Music lives on at Abbey Road

Music lives on at Abbey Road

By Roger Catlin, The Hartford Courant | June 20, 2007

LONDON -- The big doors to Studio Two open, and there it is: the large, high-ceilinged inner sanctum. A perpetual hush settles over the surprisingly familiar bricks and baffles.

It's the kind of reverent silence accorded a museum, but as much as Abbey Road is celebrated in pop history (the loving graffiti on the wall outside hints at the ongoing devotion), it is also a working -- and very busy -- recording studio 37 years after the Beatles stopped recording there.

"The sound quality is amazing," says ad hoc tour guide Michael Gleason, co producer of "Live From Abbey Road," a new music series set in the hallowed studio that starts tomorrow on the Sundance Channel. Performers on the first show include John Mayer, Richard Ashcroft, and Norah Jones.

Gleason is excited by the surroundings, despite having recorded more than 30 artists there for the 12-episode series.

"One hundred-ninety Beatle songs recorded here!" he says, then pointing to a battered upright in the corner adds, "There's the 'Lady Madonna' piano!"

Then, pointing to a vintage microphone on a stand: "There's what we call the Lennon mike."

It hasn't been difficult to enlist acts for the new music series.

"For musicians, it's the Holy Grail," Gleason says. "It's like tennis players in their first time at Wimbledon. They kiss the ground."

It happened when the group Gnarls Barkley visited to play in the series. "[Lead singer] Cee-Lo literally crawled up the front steps," Gleason says.

The studio's history includes more than the Beatles' output, the recording of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," and a line of rock classics.

Before that there was actual classical music.

Opened 75 years ago as EMI Studios, it was built big enough for orchestras. A picture on the wall of the first performance in November 1931 shows composer Sir Edward Elgar about to conduct in the large art deco building, George Bernard Shaw standing nearby.

Producer George Martin's history there dates to 1950, when he recorded mostly comedy and plays with actors including Peter Sellers and Peter Ustinov.

Cliff Richard and the Shadows began cutting the first rock 'n' roll records there in the early '60s; the Beatles began recording there in 1962 and would continue to record most of their albums there until their breakup in 1970. Paul McCartney's new "Memory Almost Full," released this month, was recorded in part there, too

The United States is the latest national audience for "Live From Abbey Road," which began showing in England, then in Japan and Australia.

"Live From Abbey Road" has no audience. It's a bit surprising when songs end to studio silence.

"The ideas is to capture musicians in a way people have never seen them. And they're getting a great performance," Gleason says.

When the Killers were in for an acoustic set, frontman Brandon Flowers requested 12 takes of one song, Gleason says. "They figure: 'I'm in Abbey Road, how many chances will we get to be here?' "

Only some of the artists on the show have capitalized on the atmosphere by covering a Beatles song, Gleason says. LeAnn Rimes sang "Yesterday," and the Gipsy Kings sang "Hey Jude" in Spanish. Red Hot Chili Peppers played "Come Together," although it's not part of their episode that runs June 28.

Each episode also includes some vintage footage of a past Abbey Road highlight. Tomorrow night's, coincidentally, is from exactly 40 years ago: The Beatles' big, fanciful performance of "All You Need Is Love" with costumes, orchestra, signs , and sing-along, broadcast worldwide in what was then the first global satellite transmission.

© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.