SOUND & VISION
Paul McCartney: given the runof Abbey Road
MARYMCCARTNEY;MPL
One-time sessioneer Jimmy Page
Paul, Linda and Jet the donkey
IF THESE WALLS COULD SING
DISNEY+
7/10
A star-studded history of Abbey Road Studios. By John Lewis
A RENOWNED photographer in her own right, Mary McCartney has rounded up some top-drawer names – David Gilmour, Giles Martin, Roger Waters, Nile Rodgers, Cliff Richard – for this engaging documentary about the world’s most famous recording studio.
The story starts in 1931 when EMI, then trading as the Gramophone Company, bought a large Georgian townhouse in St John’s Wood at auction – “a detached residence of nine bedrooms, five reception rooms, servants’ quarter and a large garden at the rear” – which it quickly converted into the world’s largest and best equipped audio studio. Initially used for classical recordings (the enormous Studio One can comfortably hold a couple of symphony orchestras), it wasn’t until the late ’50s when in-house producers like Norrie Paramour and George Martin started to court nascent rock’n’rollers.