The London piano that helped create the sound of the 1970s
Down an alleyway off Wardour Street is a notable spot of London history
Many of us were packed off upstairs in our childhoods to learn a musical instrument. My parents’ instrument of choice for me to learn was the pianoforte. My sister got lucky and they chose a guitar for her. She learnt ‘Home On The Range’ and then was allowed to give it up. I didn’t have that luxury since we’d now got a second-hand upright piano in the house - mainly for my benefit - and my music lessons were expensive.
They had met each other (Western Arms, Kensal Road, W10) because of a piano. My Dad was an itinerant pianist in the mid 1950s - itinerant in the sense that he’d travel the many pubs of North Kensington and be paid in beer. In the days before jukeboxes, nearly every pub had a piano for people like my father to play.
Dad was playing something like “Somewhere (There’s A Place For Us)”. My Mum joined in on vocals, thought “phworr, he’s nice!” and an origin story was created.
Dad learnt by ear, gave up tinkling the ivories in pubs, and decided that his son should have a more formal musical education.*1
With this reasoning, I entered the orbit of a certain Mr Flowers during the mid 1970s. Mr Flowers did not tolerate slow learners and, unluckily, I was a slow learner. His favourite trick was to slam the keyboard lid down on my adolescent fingers: “Staccato, staccato! What does the music say? Yes, legato. It should be smooth. Not like Pinocchio on a hot plate!”
Slam!
While I never did discover the story behind “Pinocchio on a hot plate”, I was aware of the pop music of the day, which I much preferred to Chopin. I was very aware of the tracks on the very first album I had bought with my own money. Some years after its release, David Bowie’s Hunky Dory entered the house and I played it to death.
My family tired of "Changes", ended up hating "Kooks" and never wanted to ever hear "Life on Mars?" again.
For the 1971 album, Bowie assembled a pre-’Spiders from Mars’ gathering of guitarist Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Mick Woodmansey. Studio time was booked at London’s Trident Studios.
Shortly before joining the band Yes, Rick Wakeman was still a session musician and contributed piano to the LP.
You can hear Rick’s piano work on "Oh! You Pretty Things" and notably, "Life on Mars?". The piano he was playing was the house piano in Trident Studios and it wasn’t much capable of legato; much better at staccato.
Trident Studios opened on 8 March 1968 and was located at 17 St Anne’s Court, just off Wardour Street in Soho, London.
The studios were owned, and indeed constructed, by two brothers - Norman and Barry Sheffield. They were known for both a relaxed working attitude but also high standards of audio engineering.
The first music to be recorded at Trident was My Name Is Jack by Manfred Mann and it was a hit. This immediately helped launch the studio's reputation.
By mid-1968, Trident had installed Dolby noise reduction, the first in the UK. It also boasted a state-of-the-art eight-track reel-to-reel recording deck.
Norman Sheffield leased a C. Beckstein grand piano from a company called Jake Samuel. The piano was handmade and already over 100 years old in 1968.
Back to why - and to Mr Flower’s chagrin (but he was only into non-classical music so didn’t notice) - Rick Wakeman played more staccato because the Trident Beckstein’s strings had been manufactured very tightly wound. Nobody put this right and, as a result, musicians at Trident needed to hit the keys much harder than normal.
Hearing about Manfred Mann’s instant success, Paul McCartney and George Harrison both produced sessions for their cadre of Apple artists at Trident. Then the Beatles booked the studios as a band. Not being at Abbey Road was a bit of a departure for the Fab Four but the group was attracted to the advanced facilities and recorded their single ‘Hey Jude’ there.
Paul McCartney was on the Bechstein for the single and the piano’s unique tone can be heard. It doesn’t really sound like other pianos.
Buoyed by the facilities, the Beatles booked more studio time during the summer of 1968 for their so-called White Album.
Again, if you listen closely to tracks like ‘Martha, My Dear’, the piano sound is very distinct. Paul is veritably smashing the keyboard to produce the sounds of that track.
Before he was famous, Elton John was a session musician. He came to Trident in January 1970 and recorded ‘Your Song’ in an attempt to become a solo artist. It was John's first international Top 10 chart single.
Trident’s reputation for producing hits was understandable, and the number of artists who booked the studios and used the piano there, grew.
Hunky Dory (see above) was recorded there in 1971. Wakeman’s piano tone was the same tone as can be heard with The Beatles and Elton John. It’s very particular.
Lou Reed arrived and recorded ‘Transformer’ - hear the Beckstein on Perfect Day.
Carly Simon recorded You’re So Vain including the piano.
Three early Queen albums featured the instrument widely.
Thanks to the contributors of the Wikipedia we can add: Ace, America, Joan Armatrading, the Bee Gees, Marc Bolan and T-Rex, a further four David Bowie albums, Chris de Burgh, Cass Elliot, Frank Zappa, Free, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Golden Earring, Joe Cocker, seven Elton John albums, Judas Priest, Mott the Hoople, two Rolling Stones albums, Rush, Soft Cell, Supertramp, James Taylor, Thin Lizzy, Tina Turner and Yes.
All at Trident and nearly all using that piano.
The last notable number one from Trident was I Don’t Like Mondays from the Boomtown Rats. And you can really hear Johnnie Fingers attacking the keys like there’s no tomorrow.
Alas for Trident. there was no tomorrow after 1981 when the studios closed. The Beckstein went into private hands and was offered for auction in November 2001. It failed to sell. Rumours have it that the piano is no more. It was being hoisted into a new location a few years ago and crashed to the ground.
But its contribution to the hits of the 60s and 70s is outsized.
Next time you’re in Soho, take a look at 17 St Anne’s Court and perhaps appreciate how this little building in a little alleyway caused so much music.
NOTES
That was a sentence with a valid use of the Oxford Comma
I never did become a very good musician. Flowers was right!
The below video is very short but includes examples of the Beckstein at Trident
Typo. Bloody typo in the second word in this post. I need a proofreader!
That was fascinating. Thank you. All the sounds of my youth! I remember my mother complaining that Paul McCartney was hitting the piano too hard. She was right!