Abbey Road Memories.
It's where Sir Edward Elgar recorded Land of Hope and Glory with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1931. It's where the British government made some of its propoganda recordings during the second world war. It's where Pink Floyd and Blur recorded albums. Oh and it's where the Beatles made 90 per cent of their recordings and where they made and were photographed for the Abbey Road album.
Now EMI is reportedly putting the studios up for sale.
In PM tonight, Andrew Bomford will report on his time there today (see above and below).
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It's a bit posh up there, isn't it? No doubt the studio will be turned into Abbey Heights, or something similar, small portions of which will be sold for squillions.
How about contacting the lottery winners? They could buy the lot outright.
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We were driving through Liverpool once and got lost in the car, whilst stopped at a zebra crossing the Beatles 'Penny Lane' came on the radio and we realised we were on Abbey Road outside the studio... spooky eh?
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Back in 2000 I built the reception desk, the inner doorways into the building and studios and various pieces of furniture. These were built in my workshops in Whitby and we went down to Abbey Road to fit them. We all stayed in the flats next door that are also owned by the studio and must be on hundreds of pictures taken by mainly Japanese tourists who thought we were recording there. A memorable day was when Eamon , one of our team asked Paul Maccartney to move his car which was in the way, he did so with a smile. It will be very sad if it does not remain a studio, the whole place is full of creative energy and is very special.
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As a former member of the Royal Choral Society, I have happy memories of hot summer evenings spent in the main studio at Abbey Road in the 1970s, weighted down with heavy earphones, recording backing tracks for the "Hooked on Classics" and "Classic Rock" series of recordings. PM mentioned the canteen - does anybody else remember its big metal teapots, each with two spouts, which enabled the staff to serve a large number of thirsty singers very quickly in breaks between takes? I've never seen this done anywhere else, before or since.
I do hope the studios can be saved.
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When I was a teenager I served an session bass guitar apprentice to Herbie Flowers (this country's most prolific session musician, who has worked at Abbey Road a zillion times). One session I sat in on was with Kate Bush. During the lunch break we sat in the legendary (and ego leveling) canteen where she was being very chatty. Herbie asked her why she liked to take days to complete the vocal takes for her songs and she replied... "It's the ultimate performance of the song. The world will judge the track on these vocals, so it's important to get them just right". At the time I thought it was a touch pretentious, but on reflection how insightful. I mean, how many times has Cliff sang "The Young Ones"? (yep, he's still singing it) but the only version that anyone cares about is the one he recorded 48 years ago. I only worked there a dozen times, but I was always in awe at the sheer size of the place, and the ghosts in the walls. But my favourite memory is back in the 70's there was a dress code. Producers wore white lab coats and engineers wore grey. It was something to do with wax cylinders, a technique which was long gone, but standards never dropped. With the advent of home recording the London studio community has all but gone. When I started doing session there was over 200 working studios in the West End alone. I doubt there are 10 now. Hey Ho
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Anyone else think 'The Beatles' are over-rated?
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6 Lady Sue
No, no-one.
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LS - (ssshhhh - I think it's because we're not from round 'ere. I mean, they were interesting at the time, & some great tunes, but that screaming crowd business, nah, we just don't do that sort of behaviour in the Antipodes, do we? Not even if the Messiah himself appeared!)
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2 - jelliebeen
You must have been very lost indeed as Abbey Road is in North London :-)
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6 - Lady Sue, and from someone, from a nation who stole the their national song "I come from a land down under" from a primary chool song "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree"
How could you sit and judge?
Is this a kangaroo court?
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Lady Sue - you must be too young to remember them properly :o)
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annasee, thank goodness I'm not alone. Agree they were interesting at the time but all that lyric repetition is just tedious. As for the screaming crowds - couldn't agree more. I was once waiting outside an hotel in Melbourne when a big yellow car pulled up and these four lads went tearing past me into the foyer. Not a fan in sight despite the car having 'Melbourne Welcomes The Rolling Stones' plastered all over it. When I went back to school I had to ask who they were.
Ellis, I can't hear the similarity in that song at all - which bit exactly?
Spot on Valery. Plus I'm more of a Dylan girl.
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As, variously, a composer / arranger / conductor / bass guitarist I have happy memories of Abbey Road, working with Olivia Newton-John, The Shadows, Julie Felix, Peter Noone, Franck Pourcel,The Kings' Singers, my own studio band Troll, even Des O'Connor (!), and many others. It is, let's hope not was, a great studio. A fun moment was working for PJ Proby with Chris Gunning conducting. For those who don't know, Studio 2, often referred to as the "Beatles Studio", is fairly unusual in that the control room is at the top of a longish flight of stairs from the studio floor. PJ appeared at the top of the stairs, clearly trhe worse for wear, and literally rolled down to the bottom. He got up, dusted himself down, and said, "Good evening, gentlemen". The unlikely recording was of "We'll Meet Again", which became a much-in-demand private hit at the studio.
A major problem for the recording industry is that at the moment in London there are really only three large studios left, the three "As", Angel,(my studio of choice), Air Lyndhurst, and Abbey Road. If Abbey Road is sold, and one assumes that the site will be re-developed rather than continuing as a recording facility, that will leave just two top studios, increasing the pressure on finding good large studio time in London. We will have to wait and see.
John Fiddy
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Anybody else think classical music and opera is overrated?
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John (13)
Wasn't PJ Proby famous for also splitting his pants during a concert? We used to refer to him as PJ Probert.
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fjd (14) Derby City Council obviously agree with you - in withdrawing the already very small grant from Derby Chamber Music Society it described the activity as being 'an essential part of the cultural life of those who like understand and appreciate it' - not our esteemed councillors then!
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fjd, but to answer your question, I think far too much public money goes to support opera in London at the expense of other activities and not nearly enough in introducing children to music at an age when they have not developed prejudices against any particular type of music and could develop wider tastes than they are often able to. Given that there's plenty of evidence that children who engage with (all and any kinds of) music are far less likely to engage in anti-social activities, the withdrawing of music advisers and peripatetic music teachers means that once again only those whose parents can afford to pay will get the wider experience.
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jb 2, You must have a big car!
How did they fit the LSO on that crossing?
fJd 14, No and yes. And do you mean 'are'?
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LS (wherever), I like a few of the Beatles songs, but if Dylan was singing outside my front door I'd pour a bucket of water over his head. He sings off-tune.
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JF 13, I assume you mean the original Kings' Singers. The present ones were on Songs of Praise last Sunday.
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For me, the Beatles were overrated in terms of their music, though some of their songs are memorable (possibly because they were played to death at the time and it's hard, therefore, to forget them) and there are a few which I think are lovely. There were other groups who were at least as talented, but I think the popularity of the Beatles, which rested at least as much upon the individual personalities as the music, opened the floodgates and created a demand for pop music in Britain, and eventually elsewhere. That, to my mind, is the importance of the Beatles.
Of course, the first pop star in the UK was Tommy Steele. Similar personality, I suppose - cheeky and chipper. His story was, at the time, more phenomenal, coming as he did from Bermondsey, in the East End of London, which was still reeling from the effects of wartime bombing. I remember hearing the story that one of the first things he did when he hit the big time was to buy a house for his Mum.
Interestingly, the two (Steele and the Beatles) are linked. Tommy Steele took up sculpting, and his statue of Eleanor Rigby, a tribute to the Beatles, now stands in Liverpool.
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BS 21, I preferred Lonnie Donegan.
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My husband would agree with you, David. I don't mind skiffle, but Tommy Steele abandoned skiffle for rock, and it was that which brought him success. He wasn't a patch on Elvis, but he wasn't bad.
I don't think Lonnie attracted the fan hysteria that surrounded Tommy Steele, and it was this that I was comparing with the Beatles.
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BS @ 21
You can see it here.
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Thanks, Sid - I saw it in the flesh once. It's an interesting link (Steele/Beatle, I mean), don't you think?
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BS - yes - I had no idea Tommy Steele had gone down the sculpting line.
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The Beatles were the first seriously recognised composers from the 'working class'. John Lennon's song 'working class hero' sums up something relevant I feel in this respect.
David McNickle, You take care of your own grammar...and have a guess at mine. No need to tell me when you've guessed right mi old fruit.
Anne P. I knew someone who had a bit to do with organising concerts for the local chamber music society. You probably know him. PS, I like chamber music. I believe the Beatles (mainly Paul I think) were the first to seriously marry chamber and other types of classical music with their own chosen instruments to produce such classics as Eleanor Rigby, All you need is love, The long and winding road, and many more. A perfect tool I would have thought for teaching kids.
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Was it Tommy Steele who sang something like,
'Oh cor blimey
crash bang wallop
what a picture
what a photograarph
there was I'....?
And 'little white bull'
I liked little white bull.
Can you remember excerpt from a teenage opera?
Grocer Jack, Grocer Jack, get off your back go into town don't let them down, oh nooo nooo.
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#14
No.
>8-D
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Joe (28): Flash Bang Wallop was from Half a Sixpence. As a child I was taken to see this by my parents, in the West End, and with Tommy Steele as its star. So the answer is, indeed, yes.
And, yes, he did sing Little White Bull.
He also starred in what is possibly the UK's first pop film: The Duke Wore Jeans, with June Laverick (Oh what a lot of trivia there is in my memory!) which I also saw (probably not at the time it was released).
His first big hit, I believe, was Rock with the Caveman. I remember hearing him singing 'Singing the Blues', which I think was quite a big hit. From The Duke Wore Jeans, he also had a hit with Happy Guitar. I think I can just about remember the words from that one. Oh, and I can also sing Little White Bull - it was a party piece for me from another era. ;)
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Another link, Big Sis - ""Singing the Blues" was performed live by Paul McCartney on the MTV show Unplugged in 1991 and included on the subsequent soundtrack, Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)."
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I'd forgotten the Tommy Steele Story, which predated The Duke by a year. Expresso Bongo was in 1959. I have a memory around that time, as a little girl, of drawing lines down the back of my legs - anyone of a similar vintage will know what I mean and what it signified. I'd forgotten all about it, but EB is somehow related to the memory (not sure why, but definitely the trigger).
Another trip down Memory Lane. Must be time for my medication ;o)
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That's a good one, Sid - though of course Tommy Steele wasn't the first performer of the song. Was it Guy Mitchell? - Oh, gosh! the trivia is pouring out today, isn't it? ;)
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Guy Mitchell and Tommy Steele alternated at no. 1 in the UK. There was also a Marty Robbins version at the time, and there have been others since (Dave Edmunds among others).
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That's interesting. And you can find Mr. Steele singing, with hysterical fans, on YouTube, I've just discovered. I'll post a link separately, as I suspect it will be modded.
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An illustration of Tommy Steele at the height of his fame - and fan hysteria!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU_atFdI89I
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A style of beard with sideburns that has a "gap" cut through it about an inch wide right below each earlobe is colloquially known by some as a "Cumberland Gap".
(I'm sure I ought to be doing something ...)
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A gripe, with more to come. I thought this blog was about "Abbey Road Memories". As far as I can tell only 5 of the, so far, 37 comments have mentioned Abbey Road directly. What Tommy Steele and Guy Mitchell (!) have got to do with Abbey Road I can't imagine.
Further gripe : I, until yesterday when I found out that "Big George Webley", (BGW), is a Radio London presenter, had never heard of him. I've checked with many of my well-known session bass-guitar mates and others, singers, contractors, etc., that were all active in the 70s and 80s, and none of them had heard of BGW either. The mention of a "dress code" at Abbey Road, EMI Studios as it was then, is a complete nonsense. If any record producers, including myself, John Farrar, Bruce Welch etc, had worn white lab coats, we would have been ridiculed by the studio band. However, I vaguely remember that BBC recording technicians did wear them in the 60s. Memory fading a bit, BGW, or perhaps just highly selective.
Yes, davmcn, I played some sessions on bass guitar in the late 60s and early 70s for the original Kings' Singers. I hung my freelance playing boots up in about 1987, coincidentally at the same time as the mysterious BGW.
John Fiddy
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"Decca dropped Donegan thereafter, but within a month he was at the Abbey Road Studios in London recording for EMI's Columbia label."
So there.
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Singing in the Rain:
Album notes
Principal cast includes: Tommy Steele, Roy Castle, Sarah Payne.
While 7 songs from the 1952 motion picture have been retained, this theatrical version also features songs by Cole Porter, George & Ira Gershwin, Dorothy Fields & Jimmy McHugh, and Johnny Mercer.
Recording information: EMI Abbey Road Studios, London, England (02/20/1984-02/21/1984).
Director: Tommy Steele.
Ditto
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John Fiddy: You'll find that the PM Blog has a way of taking its own twists and turns. Since we are talking British recording history, the references to other early British pop artists aren't entirely irrelevant.
Unfortunately, it would appear that, your insights aside, there aren't many with memories of Abbey Road. But I, for one, have found them fascinating.
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... and Rock & Roll Music* was sung by Chuck Berry on the Guy Mitchell Show.
*recorded by The Beatles at Abbey Road Studios.
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Sid and others. Apologies for my comments re Tommy Steele / Abbey Road; I had completely forgotten that I actually played on a Tommy Steele album recorded at AR, (not Singing in the Rain), that was arranged and conducted by Chris Gunning, sometime in the 70s. Losing it...dotage approaching if not already here.
Rock and Roll Music / Guy Mitchell / The Beatles. Stretching the connections a bit?
I'm getting sucked in here...should be writing music.
John Fiddy
PS: Look out for Clare Torry's, (Dark Side of the Moon), comments, shortly to appear on the blog.
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36. Big Sister
Blimey they must be old grannies by now. No doubt moaning about the "Yoof" of today.
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John Fiddy,
If you have the desire (and patience) you'll become a 'trusted' poster after about twenty posts. Of course, if you wish to hurry the process, it doesn't matter if they are irrelevant, nonsense, or simply countdown....
Welcome to the madhouse
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I always thought that the Beatles were rather tame my oldest brother brought their first single home and my mum thought they were nice.
The real group that summed up the 60's in my opinion was the Stones.
I saw them perform live in Luton in 1964 and they were awesome.
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Talking of awesome ... "If I had to name my greatest strength, I guess it would be my humility. Greatest weakness, it's possible that I'm a little too awesome." [Barack Obama]
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Ln 46, The Beatles performed twice in the Cleveland Stadium in 1964 and 1966. Fans caused them to be taken off stage in the first concert and the Beatles were banned the next year, but returned in 1966. The Stadium, now gone, could hold over 80,000 for certain events. I wasn't at either concert. Buy the book, get the t-shirt.
http://www.beatlesincleveland.com/
LS, Aaaaand, Dylan is ugly.
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RE The Tommy Steal Clip; They even queued up to be hysterical and faint in those days. Whats happened to standards?
My dads most uttered comment on such matters as Top of the pops groups was, 'is it a lad or a gel'!
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fJd 49, Your dad obviously wasn't watching Pan's People. I thought that's why all dirty old men watched TOTP. I was in the US then...
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davmcm (50)
As did a lot of dirty young men!
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Not to mention dirty amerigringos.
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Joe @ 50 - until Hot Gossip came along and knocked them flat!
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Never mind, Big George, I knew who you were.
Anne P wrote:
I think far too much public money goes to support opera in London at the expense of other activities and not nearly enough in introducing children to music at an age when they have not developed prejudices against any particular type of music and could develop wider tastes than they are often able to. Given that there's plenty of evidence that children who engage with (all and any kinds of) music are far less likely to engage in anti-social activities, the withdrawing of music advisers and peripatetic music teachers means that once again only those whose parents can afford to pay will get the wider experience.
Redheylin just posted it again.....
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True story,
My eldest brother was labelled with the nickname Ringo (after the beatle)when returning home one afternoon as a teenager with a beatle cut from the barber. It has stuck with him all his life and has been the family choice of first name for him ever since. We don't even think about the fact that hes called Ringo when referring to him in conversation or addressing him face to face. Hes about sixty now.
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fJd 52, TOTP wasn't available in the US. We had Dick Clark's American Bandstand. And, of course, we all know that the term Rock and Roll was invented by Cleveland DJ Alan Freed. Aaaand, in 1939 Leo Mintz founded a record store in Cleveland, the "Record Rendezvous", specializing in
black music. Everybody flocked there to buy records. I bought my stereo (still working) from Record Rendezvous.
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Sid, I still preferred Pans People. They were my salad days.
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Sid (47),
And who said Ameriucans don't do irony?
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53. Sid
From memory not all of them were flat. :-)
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dav@19: he'd be singing "A hard rain's gonna fall", right?
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Prof Hawthorn - I'm just worried that he's too clever for them.
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Anne P I agree with your statements at (17).
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LS 60, Possibly, but off-tune, and looking ugly.
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12. Lady Sue - knew we had more in common ;-)
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Since it's supposed to be memories and there are gripes too few memories have surfaced, I guess I have to delve deep...
Drove over that crossing hundreds of times as I lived round the corner in West End Lane throughout the sixties. There were never any Japanese in sight.
Touching that a memorable day for someone was when Paul McCartney was asked to move his car... having stood next to Paul waiting for our kids to come out of Robinsfield Junior School [same class], and once having to call our German Shepherds off his and Linda's Old English Sheepdog on the Heath [Wilf and Fang only wanted to play], I remember the area was awash with musicians, didn't take much notice of them really. This was before the media went daft over the 'mop tops' and the screamers appeared. Far more memorable was having a couple of stalls in Kensington Market opposite a group of art school students - Freddie, Brian et al - who later became Queen. Nice bunch of lads. They too probably recorded at Abbey Road.
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That was Wolf of course, Wilf was nowhere to be seen.
Cleared a holiday beach just calling their names out loud.
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65: Interesting memories, only the screamers, I have to tell you, were around when Paul was dating Jane Asher.
I'd love to have met Freddie Mercury.
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@John Fiddy #43
I recall a 'John Fiddy' from my youth who I believe went into the music industry. He was several years older than me. Does 'Franklin Avenue' mean anything to you?
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Queen appear to have avoided Abbey Road ... though "In 1991, Queen's entire catalogue was remastered and released on compact disc in the United States, and thirteen albums (all studio albums up to 'The Works' as well as 'Live Killers' and 'Greatest Hits') were remastered at Abbey Road Studios and released on CD and cassette in the United Kingdom between July 1993 and March 1994."
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BS 67, Jane Asher, woof woof. More than just a cake maker.
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GDS #68
Yes, I am the same John Fiddy, still writing music after far too many years, although I've no idea who you are. There is a Franklin Avenue in Cheshunt, and I lived in Broxbourne from 1960 until Nottingham University in 1962. Is that the connection? Look me up on Google where there's a lot about me, although most of it dates from my (comparative) yoof.
I'm not sure that an "Abbey Road Memories" blog is meant to be used as a sort of personal chat line, but what do I know?
John Fiddy
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John Fiddy,
Only sixteen more posts annd you'll be a trusted user, and your posts will appear instantly.
Just post "sixteen"
and then "fifteen",
etc.
;-)
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John,
It's whatever we make of it, but the (outsourced) Mods discourage precise personal material (addresses, etc.)
See here and enjoy...
;-)
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I don't remember engineer men in white coats at Abbey Road...Alan Parsons never wore a white coat, although Pink Floyd used to, and very cool they looked too. And in 1974, it is rumoured that Olivia Newton-John arrived at Studio 3 in a white coat....but it is only a rumour. Then there was " Denis " . In the late '60's and into the '70's, after a big session, the entire orchestra..... strings, brass, rhythm section, choir , would line up in an orderly fashion to recieve their small brown envelope from Denis, the paymaster-general. Enclosed was the £6. session fee ( later it rose to £ 9 ! ).This practice continued for some years, until one day, Dennis was mugged on the way back to the studio from the bank. Nothing was quite the same again.
In 1984, Meatloaf arrived to record an album in Studio 2 and of course wore the obligatory white coat, as did his band . And by this time, the canteen that used to serve only teas, coffees and sticky buns had become a fully-fledged bar and fun palace where everyone could chill out. The best thing were the Big Feasts from the freezer cabinet !
Then the movie sound tracks that were recorded in Studio 1.... too numerous to mention.
Aah, such happy days , such creativity, such talent.
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