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Ken Scott on Geoff Emerick's book
Tue, 16 May 2006 20:29:16 GMT rec.music.beatles
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DanKaye...
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I know this had a long thread on it, but I think a lot of the opinions
had to do with the book's treatment of George, which sounds to me like it was not really all that harsh, but others differ; and I admit I have not read the book. But what seems to not have been resolved are Ken Scott's original assertions as to various lies or mistakes in the book. For this reason I am repeating them, here, as I have not seen anyone able to refute what Scott says here: (I have marked the parts I am speaking about with ***) By way of an introduction my name is Ken Scott and I was honoured and privileged to work on a lot of recording sessions with The Beatles. Being one of the few who got to see the Beatles record, up close and personal, I have always been bothered by the many people who disseminate false stories, always for a fast buck or some kind of ego boost. I have been waiting for someone with credentials - like Geoff Emerick - to come out, finally, with the true story. When his "Here, There and Everywhere" was announced I was so happy. The truth would be told, finally. I was in for a big disappointment. I was one of the people interviewed for Geoff's book, as were many other former Abbey Road employees. We all came to understand that these interviews were arranged because he had very little recall of those days, and his co-author would use our memories to become Geoff's stories. Now, after reading his book, I KNOW how little he remembers. It appears we, the interviewees, didn't give enough, because much is clearly fabricated stories, something made up to fill out the book. A good example of this being the detailed recollection of the overdub session he worked on for Misery (Page 59). However, in an interview in 2003, with Ken Michaels on Total Access Live saying "...I was informed the other day, and I couldn't remember it, that Misery was the first track that I was actually present on." ***(Editor's Note: Geoff was a [tape operator] on "Misery". He started engineering (mixing) a year after "Norwegian Wood") Amongst these stories are many things that could be proven untrue by astute Beatles fans, and things easily shown to be false by those who were there. Taken as single points it is easy to say "so what", but when one turns into two turns into one hundred the veracity of everything comes into question. Unlike any other band The Beatles are now part of history and it is my feeling that their history should be told correctly. As part of that history Geoff did AMAZING work recording them, but if one can't remember or take the time to double check the facts, DON'T WRITE A BOOK. There are so many errors in this book, some small, others not, so I offer the following examples only as an insider's starting point, ***1) The book claims, on Page 108, that Geoff was the first engineer to be given the job before the age of 40. Amongst our teachers/mentors were Peter Bown, Stuart Eltham, Malcolm Addey and Peter Vince. These 4 pop engineers were ALL promoted before they were 40. ***2) It claims he was the first engineer to record a sitar at Abbey Road on Page 137. However, it was not Geoff who recorded "Norwegian Wood" - done the year before he first recorded the Beatles. ***3) On Page 257 it states how early on John wanted a rawer sound for the "White Album" and yet on Page 264 it says they came up with that idea as an excuse for the roughness much later. ***4) The story is told how they recorded "Blackbird" OUTSIDE the EMI studio at night, with birds chirping in the background. When mixing this song the only bird sounds present were from an EMI sound effects tape (which Paul and I put there) and interestingly there were no traffic noises, no plane sounds nor any other sound one would expect recording outside on Page 240's "soft summer eve" . ***5) Paul's middle section on "A Day In Life" was there from Take 1. It was not edited in later as is claimed on Page 149. ***6) On 31st July, 1968 "Hey Jude" was recorded at Trident Studios. At that time the only studio in London to have an 8 track machine and the very reason the Beatles chose to go to a virtually unknown and untested studio rather than one of the more well known studios. Every major studio certainly did not have an 8 track in 1967 as is claimed on Page 199. ***7) Page 11 states that John showed he accepted Geoff by asking if he had heard the new Tiny Tim record -- this is highly unlikely as at this time the record had not been recorded and it would be at least a year before it was released. ***8) Supposedly, according to Page 300, George recorded the "Something" solo at the same time and on the same tracks as the strings. Then why is it that on the track lineup it shows orchestra on tracks 3 & 4 and main guitar solo on track 1 ? Also, if isolated, the solo on the 5.1 version has no sign of an orchestra. ***9) And last but not least, page 218. Many times over the years I have told the story of how Keith Moon was leaving the studio car park, after playing tympani on "Old Man River" on the first Jeff Beck Group album Truth, and when confronted by an elderly St Johns Wood resident walking her dog he used his car's built in p.a. system to tell her to "F*#! off" and the ensuing complaints to the studio. This is the first I have heard that such a surprisingly similar incident occurred with John. Again, these are but a few of the MANY problems. Since copies of his book leaked out, there has been a movement from fans and EMI employees past and present; all are shocked at what Geoff is purported to say in this book, as SO much of it is untrue. There are long lists of factual errors being compiled around the world to be released when this book is published. (The last list I saw was well over 100 errors, and climbing as more people read the book). In his defense, I must say it is likely Geoff did not write much of this book at all - it is a creation of co-author Howard Massey. Much of it is misleading 'creative' writing ***(such as his word-for-word recreations of something said casually over 40 years ago?) and elaborations on Mark Lewisohn's "Sessions" book; all done to "fill in" the memory of Geoff Emerick. I cannot bring this missive to an end without mentioning the book's relentless tirade against George Harrison. As a second engineer I was on more Beatles sessions than Geoff and saw none of the problems talked about constantly, and as an engineer, the same. Sadly, George is not in a position to defend himself today. I think I know what his reaction would have been anyway... Mine is utter disgust. This book is NOT accurate, it is not "the truth" and does not deserve to be supported. It is very damaging to the good reputations of such people as George Harrison, George Martin, John Lennon, Chris Thomas, Ringo Starr, Phil McDonald and the list goes on. The only one who is rarely mentioned negatively is Paul McCartney, the only one to have employed Geoff after the Beatles. Good luck and keep up the good work. Cheers, Ken Scott ******* Those were Ken Scott's words. Personally I have not read the book, but based on the above mistakes, I am not inclined to read it. Lookingglass...
DanKaye...
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