You having trouble sleeping or something? Well noticed.
Do we know exactly who was there? I quickly googled but couldn't find exact details but I'm sure someone knows. Could it have been someone like Mal Evans? But then if I'm looking at the right pictures (which I'm probably not - I'm not in my comfort zone) some are taken from way up, which is the control room (?) whence from a roadie would surely be barred.
Can you post a couple of examples for idiots like me. muchas gracias (I'm practising my Spanish. I've got a friend from Guatemala coming over)
Some here.
http://www.beatlesource.com/savage/1962/62.09.04%20emi/62.09.04emi.html This is a series of photos from 4 September 62, when they showed up to record Love Me Do the second time. Pete Best was sacked 16 August 62, and a few nights before this 4 September 62 photo/recording session, George was headbutted by a Pete Best fan - you can clearly see his blackened left eye in the photos. Those were the earliest days - but check out the credit on the beatlesource page -
somebody paid for Dezo Hoffman to be there to take pics. Surely not the Beatles themselves? So did EMI routinely do this for a band without a single released or recorded song at that date?
And here is a bunch of still photos in the studio from 5 March 63:
before the release of From Me to You (
http://www.beatlesource.com/savage/1963/63.03.05%20EMI/63.03.05emi2.html ) !
Anyway, here are some more early pics, and even motion pictures taken in a very professional manner ...
Here's the youtube of something IAmThePaulrus recently posted (and thanks to him!!! That was a great post!!!!):
0:48 - There's that artfully composed/framed shot of George Martin up in the control both, and the boys down below. The film quality, his appearance all give me the feeling of late '62/early '63?
1:29 - Ditto for this pic - looks like late '62/early '63? The blonde Vox amp should be helpful here, I just don't happen to know enough about there amp history though. [Addendum - looks like the same Love Me Do session from September 62]
The rest look like they might be from that 5 March 63 session, or ...
1:39 - John and George both singing on acoustic guitar - I can't figure out what song that would be?
3:05 - J/P vocals, J/G on acoustic. Could this be the Love Me Do recording?
3:16 - Ditto?
3:20 - Was this really Please Please Me? If so, they had one minor hit before this (Love Me Do) ... did everyone with a minor hit warrant a professional quality filmographer in EMI's eyes?
3:31 - 5 March '63?
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So, in the youtube, there are lots of pics, and even a movie/film, based on two singles. One of the singles was a #1 hit (PPM), so I can see EMI saying they'd allocate some money to visually record the session. But did they routinely pay for a professional cinematographer to be in attendance for 1-hit groups?
And more puzzling - there are multiple pics taken in Studio 2 by a professional photographer, Dezo Hoffman, before they had even recorded, much less released, a single (the black eye George photos...)?
So, did we Beatles fans just get lucky that Mr. Hoffman happened to be at Abbey Road for a cup of tea and decided to pop into Studio at just the "right" time? Or was this standard EMI procedure for a group without a record? Or did someone with a check book have a feeling these guys might be different ... ?
Inquiring minds want to know!
Signed,
Alexis
aka, the master of the trivially irrelevant