The Beatles at Abbey Road revisited

Coming up from HMC: TMOQ Gazette #21

Between July and September 1983, for the first time the doors to Abbey Road’s famous studio 2 were opened to the public. They were treated to a tour of the studio and a 90-minute audio-visual show, “The Beatles At Abbey Road”. Your WogBlog host was there, enjoying biscuits and soft drinks, while I was able to check out the studio for the first time – and eventually we were seated for the specially prepared video. It was the closest I had been to heaven at the time, as images of the Beatles appeared on the big screen, many of the films still unknown to me, accompanied by a narrator (Capital Radio DJ Roger Scott) and the Beatles voices in the studio where they were recorded. We were also treated to some outtakes and songs which no fans had yet heard at the time. And the sound coming out of the Abbey Road speakers made it sound as if they were there in the room with us. The reason for opening their doors to the public was that the control room at Abbey Road Studio 2 was due for an overhaul, to enable the installation of updated recording equipment. So the studio couldn’t be used for bookings during the installation time, and Abbey Road Studios would lose money. With ticket receipts as an incentive, EMI took the unprecendent step of throwing open the doors to Studio 2 during the ‘down-time’, and allow the fans in.

A ticket to ride

The new underground DVD+CD release from His Master’s Choice commemorates “The Beatles at Abbey Road” 1983 event. Actually, a bootleg video of “The Beatles at Abbey Road” has been in circulation among collectors since some time in the late eighties, as I recall. This new presentation draws in different sources to enhance the presentation and upgrade the film, as well as provide a stereo soundtrack. They also boast about some hitherto unseen video material. Some of that material may be what we have previously featured samples from in this blog, as offerings from Revolver Video. There’s also new footage from “Hey Jude”, “A Day In The Life”, “Rain” and “Strawberry Fields Forever”, as well as the 1966 Ed Sullivan show with “Rain” and “Paperback Writer” in full colour and in stunning quality. As a bonus, you’ll also find some black and white footage from the “And I Love Her” sessions from Studio 2 at Abbey road, previously shown on SAT3 German television.

Here’s the track list of the DVD:

1. Introduction

2. Love Me Do *

3. How Do You Do It? *

4. I Saw Her Standing There

5. Twist and Shout

6. One After 909

7. A Hard Day’s Night

8. Leave My Kitten Alone (unheard at the time)

9. I’m A Loser

10. She’s A Woman

11. Ticket To Ride *

12. Help!

13. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

14. I’m Looking Through You

15. Paperback Writer *

16. Rain *

17. Penny Lane *

18. Strawberry Fields Forever **

19. A Day In The Life *

20. A Day In The Life **

21. Hello Goodbye *

22. Lady Madonna *

23. Hey Jude

24. Hey Jude **

25. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (acoustic, unheard at the time)

26. Because

27. #9 Dream

Bonus tracks:

1. Rain **

2. Paperback Writer

3. Ed Sullivan introduces: **

4. Paperback Writer **

5. Rain **

6. The Beatles at Abbey Road **

– I Should Have Known Better

– And I Love Her

* = Where possible, upgraded clips have been inserted

** = These tracks contain previously unseen footage or significant upgrades

Tracks 20 and 24 were originally silent. Alternate song versions were added to enhance your enjoyment of these clips.

The audio CD contains complete takes of all the songs from the video – except “#9 Dream”. Extra are the “Thank Your Lucky Stars” sketches 1 & 2 from the 14th November, 1964 show. Also there’s a rare mix of “Good Morning, Good Morning” with German words at the end of the song, and from the John Barrett tapes, a version of “Octopus’ Garden”.

CD track list:

1. Thank Your Lucky Stars Sketch #1

2. Love Me Do (Take 18)

3. How Do You Do It? (Unedited mono)

4. I Saw Her Standing There (Takes 6, 9, 11 & 12)

5. Twist And Shout (Edit)

6. One After 909 (Take 4)

7. Don’t Bother Me

8. A Hard Day’s Night (Composite: Takes 2, 3a & 9)

9. Leave My Kitten Alone (Take 5)

10. I’m A Loser (Take 8)

11. She’s A Woman (Take 1)

12. Ticket To Ride (Take 1/ Take 2)

13. Help! (Take 5 – instrumental)

14. This Bird Has Flown ((Take 1 – 10/12/65)

15. I’m Looking Through You (Take 1)

16. Paperback Writer (Take 2, RM 2)

17. Rain (Take 7 / RS 1)

18. Penny Lane (Take 9, RS1)

19. Strawberry Fields Forever

20. A Day In The Life (Takes 1, 7 & 26, Barrett mix)

21. Hello Goodbye (Take 22, RS 4)

22. Hey Jude (Take 9, incomplete)

23. Lady Madonna (RS from take 4) (stereo)

24. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Unedited take 1)

25. Because (Take 16 – Barrett mix)

26. Thank Your Lucky Stars Sketch #2

27. Octopus’ Garden

28. Guten Morgen, guten Morgen

Front and back of the 24 pages booklet housing the discs.

The package is supposedly due out in Europe this week.