Full report on seeing studios in London where Elvis recorded, May 19th 2017

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johnfoyle
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Full report on seeing studios in London where Elvis recorded, May 19th 2017

Post by johnfoyle »

Next week , on Friday May 19th , I will be in London for the day to, hopefully, see locations of studios that Elvis has recorded in. I will be accompanying Mike Bodayle , visiting from the U.S. for a few days, as we seek them out. We'll be starting from South Kensington tube station at about midday, spending the afternoon at it before I fly back to Dublin that evening. It seems doable. Needless to say , anyone who'd like to come along would be welcome.

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Neil.
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Re: Seeing studios in London where Elvis recorded, May 19th 2017

Post by Neil. »

Have a great time, John and Mike! Sadly I'll be in work. Olympic studios in Barnes is now a snazzy up-market cinema.
johnfoyle
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Re: Seeing studios in London where Elvis recorded, May 19th 2017

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Olympic studios in Barnes
The tube station near it is , according to the 'net, closed so I've left it out of my itinerary for the moment. Even though , as you say, the Olympic Studios are now a cinema at least a semblance of the shape of the original building is , it seems, there. At least three of the locations we hope to visit feature entirely new structures, residential buildings on the sites of studios.
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krm
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Re: Seeing studios in London where Elvis recorded, May 19th 2017

Post by krm »

johnfoyle wrote:
Olympic studios in Barnes
The tube station near it is , according to the 'net, closed so I've left it out of my itinerary for the moment. Even though , as you say, the Olympic Studios are now a cinema at least a semblance of the shape of the original building is , it seems, there. At least three of the locations we hope to visit feature entirely new structures, residential buildings on the sites of studios.
Early in my career, I lived in Barnes for some months and I never noticed any tubestation at all. The closest one was Hammersmith. However, you could go to Putney Bridge and stop by at the Half Moon Pub,before proceeding over the common to reach the site for Olympic. I don´t think EC ever played there though.
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Re: Seeing studios in London where Elvis recorded, May 19th 2017

Post by Mr. Getgood »

Off the top of my head, I am not certain if E.C. played the Half Moon in the early days, but when I was last there (about seven years ago) I recall seeing his photo on the wall of the bar amongst a whole gallery of bands and acts, which I presumed at the time were displayed to show who had played there over the years.
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verbal gymnastics
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Re: Seeing studios in London where Elvis recorded, May 19th 2017

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Mr. Getgood wrote:Off the top of my head, I am not certain if E.C. played the Half Moon in the early days, but when I was last there (about seven years ago) I recall seeing his photo on the wall of the bar amongst a whole gallery of bands and acts, which I presumed at the time were displayed to show who had played there over the years.
The key question is, why didn't you take a picture of the picture?
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Re: Seeing studios in London where Elvis recorded, May 19th 2017

Post by Mr. Getgood »

verbal gymnastics wrote:
Mr. Getgood wrote:Off the top of my head, I am not certain if E.C. played the Half Moon in the early days, but when I was last there (about seven years ago) I recall seeing his photo on the wall of the bar amongst a whole gallery of bands and acts, which I presumed at the time were displayed to show who had played there over the years.
The key question is, why didn't you take a picture of the picture?
Here you go - Elv is top right (although I have to admit to copying this image from online):


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ney_06.JPG
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Re: Seeing studios in London where Elvis recorded, May 19th 2017

Post by Mr. Getgood »

According to Wiki, Elvis played the Half Moon fairly frequently in the mid-1970s in a semi-professional capacity. (Marmite sarnies for amateurs but cheese and pickle for the more seasoned performer, perhaps?)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Half_Moon,_Putney

The last time I was there, I was playing in an old band I belonged to. It is my (no doubt mistaken) romantic view that the stage has not been replaced since circa. 1975 and, therefore, I have trod the same beer-sodden boards as one D.P. MacManus.
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johnfoyle
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Re: Seeing studios in London where Elvis recorded, May 19th 2017

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More later , but it was a fun day. We got to five of the eight locations I had information on. Mike will have a fuller account in a blog in due course.

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Neil.
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Re: Seeing studios in London where Elvis recorded, May 19th 2017

Post by Neil. »

That first churchy one is Crouch End, n'est pas?

Gawd knows about the second one!
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Re: Seeing studios in London where Elvis recorded, May 19th 2017

Post by johnfoyle »

Yes, the location (it's now apartments ) of the Archipelago Studios in Pimlico, where some of the New Amsterdam EP and the Get Happy!! demos were recorded.
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Re: Seeing studios in London where Elvis recorded, May 19th 2017

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Thanks to Mike Bodayle for these photos of our trek around London last week , looking for locations where Elvis Costello made recordings.

Read all about it !

https://musiccitymike.net/2017/05/26/an ... ios-stiff/

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Re: Seeing studios in London where Elvis recorded, May 19th 2017

Post by Man out of Time »

johnfoyle wrote:
Olympic studios in Barnes
The tube station near it is , according to the 'net, closed so I've left it out of my itinerary for the moment. Even though , as you say, the Olympic Studios are now a cinema at least a semblance of the shape of the original building is , it seems, there. At least three of the locations we hope to visit feature entirely new structures, residential buildings on the sites of studios.
I had the pleasure, a little while ago, to visit the Olympic Cinema in Barnes for a film screening. The Cinema, has now been converted back to being a cinema, having started life that way, then become a recording studio from the 1960s through to the Noughties. There is a little of the history of the place here:

http://www.olympiccinema.co.uk/history

Before the film screening, and after the usual ads, they show a short film of the Rolling Stones recording in the studios there and then a montage of other artists (including EC) who have recorded there. So the history of the place is not lost, even if physically the space has changed beyond recognition.

MOOT
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