The Denmark Street studio in London, where the Stones recorded so much of their early work (e.g. Not Fade Away, Tell Me, Little Red Rooster, 1st LP plus many more) is finally set to disappear.

This excellent article by Richard Williams explains;


Farewell to Tin Pan Alley
by Richard Williams

Denmark StreetTo live in London at the start of the 21st century is to enjoy a double-edged privilege. On the one hand there is access to a quite fantastic variety of creative activities and the energy that sustains them. On the other there is the widening gap between extreme affluence and the lives of ordinary people. The imminent fate of Denmark Street -- London's Tin Pan Alley -- is where those two phenomena collide, with unhappy results.

For me, much of London's remaining attraction lies in those places -- a stretch of Berwick Street in Soho, the top end of Marchmont Street in Bloomsbury, the northern extremity of Portobello Road in Notting Hill -- where independent and often eccentric enterprises still create a village atmosphere consonant with local history. Sooner or later they'll all be destroyed by creeping affluence. Denmark Street is the latest to go, about to be suffocated by the gentrificational impact of the new Crossrail station at Tottenham Court Road, a few yards away.

The north side of the street -- the side you can see in my photography, taken before Christmas -- is to be remodelled by the landowner/developer, who intends to erect luxury apartments in its place. Among the casualties will be several excellent musical instrument shops and the celebrated 12 Bar Club, which is due to close in mid-January.

Separated by Charing Cross Road from the eastern fringe of Soho, Denmark Street was laid out in the 16th century and named after Prince George of Denmark, the husband of Princess Anne, who would reign as Queen of England from 1702-1707. Of the original 20 houses, completed by 1691, eight remain, apparently making it the only street in London to retain 17th century facades on both sides.

Just over 350ft long, in the 18th and 19th centuries its location placed it in close proximity to the "rookery" of St Giles, a notorious warren of tenements noted for wretched poverty and every kind of vice, commemorated in William Hogarth's series of coruscating engravings, Beer Street and Gin Lane.

A young composer and song publisher named Lawrence Wright set up his office at No 19 in 1911, and founded the Melody Maker there in January 1926. The launch edition included pieces on "Gramophone Record Making", "The Banjo in the Modern Dance Orchestra", and "America's Idea of English Jazz". In his column, the new publication's editor, Edgar Jackson, made a point of thanking the composer Horatio Nicholls -- described as "one of the finest and most popular composers of lighter music, not only in England, but throughout the world" -- for "allowing us the privilege of publishing his photograph". Horatio Nicholls was, in fact, the nom de plume of Lawrence Wright.

Soon Wright's neighbours included Rose Morris, Campbell Connelly and a small host of other publishers, including the London office of Irving Mills, publisher of Hoagy Carmichael and Duke Ellington. In 1952 the promoter Maurice Kinn founded the New Musical Express at No 5, and two years later the NME began compiling the UK's first singles chart, a sign of the shift away from the sheet music sales that had hitherto provided the favoured measurement of popularity. Southern Music, Essex Music and Dick James Music were other publishers with addresses in a street that became known as Tin Pan Alley (a name first applied half a century earlier, for similar reasons, to a stretch of West 28th Street in Manhattan).

By the 1960s a number of rehearsal rooms and recording studios had been opened. Regent Sound, at No 4, was where the Rolling Stones recorded "Not Fade Away", their first big hit, and the whole of their first album. The Gioconda coffee bar at No 9 was a favourite meeting place for scuffling young musicians.

My own memories of Denmark Street towards the end of its heyday include a cup of coffee at the Gioconda with Elton John, who was contracted to Dick James Music and had just recorded what would be his breakthrough album, and a visit one afternoon in August 1970 to a cramped rehearsal room to hear a band called Osibisa. A collection of musicians from Ghana, Nigeria, Trinidad, Grenada and Antigua led by the saxophonist Teddy Osei, they were about to do for African music what Santana had done for Latin music, fusing it with rock in a way that made it highly palatable to young white audiences. Their potential was unmistakeable, and I wrote something about them in the MM. By the time I paid them another visit, six months later, they had released a highly successful debut album and played a gig at Eton College.

In the 1990s there was another reason to visit Denmark Street when my late friend Sean Body turned the ground floor of No 4 into Helter Skelter, a wonderful shop devoted to books about music, new and second-hand. Like Sportspages, an equally unique establishment 100 yards down Charing Cross Road, it would not survive the impact of online retailing.

The 12-Bar opened in 1994 in premises built in 1635 for use as a stables; its audiences have witnessed performances by Bert Jansch, Joanna Newsom, Jeff Buckley, Robyn Hitchcock, K.T. Tunstall, Seasick Steve and many others. Among its last gigs, on January 7, will be the "minimum R&B" of the Falling Leaves.

Rose Morris, amazingly, is still at No 10 and, being on the south side, might even be around to celebrate the centenary of its arrival in the street in 2019. I don't suppose it matters much that the current proprietors of the restaurant next door, now called La Giaconda, can't spell their own history.

In this very interesting piece on his blog, The Great Wen, Peter Watts spoke in August to the developer, Lawrence Kirschel of Consolidated Development, who made nice noises about respecting the street's traditions but whose plans for a performance space and for erecting statues of famous Tin Pan Alley names do not encourage optimism. I think I'd rather Denmark Street disappeared altogether -- following another of Kirschel's properties, the Marquee Club on Wardour Street, into oblivion -- than be transformed into a miniature theme park.[/size]

Sad news..... I used to spend a bit of time in "The 12 bar." It is a very small basement, with a tiny stage, a bit of a dump, but a good one. I was at the Joanna Newsom gig that the guy talks about in his story...

There is so much building in London at the moment, and a lot of these places are just going to get swallowed up.

Never been there but hate when things like this happen. Takes the soul out of a place in the name of progress and making it more appealing to the 'masses'. The masses will never know what the real vibe was.

As for Joanna Newsome, I much prefer the Welsh band names after her: Joanna Gruesome.

Yeah... seen loads of top gigs there - in fact, I was there only 2 weeks ago (weekend of Dec. 20); some 'old-skool' (German a.o.) punk bands there that night.... Great atmoshere! And I distinctly remember a 'Big Apple'-based band from the Bowery; the New York Howl, some years ago... Man, what a smashing gig thàt was. Still a fan of that band, thanx to the 12 Bar club! Really, really sorry to see that one go... (In fact, how many authentic R'n'R live stages remain, in that once so pioneering city centre!?)

Plus: it's a crying shame that the whole street, with so much heritage & legacy, including Regent Sound Studios apparently, will ("have to"...) go too!!

I think it's a bit unfair to present a "minature theme park" as the only alternative to this constant and ever-present, unscrupulous proces of 'Gentrification' (with personal money-making as its sole objective); there has to be a third way, surely!? It's still autenthic & lively enough over there, as far as I could tell; no need to cage & feed these animals, nor put them on display fore preservation! They're all doing fine by themselves thank you very much. Apart from being forced outdoors because of real estate interests, off course.

Thanks a lot for your post, Kingbeebuzz!

Is there a link to where you got this from, I'd like to see the pics mentioned in the article.

And if anybody here has links to movies or documentaries about London in the 60's and 70's, please share them!

I'll start with this:

[avaxhm.com]

Quote
Rank Stranger
Thanks a lot for your post, Kingbeebuzz!

Is there a link to where you got this from, I'd like to see the pics mentioned in the article.

And if anybody here has links to movies or documentaries about London in the 60's and 70's, please share them!

I'll start with this:

[avaxhm.com]

Here's the link: [thebluemoment.com]


"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

This is from their history page:




Rolling Stones at Regent Sounds Studio
In early 1964, The Rolling Stones recorded their hugely successful first album at Regent Sound Studio. Keith Richards said in an interview “We did our early records on a 2-track Revox in a room insulated with egg cartons at Regent Sound. It was like a little demo in Tin Pan Alley, as it used to be called. Denmark Street in Soho. It was all done on a 2-track Revox that he had on the wall. We used to think, oh, this is a recording studio, huh? This is what they’re like? A tiny little backroom. Under those primitive conditions it was easy to make the kind of sound we got on our first album and the early singles, but hard to make a much better one.” The album stayed at #1 in the UK for 12 weeks, with the band returning to record most of their second album 12 X 5 at Regent Sound Studio.

The studio was so small that there was hardly any definition between the instruments, so the band couldn’t avoid putting down on tape an approximation of their live sound of the time. In their bid to get away from the major record company studios with their strait-laced tie-wearing producers, the band loved the sound of the primitive and cramped studio.

Producer/Manager Andrew Oldham said of their time recording “We did the first album in about 10 days. We’d decide to do a tune, but Mick wouldn’t know the words, so Mick would run around Denmark Street to Carlin Music to pick up the words to something like Can I Get a Witness? He’d come back 25 minutes later and we’d start.”

The Rolling Stones weren’t the only band to make use of Regent Sound Studio. Through the 60s and 70s it played host to many other bands and artists including The Who, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, Mott the Hoople, Donovan and Black Sabbath – who recorded their hugely successful song and album Paranoid at the studio.

Thanks for the pics and the links!

Unfortunately BlowUp part two does not work.

Here are some more pics from the sixties:

[www.flickr.com]

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Rank Stranger
Thanks for the pics and the links!

Unfortunately BlowUp part two does not work.

Try this one: [www.youtube.com]

Songs recorded and released by The Rolling Stones at Regent Sound Studios, London
(Source: Nico Zentgraf):

3rd and 4th January: London, Regent Sound Studios.
- Carol
- Mona
- Route 66
- Walking The Dog
- You Can Make It If You Try

10th January: London, Regent Sound Studios.
- Honest I Do
- I'm A King Bee

4th February: London, Regent Sound Studios.
- Can I Get A Witness
- Little By Little
- Now I've Got A Witness
- Not Fade Away

13th February: London, Regent Sound Studios.
- Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind
- Try A Little Harder

24th and 25th February: London, Regent Sound Studios.
- Good Times, Bad Times
- I Just Want To Make Love To You
- Tell Me

640512A 12th May: London, Regent Sound Studios.
- Congratulations

24th - 26th June: London, Regent Sound Studios.
- Time Is On My Side

21st - 23rd July: London, Regent Sound Studios.
- Heart Of Stone (early version)

31st August - 4th September (not 2nd September): London, Regent Sound Studios.
- Da Doo Ron Ron
- Each And Every Day Of The Year
- Sleepy City
- We're Wastin' Time

2nd September: London, Regent Sound Studios.
- Little Red Rooster
- Off The Hook
- Under The Boardwalk

28th / 29th September: London, Regent Sound Studios.
- Grown Up Wrong
- Surprise Surprise
- Susie Q
- You Can’t Catch Me

Link for part two will not work.

I'm afraid this has something to do with the YouTube settings for Germany ( copyright etc...)

Quote
buffalo7478
As for Joanna Newsome, I much prefer the Welsh band names after her: Joanna Gruesome.

Yeah, I could never understand what all those music journalists saw in her.