*London’s-“Lost Recording Studios-Pt.2” – 1. Trident Studios – 2. Regent Sound Studio – 3. Command Theatre Studio

This particular publication forms Part 2 of a an existing London Shoes category of blogs entitled “London’s-Lost Recording Studios”.

 This series of blogs has been designed to cover off a load of old recording studios throughout London, where some of Britain’s greatest ever songs were recorded.

So – to kick-off the 2^nd blog of this feature, ‘Shoes’ went out ‘on-the-road’ up Soho  way, to track down another 3 buildings that were once places where some of this country’s most legendary music history was made.

The first studio site/building on my list was the once famous “Trident Studios” – a studio where some of the greatest classics by now legendary musical icons, were recorded – for example, to name just a select few:-

The Beatles – Hey Jude

 Elton John – Your Song – Rocket Man – Candle in the Wind

T.Rex – Ride a White Swan – Get it On

Harry Nillson – Without You

Carly Simon – Your so Vain

George Harrison – My Sweet Lord

Free – All Right Now

Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody

David Bowie – Space Oddity – Life on Mars – Jean Jeanie – Changes.

The old Trident Studio building is still in situ.

It is located in St. Anne’s Court – a small alley off of Wardour Street, deep in the heart of London’s Soho district (Wardour St being a place where I worked from 74 to 78).

The Trident Studio as it once was, was built in 1967 – and the first big hit off its production line was Manfred Mann’s 1968 hit “My name is Jack” – which helped launch Trident’s future reputation.

Also, in 1968 The Beatles recorded their global hit “Hey Jude” at Trident Studios – using the studio’s 100 year old, handmade ‘Bechstein’ piano – an instrument that connects all time classic tracks by Elton John / Queen / David Bowie & the Beatles.

The Beatles recorded a portion of their 1968 released ‘White Album’ at Trident Studio– a slight change of scenery from the famous Abbey Road Studio.

David Bowie recorded 4 of probably his most influential albums consecutively there – starting with ‘The Man Who Sold the World’ (1970) – ‘Hunky Dory’ (1971) – ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’ (1972) – ‘Diamond Dogs’ (1974).

Lou Reed’s bestselling album ‘Transformer’ (1972) was also recorded at Trident – which David Bowie himself produced. Trident’s iconic ‘Bechstein’ piano can be heard at its most beautifully melodic on Reed’s “Perfect Day”.

Global music superstars such as:- Joe Cocker – Harry Nillson – Carly Simon – James Taylor – Genesis – Queen – Joan Armatrading  – The Bee Gees – Tina Turner – plus many many more famous artists, all recorded their best music at Trident.

Sadly Trident Recording Studio was sold off in the early 1980’s.

Today – the narrow original building is still in situ, but I’m not quite sure what it’s now used for.

However – there is a solitary ‘blue plaque’ on display above its front door, which commemorates the fact that the late great David Bowie recorded some of his most influential work there.

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The 2^nd quest on this particular trek out was to pay a visit to the famous Denmark Street W1, and street steeped in music history – and to acknowledge the importance and influence of the “Regent Sound Studio”.

Regent Sound, at no. 4 Denmark Street – became a recording studio back in the 1950’s.

It came to prominence in the early 1960’s – and I guess it goes down in music history as being the studio where the Rolling Stones recorded their first album.

They also recorded a number of their early singles there too.

In fact, the very first record I ever bought, back in 1964 when I was just 7 years old – was the Stones version of the old Willie Dixon blues classic “Little Red Rooster” – with the Jagger & Richards composition “Off the Hook” on the B-side (which I actually preferred more than the A-side back then).

Little Red Rooster was recorded at Regent Sound Studio – and it reached no.1 on the UK Singles Chart.

Loads of famous artists recorded stuff at Regent Sound in the early 60’s – such as the likes of:- Tom Jones – Jimi Hendrix – Elton John – The Who – even at the beginning of the 1970’s, the more progressive bands like Genesis and Black Sabbath (inc. my favourite ‘Sabs’ album ‘Paranoid) – released albums that were recorded at Regent Sound.

Today – the Regent Sound Studio building is a prestigious musical instrument retail outlet. – and there is talk that the owners are renovating the old recording studio area into a sort of museum , which would be great – as the building is one of the popular landmarks on the London Walking Tours.

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The final quest on my trek out was to track down the site of the old “Command Theatre Studio” in Piccadilly.

The Command Theatre was an old theatre building, with a lot of history behind it –  that the BBC bought long ago, and used for radio broadcasts.

In 1970 it was sold off and developed into a recording studio.

Legends such as BB King – The Bee Gees – Brian Eno – King Crimson – Roxy Music – Pink Floyd and Slade, are just some of the artists that have recorded material there.

The Command Theatre consisted of 3 studios, all big enough to hold the likes of an orchestra and live audiences.

In its early days, it was at the forefront of recording innovation – with quadraphonic sound, and the lot.

One of my personal all-time favourite albums “ Slade Alive” was recorded there.

Slade Alive is a ‘live’ album recorded in front of an audience at the Command Theatre Studios in October 1971.

The album captures perfectly the excitement of what Slade’s live act was all about in the early 1970’s before they became a massive household name – you can feel the vibe from the very first note of the album’s opening track “Here me Calling”, and that excitement and vibe continues right through to the albums final track.

To this very day it’s still an album I go to when I need to have a bit of the old feel-good factor, to lift my soul.

The brilliant Roxy Music recorded their very first (and unique sounding) album at the Command Theatre Studios……another of my all-time favourite albums. – as at that time, the avant-garde style of music that Roxy were banging out sounded like no other band around. They were a quality act back then, so refreshingly new.

However – for all the legendary recordings made there – the Command Theatre Studios were fraught with management problems. Also – another long standing problem was that, on some recordings’ you could hear the rumble of the Piccadilly Line tube trains, that ran underneath the theatre.

Sadly – in 1974 the Command Theatre Recording Studios closed for good – and to=day, although the majestic building is still there – its ground floors have been converted into retail outlets and its upper floors into offices.

So – that’s Part 2 of the London Shoes blog feature “London’s-Lost Recording Studios”

Hope you found it interesting – and look out in the future for Pt3.

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See below the full gallery of photos taken to accompany this blog