Talk:George Martin

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Article Grading: The following comments were left by the quality and importance raters: (edit · refresh) Comments from WikiProject The Beatles: I rated this article B-Class only because it lacked references. I gave it a top priority because George is considered one of the driving forces behind the Beatles. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by The Man13 (talk • contribs) 15:50, 4 July 2006 (UTC)
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[edit] Photo Changed...

The main picture of George Martin has been switched to a picture of the "Love" Circ de Solei...

Hm, it's back to normal.

Dunno if is it here the right local, but I changed the title of George Martin, since he is a CBE he couldnt have a Sir before his name. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 200.96.149.154 (talk) 00:45, 6 February 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Misc

Wasn't it George Martin who once defined 4 (?) rules of how to make a hit?

Parents? Childhood? Schools and colleges? Bastie 19:58, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

I think The Disney Channel had a special with George Martin on how he recorded Magical Mystery tour-it was fasinating. Does anyone know if that special is available anywhere?

• I don't know about any four rules... but the parents, childhood, et al. can be found in All You Need is Ears. The Disney Channel aired both Magical Mystery Tour and a special about the making of Sgt. Pepper in the mid-1990s; possibly you're confusing the two? I don't think the Sgt. Pepper special was issued commercially, but I'm sure somebody out there taped it. Zephyrad 18:03, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Air studios

Any chance that some knowledgeable person could add a para on this?

• I do know AIR's Montserrat studios were destroyed when the supposedly-dead volcano decided to erupt. I believe they got the tapes out, but had to leave the equipment. Have to check on this. All You Need is Ears discusses AIR and its London studio - and one hard test a client put them through, to make sure the place would be quiet enough. Zephyrad 18:09, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

• AIR Montserrat was badly damaged by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and had to close. The AIR Studios website includes a history page. GTGleeson 22:17, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Photo

We need a larger photo of Sir George. I tried to make his portrait larger and the coat of arms smaller, since it looks odd for the latter to be bigger than the former, but the portrait is so small it's at top resolution already. Presumably Mediawiki won't stretch images because increasing the px value for the portrait didn't work. --kingboyk 19:47, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Why Billboard?

Is the quoting of American Billboard Hot 100 chart placings really appropriate for this British producer of predominantly British hit artists? For example, "From Me To You" is notable for being the Beatles' first undisputed number 1 hit in Britain - the fact that it eventually got to number 41 in the US chart, almost a year after it was originally released, is surely of very little relevance. 217.155.20.163 00:48, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Yes, Billboard is most appropriate. The Billbaord Hot 100 has long been the standard in the music industry. The fact that Martin is British is irrelevant. I compliled that list because he is a record producer, and wished to have an accurate list of the hit records (by definition, records that have hit the Billboard Hot 100) that he has produced. -The creator

Sorry, but that's a very US-centric perspective, and I suspect that most British music fans would beg to differ with you on this issue. The Billboard Hot 100 may be an industry standard in the USA but it is not the only one in the world. It may surprise you to learn that there are many countries outside the USA which have their own industry-standard singles charts.

The key point here is not just that Martin is British, but that he ran a British record label, and that he produced records by predominantly British artists which charted primarily in Britain. Quoting a chart from a foreign market - even the most significant foreign market - offers a hugely distorted perspective of his career, especially given that he had little say over which of his artists were promoted there or how their material was packaged (something he is understandably bitter about even today).

I've already pointed out the folly of listing the Beatles' "From Me To You" as a minor US hit without even mentioning that it was their first undisputed number one hit in their native land. A similar thing could be said of Cilla Black's rendition of "Anyone Who Had A Heart" - this was not only a number one hit, and her breakthrough single, it became (and remains) the biggest-selling single by any female artist in the history of the British record industry. However, it didn't chart in the USA, so doesn't count as a "hit" on your list.

Please don't think I'm bagging you for compiling the list, I'm sure many people would find it useful for what it is. It might be appropriate for inclusion in a US-specific article about Martin, but it just isn't an accurate representation of Martin's career as a whole. The same argument would apply if British chart placings were the only ones given in articles about, say, Berry Gordy and Motown. 217.155.20.163 20:33, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Please feel free to move it to a page of its own. Or make another list of his British hits. This list was designed to be an American list. I am American, and cannot apologize for my sometimes exrtreme nativism. Also it was a listing of HOT 100 hits, not Country, or Adult Contemporary.

[edit] AIR

Just wondering if it is worth expanding on Martin’s reasons for establishing AIR. In 1963 alone, his productions were placed at No. 1 for 37 weeks, but EMI didn’t even give him a Christmas bonus (according to Bill Harry.) He apparently suggested a commission, but again, EMI dragged their heals. So he left with fellow colleagues Ron Richards, John Burgess and Peter Sullivan and set up Associated Independent Recording. EMI then had to hire him on his terms to carry on producing. What do you think, shall I put that in?--Patthedog 10:26, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Citations

I added 24 citations to this article. That helps the "it's not sourced" complaint, except that more than half of them are from books written by Martin himself. I will try to cross check these with other sources when I get the chance.

I think the table of hit records could be moved to another page. Opinions?

I don't have a handy reference for that (chart positions), so someone else will have to source that. Same thing for Grammy awards. John Cardinal 06:27, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for adding the cites! GM's recall of events is notoriously poor so cross-checking is a good idea. Raymond Arritt 06:29, 18 February 2007 (UTC)