PATTIE BOYD

Pattie Boyd was recently in town to open a new exhibit of her photographs at the San Francisco Art Exchange. I'm hearing great things about her work and even more about her wonderful energy and down-to-earth vibe. It's been many years since Boyd captured the imagination of Swinging London as a fashion model and wife of Beatle George Harrison, but she shows no sign of slowing down her creative efforts. You can learn more about the exhibit here. Below: Pattie Boyd models a Brilkie dress in 1964, photographed by Chaloner Woods with EMI pressings of A Hard Days Night (She appeared in the film, where she first met Harrison), Please Please Me, and With the Beatles. For those collectors out there, the AHDN record is the Mono pressing. Enjoy!

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50 YEARS AGO TODAY

It was 50 years ago today that The Beatles entered Abbey Road Studios to record their first album. They worked throughout the day in three shifts: 10:00am-1:00pm, 2:30pm-5:30pm, and 7:30pm-10:45pm, and the group completed an entire album of songs by the end of the evening. Instruments and vocals were recorded on separate tracks of a twin-track machine. And engineer Norman Smith achieved an ambient room sound around the music, creating a thrilling and intimate live experience, by placing the microphones further from the amps than normal procedure. A hit record in one day? Sure, if you're the Fab Four!

During this session, the group recorded 14 tunes for Please Please Me (6 covers and 8 originals), as well as a draft of 'Hold Me Tight', which would appear on With the Beatles. John had a cold on this day in 1963, and they saved the song 'Twist and Shout' for the end, in case his blistering vocal attack would shred his throat and halt singing for the rest of the session. You can hear the congestion in his vocals when you listen to it today. The Beatles' success was not won by resting on their laurels. The group got up the next day, and on February 12th, they performed shows in both Yorkshire and in Lancashire. They were in Hull on the 13th, then back in Liverpool for a Valentine's show on the 14th! Please Please Me was released on March 22nd and hit the top of the charts in May, where it remained for 33 weeks until it was replaced by With the Beatles. Here is one of my favorites from the February 11th sessions, 'I Saw Her Standing There'.

Congratulations again to all of the Spy Vibers who won vintage prizes in our birthday give-away contest! What else is new here in the lair? Scroll down for posts about Ian Fleming's desert island interview, my Skyfall review, new Fleming book designs, Lucy Fleming, Fantomas, Spy Smasher cliffhanger serial, the new Barbarella tv show, Man From U.N.C.L.E. illustration, British spy comics in the 1960s, Piper Gates retro spy designs, Cinema Retro celebrates James Bond, and Spy Vibe's 2012 top ten, including my review of Skyfall. Want to support Spy Vibe? Please make a small donation with our secure Paypal tip-jar link at the top left of the main page. Nothing is too small to help cover the increasing bills for the domain, web-forwarding and other costs to maintain the site. Thank you!