Desire Avenue

Had a great time yestreday afternoon at Abbey Road studios. Spending three hours inside the famous Studio 2 (where legends such as the Beatles, Pink Floyd,Kate Bush....and Mrs Mills have recorded) was quite a thrill. About half that time was given to a lecture (incorporating a film / slide show) about the 80 year history of the studios which was of great interest. I especially enjoyed the old film footage of artists like the Hollies and Ruby Murray recording in that very studio but also of the old photos of the original house before the studios were built in the garden.

Vintage recording equipment and keyboards were on display, the latter having photos propped up of the Beatles actually playing the same instrument.

An unexpected bonus was to meet and have my photo taken with Ken Scott, a well known recording engineer who worked with the Beatles on their White album and with David Bowie in the earl;y 70's (Hunky Dory etc).

I took quite a few photos with my camera and other peoples cameras, as several of us swapped cameras so that we could appear in our own photos.



Above, photo of the famous crossing.



Me at the top of the stair.



Piano with photo of Beatle Paul (1966 Revover session) playing the very same instrument.



Ken Scott (left) and myself.

I'll add other photos later.

Sounds like a fun day Rob. Are the Abbey Road Studios still in use nowadays?

Hey, what fun. I'd love to watch that film. Ken Scott!! A name I will forever associate with The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
You're getting about a bit in your old age, aren't you Robert??

pgss wrote:Sounds like a fun day Rob. Are the Abbey Road Studios still in use nowadays?

Yes,they are. They had the LSO in studio 1 on the Friday so we were told. I guess with around 200 people paying £75 each per ticket they felt it worth putting studio 2 out of action every weekend during this March.

sound world wrote:You're getting about a bit in your old age, aren't you Robert??

As an elderly chap said on my table last week, 'I have no intention of being the richest person in the graveyard.'

So yeah, i'm upping the anti a bit now that i'm getting older.

Have just purchased a ticket for another lecture in Studio 2 Abbey Road for the middle of next March. At £90 its a costly visit( travelling expenses and dining out will be extra of course) but I enjoyed this years visit so am really looking forward to my next trip to London town.

Good news, Rob! [tup]

Angie wrote:Good news, Rob! [tup]

My wallet doesn't think so Angie but hey ho.

Here I are again, back in Studio 2,Abbey Road, another year closer to death than I am in the photos above,

Blimey, they ought to put some of their profits towards renovating that Steinway upright...what a tragedy. I wonder which berk stuck green tape on an open E chord-obviously some dim guitar band who hadn't got beyond E major. Certainly not the Beatles, who knew what they were doing.

(Which reminds me-I have just spent a GREAT DEAL of money on a Bechstein...(like the man above said, I don't want to be the richest person in the graveyard, although there's a fat chance of that, the rich bit anyway ).
Actually I've never owned my own piano-lots of keyboards (currently 3) and various pianos belonging to other people, but never my own piano until now. I just thought-it's about time, I deserve this. )

Anyway what I really meant to say was-looks like a fun and fascinating tour, RobB.

All the pianos and keyboards are still in everyday use at the studios so i guess they would have taken a bit of a battering over the last fifty or sixty years. Btw, the sticky tape was put on the keys of three keyboards specifically to recreate that final chord of A Day In The Life. The lecturers ask for three piano players to come up and hit the same note simultaneously so that the audience can hear the sound of that final crashing chord fading away around the studio walls.

I'll place up some more photos from yesterday soon.

Hope you enjoy your Bechstein, Dave? It's a good way of making a long term investment in something that will also give you pleasure.

They wheeled out the Challen again, this time complete with green sticky tape....just for Dave.



Another view of the studio from the top of the famous stairs, showing the screen used on Friday for the film of the history of the studios. The famous red chairs incidentally date back to the 1960's and many a famous bum has sat on them over the years. Unfortunately who's bum sat on which chair is not known.........hope I got Kate Bush's chair?



And here's a photo taken from roughly the same spot nearly 46 years ago (29th March 1967) of the Beatles working on Sgt Pepper's 'With A little Help From My Friends'.