George Martin is a tall man. He is also a musician with short hair (John Lennon) (LP 186)

The George Martin Orchestra Off The Beatle Track (Vinyl- Charly Records, originally released 1963) **

Genre: Easy Listening 

Places I remember: Second hand shop in Keswick (UK). Jacky and I were on a brief holiday touring the Lake District at the time.  

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Can't Buy Me Love has a great 1960s jazzy cool feel.




Gear costume: All My Loving 

Active compensatory factors: This copy is a re-release via Charly Records. The original album appeared on Parlophone (of course) and is now a rarity as it didn't sell much in 1964 even though every Beatle related product sold like hot cakes.

One of the reasons for the lack of popularity is that it sounded like easy listening, even in 1964. The arrangements by George are fine but the Beatle excitement is well and truly absent.

It's nice to have though, if only for John Lennon's snappy liner notes: George Martin has a great habit of matching unlikely instruments together (like a jews harp and a twelve stringed finger).

Where do they all belong? George would repeat the trick of compiling instrumental versions of Beatle songs but this, his first attempt, is the only one I own.