Customer Reviews:
Strange England.......2007-01-15
Out of the hundreds of sordid revelations this book provides I have time to tell you about only one or two or three, but suffice it to say that Sweet's SHEPPERTON BABYLON is not really a British version of Kenneth Anger's expose, for this is a book with much more of a critical apparatus, and it seems that its main purpose is to turn upside down every received idea about 20th century British cinema, proving that the panned movies are the great ones and the "great" movies are the horrid ones. Idolized stars like Dirk Bogarde and Lawrence Olivier get it in the neck (he says John Mills' secret is that "the man cannot act") while the careers of minor players are examined at great length and with a sympathetic detail that inevitably makes them seem like keys to a great secret. While the book had some dry patches--particularly Sweet's attempt to invest the era of "quota quickies" with artistic significance--I absorbed the whole thing as though caught in some ineffable spring rain in rocky Exmoor.
I write as one who knows so little about the British cinema that I have no received ideas. Once or twice I found myself reeling, for I suppose from what I understand that there was a class of movies called "Ealing comedies," most of them starring Alec Guinness, and at one time they were hailed as the greatest UK pictures ever made, but more recently they're been dismissed as reactionary, smug little Cold War fantasies, and now here comes Sweet again to revive their reputation. That's one too many twists for me! I guess in the end the stories I will remember will be the ones that most resemble the Kenneth Anger book, the "film studio horror" in which a starlet dressed in a celluloid gown went up in flames and burned before everyone's eyes--or the story of Meggie Albanesi, the affecting Luise Rainer type who died with no inside, and the man who loved her, Basil Dean, who tried to make her over again with a less talented actress, the inglorious Victoria Hopper. Hopper was in retirement and must have been 90 when Matthew Sweet found her. She hadn't appeared in a film since 1938. "Victoria Hopper knows the story [of Meggie Albanesi[," writes Sweet, "and knows she owes her first marriage and her career to it. Her biography has a strong flavour of TRILBY; the Albanesi connection gives it a touch of VERTIGO." No kidding! The book makes me long to see the "dreadful" big budget 1930s movies Dean produced and directed in which he "starred" Victoria Hopper--THE CONSTANT NYMPH, LORNA DOONE, and WHOM THE GODS LOVE! Where do we get our tickets to go into the time machine and experience these ISHTAR-sized disasters as they made the rounds of their original curtailed engagements?
I'd also like to see some movies made by the two comedians Matthew Sweet seems to revile beyond all other citizens of the world, George Formby and Norman Wisdom. They seem sort of like our own Don Knotts from the way he describes them, and if there is a cinema Valhalla, Don Knotts reigns there.
A Real Eye-Opener . . ........2006-09-16
Read this book and discard forever the idea that the denizens of British cinema were in any way less colourful or bizarre than their Hollywood counterparts. Sweet doles out gossip, hard fact, and criticism in judicious proportions. His writing is delightful, whether he is describing movies as "a window into the lives of the dead", or sketching an unforgettable portrait of J. Arthur Rank ("He was a tall, bulky man whose crumpled face and pendulous nose gave him the appearance of a proboscis monkey emerging from an old paper bag."). His interviews with film-makers from as far back as the early 1920s preserve insights which would otherwise have been lost.
However, since his subject is "the LOST worlds of British cinema," he intentionally scants the very familiar in favour of the obscure: for example, there is little here on the Ealing comedies, and much on forgotten exploitation movies of the 1960s and 70s. Nevertheless, I can scarcely imagine a more entertaining introduction to the history of British film.
Customer Reviews:
Amazing..........2007-06-22
First, I find it amazing that anyone kept this information in such detail in the first place.
Secondly, it is amazing that it was ever complied and put into a book.
Thirdly it was amazing that anyone would a.) Publish the book, b.) Buy the book in the first place and c.) Actually read it, which I have. Perhaps most amazing of all is how imminently readable and enjoyable it really is.
I imagine prerequisite being that it is important for the reader to have a love of the art of recording as well as a serviceable knowledge of the Beatles' collected body of work. Mine is the first edition and, yes, there are minor flaws, but honestly they are few in number and nothing of the "glaring" type which actually demeans the book.
I had initially picked up the book in a shop and glanced through the photographs, then I absently read an entry and was hooked. I think this is, all-in-all, a very exceptional journal and a valid history of one of the greatest recording acts of all time. Over the years I have met numerous musicians who, although they might not be dyed in the wool Beatles fans, still recognize their incredible contribution to recording technique and innovation. Kudos of course to Sir George Martin as well.
I cannot conceive of a more definitive account than this.
From any road to Abbey Road this is in a league of its own!.......2007-05-31
As the author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent" I know the years of research it took for me to compile the information on 121 live shows, 60 unreleased songs, 266 questions and answers, and prepare for 32 interviews.
Mark Lewisohn had to dig even deeper because of the amount of material that could be documented. The work is super-human. The Beatles deserved George Martin and Mark Lewisohn.
It is easy for those that wish to find fault even with a Rolls Royce but don't worry if you would have used different words for an A Flat Augmented 7th Chord or a bridge in a song, he gave you the most complete information at your fingertips and this can't be improved!
Thank you for your time,
Craig Fenton
Author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent"
SIMPLY EXCELLENT!.......2007-01-28
I'd been wanting this book since I first heard about it several years ago, but it was out of print. When I recently discovered it had been re-published, I ordered it and it's everything I'd heard it was. I wish Lewisohn had access to John, Paul, George and Ringo's solo sessions and would do similar books on them.
A must have for any Beatles Fan!.......2007-01-09
A great book with a day-by-day chronicle of The Beatles Recording Sessions, from their first days as musicians in a home-studio in Liverpool to spring of 1970 when the group had splitted.
Beatles Sessions!.......2006-12-17
"The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions" is a fine book, covering the recording, mixing and release of the Beatles songs, from the demos in 1962, to Phil Spector's reworking of "Let it Be" in 1970. There's a fair few photos too, which are great.
This book was originally a project for John Barrett, an Abbey Road audio engineer who fell ill in the early 1980s and needed something to take his mind off things, and was commissioned to go through the Beatles tapes and catalogue them all. He died, sadly, and Mark Lewisohn (the writer of the liner notes for the Beatles "Past Masters" CDs) was asked to come in and write up Barrett's research. Together, they've put together a pretty thorough book. It lists how each song was recorded, credits for session men (where possible), and reflective comments from producer George Martin, engineers Geoff Emerick, Norman Smith, Glyn Johns and Alan Parsons, among others. There's also occaisonal bits of Beatle banter from the sessions (which is always great to hear/read), and a Paul McCartney/Mark Lewisohn interview as an introduction.
After reading it I think I know the Beatles a bit better now. In particular, I definitely understand why they broke up. Their schedule was pretty hectic, recording and re-recording everything, looking at the same four walls of the Abbey Road studios. It was exhausting just reading their 1967 sessions (where they did "Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band", then straight after "Magical Mystery Tour", the first, high-pressure live broadcast "All You Need is Love" and the tracks especially for the "Yellow Submarine" film). It's amazing they handled it all so well for so long. It was also interesting to read about how Abbey Road studios was in the 1960s, a rather formal sort of place, and to read about all the innovations they initiated (like automatic double tracking, etc). It was great fun going through year by year too.
A bit technical for casual Beatles fans, but for fans (like me) who love every detail of Beatles songs, and still want to know more, it really is worth checking out.
Customer Reviews:
Ideal for the Musician, Recording Enthusiast and the Average Fan........2006-07-02
It's truly rare that a book on The Beatles manages to satisfy such a divergent set of fans as this one does. If you are a fan of the music and had always wanted to know more about how they made those fantastic sounds on equipment that's practically obsolete these days, this is the place to find out.
We get an interview with Macca at the start which covers the period from pre-Beatles to the end focussing on recordings and who played what and when. Lot's of great b/w and colour photos and pictures with a full discography at the end make this an excellent edition to any fan's library. Chronologically, we get every track recorded with information on the various takes and pithy insights from the recording engineers as well.
Recommended.
The making of the Beatles records.......2004-06-11
For at least 4 years, this book has been out of print (it was originally published in 1988). The Beatles Anthology CD releases probably had something to do with this. Nevertheless, if you're interested in the complete recording sessions, this is the book to read. It begins with their 1st EMI session in June 1962 (back when Pete Best was still the Beatles' drummer, before Ringo Starr replaced him) and ends in 1970 with the remixing of the Let It Be sessions with Phil Spector. The only thing that's dated is the often repeated phrase "This remains unreleased to this day" in reference to songs "Leave My Kitten Alone," "Not Guilty" (the Beatles' version), "One After 909" (the 1963 version), "12 Bar Original," "That Means a Lot," "What's the New Mary Jane" and "How Do You Do It." This book features anecdotes about what went on during the studio sessions (some the Anthology listeners and viewers already know about and more), photographs, interviews and insights by producer George Martin, Norman Smith, engineer Geoff Emerick, session drummer Andy White (who took Ringo's place on the single version of "Love Me Do") and an insightful interview with Paul McCartney. Yes, Mark Lewishon has done his homework here with research and hours upon hours of listening to the Beatles' session tapes. In a perfect world, many of these still unreleased sessions would be available for listening, legally (of course, there would be some tracks which would leave the listener thinking "Ok, now I know why they didn't release this"). I'd like to see an updated version of this book (many of Mark's comments concerning the songs and other additional tracks mentioned above will have to be replaced with "Until the release of The Beatles Anthology 1 [or 2 or 3], this take/track remained unreleased"). He'd have to include a section for the Beatles Anthology CD's and DVD collection ("You can hear part of this take on Part 1 [or Part 3 or Part 8] of The Beatles Anthology").
It may be Out of Print, but . . ........2001-03-14
I bought this book a long time ago when it first came out. As a diehard Beatles fan, I think it is great!! It really goes into the little details of the Beatles in the recording studio and gives the reader something of an idea as to what it was like to be there. By the way, Amazon states this is out of print; however, my local Borders store has a lot of copies in their bargain books for a really cheap price . . .between $4.99 to $9.99 (I can't remember exactly) So check out the closeout sections of your local stores.
This is a good book but too in depth for most........1999-02-25
Not every fan wants to sit everyday in the studio with the beatles, but if you did you would learn alot about recording techniques. This book helps to show that the beatles were'nt just creative but they got a lot of help from GEORGE MARTIN and the others at abby road studios. It is interesting to learn every exact sound and effect on the songs but does become a bit dry at times.
Unique insider's look at The Beatles' recording studio.......1998-08-08
Has any Beatle fan ever visited London and not walked the zebra crossing in Abbey Road? This fascinating book, compiled by Lewisohn with the help of intimate observers of the Fab Four's eight years at Abbey Road, takes you on an almost day-by-day, song -by-song account of their recordings. Through the blitzkreig tours of Beatlemania, the op-art trendiness of Carnaby Street, the Summer of Love, the squabbles and the break-up, it's easy to forget that from 1962 to 1970 the Beatles produced their masterpieces in the unassuming townhouse that was (and is) EMI Abbey Road studios. With infinite detail, the author describes everything from the primitive days of "Please Please Me" and "With the Beatles", to the masterful conjuring of "Revolver" and "Sgt. Pepper", to the final notes of "Abbey Road" (the group's last album and a fitting tribute to their recording home). The book is full of anecdotes on recording tricks and techniques, photographs and trivia. Best of all is the presence of George Martin, the Beatles' producer; his contributions are forever bound up with the history of Abbey Road. Since they arrived in 1962, the street, and the studio, have never quite been the same.
Customer Reviews:
Thoroughy researched and detailed.......2007-07-05
Mark Lewisohn gets it right - a hefty oversize book, this is one Beatles book that stands out from the crowd. You'll quickly see that ML has done his homework, not from the view of a giddy fan, but of a journalist looking to gather, verify, and report the facts, dates, and where possible, photos of the Beatle recording sessions. This book is the one to settle bets or arguments with friends. For the serious collector of Beatle facts!
Essential Source.......2006-08-11
This book is one of the essential primary sources in Beatles scholarship, and it established Lewisohn as a prime authority.
A detailed day-by-day look at what the Beatles did in their recording sessions.......2006-05-27
"The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962-1970," is EMI Records' official diary-format history of every Beatles recording session. Mark Lewisohn researched hundreds of unreleased Abbey Road archive tapes and the result features literally thousands of previously unpublished studio documents and interviews with many of the key recording personnel. The goal is to put together a definitive reference book for Beatles fans, and in light of what we say on the Beatles "Anthology" CDs, where there were alternative takes of various songs, even casual fans will have an appreciation for what Lewisohn is detailing in this 204-page oversized volume.
Following a preface and an interview with Paul McCartney, which includes the revelation that "You Know My Name (Look Up My Number)" is probably his favorite Beatles track, we get to the recording sessions. These are arranged chronologically by dates, and you need to go to either the Contents (3) to find out when each year begins, or to the Index (202-03) to track down specific songs. Once you get your bearings you will find that on the top of each two-page spread the month appears on the left hand page and the year on the right. Each entry has the day of week and date, which studios were used, starting and stopping times, what was done (recording, mixing, etc.), and who the producer, engineer, and second engineer were. Lewisohn then provides details on who was doing what, and quotations from some of the people involved, both behind the controls and in from of the microphones.
For example, if you are interested in "A Day in the Life," you will find a photograph of Paul and John with the alarm clock from the recording in the foreground, and the "Daily Mail" item that inspired the 4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire line. After recording and mixing "Penny Lane," the first four takes of "In the Life Of..." (the working title for the song), were done on Thursday, 19 January. The following day saw tape reduction take 4 into takes 5-7 (where Lennon's song with a beginning and end but no middle was merged with McCartney's song that had a middle but no beginning or end). Ten days later the mono mixing for the song was done without the Beatles in attendance, with more overdubs being recorded on 3 February, and then on 10 February the 40 orchestra musicians showed up to record the orchestral build-up. Mono-mixing and overdubs continued on 13 and 22 February, with the stereo master completed on 23 February, with a final unused piano overdub on 1 March. So you can see how the major parts of the song came together as well as what else the Beatles were working on for their "Sgt. Pepper" album during this same period. Hopefully this brief description is enough to tell you if this is the sort of minutia that you love to pour over in your copious free time.
Of course this book also allows you to see how the way the Beatles recorded music changed over the years from the early days, such as Monday 11 February, 1963 when they went into the studio and in 585 minutes recorded all ten new songs for their first album, which went with the four sides of their first two singles for a 14-song album. There are also 350 color and black & white photographs and illustration, including rare photos taken by Linda McCartney, so it is not just all production notes. You will also find the first facsimile reproductions of Abbey Road recording sheets, tape boxes, album sleeve roughs, memos, contracts, press releases and the proverbial much, much more. The Index in the back of the book is sandwiched between a Discography of all Beatles records issued in the UK and USA between 1962 and 1970, showing original release dates and catalogue numbers, and a Glossary of vocabulary unique to recording, from "Acetate" to "White noise generator." There is also a note from Ken Townsend, General Manger of Abbey Road Studios, on the Recording Technology employed during that time. This reference book might not be for the casual Beatles fan, but along with "A Hard Day's Write" by Steve Turner, that tells the stories behind the Beatles songs, you can find out most of what this is to know about everything the Beatles ever recorded.
Fascinating.......2006-05-22
This book is addictive. The seemingly insignificant, minute details of the Beatles' day-by-day recording sessions are actually very interesting. The book goes into detail about the technology used, the recording and creative process, and the background knowledge of an insider. Armed with exclusive access into the vaults at Abbey Road, Lewisohn has produced a gem. Beatles Recording Sessions is surprising, entertaining, and always intriguing.
Book Description
One of the most important and successful rock 'n' roll books ever published is now available in paperback. This is the definitive guide to every recording session done by the Beatles at EMI's Abbey Road recording studio.
150 full-color, 100 duotone, and 100 black-and-white photographs.
Customer Reviews:
freakin' amazing.......2007-07-24
This is the grandaddy of all of studio session books. So many have come after this (Jimi Hendrix, Clapton, etc.) but this is the gold standard. I have given this to a few people that I know would appreciate it, and every one of them has raved... just like I am doing.
My only suggestion is that Mr. Lewisohn updates it with all of the new information that has been put out there since this was published (many books including The Beatles's ANTHOLOGY CD and book for example).
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
An excellent resource for those who care how the Beatles made magic.......2005-08-20
Some Beatles books are gossipy, and others feature questionable armchair critical analyses of their music. Lewisohn takes a totally different approach. Working with the original Abbey Road studio logs, he's created a day-by-day record of what the Beatles were doing in Abbey Road studios, who played what instruments, and how long it took them to record and write their songs.
I own a first edition of this book and have used it ever since I bought a used copy sometime in the early 1990s. I reread it many times that summer, and that somewhat battered, oversized copy still sits on my shelf. It's a book I returned to when I set up a mini home recording studio, and returned to yet again when I was learning how to mix my sounds. Although this is not a "how-to" book, you can learn an awful lot about good recording and mixing technique by carefully reading it.
Furthermore, Lewisohn packed his text with surprises. I, for one, was shocked to learn how primitive Abbey Road's technology was, even by the standards of a British studio in the 1960s. I was also surprised to learn why the mono and stereo mixes of the Beatles' music often sounded so different from one another even though they were mixed from the same masters. Also, it's amazing to learn just how quickly some seemingly complex tracks were put together, while some seemingly simple songs took far more work. As a side benefit, Lewisohn's comprehensive notes probably knocked the wind out of more than one bootlegger trying to pass off BBC radio performances as lost studio recordings of Beatle tracks! Throughout, there are many, many excellent photos - many of which have not been reproduced elsewhere. Just when you think Lewisohn's run out of goodies, there's a rare interview with Paul McCartney that touches on the songwriting process.
I can't rate this as a five star book although I'd like to. As good as Lewisohn is, there are a lot of minor details here that are misleading or just plain wrong. Lewisohn can't seem to tell phasing from flanging (two very different techniques to create swirling electric guitar sounds). He also prints quotes from studio musicians without elaboration, leading me to believe he has a weak grasp on performance and theory. For example, one horn player describes a McCartney song as being "between the cracks" of two different keys; the song in question actually seems to have been recorded slightly flat and sped up to normal pitch upon playback, but we have no way of knowing what the horn player actually meant without more information. The average reader might walk away thinking that the song used two different keys, unless he also knew that the song was in a single key. I'm surprised an editor didn't catch this stuff.
If you're a Beatles fan who could care less about their personal lives, but would love to learn more about how they created their studio albums - this book is for you. If you're interested in home recording, you'll learn lots of tidbits here too. Lewisohn deserves a lot of credit for creating this resource, and I wish that it weren't such a difficult book to find.
AMAZING.......2005-04-15
This book is a must for any Beatle-fan, or anyone working in a studio who knows the Beatles' music. The book is a cornucopia of information on how the Beatles' music was created in the studio. Sit down with the book and the CDs, and listen to each song as your read Lewisohn's description of the recording session. It's like being there!
A must-have for musician Beatlemaniacs.......2005-02-14
I love The Beatles records and have since my Dad purchased "Meet the Beatles" in 1966. The first records I bought on my own, as soon as I had a paper route and spending money, were The Beatles' LPs, in order of American release. I even knew the exact running time of every Beatles song and couldn't imagine that there were people in the world who didn't know every Beatles song. If you're like me, the revelation of the details of the recording of every Beatles track, as detailed in this book, will be a thrill to pore over.
A quick read........2004-07-19
Since editions and publishers change, I am certain if I am reviewing the exact book. This book will be interesting mainly to those who were teenagers during the 1960s. These persons will recall the first time they heard each of the Beatles' albums, or they will recall the event of buying these albums. For example, I first heard Sgt. Pepper at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. The album was played before the performers went on stage -- that was Cream on their first American tour, along with Gary Burton Quartet and the Flaming Groovies (last minute replacement for the Electric Flag). Anyway, the book takes the form of a diary detailing when and under what circumstances many of the songs were composed, recorded, and performed. The book contains 360 pages of small print, and almost every page has a 1/4 page sized photograph, though some are 1/8 sized. The latter part of the book contains color photos. The reproductions of the photos are better than one might expect -- nice contrast and sharp focus. We learn that the original name of the Beatles was the Quarry Men, where this name came from Quarry Bank High School for Boys (page 12). We learn that the Quarry Men (John, Paul, George, and John Lowe (drums)) made their first recording in 1958 (page 13). We learn that Ringo was the drummer for a band called "Al Caldwell's Texans" even before he (Ringo) jointed "Rory Storm and the Hurricanes." (page 16) We learn that the first appearance of the lineup of John, Paul, George, and Ringo took place on August 18, 1962, and this was at Hulme Hall, where the occasion was the Horticultural Society's annual dance (page 75). We learn that the Beatles' first U.S. performances were in February 1964. An interesting fact is that Charles Finley, then owner of the Kansas City Athletics baseball team, paid $150,000 out of his own pocket to persuade the Beatles to play in Kansas City, and that the manager of the hotel in Kansas City cut up the Beatles' bed linen into 3-inch squares, and sold them for $10 each (page 139). We learn that the trumpet players on Strawberry Fields Forever were Tony Fisher, Greg Bowen, Derek Watkins, and Stanley Roderick (page 234) and that Dave Mason played the B-flat piccolo trumpet on Penny Lane (page 240). We learn that Maxwell's Silver Hammer took 27 takes, that She Came In Through the Bathroom Window took 39 takes, and that Here Comes the Sun had 13 takes (pages 324-327). Again, the reading is fairly dry and fun facts are encountered only on occasion. There is essentially no information on the Beatles' social lives. But for those who were teenagers during the 60s, the book is likely to be a page turner.
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