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EMI -- How The Mighty Are Fallen


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Back in the day, EMI had control of 2 of the 3 locations music fans came from around the world to London to see ...

1/ Abbey Road Studios

2/ The staircase in EMI House, Manchester Square

WITH ... the 3rd (the only one with public access) being the zebra crossing outside Abbey Rd Studios. Most fans got to take a picture of themselves on the zebra crossing but hardly any made it into the actual studios or into EMI House.

Back in the 80's, I had a good contact who worked for EMI in their Manchester Square offices. I used to visit but security control was always really high. You were never allowed free access in the building. Reception used to take charge of visitors and keep you there till the person you said you'd come to see was contacted & approved your entrance. You'd then but put in the lift, the right floor button pressed & you'd be met (when the lift doors opened) by your contact. I used to ask if I could walk up the staircase to get to the right floor but was never allowed to (the stairway in question was pictured on the front of the Beatles 'Please Please Me' album).

One time (when we lived in Northampton), I'd arranged a EMI visit & my son was at college in Hatfield. He asked me to go there & meet up with him before I went into London. When I got there, he'd got 3 of his pals with him who he'd said could tag along. We set off & arrived at EMI House, where we were asked to wait for Alan to approve our entrance. Lots of folk were milling about in the reception area, also trying to gain access. We got the nod & so this old guy & 4 young lads headed for the lift. Two blokes saw us passing, assumed I was the manager of a new boy band & wished us well in our attempt to land a recording contract ... we couldn't stop laughing as we rode up in the lift. 

 

 

BeatlesUKLP.jpg

Edited by Roburt
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Back to the golden days of EMI soul releases ... 

the Della Reese 45 (on Stateside) was a re-release of an earlier UK HMV (again an EMI label) 45 ... now I was on the scene back then & don't recall the Della Reese cut getting played at the time ... so just why had EMI put it out again .. any answers (please) ??

Emi45adSept68.jpg

Edited by Roburt
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 04/06/2018 at 08:43, Roburt said:

Back to the golden days of EMI soul releases ... 

the Della Reese 45 (on Stateside) was a re-release of an earlier UK HMV (again an EMI label) 45 ... now I was on the scene back then & don't recall the Della Reese cut getting played at the time ... so just why had EMI put it out again .. any answers (please) ??

Emi45adSept68.jpg

The Stateside issue of the Della Reese track is actually a different cut - it’s a live recording whereas the HMV release is a studio recording. Great to see all this stuff Roburt- keep it coming. 

 

How the mighty have fallen is spot on too. When I worked in a record shop in the 70s EMI were still one of the big players. Now that I have my own shop it still feels odd having to order some Parlophone releases via Warner.

Edited by Godzilla
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  • 2 weeks later...

Not a series of releases that hold much interest for us here BUT the 'Now That's What I Call Music' series hits #100 today ...and EMI was heavily involved in the project from the beginning ... it did bring tracks by the likes of Jackie Wilson, Nina Simone, Ben E King, Kool & the Gang, Midnight Star and Patti LaBelle to the notice of an audience that otherwise wouldn't have bought their stuff ...   

NowMusicMont.jpg

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Guest Spain pete
1 hour ago, Roburt said:

Not a series of releases that hold much interest for us here BUT the 'Now That's What I Call Music' series hits #100 today ...and EMI was heavily involved in the project from the beginning ... it did bring tracks by the likes of Jackie Wilson, Nina Simone, Ben E King, Kool & the Gang, Midnight Star and Patti LaBelle to the notice of an audience that otherwise wouldn't have bought their stuff ...   

NowMusicMont.jpg

That's not what l call piging music 

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