Re: Why didn't George Martin produce 'Let It Be'?

Quoth [EMAIL PROTECTED] (laura) on this day of 20 Nov 2003 20:31:01
-0600:

>Thanks for the info!  I'm still wondering though, especially since
>Martin was indeed the only producer for all of the other Beatles'
>albums, why was anyone else invited to produce?  It just seems strange
>to me.  Did Martin not want it?  Why offer it to anyone else at all -
>you know what I mean?

In Anthology, Martin says that the group was really looking to do
something different. They wanted another producer, but didn't tell
him, so he stayed on, and did some of the initial production of the
tracks, but was hamstrung by the "no overdubs; make it live and real"
idea that had been imposed. The project fell apart, and Martin *was*
brought in to do Abbey Road, while the LIB tapes languished. After
Allen Klein was brought in to be their manager, he and John decided to
give it to Phil Spector, evidently with the okay of George and Ringo,
but completely unbeknownst to Paul and George Martin. Paul was
furious, especially at the adding of strings, women's voices, and a
harp to his "Long and Winding Road." George Martin was also angry,
because he felt Spector had done a lot of things that he would have
done also, had he been allowed, but Spector hadn't done them as well
as he would have. He was also told that he wouldn't be given any
production credit, because he hadn't produced the final version of the
album. He told them that the credits should read "Produced by George
Martin. Overproduced by Phil Spector." As he relates, "They didn't
like that so well."
-- 
Kevin Wayne

"Stark raving sane."
     -- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

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