comes across as a straight shooter who was young enough to let "the boys" push the edge of the envelope with each successive record. And while John may not have liked him, Martin supposedly talked him off the roof of Abbey Road during a bad LSD trip. So we can thank him for that!

RIP, Sir George Martin.

 

[Steak Snabler]

In addition to his studio wizardry, Martin scored the string accompaniment on "Eleanor Rigby" and played the baroque-style piano solo on "In My Life," one of the most iconic instrumental breaks in music history (though I still think the song's too fast).

I know Brian Epstein, Neil Aspinall and Billy Preston have been given the title from time to time, but given the breadth of his contributions, Martin was the real Fifth Beatle.

RIP

 

[Starman]

No reply from McCartney yet, and Paul by far worked the closest and most extensively with Martin.

I think the general impression that Lennon didn't like him came primarily from the 1970 interviews when he (Lennon) was just breaking out of the Beatles and trying to strip himself of all their trappings.

(Ironically, in those 1970 interviews Lennon bitched that Martin slogged down songs with overproduction -- then he threw in his lot for several years of solo career with Phil Spector, who made George Martin sound like Rick Rubin.)

At other times Lennon was very complimentary of Martin's ability to take ideas L/McC only heard in their heads and convert them into music on tape. Lennon always acknowledged it was Martin's tech savvy that allowed him to turn songs like "Strawberry Fields," "A Day in the Life" and "I Am the Walrus" from hazy ideas to hits.

 

[Steak Snabler]

No reply from McCartney yet, and Paul by far worked the closest and most extensively with Martin.

Paul McCartney on George Martin

 

[RonClements]

What becomes of Game of Thrones now?

Dude, this was my first thought. No offense to Mr. Martin of the Beatles, but I'm glad this isn't about George R.R. Martin.

 

[Starman]

Paul McCartney on George Martin

Pretty much as I expected. Martin's relationship with PMc was very much in the nature of a second father.

 

[YankeeFan]

Dude, this was my first thought. No offense to Mr. Martin of the Beatles, but I'm glad this isn't about George R.R. Martin.

.

There's a reason why the Game of Thrones guy doesn't go by simply George Martin.

There's only one George Martin.

 

[YankeeFan]

Paul McCartney on George Martin

That was really nice. Very personal.