Here There and Everywhere

Right now I'm reading a book, Here There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Beatles, and normally I would hold off reviewing it until I'm done.  However, with the majority of the book done I think my impression of the book will not significantly change.  This book is for one of two people: sound people or die-hard Beatles fans.  I am a part of the first group, who are people that find intricacies of the recording process and the innovations that came with recording the Beatles very interesting.  Die-hard Beatles fans will enjoy the trivial minutiae about everything the Beatles recorded between Revolver and the White Album (a few details about Abbey Road). 

What I have learned from this book is that while I certainly agree that the Beatles (mostly McCartney and Lennon) were great lyricists I don't know if they were equally good musicians.  I'm sure that I could get skewered for this in some circles, but I don't think the less than 10 readers of this blog will take too much offense to this statement.  Compared to their contemporaries of that time there were other musicians and groups that were in my opinion far greater among them Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac (the Peter Green incarnation), The Yardbirds, and The Rolling Stones (the original lineup).  I also feel like more than other groups the Beatles sound was tremendously improved by the engineers that worked on their albums.  Many of the techniques that are standard rules of thumb in the industry today were originated with the Beatles and it is these stories that I enjoyed most.