Abbey Road The inside story of the world's most famous recording studio
Book - 2023
Many people will recognize the famous crosswalk. Some visitors may have graffitied their name on its hallowed outer walls. Others might even have managed to penetrate the iron gates. But what draws in these thousands of fans here, year after year? What is it that really happens behind the doors of the most celebrated recording studio in the world? It may have begun life as an affluent suburban house, but it soon became a creative hub renowned around the world as a place where great music, ground-breaking sounds, and unforgettable tunes were forged. It is nothing less than a witness to, and a key participant in, the history of popular music itself. What has been going on there for over ninety years has called for skills that are musical, cre...ative, technical, mechanical, interpersonal, logistical, managerial, chemical and, romantics might be tempted add, close to magic. The history of Abbey Road may just make you believe"--
- Subjects
- Published
-
New York :
Pegasus Books
2023.
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Other Authors
- Edition
- First Pegasus books cloth edition
- Item Description
- Originally published: London : Bantam, 2022.
- Physical Description
- xvii, 380 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 353-355) and index.
- ISBN
- 9781639364312
- Foreword
- Intro: The long and winding road
- 1. The fat, the jolly and the Covent Garden shuffle
- 2. A home fit for divas, knights of the realm and weeping piano players
- 3. Al Bowlly, the microphone and the invention of intimacy
- 4. Noel Coward and Gracie Fields take on Hitler
- 5. George Martin, tape and the smell of money
- 6. Cliff, the RS 124 and the quest for rough
- 7. Hazel Yarwood, the class system and stereo
- 8. The Beatles, the compressor and the capture of delight
- 9. 'The Greatest Recording Organisation in the World'
- 10. Sgt Pepper, J. S. Bach and bending the current
- 11. Pink Floyd, a cow and eight tracks in search of strange
- 12. Roy Harper, Harvest and endless overtime
- 13. Jacqueline du Pre, the clit factor and the man who could hear hair
- 14. Pinky, Perky, Manuel and light music by the yard
- 15. The record that ate the world and played the whole building
- 16. Steve Harley, Alan Parsons and the commercial value of silence
- 17. Ken Townsend changes the toilet paper, the name and the business
- 18. Star Wars sets down in Gods aircraft hangar
- 19. Tina Turner, the CD gold rush and the appliance of science
- 20. Noel Gallagher, a flugelhorn and the importance of the sewers
- 21. Guy Hands, English Heritage and monetizing the brand
- 22. Upmixing the past and remixing the future
- Outro: The road goes on for ever
- Playlist
- Bibliography
- Sources
- Acknowledgements
- Picture Acknowledgements
- Index
Review by Kirkus Book Review