Abbey Road
  • Published: 22 August 2023
  • ISBN: 9781529177251
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $37.00
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Abbey Road

The Inside Story of the World’s Most Famous Recording Studio (with a foreword by Paul McCartney)

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Telling the story of the infamous studios through the eyes of all those who have walked through its doors, including much unpublished material.

With a foreword by Paul McCartney

'It's semi-devotional -- a really special place' Florence Welch
'There are certain things that are mythical. Abbey Road is mythical' Nile Rodgers

Many people will recognise the famous zebra crossing. 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 - 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, creative, technical, mechanical, interpersonal, logistical, managerial, chemical and, romantics might be tempted add, close to magic.

This is for the people who believe in the magic.
  • Published: 22 August 2023
  • ISBN: 9781529177251
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $37.00
Categories:
Share…

About the author

David Hepworth

David Hepworth has been writing, broadcasting and speaking about music and media since the seventies. He was involved in the launch and editing of magazines such as Smash Hits, Q, Mojo and The Word, among many others.

He was one of the presenters of the BBC rock music programme The Old Grey Whistle Test and one of the anchors of the corporation’s coverage of Live Aid in 1985. He has won the Editor of the Year and Writer of the Year awards from the Professional Publishers Association and the Mark Boxer award from the British Society of Magazine Editors.

He lives in London, dividing his time between writing for a variety of newspaper and magazines, speaking at events, broadcasting work, podcasting at www.wordpodcast.co.uk and blogging at www.whatsheonaboutnow.blogspot.co.uk.

He says Chuck Berry’s ‘You Never Can Tell’ is the best record ever made. ‘This is not an opinion,’ he says. ‘It’s a matter of fact.’

portrait photo of David Hepworth

Also by David Hepworth

Nothing is Real
Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There
A Fabulous Creation
Rock & Roll A Level
Uncommon People
Hope I Get Old Before I Die
1971 - Never a Dull Moment
See all

Praise for Abbey Road

Engrossing...A stirring narrative that mirrors pop's twists and turns from its earliest days to the present

Slate

A hugely enjoyable read for anyone who has ever bought a record, told with Hepworth's characteristic dry humour, beautifully illustrated and with a foreword by Paul McCartney...Engrossing, extansively researched

Roger Alton, Daily Mail

Hepworth captures the feeling of immediacy and excitement that exemplified the storied St John's Wood studio...An appropriately pacy chronicle of rapid cultural/technological evolution

Ian Fortnum, Classic Rock

The story of recorded music itself. Great details leap from every page

Tom Doyle, Mojo

Hepworth, one of the most authoritative music journalists and historians, brings the studio in suburban London to life

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