Abbey Road: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Famous Recording Studio (with a foreword by Paul McCartney)

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During the Live Aid concert of 1985 I was sworn at by Bob Geldof in front of what was then the world's largest TV audience, an incident which has now turned up in Britain's favourite film. You will come away dazzled by all of the dots Hepworth connects behind the scenes here, in what in many ways is the soundtrack of our lives. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. An esteemed music critic and journalist, Hepworth provides us with a deep dive into the story behind the 91-year-old facility, a stirring narrative that mirrors pop music's twists and turns from its earliest days through the present.

Opened by EMI in 1931, its initial showpiece was Studio One, designed to accommodate symphony orchestras. What’s more, he owns – so his blurb tells us – more records than he’ll ever get round to listening to (some made at Abbey Road). It’s June 6, 1962: an ordinary Wednesday evening (ordinary in the way that most extraordinary moments start out like any other). Biography: David Hepworth has been writing, broadcasting and speaking about music and media since the seventies.So, they used to go to Hazel Yarwood [started at Abbey Road in 1947; no relevant experience other than familiarity with her dad’s classical record collection, and an ability to read music]. Indeed, a comparable metamorphosis over the past seven to eight decades can be found in almost every other industry.

Of course, I especially liked reading about The Beatles and how they recorded at the studios, and as I read, I found myself yearning to visit the studios. It slightly loses steam in the latter chapters, but that's mainly because Abbey Road and the music business as a whole have similarly declined. Early attempts at this new-found technique provoked bafflement, sometimes downright hostility, from performers, too. My only minor complaint was that was very little context provided as to what other studios where doing, particularly in the 30s and 40s. And – as David Hepworth himself snuffles – a vignette featuring the cold virus: John Lennon’s rendition of Twist And Shout on Please Please Me – which sounds (as David wonderfully describes it) ‘like it was the last he would ever sing’ – achieved thanks to Lennon having flu.There's also a detailed history of the machinations of classical music recordings under the helm of renowned conductors back in the early days. He was involved in the launch and editing of magazines such as Smash Hits, Q, Mojo and The Word, among many others. They wanted her to come in on Saturday, but she couldn’t because she was going to see Chuck Berry in Hammersmith. As Hepworth powerfully demonstrates, Abbey Road created the firmament for recording artistry, a genre in which the very idea of the studio is upended.

Indispensable reading for anyone interested in the iconic Abbey Road Studios, their history, the recordings made there and the artists who made them. Every so often, once a month, I believe, the wall outside of the Studios is white washed, and within a few weeks it is covered in names again. It also has some great insights and commentary on the cultural changes that regularly revolutionise the music business e.

Lastly, a large part of the charm of reading Abbey Road is that it's clearly written for an English audience. As an Anglophile, audiophile and unapologetic Beatles nerd, there was slim chance David Hepworth's book would be anything less than a hit with me - and it certainly delivered. It's very recognisable, but doesn't lend itself so well to fact-based subjects, and as a result this doesn't come across as a definitive history of the famous studios.