Part historian, part cheerleader, Womack’s herculean work is a more than worthy addition to any self-respecting Beatles fan’s already crowded bookshelf ... Womack does find ways to look at the Beatles story from a fresh perspective. While he touches on Martin’s divorce and remarriage, his complex relationship with his parents, his personal integrity, and his caring heart, it’s the Martin at the studio console who’s the primary focus. Given that Womack’s subject is an innovative music producer, it’s probably inevitable to get bogged down occasionally in wonky recording-tech talk. In some cases, it’s an important and interesting part of the story. However, it can also drag the narrative down a bit...It’s a minor quibble; learning about how some of the band’s groundbreaking sounds were crafted is often quite interesting.
Does the world need another book about The Beatles? If you have to ask, then Kenneth Womack’s spirited, new book on Beatles producer George Martin, or any other book about the four Liverpool lads, is not for you. For the rest of us, the story never gets old. While Martin gets top billing, The Beatles take center stage for much of the time, which, even Martin would agree, seems fitting ... The writing here may not be as lyrical as Bob Spitz’s fine book on the Beatles. But there are many gems...and the book is not as emotionally stirring as Cynthia Lennon’s book on John. Yet Womack captures quite well the joy and exhilaration and challenges of working at Abbey Road. Given the constraints of that studio, with its strict, lab coat regimes and its four-track recording equipment, it’s all the more remarkable what four young lads from Liverpool and one regal gentleman were able to create in under a decade.
In this final volume of the meticulous and lively biography of the famed Beatles music producer, Womack resumes after the release of the groundbreaking album Rubber Soul. The author invites us into the Beatles’ world with assurance and aplomb as he guides us through the creation of some of the group’s greatest musical achievements ...This impressive, compendious biography is a must-read for fans of the Beatles and other seminal rock groups of the 1960s and '70s.
