It's A Square World (LP, 1962)

"It is seldom enough that I can recommend any record - let alone an LP - without strict reservations of one kind or another. But here, for once, go in and buy the thing - with my blessing. If you have any feeling for the past, the present or the future, you won't regret it." - Pete Murray, 19th May 1962.

This week we’re exploring one of George Martin’s most inventive pre-Beatles productions — Michael Bentine’s 1962 LP It’s A Square World. The record was an aural distillation of Bentine’s award-winning BBC television show of the same name, which was by this point into its third series. Across twelve sketches we’re exposed to dozens of characters (all performed by Bentine), surreal sound effects and the kind of sonic experimentation that would later define Martin’s production style. Even the silences between sketches are filled with mock commercials and absurd announcements – nothing is wasted, everything is packed, dense with invention… even if not all of it comes off!

Joining Tyler is host of Producing The Beatles, Jason Kruppa, who talks about where Martin was in his career at the point of the LP’s release – ‘Time Beat’ had come out the month before and he was a month off meeting the Beatles - plus how he augmented Bentine’s ideas in the studio, ably assisted by engineer Stuart Eltham. There is plenty to like about It’s A Square World, such as ‘The Shrdlu’, ‘French For Beginners’ and ‘The Film Extra Of The Year Award’ (originally written for the Yes, It’s The Cathode Ray Show for Peter Sellers) and even those sketches that haven’t dated as well still have points of interest – even if Tyler missed the point of a couple of them first time round!

Producing The Beatles can be found here: https://www.producingthebeatles.com/