Rest In Peace, George Martin

And the hole in pop culture's fabric continues to widen with the passing of Sir George Martin, a true genius who was known for producing everything from albums of classical music to comedy albums with Peter Sellers in the 40s and 50s. But he is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking work with The Beatles, most notably on their 1967 opus Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Martin pioneered the use of physical tape loops for effects in an era before sampling was done on computers with the click of a mouse.

And on one memorable occasion during the recording of Strawberry Fields Forever, physically cutting up tape, throwing it up in the air, and splicing it back together where it landed to produce the randomly jumbled orchestral piece which appeared at the end of the song. Ever repaired an 8-track cartridge? Times that about 1000 is what George Martin did.

Rest in peace, Sir George. You were a true pioneer and genius who will be missed, but your work will live on forever.

And now in closing, Ringo and George Martin discussing the recording of With a Little Help From My Friends, as well as George Harrison's use of the sitar:



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George Martin Movie Extra

George Martin's can-do spirit was certainly on display in 1978 when he produced the soundtrack for a movie that was essentially the answer to a drunken party question: "Hey man, d'you ever wonder what would happen if the Bee Gees ever recorded the Beatles music? Like maybe Sgt Pepper man? And somebody brought like a movie camera and Peter Frampton and Aerosmith and like the old guy from Oh God? And the old guy actually like SANG man?"

Really not as bad as all that if you just say what the hell and go with it. Under Martin's guidance the music is well produced, and nothing in this movie is as goofy or scattershot as the opening for the 1990 Oscars, which Allan Carr, the producer of the Sgt. Pepper's movie, also produced. Right?




Keep those cameras rolling...yikes!


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Glenn Frey Extra

Glenn Frey had quite the accomplished career outside of his work with the Eagles:





You Belong To The City, a song written by Frey and frequent collaborator Jack Tempchin, fit the Miami Vice soundtrack like a glove. There is no song better at encapsulating urban city life when the sun goes down, even as slightly romanticized as it may be. Of course, I lived in Edmonton in 1985 and still do. Never even been close to Miami as of yet. But the song still did it for me. It was easy for me to imagine Crockett and Tubbs sneaking into Edmonton in the middle of the night on some secret mission or something. Maybe going forward in a time machine hidden away in a carnival ride for a night to prevent our then-Stanley-Cup winning hockey team from sucking pond water between June 19, 2006 and last Sunday.

Couldn't happen, right? Crockett and Tubbs in Edmonton?

But I digress. Back to the topic at hand.

The producers of Miami Vice obviously took notice of Frey's screen presence, and wrote the Smuggler's Blues episode around his same-named hit and giving him the choice role of Jimmy. Here he is reprising the role in a cool 1985 Pepsi ad with Don Johnson:







But his greatest acting challenge was yet to come...



Here he is on the sports-themed Dan Patrick Show, proving the adage that sports guys love to talk music and music guys love to talk sports. This took place last April, with Frey not looking well at all, probably wishing that the show was just broadcast on radio and not TV. He seems to be in sage mode, offering advice and stories while surveying his career as if on a mountaintop. And he lets Patrick's goofy on-air sidekick absolutely destroy three of his hits simply because he always wanted to sing in front of Glenn Frey. One imagines Don Henley storming out of the interview under the same scenario. But Frey seemed to understand two very important things: First, our current karaoke/American Idol culture has convinced the world that absolutely everyone in the world can sing like a superstar.

Obviously not true.

But Frey seemed to understand a second, even more important thing, that I'm not sure most musicians realize. At a certain point, most iconic songs such as You Belong to the City, Smuggler's Blues or The Heat is On, are going to connect with the culture and take on a life of their own, regardless of whatever intentions Glenn Frey or anyone else had for them when they were written. And for most people, that will be singing at the local Thursday night karaoke jam. Or on a national radio show, with the song's performer or writer in attendance. I'm sure it must have been a somewhat discomfiting experience to hear his songs sung even briefly in such a frankly bad manner. But I have a strong feeling that on some level he must have been proud that his songs are and always will be permanently embedded in the cultural fabric, and that they meant the world to the world.

So he just let it go.

And for that, I have even more respect for him than I already did.


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