“Not the best”: The Beatles album George Martin was miserable working on
Every record The Beatles ever made seemed to be as much about having fun as it was about making music. While they are known now for their fantastic hooks across their discography, the wild left turns they would go on halfway through their career were about using the studio as an instrument and seeing what they could get away with with George Martin at the helm. Although Martin could be considered the truest version of ‘The Fifth Beatle’, he admitted that even he had had enough going into the studio to work on this record.
Because if it weren’t for Martin’s handiwork, the group’s best material wouldn’t have sounded half as good. Yes, they did have a vision for what their songs were supposed to sound like, but Martin took those dreams and translated them into reality, whether that was working on controlled chaos on ‘I Am the Walrus’ or arranging orchestral instruments on tunes like ‘Hey Jude’.
Granted, every one of the Fab Four’s releases didn’t come without some hard work. When they started recording something like Beatles for Sale, they were already burned the hell out from touring, and even when making singles like ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, they managed to do the impossible by making two separate takes fit seamlessly.
But that hard work shouldn’t matter when everyone’s focused on the main goal. It was about making every tune sound great no matter who wrote it, but by the time The White Album sessions began, the group were hardly on speaking terms, leading to Martin going into different studios around Abbey Road looking at what everyone was working on.
Let It Be should have a producer’s hell if that was the beginning of the headaches. Since the whole concept behind the record was to bring the band back to their roots, having them play around with “state of the art” equipment by “Magic” Alex that did nothing and work on songs no one could wrap their heads around wasn’t exactly a sign that they had a classic on their hands or anything.
Even though Martin was on hand as an advisor to the group, he still felt that the sessions were some of the most gruelling that he ever had with the band, saying, “Let It Be was probably the most miserable time anybody ever had between us and the Beatles. Between the Beatles themselves. They didn’t like each other very much, and it was an unsatisfactory album from the point of view of collaboration. Everyone was pulling apart, and no one was really organized. Some great songs, but not the best of albums, and I thought it was the end.”
But despite the band not wanting it out and Phil Spector dumping his orchestral vomit over everything, the tunes still hold up. The rustic vibe they were going for can still be heard on tracks like ‘Dig a Pony’ and ‘I’ve Got a Feeling,’ and even if it sounds like the melodramatic version of itself, it’s hard to picture ‘The Long and Winding Road’ without those strings coming in behind Paul McCartney’s voice.
While Abbey Road was around the corner, Let It Be represented everything that was off about The Beatles in the latter half of the 1960s. We can see now that they were still having a good time watching Get Back, but if this was the vibe in the studio, it’s no wonder why John Lennon announced his divorce from the group shortly afterwards.
