New book goes behind scenes of recording classic songs (9/9/99): An email we received from author Rich Buskin (thanks, Rich!)

I'm writing to inform you about my new book, which features some great in-studio anecdotes and observations about - among many others - The Beatles and the Beach Boys. The title is 'INSIDE TRACKS: A FIRST-HAND HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC FROM THE WORLD'S GREATEST RECORD PRODUCERS AND ENGINEERS', the publisher is Spike/Avon Books, and included are interviews with Sir George Martin, Norman Smith, Geoff Emerick, Glyn Johns, Eddie Kramer, John Kurlander and Alan Parsons, talking about their experiences with the Fab Four and Bruce Botnick and Van Dyke Parks in which they talk about Brian and The Beach Boys. Brian Wilson also wrote the foreward to the book.

Behind every classic pop record is a musical mentor whose job it is to coax the finest performance from an artist, while a technical virtuoso captures that unforgettable sound for posterity. In this book, the great record producers and engineers come out from behind the control room glass to talk about their work with popular music's most legendary performers.

Bestselling author and journalist Richard Buskin interviews more than sixty producers and engineers, taking us in their own words on a multi-decade musical odyssey ranging from big band, jazz and folk to rhythm & blues, rock, pop, punk, disco, metal, alternative and every other nook and cranny that has brought exciting performances together with an experienced recording hand. We meet the people who recorded Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, Paul Simon, Michael Jackson, Nirvana, Alanis Morissette, and more-and find out what those sessions were really like. Here is a very personal history of popular music told from a vantage point that may be new to us, but not to the many musicians who have labored in the studio: here is how it felt to help them make history.