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Ghost Canyon

Book Reviews
'Here, There and Everywhere : My Life ...'
By: Geoff Emerick, Howard Massey
(Hardcover / 400 Pages / Gotham / ISBN: 1592401791 / $26.00)

Description: The Beatles' fans still have an unquenchable thirst for everything Beatles: music, books, film--everything. Geoff Emerick weighs in with his years as the engineer on most of the Beatles' hit albums and singles. Narrator Martin Jarvis tells Emerick's first-person account of working with "the boys" in the famous Abbey Road studios. A British accent makes everything sound better, and, in this case, the voice is perfect. It's great to hear the little pitch of excitement when Jarvis talks about the relationship of the four musicians and Emerick's unusual studio tricks to help make that special sound. Emerick is in his 60s now, but Jarvis's youthful presentation captures the heady days of his youth spent with the greatest rock band of all time.

Verdict: Like most people, I enjoy the Beatles music but I am not really a 'true' fan. I didn't expect this book to engage me as much as it did. I read it in a day! The book is well written and easy to read, which I think is the contribution of co-author Howard Massey. Massey has written another great book entitled, "Behind the Glass," which is a collection of interviews with top record producers describing how they create hit records. I highly recommend that book as well. This book is not technical and is really written to appeal to anyone with an interest in the 60s, the Beatles or the music industry. There are "cameo appearances" in the book by some other great artists of the times, including Judy Garland and top classical musicians that recorded at EMI studios. Some of the other people I have chatted with tend to criticize Emerick for his favoritism of McCartney and knocks on the other Beatles. My attitude is that this book is about Geoff Emerick more than anything else. This is a recollection of his personal experiences with the Beatles and is written from his point of view. The fact that his impressions of the four Beatles as individual people don't always coincide with the mythology that has developed aboutt them over the years is interesting and understandable. It makes complete sense to me that Emerick, as a professional recording engineer/producer, would favor McCartney. While I strongly prefer Lennon's music over McCartney's, the fact is that McCartney was the best overall musician of the Beatles. Ask anyone who has seeen McCartney live lately, he effortlessly moves between bass, guitar and piano, and plays them all equally well. Since Emerick worked everyday with some of the world's greatest musicians (he worked with some pretty famous people other than the Beatles), he must have been impressed by Paul's talent. Emerick also claims that McCartney was the one Beatle that took the strongest interest in the process of recording. Since Emerick is a professional recording engineer, it makes sense that he would bond with McCartney. Let's face it, if one of the Beatles took a strong interest in what you do for a living, you would think they were the greatest Beatle too! I highly rate this book as I feel it was well written and gives a fresh perspecitve to the Beatles.
Reviewed by Ricky Roller





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