Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Here There and Everywhere by Geoff Emerick -- a book review

This evening's Wednesday Review is of the somewhat controversial book  Here There and Everywhere:  My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles by Geoff Emerick.  This book was published in 2006, and I borrowed a copy from the library back then and read it. Recently I obtained an autographed hardback copy of the book and I decided to give it another read.

I know that Geoff Emerick's book has some controversy with it. Some say that Geoff thinks Paul can do no wrong and that George is a terrible guitarist.  They say that Geoff made up some things that he was never even present for, and the book is full of lies.  I always read these types of books with a grain of salt.  This is Geoff's book and they are his memories they way he saw it and the way he remembered them.  He admits that he became friends with Paul McCartney and did not bond with George Harrison.   After reading that, I expected that he was going to say nice things about Paul because he still is friends with him.


Geoff Emerick was one of the Beatles' recording engineers at EMI studios on Abbey Road.  He started working with them occasionally from 1963-1965.  He was just starting out his career in the music recording business and wasn't always given the opportunity to work with the Beatles.  That all changed in 1966 when he worked with the Beatles on the Revolver album.  He continued to work with them on Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine, part of the White Album, and Abbey Road.    Geoff was extremely innovative.  He came up with creative and unheard at the time ideas, especially on Sgt. Pepper, to get the sound the Beatles were looking for.   Some of what he did broke the rules at EMI and pushed bounds that were unheard of before. Geoff and George Martin are who made the Beatles Sgt. Pepper's album (along with the Beatles) what it is today. And they continued to work their magic on the other Beatles albums.  Geoff won several Grammy awards for the engineering work he did on the Beatles' albums.

George Martin and Ringo gave Geoff Emerick the Grammy for what he did on Sgt. Pepper. 


Geoff is very hard on George's guitar playing, and there are times when you think that Geoff's lips must have gotten tired from kissing Paul so much.  However, it really doesn't take away too much from the story he tells.  Some of the interesting stories he told included how the break-up of the Beatles began.   You really sense a change in the guys after Brian died in 1967.  His stories about Yoko are interesting and you see a change happen in Yoko has she attends more and more recording sessions.  The story of Yoko and George and the biscuits is a classic and funny story.

I especially liked the part that was about when Geoff traveled to Lagos and worked with Wings on "Band on the Run."   I didn't know a whole lot about these sessions, and it was really neat to read more about them.

Geoff during the Band on the Run sessions in Lagos

I am happy to report that this book was way better than what I recall from 10 years ago.  I didn't notice any HUGE glaring mistakes--just a few little nit-pick things.  While I did think Geoff was a little too nice towards Paul, I didn't think the things he said about George were awful.  He complimented him just as much as he criticized him.  

If you have never read, "Here There and Everywhere,"  it is one of those books that every fans should read at least once, because it helps you realize just how awesome the Beatles' music really is.


The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon, where you can purchase this book.  I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link.  Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

https://amzn.to/3V3M8I3

33 comments:

  1. Hi Sara

    Isn't that Ken Scott in the colourful shirt? Been a few years since I read the book, but from my recollection I thought he was pretty fair on George. (LeftyBass)

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  2. Yes, I remember the book that way too. I doubt GH could be That bad a guitarist. but never did complex solos. His catchy riffs are mostly picking and,later,bending. But GH participation is as big a contention in the band's split as YO. Can't recall which book, but one recounts PM stopped GH accompanying every line of 'Hey Jude' with an echoing riff, & GH resentful of that. Imagine how awful "He-e-y Jude" (twang, tang) "Don't make it ba-ad" (Twangy twang-twang) would sound. PM composed it, wanted the recording to sound like it did in his head: fair enough. GH felt redundant as lead guitarist: fair enough. Had they toured, GH could've experimented more, & my guess is PM would've been fine, because a tour is ephemeral; a recording is forever. Stopping touring did much to break their solidarity even before YO took the biscuit.

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    1. George was never redundant as The Beatles' lead guitarist. Even if they had returned to touring around late 1969 at the same time The Rolling Stones did their 1969 American tour, they most likely would've required additional players on tour, but they couldn't have done "Revolution 9" live onstage, not with all the tape loops that John and Yoko used.

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  3. George will be remembered forever while Geoff fades away

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    1. That's right. Geoff wasn't interviewed or even mentioned in the Anthology documentary and in one of his last interviews, he said that The Beatles came to really hate Abbey Road, but I don't believe him.

      Facts are facts: none of The Beatles made any effort to boycott Abbey Road or book studio time elsewhere unless all three studios at Abbey Road were booked and occupied, they recorded solo albums at Abbey Road, Paul often used the studios in his solo career and with Wings and The Beatles named their iconic 1969 record after the London street where the studios were based and were photographed crossing the zebra crossing for the album's cover by Iain MacMillan while Linda took her own personal photos.

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    2. Well, there's that little thing about George Harrison writing a letter to inquire about recording at Stax Studios in the mid-60's, and Brian Epstein spending about a week in Memphis to check the facilities and surrounding area out. That doesn't sound like a group that was in love with EMI Studios at the time.

      As with most things Beatles, the truth is often in shades of grey.

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    3. That's correct - they did hope to record "Revolver" at Stax Studios in Memphis and thus, they could well have employed the Memphis Horns on "Got to Get You Into My Life".
      I'm sure that Paul would've enjoyed borrowing Duck Dunn's Ampeg B-15 bass amplifier or plug his Rickenbacker bass directly into the mixing desk, just like his idol James Jamerson, who was the bassist for Motown's in-house band The Funk Brothers.

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    1. No---unfortunately there are just a few tiny photos on the back cover.

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  5. I seem to remember some interviews with Ken Scott being critical of Emerick and saying many things in his book were not true

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    1. That's right - he basically accused him of being a hypocrite by citing the 1979 interview where Geoff remembered almost nothing, only to publish that book.

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    2. Well, Emerick was quite critical of Scott, so not a surprise that Scott got upset. But so what. Scott also went on record saying Emerick (and everyone else, including JG&R) was wrong, and The White Album sessions were great vibes. Which doesn't do much for his credibility either.

      The Anthology is a hoot because The Beatles consistently fail to agree about things that happened (The Elvis meeting is just one of many cases). But LOL, how dare anyone else publish their own (imperfect) memories. Bottom line is Emerick's book is honest but is ultimately imperfect, which is what you you would expect from a person writing about events 40 years in the past. Besides, most of us cant remember what we had for breakfast 5 weeks ago, let alone 40 years ago.

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  6. That book is a load of crap. I think Paul gave him money for that book. He is insane, you read and say 'hey, this is not right' instantly. He lies and he's such a fool for letting that book out with his name on it. He did great work on beatles records but doing that crappy book, really, he made a fool of himself. The only good author is Mark Lewisohn.

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    1. I highly doubt Paul was involved directly, let alone giving Geoff any money. Geoff himself admitted in 1979 that he remembered virtually nothing.

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    2. Your comment simply makes no sense! Feb 27th.

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    3. Calling someone a liar is a pretty strong accusation. I've read the book multiple times. Yes, Emerick did have a faulty memory, and he is critical of George for sure. But fans who are upset by his criticisms should note that by the Abbey Road sessions, Emerick seems delighted by George's musical growth and gained confidence, and is almost pleased to see George blatantly dismiss Paul's input.....Norman Smith said that when George Martin found out he was writing his own memoirs, Martin suggested to Smith that he kowtow to the "Beatles version" of sanitized history. So for not doing that I give both of them credit for their honesty.

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  7. JPG&R are forgiven for major memory lapses and forgetting things over the years (just watch Anthology), but Lord forbid if a sound engineer does the same. If people wanna get unnerved by books like this, than they can show me a person who can go back and accurately remember things that happened 30 years ago...that person doesnt exist. But that doesnt mean he should be forbidden from doing a book, either. If I blame Geoff for anything, it's his failure to get a better editor. His stories are absolutely priceless. And his anecdotes about many of the sessions (Hey Bulldog, SFF, I Want You SSH) are fascinating. People upset that he was harsh to GH in the book? Well, John, Paul, & GMartin were pretty hard on George, too.

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    1. I don't believe that John, Paul or George Martin were overly hard on George, but the only person who got eliminated was Pete Best and Ringo replaced him.
      Maybe George preferred to write songs on his own and didn't want to join in with John and Paul's collaborative writing partnership.

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    2. It's been documented that John, Paul, and GM were indeed hard on George, to the point that George himself said that each of them apologized to him. As Clapton once said, they all loved each other, but were brutally vicious to each other at times too.

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    3. George proved himself with 'SOMETHING' didn't he - one of the most recorded songs by other artists in history

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    4. George took a dislike to Geoff Emerick, who was a teenager when he started and three or four years younger than George.
      A pecking order perhaps? The commentary about George hasn't been very honest since his death in my opinion. Martin Scorsese's film was heavily sanitised. John and Paul may have been hard on him but George brought a lot of his problems on himself by removing himself from the band in 1966 to learn the sitar and immerse himself in Eastern religion. John said as much in the Abbey Road tapes when he reminded George that he and Paul had given him a lot of help with his early songs after George accused him and Paul of ignoring his songs. George was a talented songwriter but he wasn't a victim.

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  8. George's talent was fantastic w/the Beatles and with all music venues he was involved with. Harrison!

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  9. 'Geoff's lips must have gotten tired of kissing Paul' is a little unnecessary in my opinion. Considering just about every book written on the Beatles, including Tune In, was biased towards John, does anybody ever suggest that these authors kiss John a little too much? If Geoff was being overly nice to Paul, then that doesn't explain his derogatory 'granny music shit' which he attributes to John FORTY years after the fact. Seeing that so many people accuse Emerick of false memories, then how has this been allowed to stand? Did John really say that or did Geoff just think John said it? So thanks Geoff for allowing fans to attribute this shitty sexist term to any Paul song they happen to dislike.

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  10. I agree totally wth you. George's fans have made him a god, in their eyes he can do no wrong. And I often wonder if they were fans, before he died!

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    1. GEORGE FAN HERE SINCE 1964 AND HE WAS NO GOD BUT A GREAT TALENT AND GOOD MAN

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    2. No matter, George was late with his writing process, while the other two were busy writing hits. John and Paul with their combined talents, made The Beatles a huge band, and different from any other, that we're still talking about them today. John, himself had said this, and he was right. The song Something, had the line" something in the way she moves" from a James Taylor song, and he continued with this kind of trend, through out his solo
      career, plus he could have been a better guitarist, if he practised more. Well he said so himself, but admitted he could be quite lazy.

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    3. john and paul needed george and ringo to make the beatles a huge band

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    4. Yes they were a unit, but when I see comments (not on this site), where some fans write that George was the best writer in the band! What? No way!

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  11. Geoff Emerick was NOT a Kiss Ass -- LOL, he was so fed up with them that he committed a (at that time) professional "no no" by walking out in the middle of the White Album sessions, basically telling all of them (including Paul) to take a hike! And then later they beg him to come back and fix mixes that others butchered -- so who's kissing who's rear end exactly?! I think if anyone bothers to read all of his book theyll find that Emerick critiqued Paul on multiple occasions, albeit sure not as much as he does George. But that's life. If Emerick didn't think highly of George well heck, each of the 4 Beatles didn't like each other the same either.

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