Alan Holmes

About

Alan Holmes was a member of Sounds Incorporated, a British instrumental pop/rock group that signed with Brian Epstein’s management company, NEMS, in 1963. They were one of the opening acts for The Beatles’ 1965 world tour. In 1967, David Glyde, along with other members of Sounds Incorporated, David Glyde and Barrie Cameron, were invited to play saxophone on “Good Morning Good Morning“, a track from The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album.

When we came to record [Good Morning Good Morning] we used Sounds Incorporated to do a big sax thing; they were friends of ours who had been on tour with us.

Paul McCartney – From “Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now” by Barry Miles, 1997

We were there for about six hours. The first three hours we had refreshments and The Beatles played us the completed songs for the new LP.

Alan Holmes – From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn, 1988

The Beatles had been cloistered in the studio for so long, they were clearly suffering from cabin fever. In addition, few people outside of our small inner circle had heard any of the Pepper tracks, so as everyone sat downstairs catching up with one another and reminiscing about old times, we were asked to play mixes of the completed tracks through the studio speakers. […]

I was studying the expressions of the Sounds Incorporated guys, trying to measure their reactions to the tracks we were playing for them. They were mesmerized! We knew that what we had been doing was exceptional, but it was gratifying to see that kind of response from people fresh to the project. From that point on, every time anyone came to visit the Beatles on a session, Richard and I hoped that we would be asked to play back something that was completed, or in progress, not just because we loved hearing the tracks, but because we enjoyed seeing the stunned looks on their faces.

Geoff Emerick – From “Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles“, 2006

Last updated on January 21, 2024