Giles Martin Talks ‘Pepper’ on Tonight Show

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Giles Martin with his father George Martin (Photo: Capitol Records Archives via Universal Music Group; used with permission)

Giles Martin, who has been serving as project producer for numerous Beatles collections and reissues, was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday night (June 5). He shared insights about his work on the Sgt. Pepper 50th anniversary reissue, which was released May 26 to rave reviews. (The original album was released on June 1, 1967.)

Fallon asked Martin, son of the Beatles longtime producer, Sir George Martin, when he took on the Sgt. Pepper project. “The week after [his March 2016] funeral, I was asked by the Beatles, ‘Do you want to remix this?’ and the first voice I heard was his. It was extraordinary.”

He explained how, as a young man, he unexpectedly got involved with collaborating with his father. “What happened was he started losing his hearing and I became his ears. He didn’t want to tell anyone he was losing his hearing, so I would come in and be this precocious teenager, so I learned how to listen like he did. A lot of people knew about it. I saw Pete Townshend a few months ago and he actually mentioned it. I worked with him and he remembered those times. I was like a seeing-eye dog, as a record producer.”

Fallon notes: “It’s one of the most complicated albums in the history of music.”

Says Martin: “No one’s ever said, ‘Sgt. Pepper doesn’t sound very good. I work for Paul and Ringo and Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison. They’re my bosses.”

After the show, Martin jokes about his not-so-easy-to-find Twitter handle

The only time I regretted not having my name as my twitter feed! https://t.co/vYX04fokId

— Giles Martin (@mashupmartin) June 6, 2017

Watch Martin’s complete interview with Fallon

As Best Classic Bands has reported, the various Sgt. Pepper reissue packages have been big sellers. As of today (June 6), the four new versions occupy slots 1, 3, 7 and 8 on Amazon’s music best-sellers list.