Christmas is months away and my birthday is just passed, so I might just have to buy 'Recording the Beatles' - the vast, fantastic-looking $100 book full of pictures and stories, written by Kevin Ryan and Brian 'Moog Cookbook' Kehew. They published the book themselves, selling 3,000 copies of the first print run at $100 each. A new run is now available, with a cheaper edition on the way next year. There's a nice piece on the book at Wired - "Gazing at all these pictures of beautiful, ancient, analog gear, I felt like a character out of Blade Runner looking at a pictures of real animals after they had gone extinct and been replaced by clones.", and a nice review from Sound on Sound, although the launch party at Abbey Road doesn't look like it was much fun. (Thanks, Frank)UPDATE: Shipping the book to the UK will cost $52.
My neighbour has it. It's really amazing, though I've only thumbed through.
ReplyDeleteTom, you absolutely want that book. It's even better than it looks, and is maybe the best-written gear book I've ever read.
ReplyDeleteI just ordered! I can see this one being on the shelves of a lot of rock stars bookcases.
ReplyDeleteYou DEFINITELY need this book. I am a big Beatles fan, and a bit of a gearhead - and this book is a mind-boggling confluence of both worlds.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing about it is there is almost a fractal sense of detail- as you keep moving through the book, more and more cool stuff just keeps showing up.
Then you need to read "Here, There and Everywhere" by Geoff Emerick.
I have it too, its amazing. I got some extra's with mine, a bookmark, map of the desk, lennon sheet lyrics and some replica photos and other bits n bobs, i asusme they are still part of the 100 buck edition. its a bargain either way. =)
ReplyDeleteThe launch party at Abbey Road doesn't look like it was much fun.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever been inside Studio 2? Being in that room has to set your soul on fire, regardless of who else is in the room and what they're doing.
I've been giggling like a little schoolgirl all day - it's been a hell of a week for nerddom - bought excellent Police tix, a $800 Lego set and this fabulous looking book (that slipped under my radar, thank you MT!)
ReplyDeleteThat poster better be as spectacular as I'm imagining, it's being framed... Where to hang, where to hang... Oh, right. Above the bed. My girl won't mind, honest... :)
ps. I already have what I thought to be the nerdiest of all Beatles books (Beatles Gear, and The Complete Scores but this one looks to take the cake...
ReplyDeleteI just ordered mine. Thanks for the Heads up MusicThing
ReplyDeleteI just tried to place an order via the publisher's website (curvebender.com - trivia: curvebender refers to the nickname given to an old EMI valve EQ unit used @ Abbey Road)
ReplyDeleteThey're asking for $52.50 for shipping to the UK - that's over half the price of the book! Ludicrous.
There's gotta be a better/cheaper way surely?
re the postage to the uk, its VERY heavy, really. I'm not sure how much i paid for postage, i did pre-order it before it was released and i don't recall it being that high at the time, maybe they were taking a loss on the postage, i dunno, but again, its VERY heavy.
ReplyDeleteI settled with some of the videos I found here today
ReplyDeleteI have the book, too, and it is something like 10 pounds!
ReplyDeleteI talked to one of the engineers who was at the Abbey Road launch. It was held the same day as Abbey Road's 75th anniversary party, so Kevin & Brian really had to limit who was invited and what they could do in the space. Apparently the many of the engineers hadn't seen each other in 30 or so years, and the authors tried to keep it really low-key and just give these guys a chance to visit with each other and catch up, without having to fight a lot of loud music and stuff. I guess at the 75th anniversary party, the DJ's had the sound so cranked you couldn't hear the person standing next to you.
Cris in California
Awesome book. Well worth it. I met Brian Kehew and Ken Scott at the NAMM show this year and it was a real treat.
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