Norman Smith & The Beatles

I'm your host, Bill Price.  In the Rock and Roll Flashback series, Recording Engineers Who Shaped the Music, I will focus on those individuals who typically remained anonymous, but played an important role in music recording.  In this episode I will look at the history behind the recording engineer who first worked with The Beatles in the early 1960's - musician, engineer, record producer, and singer, Norman Smith.

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott. The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John. It was initially recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004 with several revisions since then.
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Transcript

In the Rock and Roll Flashback series, Recording Engineers Who Shaped the Music, I will focus on those individuals who typically remained anonymous, but played an important role in music recording.  In this episode I will look at the history behind the recording engineer who first worked with The Beatles in the early 1960's - musician, engineer, record producer and singer, Norman Smith.

Norman Smith was born on February 22nd, 1923 in Edmonton, Middlesex, England. During World War II he was trained as a Royal Air Force glider pilot. After the war he pursued his interest in music by playing trumpet, piano and drums in various Jazz groups. However, his attempt in perusing a music career proved unsuccessful.  He then decided to try to get into music production with the BBC. He got an interview with the BBC and was asked if he had any engineering experience.  Norman replied no and asked what engineering had to do with music production. He was informed that in order to get into the production department, engineering experience was required. He was then told to come back once he had some engineering experience.  

So, in order to gain engineering experience, he took training in refrigeration engineering. After gaining engineering experience, he went back to the BBC.  When he was asked about his engineering training, Norman responded with refrigeration engineering. The interviewer then stated that they meant music engineering. So for a period of time he worked in refrigeration and went to night school to learn electronics. In 1959, he saw an ad in the Times newspaper for a recording assistant at EMI Studios. He applied for the position, got an interview, and was hired. For the next three years he gained experience working his way up to the position of balance engineer. 

1962 turned out to be a pivotal year for Norman and four young lads from Liverpool. The Beatles were scheduled for a recording test at EMI Studios on June 6th .  As fate would have it, Norman was the engineer on duty, so he became the Beatles recording engineer. Typically there were four in-house producers and each one had an assistant. Usually for new artist tests, it was the assistant producer that handled the audition. But on this occasion Norman was surprised that instead of the assistant, George Martin the head of EMI’s Parlophone label showed up. Then the four Beatles came into EMI’s studio number two. Norman then left the control room and went to the studio to introduce himself. He noticed that John and George’s guitar amplifiers were quite small. Norman then returned to the control room, and was surprised at how noisy the amplifiers were and determined that they were not suitable for the audition. So he and a technical engineer brought some equipment from the echo chamber to replace the noisy amplifiers. 

It was typical EMI practice to use screens to isolate the sounds of the various instruments. However, Norman decided to go ignore the practice and record the Beatles as though they were performing live. The gamble would ultimately prove to be the best way to record the band for the initial recording sessions. Later, the press began referring to the Beatles recordings as the “Mersey Sound”. Norman would later receive letters and phone calls from the US, inquiring as to how he was able to achieve that sound on tape. Although the first impression of the band was not great, George Martin sensed their potential, which led to signing the Beatles to a recording contract in July. 

Three months after their test recording, the Beatles returned to EMI for their first recording session on September 4th.  The sessions, which lasted until November, produced two singles, one released in October and the other in January 1963.  Norman’s assistant engineer was Richard Lanham, who brought with him a young fifteen year old new hire to sit in on the sessions. His name was Geoff Emerick, who interestingly would later go on to become the Beatles engineer. In a future episode of Recording Engineers Who Shaped the Music, I will focus on the career of Geoff Emerick, the Beatles’ second recording engineer.

In February 1963 the Beatles recorded 10 tracks in a marathon session that lasted just under ten hours. Four songs from their first two singles were added to the ten tracks and released on the album titled “Please Please Me”. Perhaps the most significant track was the cover version of the Isley Brothers’  “Twist and Shout”. John Lennon was suffering from a bad cold, and it’s amazing that he was able to make through the entire session. By the time they were to record the last track “Twist and Shout”, John’s voice was nearly gone. Two takes were attempted, but the first take was the one that was included on the album. Interestingly, John Lennon began using the nickname “Normal” when addressing or referring to Norman. Soon the other Beatles also started using the nickname. Norman engineered all of the Beatles’ EMI studio recordings until 1965, when he was promoted to producer. The final album that he worked on was Rubber Soul. During his time as the Beatles engineer, he recorded nearly one hundred songs. In addition to the Beatles, Norman also worked with Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas.

In 1967 Norman started working with a psychedelic rock band, that he had seen perform at London’s UFO Club, which went by the name of Pink Floyd. The band was signed to EMI, and with Norman as their producer, they recorded three albums. During one of the recording sessions, drummer Nick Mason became agitated because he could not play the right drum part on one of the songs. So Norman, being a former drummer stepped in and played the drum part himself. Then in 1968 Norman produced one of the first concept albums titled “S F Sorrow” by the band called Pretty Things. And in 1971 he also produced recordings by Barclay James Harvest. 

In 1971 Norman then entered another phase of his career, by recording a demo of a song that he had written, with the intention of having John Lennon record it. However when Norman played the demo for fellow producer Mickie Most, he was impressed and advised Norman to release the demo as is. The single titled "Don’t Let It Die” was released under the name Hurricane Smith and climbed to number two in the UK. Then in 1972 he scored a hit on both sides of the Atlantic with “Oh Babe What Would You Say”. In the US the single reached the number one position in Cash Box and number three in the Billboard Pop charts.  In Canada it climbed to number three in the RPM magazine chart and number four in the UK Singles Chart. When the single knocked Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock” from number one on the Cash Box chart, John Lennon sent a telegram congratulating Norman.  In 1972 “Oh Babe What Would You Say” was an unlikely hit since the arrangement was based on the style of popular songs from the 1930's. According to Norman, the song’s lyrics were essentially a true story of his life. He would go to a ballroom, but being shy couldn’t even ask a girl to dance. So he would walk home imagining a romance that couldn’t even evolve. The song was essentially about those experiences, in an era from a long time ago. Norman’s self titled debut album included a UK hit single, a cover of Gilbert O’Sullivan’s song  “Who Was It?”.   Additional recordings were made, however they were not successful.

In March 2007 Norman’s memoir titled “John Lennon Called Me Normal” was issued as a limited edition at The Fest For Beatles Fans held in Secaucus, New Jersey. At the event Norman sang “Oh Babe What Would You Say”. Billy J. Kramer, an old friend that Norman had not seen for many years, made a surprise appearance to greet him. The following year Norman Smith passed away in March at the age of 85.  It can be argued that the success of the Beatles can be attributed to Norman Smith.  If he had not deviated from EMI’s standard practice and opted for a different approach in how to record the band, it is likely that the Beatles sound would not have had the same impact. So for daring to ignore the EMI practice, Norman deserves a thank you.

Here is Norman “Hurricane” Smith singing his hit from 1972, “Oh Babe What Would You Say”.

This has been Rock and Roll Flashback, with a look back at the multifaceted career of Norman Smith, the engineer who was instrumental in recording the early Beatles. And until next time, I’m your host Bill Price.