All You Need Is George Martin

The genteel record producer did not look the part of a revolutionary. But as a commemorative new book makes clear, his wildly innovative work with the Beatles changed pop music forever

By David Kamp

A lot of things had to go right for the Beatles to become the Beatles. John and Paul had to have met in the summer of 1957 at the Woolton Village church fête. Paul and George had to have taken the same bus home from school. The supple Ringo had to have been drafted in to replace the stiff Pete Best. And the four of them had to have found a driven champion in Brian Epstein.

But from a recording standpoint, there was no greater twist of fate than the Beatles’ having been rejected by nearly every record label in London, thereby falling into the lap of George Martin, the house producer of the EMI subsidiary Parlophone, to that point a label better known for its comedy records.