Interview for New Musical Express (NME)

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It is now almost one hundred percent certain that the Beatles will never ever record together again! Though individual members of the group — if it can any longer be called a group — will undoubtedly choose to make solo albums and record other artists, the likelihood of the four getting together is as remote as the possibility of the Who recording “Silent Night.”

All the stories, tales, whispers and rumours of an irrevocable split between John Lennon and Paul McCartney were as good as concretely confirmed by George Martin, the Beatles’ record producer, when we spoke in his new studios.

“It all depends on Paul and John,” he replied, when I asked him about the possibility of further Beatles recording sessions. “If they want to work together again.”

John continues to use EMI’s Abbey Road studios, where almost all the group’s work was done. George Harrison frequents the Trident studios in Soho. Paul does much of his recording at home and Ringo has recently been at George Martin’s new AIR studios at Oxford Circus.

Showing me round the vast £400,000 complex, George commented:

“I think the Beatles would have liked these studios. They would have liked a place of their own, but it never came about for various reasons. That is a pity. The formation of Apple was an example of putting the wrong people in the wrong jobs.”

When I suggested that with all their money the Beatles probably didn’t worry too much about Apple’s decline and not having their own studio, George replied: “That’s a pity, too.”

A genuinely nice person, with a softly-spoken manner, non-smoker George revealed that “Hey Jude” was recorded at Trident and not, as most people assumed, at EMI. Besides confessing to a high regard for Trident, he offered no further explanation.

Even if the Beatles did decide to record together again, they may find it hard to do so when they choose to.

“They’re the sort of people who decide in the morning that they want to make a record that night,” he said, with a small smile. “With all the demand for studio time at the moment, they would probably find it difficult to be able to record in that way.

“They never really made set plans for recording. It was all done on the spur of the moment. They’d ring me and say ‘We want to go into the studio today’.”

George broke off to have a word with Bern Calvert of the Hollies, who was doing some mixing, then he continued his guided tour of the 10,000 square foot studios and offices.

“I first thought of having my own studio five years ago,” he told me. “I always wanted one when I could afford it. This is a dream come true in a way. I was going to have a small studio, but I realised there were a rash of small studios going up.”

With his fellow producers Ron Richards, John Burgess and Peter Sullivan, all of whom are AIR directors, George has equipped three studios, the largest capable of accommodating seventy musicians. Closed circuit TV enables Studio 3 — the smallest — to be linked to any other studio or room.

A tape library and cutting room, a dubbing theatre, canteen, vending machines and even a room where producers can sleep the night are only part of a most impressive and highly technical layout that is even now — a week after opening — fully booked for some time.

Equipment and furniture has been shipped in from all over the world and there are several gadgets — “I love playing with them,” George admits — to change air conditioning and lighting shades and colours.

Costs are not cheap (£35 an hour in Studio No. 1 for 16-track), but George explained:

“The swing in recording costs began at about the time of ‘Sergeant Pepper.’ That cost £15,000 in studio costs alone, but with an album like that that sells millions and millions it is well worth all the expense and effort involved.”

He added:

“If the premises were empty, it would cost £5,000 a month in overheads alone.”

He is modestly confident that the studios are going to be a success and a look through the booking list shows that the rush has already started — the Hollies, Ringo, Cilla, the Pipkins, Procol Harum, Harmony Grass and Vince Melouney were a few of the names I spotted.

As a reward for years and years of extremely hard work during which he received an Academy Award Nomination, 3 Grammy Awards, 9 Grammy Award Nominations and the Ivor Novello Award for services to music, AIR and its undoubted subsequent success is fitting for a man like George Martin.

But what a pity the man they called the Fifth Beatle may never get together with the other four again.