Beatles Anthology, Giles Martin speaks

Giles Martin, the son of Beatles producer George Martin, worked on both the expanded re-release of the video Anthology – now on Disney+ – and the new volume of the audio Anthology, released a few days ago. In recent days he has given more than one interview, and the one published in the “New Musical Express” is the most recent. Here are some excerpts.

Let’s talk about “Anthology 4”. What unifies these 13 songs?

I try to give people a sense of what it was like to be there that day, to be at the sessions. Personally, I love hearing conversations and moving from that to singing. It’s important to understand the process and raw talent. The closer we get to that talent, the more we appreciate it.

Even when they make mistakes, they’re great – they laugh about it. You can feel the relationships and the fragility. Take one of ‘In My Life’ is beautiful. There’s something special about the immediacy of a demo or live performance. I don’t try to mix too elegantly – I want it to sound as immediate as possible.

There are things that people want. They always ask me to mix ‘Rubber Soul’. They want the full 27 minute version of ‘Helter Skelter’. I remember when I was considering mixing the Hollywood Bowl concert, and my dad was still alive and said, ‘My God, why would you do that?’”

About “Now And Then”, it seems that the role of AI in bringing that song to light has been greatly misunderstood…

“It’s because Paul said, ‘We made a Beatles song with AI’. No, we didn’t! The documentary ‘Get Back’ and ‘Revolver’ use the same process. It’s just a matter of removing elements and cleaning up others. I’m not artificially synthesizing anything, but I’m amazed at what you can do with that technology. Sometimes at first you struggle to even hear Ringo’s drums, then I can come up with a kick drum. Maybe it sounds like someone tapping on the wall next to it, but you are simply raking the surface layer to find what is underneath.”

Is there much more to discover?

“Very little. I think we’ve done almost everything; that’s the answer. Rereleasing ‘Anthology’ is probably a good sign. It’s been 50-60 years, and yet people want more. I tell them, ‘Go listen to the albums’.”

And regarding the upcoming Beatles biopics directed by Sam Mendes, what advice would you give to actors?

“I’m working with the actors and they’re doing a really good job, that’s all I can say. The scripts are really good and brave. They’re all great actors, so I don’t have any advice to give, but I provide nuance and tell things I’ve heard.”

Zak Starkey told Barry Keoghan who plays his father Ringo to buy a big rubber nose…

“Sounds just like a Starkey-style comment!”