June 6, 2012 is the 50th anniversary of the Beatles first visit to Abbey Road Studios. The group, consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best, arrived at what was then called EMI Studios on June 6, 1962, for a commercial test (an evaluation of a signed artist). Two days earlier, the band had signed a recording contract with “The Parlophone Company Limited of Hayes in the County of Middlesex.” The group was paid Musicians Union rates for the June 6 session, indicating that the Beatles were in fact EMI recording artists by the time they arrived at Abbey Road.
Engineers attending the session in Studio Two remember the poor shape of the group’s equipment, particularly Paul’s bass amp, which was deemed unusable due to its rattling and rumbling. Engineers Norman Smith and Ken Townsend improvised and created a bass rig by soldering an input jack to a preamp and combining it with an amp and a large Tannoy speaker taken from Echo Chamber No. 1. A string was tied around John’s amplifier to prevent it from rattling. After resolving these problems, the Abbey Road staff was ready to record the group.

Four songs were recorded that day, three Lennon/McCartney originals – Love Me Do, P.S. I Love You, and Ask Me Why and Besame Mucho, which they had heard on a Coasters record.

This information was written for us by Fest For Beatles Fans guest author Bruce Spizer, who sends out a weekly email with Beatles information and trivia questions. His website is www.beatle.net . You can join his email list by clicking the following link: Click Here to Join

June 5, 2012: Last night, a star studded lineup performed for the Queen on her 60th Anniversary Jubilee. Sir Paul, Sir Elton, Stevie Wonder, & others rocked London in a concert that will air tonight at 9:00PM EDT on ABC. We know that Paul performed All My Loving & Let It Be as they showed bits of them on Good Morning America this morning. Set your DVR for this one.

Paul has now made it official. He will be the closing performer in next month’s opening ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, on July 27th. That should be some spectacle. It may be Paul’s first performance as a very young 70 year old, which he so graciously turns on June 18th. It doesn’t look like Paul will be touring this Summer, but we can hope he will play some gigs this Fall.

Ringo begins his 3rd consecutive year of All Starr Band Tours in Niagara, Canada on June 14th. He moved up his show two hours so as not to conflict with a high wire walk over Niagara Falls the same evening! We will be seeing him at his first U.S. date on June 16th at the beautiful Bethel Woods, site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. Can’t wait. His tour ends at the Greek Theatre in LA on July 21st. That leaves us to wonder if he is considering joining his former bandmate on the 27th. Just a thought or a hope!!! Imagine that!!!