Chaos and Creation in Abbey Road Studio

Well the show was awesome! I'm a big Beatles fan, and I've always liked Paul's stuff (okay, maybe not Ebony And Ivory) so I figured I'd find this at least interesting, but really I was blown away. I thing I really liked were the little demo's of multi-track recording that he did, as well as the little comments he threw out here and there. The musical performance's were - as expected - pretty damn flawless, and he performed a mix of new stuff and old.

For those that missed it, Paul put on a show at Abbey Road studio's for a small audience that was videotaped and shown on PBS as part of their Great Performances series. I'm pretty sure that it was done in Studio 2, which is the one the Beatles used. It's not the largest studio at Abbey Road, but it's big enough to hold a small orchestra.

Paul played several new songs, as well as some old numbers, performing little snippets of other songs here and there. Nearly everything was just him playing either guitar or piano, but it was much more than just a music performance.

Highlights for me included:

The demonstration of multi-track recording (using an old 4-track recorder!) where he recorded sound created by rubbing the top of wine glasses, and a harmonium, and then sang the intro to Band on the Run

The performance of Lady Madonna with piano and new arrangement

The "Elvis Bass" performance

And at the end when he did another little multi-track example using a digital recording system.

There were a lot of other great things about the show, and I really wish it was another hour long! I'm hoping they'll release it on DVD; hopefully with additional material!

Highly recommended!