Hi,
RIP ... with love for the music you helped us find!
I'm not sure that a "produceer" or "engineer" is always the main reason why a band, or various groups is actually better than it really is, in person!
i don't think that the Beatles would have been better or worse, without GM. I don't think that Stackridge would have been better in a couple of albums ... they were even better on the album done by Dave Lawson! And then, one questions, a find, during a rehearsal, that someone happens to have recorded, that became music history (Tom Dowd/Layla) ... and that is how an engineer, or a GM can influence the players, in getting better, or show the musicians, something that they did not realize they did ... which is different today, since DAW's make life a lot easier to check and read and say, thus a GM or Tom Dowd, in those days, had the role/responsibility of being the "director" of a film, or a play, and help the musicians ... and today, of course, no musician needs anyone anymore because they have all the tools and don't know how to use them!
IF, there is anything about these 2 folks, it is that they knew music, very well, and above and beyond the average level for most people. GM had classical music in his blood, and it is all too obvious in the Beatles stuff. TD had more improvisation and jazz, thus his ability to find music where most people don't find anything -- jazz was full of that before it became formulaic and centered on a couple of music scales ... !!!
I always thought that GM's greatest gift was very subtle ... show people that they could do a lot more with their instrument and music, than they thought ... and showed them. In the case of the Beatles, it was a matter of perfect time and place, because no one was even attempting to sound better in rock music, and all of a sudden, here were a bunch of kids that DID have ideas, a bit beyond the regular pop song, and GM was ready to help develop this ... and it would not have happened with a different group that did not think that "ideas" were important, like the Rolling Stones!
All in all, the real gift ... was ... of music! Pure and simple. I'm not sure that they "made" the Beatles, or any other band better ... I just think that the group was strong enough to be able to work with the person that was there behind the controls ... a person that had a very good musical sense and was also very hands on, in terms of showing you what could be done and how ... and this is always great ...given that the person listening has the ears and the ability to accept ideas and intelligent comment ... but sometimes, as is the case today, and even here, suggestions is worst than a brick wall or a telephone pole when you're drunk ... good luck is all you got left!
The age of GM's and TD's is long over ... very long! And it is visible, even here in the CH!