The Music and George Martin

George Martin, the movie's Musical Director

Often dubbed "the fifth Beatle," there is no one who better understands the Beatles' music than George Martin, and there was never any doubt that he would be the musical director for the movie. From the moment George had first heard their demo record, he knew that the Beatles' unique blend of humor, vision, poetic lyrics and musical invention spelled success. In 1962, Martin signed the Beatles to EMI, a decision that launched them into their remarkable career. Their "Liverpool sound" was carried around the world and, in many ways, revolutionized the music industry. Martin then produced almost every Beatles record and album until the group disbanded. George went on to produce many more million-selling albums by artists such as America, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Webb.

George's participation in the film assured John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison that the material would be treated with all the respect and significance it commands. He worked for more than a year, building poignancy into the vocals, arranging the keyboards, selecting percussion, adding the synthesizers and laying down the guitar tracks. Recording technology had advanced by leaps and bounds in the ten years since George had produced the original "Sgt. Pepper" album, and he was able to utilize the many new recording techniques in producing the soundtrack for the film.

The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton spent endless hours in the recording
studio laying down all the tracks necessary for the movie.

Peter Frampton, The Bee Gees and the many other stars of the movie worked long hours with George in Los Angeles at Cherokee Studios and in New York at The Record Plant. Out of these sessions, long hours of recording and mixing, came the finished soundtrack. Working with a man of George's stature and experience was a rare and valued opportunity for all of us and his genius is clearly reflected in the "Sgt. Pepper" soundtrack.