I wonder how Satanic Majesties would have turned out if George Martin had produced it.He added polish and complexity to the Beatles music,one can hear the difference between Abbey Road and Let it Be.I don’t think he would have helped on the later blues rock albums,but on Majesties I wonder what it would have sounded like.

The freakiness would be gone..

It still would’ve been rubbish

You'd have to start with what if EMI had signed the Stones. To me, the suggestion has far too many ramifications. They wouldn't be the same band.

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"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

…..He added polish



ROCKMAN

He might have got rid of the lead (Mick) singer!

It would have been more polished. Polished rubbish instead of raw rubbish. I'll take raw rubbish. Though it's still rubbish.

George Martin and the Stones wouldn't have been a good mix.

Better that Martin produced The Beatles, Jeff Beck, and the second iteration of the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Funnily enough, I prefer his production on the Jeff Beck albums as to The Beatles.

He would have quit. Brian was a mess. Keith and Mick were dealing with jail. Too much undisciplined drug use.

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jlowe
He might have got rid of the lead (Mick) singer!

Classic producing...

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24FPS
He would have quit. Brian was a mess. Keith and Mick were dealing with jail. Too much undisciplined drug use.

Actually The Beatles drug use and troubles with the law were arguably no worse than The Stones. On top of that relations between the Fab4 were not great whereas except for the Brian situation the Stones camp was relatively on an even keel.
Of course Brian was a concern...and would remain so.
Both the groups had Management problems: ALO basically went for a walk and never came back and Brian Epstein...that was an even greater loss. One figure who was truly irreplaceable.

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24FPS
He would have quit. Brian was a mess. Keith and Mick were dealing with jail. Too much undisciplined drug use.

Yes I agree. But if he did bring the project to completion he would have replaced
some tracks with stronger tunes. Fun but crazy to speculate on - we will never know.

Oh noooo.
He would have clashed with the band instantly. The Beatles were "pressed" by the sixties cult development into a situation where they had to come up with something new all the time and strong minded George Martin fitted in there very well. The Beatles by then were sweet boys. The Stones could never have been able to have someone like Martin telling them what to do. In 1967 the band was in a state of chaos and somehow they thought they should also freak out. Satanic, the result of this, has some brilliant stuff, partly also thanks to Brian, but also has some amazing crap, maybe thanks to drugs. Oldham was never a serious "producer", so him missing was actually a blessing.
What could Martin have done with "Sing this song part 2" ? They were all stoned.
Maybe Mick would have had an ear for him, but Keith and Brian for sure not. They would have kicked Martin out within a week.
So Taylor1, your question is nice but hypothetical.

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georgie48
Oh noooo.
He would have clashed with the band instantly. The Beatles were "pressed" by the sixties cult development into a situation where they had to come up with something new all the time and strong minded George Martin fitted in there very well. The Beatles by then were sweet boys. The Stones could never have been able to have someone like Martin telling them what to do. In 1967 the band was in a state of chaos and somehow they thought they should also freak out. Satanic, the result of this, has some brilliant stuff, partly also thanks to Brian, but also has some amazing crap, maybe thanks to drugs. Oldham was never a serious "producer", so him missing was actually a blessing.
What could Martin have done with "Sing this song part 2" ? They were all stoned.
Maybe Mick would have had an ear for him, but Keith and Brian for sure not. They would have kicked Martin out within a week.
So Taylor1, your question is nice but hypothetical.

Can't buy this premise. Geo Martin steamrolled right over John and Paul? Don't think so. Those were two of the strongest-minded dudes in the music biz. Sure, there were clashes, but in no way were The Beatles nice boys who were bent to Martin's will.

I suspect the main clash he would have had with the Stones would've been in the areas of 1) sheer musicality, and 2) work ethic.

Apparently, Martin - who was classically trained - found it much easier to work with Paul, since Paul, as the most "musical" of the group, could play almost any instrument and illustrate to Martin in musical terms what the band were trying to do. Don't think Martin would have had a similar intermediary with the Stones and he would have grown bored/frustrated with their "methods."

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jlowe

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24FPS
He would have quit. Brian was a mess. Keith and Mick were dealing with jail. Too much undisciplined drug use.

Actually The Beatles drug use and troubles with the law were arguably no worse than The Stones. On top of that relations between the Fab4 were not great whereas except for the Brian situation the Stones camp was relatively on an even keel.
Of course Brian was a concern...and would remain so.
Both the groups had Management problems: ALO basically went for a walk and never came back and Brian Epstein...that was an even greater loss. One figure who was truly irreplaceable.

And yet they replaced Brian and went on to even greater musical achievements.

George Martin: "Well, boys, I'm really not too crazy about your drummer. How about I bring in this fellow named Alan White, and Charlie can play tambourine."

Keith: "I don't like your tie."

George Martin, while Brian and Keith lay down crazy "Gomper"

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itsallovernow
It still would’ve been rubbish

It would have been BIGGER rubbish as GM would have brought his "talent" to turn any song idea into musical saccharine...

Paul lead vocals on She's A Rainbow, John lead vocals on 2000 Man, Ringo lead vox on 2000 Light Years from home.

No doubt it would have been better imo.
That said, I like the album the way it is - warts and all.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

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24FPS
He would have quit. Brian was a mess. Keith and Mick were dealing with jail. Too much undisciplined drug use.

I apologize in advance , and I cant help myself but wonder what would disciplined drug use been ? Not to get high during work and wait till after work to catch a buzz ? Reading your post makes me think of Rainy Day Women # whatever ?

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LazarusSmith

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georgie48
Oh noooo.
He would have clashed with the band instantly. The Beatles were "pressed" by the sixties cult development into a situation where they had to come up with something new all the time and strong minded George Martin fitted in there very well. The Beatles by then were sweet boys. The Stones could never have been able to have someone like Martin telling them what to do. In 1967 the band was in a state of chaos and somehow they thought they should also freak out. Satanic, the result of this, has some brilliant stuff, partly also thanks to Brian, but also has some amazing crap, maybe thanks to drugs. Oldham was never a serious "producer", so him missing was actually a blessing.
What could Martin have done with "Sing this song part 2" ? They were all stoned.
Maybe Mick would have had an ear for him, but Keith and Brian for sure not. They would have kicked Martin out within a week.
So Taylor1, your question is nice but hypothetical.

Can't buy this premise. Geo Martin steamrolled right over John and Paul? Don't think so. Those were two of the strongest-minded dudes in the music biz. Sure, there were clashes, but in no way were The Beatles nice boys who were bent to Martin's will.

I suspect the main clash he would have had with the Stones would've been in the areas of 1) sheer musicality, and 2) work ethic.

Apparently, Martin - who was classically trained - found it much easier to work with Paul, since Paul, as the most "musical" of the group, could play almost any instrument and illustrate to Martin in musical terms what the band were trying to do. Don't think Martin would have had a similar intermediary with the Stones and he would have grown bored/frustrated with their "methods."

interesting to think on the Beatles guy working on tracks like She's A Rainbow.. Citadel.. even In Another Land..

nah, he would have made them too pretty..

For me it is more than enough to quote the post with the words of reason.

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DandelionPowderman
The freakiness would be gone..

For it means that the special greatness of that album would have departed. And much of the acquired experience that made possible the character of the ensuing albums.

He would had quit half way the sessions.............

__________________________

otoh who knows mebbe he woulda turned this into a #1 hit!

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It may well have turned out to be a better album.
A couple of songs would have been dropped or just cut down into medley fasion (Sing This All Together, On with the Show, Gomper).
Martin was a great producer and would have listened and provided good suggestions, and I suspect that Mick and Keith would have been responsive when he had good ideas.
While it's true Martin preferred working with Mac, he did have a lot of positive input in turning Lennon's crazy ideas into reality. I think Martin would have been able to translate Keith's shrugs and gestures. As for Brian, he had musical training and probably could have communicated with Martin when he was lucid.
I realize the Stones were drugged out during that time, but they do have a strong sense of professionalism and might have been on better behavior if Martin was around. (They did seem to take direction from Jimmy Miller the first couple of albums.)

maybe he could have released gold painted fingernails, the ultimate freak out song and so underrated and why it was never released is a joke. its much better than anything on the beatles efforts in psychedelia which just never had the energy the stones had.

he could have done more with the instrumentals which pop up on you tube a lot.

citadel
we love you
ruby tuesday

have some great instrumentals.

stones in 1967 were a great band but for some reason which defies logic will always be compared as being weaker than the beatles.

with a better producer i think the stones in 1967 would have been so much better.

He would have advised: "Let's drop the subject".

why would he pick there worst album to produce. TSMR is hot garbage

.....keep on rolling.....