Guiding hand behind classic recordings

Sir George Martin was the guiding hand in most of The Beatles’ recordings.

Here are some of the albums he helped to shape:

Please Please Me – Much of the 1963 album was recorded in one day, and Twist And Shout was left to the end of the session because of the throat-shredding effect it had on John Lennon’s voice.

A Hard Day’s Night – The first album written entirely by the Lennon-McCartney songwriting team and featuring 12-string guitars and acoustics to enrich the sound for the accompanying film.

Help! – Soundtrack to the second Beatles film with seven of the tracks used in the completed caper. Among the notable tracks are Ticket To Ride and Yesterday which featured only one Beatle, Paul, plus a string quartet scored by George Martin.

Rubber Soul – The album which many see as a new phase for the Beatles as the band play with new sounds. Norwegian-Wood saw Harrison tinkering with a sitar.

Revolver – After a much-needed break from constant demands, the Beatles were in full experimental flow on this 1966 record. Song structures were becoming stranger and stranger, nowhere more so than on Tomorrow Never Knows.

Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The band spent more than four months in Abbey Road working on the tracks, and the highpoint is A Day In The Life – essentially a Lennon song welded to a McCartney song with an incredible George Martin-scored orchestral build – and with one of the most famous final chords of all time.

Abbey Road – The last album recorded by the band in 1969 featuring George Harrison’s masterful Here Comes The Sun.