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selenakVictory is mine! The earlier mentioned BBC George Martin portrait is online for non-Brits as well. Icon for this entry courtesy of the fact Bernard Cribbins appears in it, which makes for another strange case of "when fandoms meet". (Wilf Bernard Cribbins and GM worked together back when GM specialized in comedy records.) Cribbins is sniffling at one point and adds, dead-pan: "It's not sentiment, it's hayfever." Then there is Michael Palin, fanboying Sir George for the Goon, Spike Milligan and Peter Sellars records, so there is more massive crossfandomage before we ever get to the Beatles.
It's great documentary, not always linear (for example, it starts with George Martin getting hired by EMI, and only later do we get back to his childhood), and the interaction with everyone, most notably his son Giles, Paul and Ringo, is just incredibly endearing, banter-y and lovely. They're all just so incredibly relaxed and attuned in each other's company, whether it's Giles teasing his father about his competiveness with other producers and his acquisition of a polished BBC accent (GM was originally working class but still belonged to the generation that trained itself into a different accent if they wanted to succeed professionally), Ringo teasing GM about the Beatles fancying his wife Judy, or the following exchange with Paul when they're talking about GM's war service:
Paul (teasing): Tell us what you did the in the war, Daddy.
GM (laughing): You are rotten!
Paul: Come on, come on.
There are some very touching (without being sentimental) passages, as when George Martin talk about his hearing loss (just imagine what that means to someone like him) and when the film simulates how little he can hear by now) without an ounce of self pity. The Beatles-que tales aren't new if you're familiar with GM interviews (but if you aren't, they're great to hear for the first time, and if you are, you can still enjoy them); the only thing that was new to me was an open admission of being in the We-hate-Phil-Spector club together with Paul, though he phrases it in typical restrained GM style: he says he felt betrayed when John first said, re: Get Back/Let it Be sessions, that he didn't want GM's style of careful production for that one because it was supposed to be a live album, back to basics, and then John and George gave the tapes to, of all the producers in the world, Phil Spector, resultilng in "the Beatles: produced by George Martin, overproduced by Phil Spector" (quoth GM). Quite. (I'm totally with GM and Paul on that one, as detailed in an earlier post. Bad John. Bad George. No cookies. I really don't know what they saw in Phil Spector anyway. Serves you right that Phil went crazy on you in Los Angeles, John.) No wonder it was Paul who had to cajole GM back for Abbey Road.
But he's still so gracious and good-humored about the whole thing, from kidding with Paul about the "property of EMI" printed toilet paper on Abbey Road to listening to the Beatles being silly on the Christmas records they did for the fanclub, on one of which they tried to get George Martin to speak (he wouldn't), and Paul's and GM's faces as they listen to John's young voice being silly and coaxing their producer are something to behold. And through it all, he's so mentally alert and witty that you think, damn, that's how I'd like to be at his age. I should be so lucky.
I'll leave you with one more quote:
GM: ...so then I had 35 weeks of number one hits.
Giles Martin: So would you say you were the Simon Cowell of the 60s?
GM: Good lord. I hope not.
In conclusion: best record producer ever.
It's great documentary, not always linear (for example, it starts with George Martin getting hired by EMI, and only later do we get back to his childhood), and the interaction with everyone, most notably his son Giles, Paul and Ringo, is just incredibly endearing, banter-y and lovely. They're all just so incredibly relaxed and attuned in each other's company, whether it's Giles teasing his father about his competiveness with other producers and his acquisition of a polished BBC accent (GM was originally working class but still belonged to the generation that trained itself into a different accent if they wanted to succeed professionally), Ringo teasing GM about the Beatles fancying his wife Judy, or the following exchange with Paul when they're talking about GM's war service:
Paul (teasing): Tell us what you did the in the war, Daddy.
GM (laughing): You are rotten!
Paul: Come on, come on.
There are some very touching (without being sentimental) passages, as when George Martin talk about his hearing loss (just imagine what that means to someone like him) and when the film simulates how little he can hear by now) without an ounce of self pity. The Beatles-que tales aren't new if you're familiar with GM interviews (but if you aren't, they're great to hear for the first time, and if you are, you can still enjoy them); the only thing that was new to me was an open admission of being in the We-hate-Phil-Spector club together with Paul, though he phrases it in typical restrained GM style: he says he felt betrayed when John first said, re: Get Back/Let it Be sessions, that he didn't want GM's style of careful production for that one because it was supposed to be a live album, back to basics, and then John and George gave the tapes to, of all the producers in the world, Phil Spector, resultilng in "the Beatles: produced by George Martin, overproduced by Phil Spector" (quoth GM). Quite. (I'm totally with GM and Paul on that one, as detailed in an earlier post. Bad John. Bad George. No cookies. I really don't know what they saw in Phil Spector anyway. Serves you right that Phil went crazy on you in Los Angeles, John.) No wonder it was Paul who had to cajole GM back for Abbey Road.
But he's still so gracious and good-humored about the whole thing, from kidding with Paul about the "property of EMI" printed toilet paper on Abbey Road to listening to the Beatles being silly on the Christmas records they did for the fanclub, on one of which they tried to get George Martin to speak (he wouldn't), and Paul's and GM's faces as they listen to John's young voice being silly and coaxing their producer are something to behold. And through it all, he's so mentally alert and witty that you think, damn, that's how I'd like to be at his age. I should be so lucky.
I'll leave you with one more quote:
GM: ...so then I had 35 weeks of number one hits.
Giles Martin: So would you say you were the Simon Cowell of the 60s?
GM: Good lord. I hope not.
In conclusion: best record producer ever.
