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(c) Ian Hammond 1999
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In My Life

I picked up George Martin's album In My Life today.

Most songs retain their original keys and Beatle layout of verses and
chorus etc. Usually a bit slower. Two McCartney tracks and one from
Harrison. Lennon gets seven and Martin has two of his own.

The album is framed by Martin's favorite tracks from his favorite 
Beatle album, Abbey Road, Come Together and the Golden Slumbers/The End
medley. The two other Abbey Road tracks are instrumental versions of
Because and Here Comes The Sun.

Like Sgt Pepper, the album has an afterthought, a reflection. There
it was the massive A Day In The Life. Here it is Martin's final adieu.
Martin's Friends and Lovers takes its name from a line in Lennon's
In My Life and links directly to it, with Martin dedicating
the song to John and the album to the In My Life theme, summing up
his career and life with the Beatles. 

A gentle album, even the Day In The Life climax is a bit Doris Day.
Martin's philosophy that music's function is basically to make people
feel happy comes through loud and clear: he has only two solo singers
Celine Dion and Phil Collins. Four tracks are taken by comedians:
Williams/McFerrin, Hawn, Carrey and Connoly. Three instrumentalists:
Jeff Beck, Vanessa Mae and John Williams are feature.

That said, the farewell tracks at the end are quite sentimental for
Mister-Don't Get Dreary On Me-Martin.

1. Come Together - Robin Williams & Bobby McFerrin (4:36)
Intro and first verse unaccompanied with Bobby singing bass (like
Don't Worry, Be Happy). Band joins in second verse. Nice swampy
strings in third verse and vocal in octaves. Solo guitar+strings are
like those on Lennon's solo It's So Hard. Sticks to original pretty
much. 

2. A Hard Day's Night - Goldie Hawn (3.24)
Ella-style swing with touches of Randy Newman. Solo is on bridge,
after which the song modulates to Bb. No attempt at those Beatle
opening and closing chords.  Small snore in last verse is highlight.
Martin's anecdote was that the second or third take was fine, but he
kept going simply because he wasn't going to let her out of his sight
that quickly.

3. A Day In The Life - Jeff Beck (4:43)
A semitone below the original; possibly slowed down.  Sticks entirely
to arrangement of original and largely just plays the melody. First
verses evoke A Whiter Shade Of Pale. Wall-to-wall passion in third
verse as he goes up an octave. Guitar lines a bit obvious in the Woke
up bridge section. Triumphant return passage to last verse with
timpani attempting the impossible. Repeat of climax leading to Le
Grande Chorde on strings and guitar. Valiant effort.

4. Here, There and Everywhere - Celine Dion (3:18)
Light show orchestra with same basic feel.  Sung in C rather than G,
with an instrumental verse in Ab inserted before second bridge. I
expected it to be really overdone - but it is quite lovely and only
slightly overdone. Martin finishes the song on the chord of F (C d e
F), which is nice.  About the only track which could have been
considered as a single.

5. Because -- Vanessa Mae (3:18)
The Beethoven association leads to a three minute concerto:
Intro unaccompanied violin, on the arpeggios and sounds like Bach
First verse, deep gypsy color, tremolos under ahs
Second verse, sung by choir with violin decorations
Bridge is sung with Brahmsian decorations from violin
Last verse, with bits from Beethoven's Violin Concerto
Coda, violin and choir together (Oboe takes solo breaks)
Added verse, just the fiddle against held string chords - hymn-like

Its amazing how many quotes Martin gets in from various concerti.
Choir doesn't quite work, but the fiddle sounds great. Vanessa has a
lovely fat tone and of course she has that gypsy thing down to a tee.
Quite delicious and the track I will come back for.

6. I Am The Walrus - Jim Carrey (4:31)
Jim camps it up against an almost identical replica of the original
(George was THERE). Ends by singing (shouting actually) "I did it, I
defiled a timeless piece of art!"

If you want to know why Ringo has soul, listen to this track, the
drumming isn't bad, but it's just not Ringo Starr. I think Starr's
secret is that he sinks into every song, down to the marrow.

7. Here Comes The Sun - John Williams (3:31)
Extended Martin orchestral intro, like A Beginning: there's enough here
to finally catch a glimpse of the Martin style, in its own right.

First verse is solo classical guitar, a candidate for the best piece
of transcription of the Beatles to a classic instrument.

A delightful second verse adds low strings and wind. The bridge has
orchestra with guitar decoration, sounding like Vivaldi's Mandolin
concerti (which is sometimes played on guitar). The final verse is for
brass and guitar.
  
Here's your English Country Garden. Mr. Harrison has to like this
track. John Williams is superb. Classical Gas.

8. Mr Kite - Billy Conolly (2:58)
After general circus sounds  and strains of The Loveliest Night Of
The Year Billy enters  as a town caller for the first verse. A bit
like My Fair Lady busker street music in the second verse. Solo and
outro are tick shorter. You can actually hear Henry the Horse
galloping about. Billy comes back in at the end, ending on a solid E
minor washed down with a solid bottle of  Sgt. Pepper Red. Vintage
stuff.

9. The Pepperland Suite - Martin (6:18)
In case you don't already have these pieces in pristine condition on
your Yellow Submarine video, album and/or CD, here they again in a
shorter form. I think there's some new bits that weren't on the CD
(just before the Stravinsky Rite Of Spring quote).

10. Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End - Phil Collins (5:38)
Layout largely identical to the last five minutes of Abbey Road,
except for an extended drum solo.  Complete, except they do not
attempt the Beatle guitar solos. Quite ambitious with Phil doing lots
of things, and all of them well. What an opportunity: to pretend
you're the Beatles for a few days, with their producer to help out
with something close to the original arrangements. Phil even gets to
play my favourite drum solo.

With this track George Martin has started to say his goodbyes. 

11. Friends And Lovers - Martin (2:25)
Martin explains in the liner notes that he wrote it for John. The
title comes from a line in In My Life. Intro comes straight from
Vaughan Williams' intro to Greensleeves. A four clause verse, twice with
the last clause repeated as close. The song itself reminds me of
Greensleeves, and like a lot of best British music (e.g. Delius), it
was written in France. It repeats the intro dropping straight into
In My Life.

12. In My Life - Sean Connery (2:28)
A very simple backing on piano. Sean's magic spoken voice grabs you on
the spot. Martin's harpsichord solo is scored for strings, which stick
around to accompany the last verse (where the song modulates from A
to D). Can you think of some other voice you would rather have to say
goodbye for you?

Forget all the rubbish about whether he was this or was that. He was
George Martin, the most successful producer of the rock era who made an
undeniable contribution to their opus, not least as when he simply 
tolerated their madness and followed them down wild tangents in search
of the music booty at the end of the rainbow. This is his well-earned
retirement album. His chance to put the record straight. With music.
His language, and the language he shared with them intimately. Now that
I have the album, I understand him much more fully. And if they don't
understand this message, then they've gone deaf.
 
Maurice Gibb did some tracks once at Abbey Road, and as he drove away
he noticed George Martin in the car behind him. "There I was," he
said, "sitting this far away from the man who produced every album I
ever loved."

Have a long and fruitful retirement George. Thanks for everything, 
including this album.