BEFORE: I'm going to declare that Phase 1 of the Doc Block is over, and today I'lm kicking off Phase 2, which is going to be primarily films about classic rock and pop, which is a common thread around here this time of year. I'll never match the doc chain from 2018 which was over 40 films long and ALL about classic rock, and that's where I first learned how easily these docs all can link together, but that doesn't mean I should stop trying, there are new rock docs coming out every year, like that one about Blood, Sweay & Tears that still isn't streaming anywhere for some reason. Somebody at Netflix or Hulu, can you please work on this? Thanks.
Of course, I should start with the Beatles, because everything started with the Beatles, right? It's not like anybody released records or topped the charts before they came along. JK. So let's take a look at what happened on this day in rock history. Hmm, nothing majoir, it's just the anniversary of the premiere of "A Hard Day's Night" movie, and somehow also the anniversary of the day in 1957 that Paul & John met at that church party where the Quarry Men were performing, where Paul played "Be-Bop-a-Lula" for John and showed his band how to tune their guitars. I stand by my contention that the chain not only has a mind of its own, but also knows what it's doing.
Kanye West (or "Ye" or "Yeezy" or whatever he's calling himself this week) carries over from "Money Shot: The Pornhub Story".
FOLLOW-UP TO: "Under the Volcano" (Movie #4,192), "Muscle Shoals" (Movie #3,624), "Sound City" (Movie #3,617)
THE PLOT: The untold story of the Abbey Road studio, all-star interviews, and intimage access to the premises.
AFTER: As Yogi once said, you can observe a lot by watching, and I presume that extends to watching docs. Today I learned a bunch of things, like the fact that the first thing ever recorded at Abbey Road was a recording of Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance", conducted by Elgar himself. Also that an early version of Elton John named Reginald Dwight was the session musician who played piano on the Hollies song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", and another session musician named Jimmy Page played on the recording of the Bond theme to "Goldfinger", sung by Shirley Bassey. Page would have had a stellar career as a studio musician if he hadn't foolishly started his own band, which people predicted would be as successful as some kind of balloon or zeppelin made of a metal such as lead. I also learned that British people do not know how to properly pronounce the word "zebra", which should have a long "E" sound in it, not a short one. (the famous crosswalk outside Abbey Road that appears on the cover of the Beatles' album is called either a level crossing or a zeh-bra crossing, why can't they just call it a crosswalk?)
This doc isn't ALL about the Beatles, it's only maybe half-focused on the Fab Four, but come on, they spent more time there than any other band, except maybe Oasis, who essentially moved into Studio 1 for months at a time. This probably was a heavy financial burden on Oasis, because they had to pay for studio time, and the Beatles did not. Wait, the Beatles had an infinite amount of recording time there at NO CHARGE, which might explain why the studio had financial difficulties later on. Nobody recorded for free, except the Beatles - look, I'm sure that Abbey Road got paid somehow, as the Beatles were taking in millions of dollars every month, the British national economy was 95% driven by record sales at one point. The studio must have taken their cut, they just hid it somewhere on the below-the-line costs. Or they double-charged the other acts that followed in the Beatles' wake, as there were dozens of those.
I still haven't watched that 17-hour Peter Jackson doc about the "Get Back" sessions, because I decided to count that as a mini-series rather than a movie, so it's not part of my chain. "Let it Be" is also now streaming on Disney, but I'm fairly sure I saw that at some point, I had a bootleg VHS of it at one point, so I must have watched it. Maybe I'm overdue for a re-watch, but I can't count that as part of the chain, that would also be against the rules. So today's doc will have to suffice for now. But since this is both a love-letter and a tribute to Abbey Road and the Beatles, there are some things it notoriously leaves out.
For example, if you JUST watched this doc, you might think that McCartney (or Wings) never recorded anywhere else, and I know that's not true. "Under the Volcano" was a film about George Martin splitting from EMI in 1965 and opening his own recording studios chain called AIR Studios. He had three locations in the UK and one in the Caribbean, and McCartney recorded a couple Wings albums there, the Police and Dire Straits came there in the 1980's to record as well, because who wouldn't want to record their album in a tropical paradise next to an active volcano. (What could POSSIBLY go wrong?). Anyway, George Martin retired a rich man and also had his own super-villain lair, so there's that.
Other notable recordings made at Abbey Road include the theme from "Alfie", recorded by Cilla Black, who was also from Liverpool. Apparently at some point every citizen from Liverpool had their own recording contract, and that tracks. Cliff Richard recorded there in the 1950's, before anyone ever knew what a Beatle was. Also a cellist named Jacqueline Du Pré made notable recordings there before she fell ill from MS, but she apparently had ticked off all of her bucket list items, according to the studio's notes. But hard times were ahead, once the Beatles broke up and George Martin moved to his island lair and there was talk about converting Studio 1 into some kind of parking garage, because nobody would ever show up again with enough money to rent the space that was able to hold a full orchestra.
Enter George Lucas and John Williams, who had this little indie film (Sorry, Indy film) called "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Then came "Return of the Jedi" and 15 years later, "The Phantom Menace". Hooray, the studio is saved, as long as we don't give George Lucas the "Beatles deal" and forget to invoice him. Naw, we're gonna TRIPLE-charge Lucas and 20th Century Fox, because we gots bills to pay. I know how that works. Let's buy some used film projectors and set up a screen because we've got soundtracks to record! Oh, to be a fly on the wall or a canteen worker at Abbey Road, and cook up some bangers and mash for George Lucas, that sounds like a very cool job. Hell, I'd be a janitor at Abbey Road if it meant I got to see "Star Wars" footage before anybody else.
(Again, I'm wondering what information the doc left out here, because there were SIX main "Star Wars" movies and this movie mentions TWO of them. The London Symphony Orchestra was always involved but the music for Episodes 4 and 5 was recorded at Anvil Studios in Denham, so John Williams' claim that Abbey Road is the "only" place to record a "Star Wars" soundtrack rings a little hollow. Sony Pictures Studios got all the other SW soundtracks except "Solo")
But I get it, promotion these days involves getting your brand out there on social media (or Disney-funded cross-promotional docs) and claiming to be the BEST there is at what you do. Well, if you don't do that, who will? So yeah, by all means, hire the ultimate nepo baby whose father happens to be a Beatle (did you think that was a COINCIDENCE?) and who's been visiting Abbey Road since she was zero years old, and don't include anything negative about the studio or the strained relationship between the Beatles or the fact that oops, we probably over-charged George Lucas. Then it's just a matter of tracking down some of the musicians from the Hollies and Pink Floyd who are still alive and get them to say glowing things about their recording sessions -
Let's be real, though, "Dark Side of the Moon" was a brilliant album, and it probably would have been a brilliant album no matter WHERE it was recorded, Abbey Road can only take so much of the credit for that just because they have good techs there and the "microphones work". Well, microphones work in other studios, too, and if they don't then they'll buy other ones that do. I'm not saying Abbey Road doesn't have a great resumé and a stellar record, but it's simply not the only game in town. The studio didn't MAKE the Beatles or Pink Floyd or Kanye West, at the end of the day it's just the building that a lot of famous people rented out for a few months at a time. It's clear that after "Sound City" and "Muscle Shoals" were hit docs then somebody at Disney/Lucasfilm/Fox/Marvel needed to complete in the same marketplace, to keep the cachet alive and try to convince some of the younger artists to record there, because the old generation (Burt Bacharach, Tony Bennett) has this bad habit of dying.
Also starring Celeste, Bobby Elliott, Liam Gallagher (last seen in "Exit Through the Gift Shop"), Noel Gallagher (last seen in "The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?"), David Gilmour, Suvi Raj Grubb, Tony Hicks, Elton John (last seen in "Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over"), George Lucas (last seen in "De Palma"), Giles Martin (last seen in "Under the Volcano"), Roger Waters (ditto), Nick Mason (last seen in "Count Me In"), Jimmy Page (ditto), Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Mary McCartney, Paul McCartney (last seen in "I Am Chris Farley"), Cliff Richard, Nile Rodgers (last seen in "Mr. Saturday Night"), Ringo Starr (last seen in "Elvis"), John Williams (last seen in "Spielberg"),
with archive footage of Adele, Karen Allen (last seen in "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny"), Burt Bacharach (also last seen in "Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over"), Ginger Baker (also last seen in "Mr. Saturday Night"), Brian Epstein (ditto), Syd Barrett (also last seen in "Under the Volcano"), Kate Bush (ditto), George Martin (ditto), John Barry, Shirley Bassey, Tony Bennett (last seen in "Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists"), Cilla Black, Jacqueline Du Pré, Carrie Fisher (last seen in "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life"), Harrison Ford (last seen in "Remembering Gene Wilder"), Mark Hamill (ditto), Allen Ginsberg (last seen in "The Velvet Underground"), George Harrison (also last seen in "Elvis"), John Lennon (ditto), Mick Jagger (last seen in "Belushi"), Fela Kuti, John Legend (last heard in "The Mitchells vs. the Machines"), Joseph Lockwood, Linda McCartney (last seen in "Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road"), the Spice Girls (last seen in "Pavarotti"), Amy Winehouse (last seen in "Amy"), Richard Wright,
RATING: 6 out of 10 photos on the walls (but none of Nile Rodgers?)
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