George Martin

[jimhc@pathcom.com (jim adair)]

Mark wrote:
>
><< Too late; I've already mentioned George Martin. Didn't you ever wonder
> what it would have been like, had GM produced The Who? >>

And Daytripper said:
>
>VERY different, to say the least. Look at how the Beatles' music pregressed
>from "Love Me Do" and "Please Please Me" as a whole, to "Tomarrow Never
>Knows", "Rain", and, on a broader scope, the "White Album", due, in no small
>part, to Martin. The same _probably_ would have happed the the Who.

It doesn't really count, but let's not forget that George Martin produced
the original cast recording for The Who's Tommy. In the liner notes, Pete
writes:
"This album was recorded by George Martin in less than 30 hours with the
original cast and musicians of Tommy...I sat in on the sessions and watched
in amazement as this eminent and graceful man urged the project along like a
skilled rider driving a race-horse...
"What I particularly love about this version of Tommy is that is has a
George Martin sound. Now I'm not sure I realized that George Martin had a
sound of his own, but he does. It is carried, I think, in the way he
contributes all the traditional skills of studio recording developed during
the late '50s and early '60s and combines them with brand new techniques. He
is a real font of technological focus in this respect. As as a producer,
George is a perfect pivot for what the Broadway version of Tommy really is.
For this Tommy is a bridge between the old, respected and beloved traditions
of music theatre and the relatively new and experimental world of rock and roll.
"This is really the fourth definitive version of Tommy; certainly only the
second in which I have had a guiding hand. This is a rock record. Firmly
rooted in the mood, style and methods of the '60s, it is at the same time a
totally contemporary work, alive today in its most successful incarnation yet."

I think a few of us might disagree a little with Pete's last sentence.

Jim