Here, There, and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles
Here, There, and Everywhere by Geoff Emerick is perhaps my most favorite Beatles connected book. Why is that? Because it provides such an interesting perspective on recording The Beatles classic albums such as 1967′s Magical Mystery Tour.
I love that this book is focused on what was occurring in the studio instead of what the guys were doing in their personal lives. Comparatively other books on The Beatles are way too focused on the biography of The Beatles and not enough on the music. It’s as a result of of the music that anyone is concerned about their biography in the first place!
The book isn’t entirely regarding The Beatles, it is more of a Geoff Emerick memoir (with a clear focus on his time with The Beatles) but if you’re thinking that that may make it less interesting, I really don’t think that it does. I actually think it helps make his stories about The Beatles appear more “real.”
The book’s “realness” is one of the greatest things about it. I have read a ton of books on the band but many of them seem kind of clinical in comparison. They’re often like a bunch of trivia thrown together. With Here, There, and Everywhere I felt like I was really there at the studio in the ’60s. Sort of a fly on the wall.
This book provides a great look into The Beatles as musicians there’s actually a series of books called The Beatles as Musicians which goes into that more in depth.) We get a glimpse at Paul working for hours to get his bass guitar parts on Sgt. Pepper just right and we see Harrison significantly improve his guitar playing abilities through the decade.
Emerick was a very important part of the band’s sound during their most creative period in the mid ’60s. Amazingly on his first full day as lead recording engineer he came up with ideas that helped make the last track on Revolver, “Tomorrow Never Knows,” sound so revolutionary.
If you are interested in buying this book you aren’t stuck with buying it on old fashioned paper, you’ll be able to also buy it for your Kindle. If you don’t have a Kindle yet then I advocate buying the Kindle DX Electronic Book Reader because of it’s bigger size, it makes it more easy to read. If you live outside of the US, you’ll need to purchase a Global Kindle.
As much as I like reading about The Beatles, I enjoy listening to their albums even more than that. I think it is a fantastic idea to have the new remastered versions of The Beatles back catalog around to listen to while you’re thumbing through this very interesting book. In particular I recommend buying The Beatles in Mono CD Box Set since Emerick mentions several times in this book how he thinks the mono mixes are superior (specifically in relation to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.)
Harold Maxwell Quesenberry also recommends buying The Beatles Stereo Box Set and The Beatles USB
