The album George Martin thought was “the end of The Beatles”
As far as band breakups go, there are none quite so impactful as the split of The Beatles. The most influential band of all time, Liverpool’s finest left a legacy that transcends popular music, cementing the band as cultural icons of the 20th century. However, towards the end of the group’s time together, tensions were incredibly high and rapidly reaching boiling point, so much so that producer George Martin could not envisage their return to the studio.
Often referred to as ‘the fifth Beatle’, Martin’s production was absolutely essential to the formation of the Fab Four’s sound. His extensive production work throughout The Beatles’ career – from the fresh-faced pop optimism of Please Please Me to the mature, sophisticated psychedelia of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Martin’s influence was an integral part of all of it.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given how closely the producer worked with the band, Martin could sense the band was coming to an end as the 1960s drew to a close. The recording of The White Album in 1968 was characterised by heightened tensions among the group and regular arguments. Martin was partly responsible for this, as he had taken an unexpected holiday during the recording sessions, but the conflict was a result of a much wider combination of things.
Among that combination of factors was the increasing presence of Lennon’s partner, Yoko Ono, in the studio, causing frustration for the rest of the group. There was also a more profound sense of creative differences between the bandmates during this period, eventually resulting in Ringo Starr departing the band in August for two weeks. In addition, there were a plethora of technical difficulties, as well as engineer Geoff Emerick quitting partway through the recording, which made the process seem very difficult.
For Martin, however, it was the recording sessions for Let It Be that really signified the end of The Beatles. The album itself takes on a much more melancholic, downbeat tone in comparison to the group’s previous work, almost as though it was a funeral album for the death of the group. In The Beatles Anthology, Martin explains: “Let It Be was such an unhappy record (even though there are some great songs on it) that I really believed that was the end of The Beatles, and I assumed I would never work with them again. I thought, ‘What a shame to end like this.’”
Of course, despite Martin’s predictions, he did end up working with the band again. Although Let It Be did end up being the final Beatles studio album to be released, Abbey Road was the last to be recorded. After the intense misery and conflict of recording sessions for the White Album and Let It Be, Abbey Road was an altogether more positive experience. “It was a very happy record,” the producer said, “I guess it was happy because everybody thought it was going to be the last.”
The rest of the group seemed to be in agreement about the record, often hailed as some of the band’s finest work. Ringo Starr said of the recording process, “After the Let It Be nightmare, Abbey Road turned out fine,” continuing, “The second side is brilliant. Out of the ashes of all that madness, that last section is for me one of the finest pieces we put together”. Thank goodness Starr returned from his brief hiatus during the White Album, and Martin’s prediction that Let It Be would be his final work produced with the band turned out to be untrue.
