EMI sells 'home of the Stones'
EMI has sold its prestigious Olympic Sound Studios as it seeks to reduce the size of its £2.6bn debt mountain.

By Lawrie Holmes
Published: 11:58PM GMT 27 Feb 2010

The studio, where the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin recorded some of their most famous tracks, has been sold for around £3.5m to a businessman who is considering a number of options for the site including opening a cinema.
EMI's decision to sell Olympic, in Barnes, south-west London, comes days after the troubled music group U-turned on a decision to sell Abbey Road studios after public outcry over the future ownership of the site where the Beatles recorded most of their records.

Sources close to EMI said the group decided to sell Olympic after ending recordings at the loss-making studio last year. Best-selling Irish rock band U2 recorded its last album No Line On The Horizon there as recently as December 2008.
Previous to that the site has hosted numerous rock and pop acts as well as Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice who recorded their rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar there.
The studio mothballed the studio last year.
The Rolling Stones were one of the first bands to use the studio after it was opened in 1966, laying down tracks for the album Between The Buttons and then recording their next six albums including Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers there. Led Zeppelin recorded their first album there in 1968, and followed it with tracks for all their albums until 1975. In the 1980s Duran Duran, Roxy Music and Spandau Ballet also used the studio.
EMI lost £1.75bn last year, including a £1.04bn write-down. Guy Hands, founder of Terra Firma, which owns EMI, has asked investors to put £120m into the business to avoid breaching its banking covenants.
earlier this month, said it would retain Abbey Road despite receiving a £30m bid last year. The group said it was planning to sell a minority stake in order to modernise the loss-making north London studio, but said in a statement: "We believe that Abbey Road should remain in EMI's ownership." Sir Paul McCartney and Andrew Lloyd-Webber were among the voices calling for the studios to be saved.
EMI's loss, which included a £1.04bn write-down, was revealed in accounts for Maltby Capital, the Terra Firma investment vehicle that owns the home of Coldplay and The Beatles. Guy Hands, the founder of Terra Firma, has asked investors to pump £120 million into the business to avoid breaching its banking covenants. Terra Firma is embroiled in a bitter legal battle with Citigroup, which it accuses of duping it into buying EMI for £4.2bn on the eve of the credit crunch. Citigroup denies the claim.

[www.telegraph.co.uk]

This is very sad news. Bet the guy opens a theme pub.

ohh ... but maybe it wound up in good hands that will do something righteous with it?
maybe Matt Lee bought it :E

Thanks for posting that, been looking for an update regarding the future of Olympic for awhile!

What funny language - "The Rolling Stones were one of the first bands to use the studio after it was opened in 1966, laying down tracks for the album Between The Buttons and then recording their next six albums including Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers there."

That would mean also Their Satanic Majesties Request and Exile On Main Street duhhhhh. Why not just say those albums then?

And they mixed Steel Wheels there.

It will never cease to amaze me how much more support there is for The Beatles compared to the Stones......we'll save Abbey Road, but F--- Olympic Sound....unreal

Well you know what, maybe some of these mega-bands including the Stones should have invested in preserving that piece of history too.

The fans have supported them and they all made millions of dollars and now its time for them to give something back to the people the enabled their success.

You can bet that they were well aware of the sale before it happened.

>> well you know what, maybe some of these mega-bands including the Stones should have ... <<


how do you know they aren't the ones who bought it?

Why should the Stones buy it? U2 bought Olympic based on what I read. Why would the Stones want to buy a building like that? Just because the worked in it? If that's the case they should have bought Giants Stadium in New Jersey to save it from being torn down because they had 13,000 sell outs there and made a lot of money in that stadium and that's 'historic' in a way that I would think they sold that stadium out the most of all stadiums in North America.

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skipstone
Why should the Stones buy it? U2 bought Olympic based on what I read. Why would the Stones want to buy a building like that? Just because the worked in it? If that's the case they should have bought Giants Stadium in New Jersey to save it from being torn down because they had 13,000 sell outs there and made a lot of money in that stadium and that's 'historic' in a way that I would think they sold that stadium out the most of all stadiums in North America.

A venue is important but not more important than preserving the studio's where the music was made. The bands didn't just show up and jam and split. Many hours were spent recording and refining the tracks. That is tangible history.

Come on Skip, where would you rather spend a day? At a concert or at a studio with the Stones? Concerts are available to everyone, studio time is not.

>> U2 bought Olympic based on what I read. <<

okay - if that's right then one of "these mega-bands" did buy it. fine with me.
[turning up Everything's Turning to Gold way loud ... it ain't my business and it ain't my style]

Oh I agree. I was just throwing it out there as to why should the Stones buy it? kind of thing. Just because it's where historical things happened doesn't mean - here you go - I lived in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Not even a block away from me was where some of the greatest music in the world was recorded. That would be Cosimo Matassa's recording studio. It's a laundry mat now. I washed clothes in there. I lived on Dumaine street and then moved around the corner on Dauphine up from Dumaine. I went to that laundry mat a lot. I knew what it was. I knew I was stepping into a building with some fantastic history to it. But...no matter what went on there, it's still just a building.

[www.usatoday.com]

I never got the impression that the Stones LIKED Olympic. Never read that they hated it either. It was just going to work for them. What, Jumpin' Jack Flash through...the Sticky Fingers tracks on Exile, so 1968 through 1971 they recorded there.

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with sssoul
>> U2 bought Olympic based on what I read. <<

okay - if that's right then one of "these mega-bands" did buy it. fine with me.
[turning up Everything's Turning to Gold way loud ... it ain't my business and it ain't my style]

Me too.

I suspect that the Stones were approached but Cohl advised them that there would be no profit in it so they declined.

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The Sicilian
I suspect that the Stones were approached but Cohl advised them that there would be no profit in it so they declined.

I don't even think it would take Cohl to dissuade them from buying it.

I'm thinking Mick makes most, if not all of the money decisions for the band, and Mick has stated more than once that he is not a very nostalgic person, except perhaps for the ice cream truck from a couple of years ago.

I can't see Mick sinking any money into something that has outlived it's usefulness.

I'm from a different breed Lee, I'm a staunch preservationist and a lover of history. I believe what we preserve today for future generations to enjoy can be just as important as what was preserved in the past.

It would be nice to preserve that piece of history with the people who lived it rather than digging it out of the dirt 500 years in the future with tons of speculation and unanswered questions.

Anyways, most architecture from the last 100 years or so ago sucks and can't hold a candle to a 3 story brick building from the 19th century.

You obviously don't live in New Orleans or anywhere along the Gulf Coast!

I've been to New Orleans many times and thru the gulf coast to Mobile whats the point? No I don't live there.

I'm from one of the original 13 colonies.

Unlike Abbey Road, practically nothing inside Olympic was/is from when the stones used it most during 60's. Damn place was completely gutted in the 80's!

I agree it's just a building, but it'd be nice it were somehow still able to remain as a recording studio though. Anything other than a night club or block of flats!

Does anyone have any current or old photos of the place to post?

How about if they pave paradise and put up a parking lot? (Just kidding.)

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Edith Grove
How about if they pave paradise and put up a parking lot? (Just kidding.)

><

Burn them all.

1966:

One of the first sessions at Barnes(forward to approx 4:40)...





2009:

The last session(thus far) at Barnes...







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-03-02 03:28 by His Majesty.

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VoodooLounge13
It will never cease to amaze me how much more support there is for The Beatles compared to the Stones......we'll save Abbey Road, but F--- Olympic Sound....unreal

Theres no comparison. Abbey Road is still a working studio. Olympic isn't. And as the Stones did the vast majority of their recorded work elsewhere, you cant associate it as a 'Stones studio' in the way you can identify Abbey Road as a 'Beatles' one.

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Gazza

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VoodooLounge13
It will never cease to amaze me how much more support there is for The Beatles compared to the Stones......we'll save Abbey Road, but F--- Olympic Sound....unreal

Theres no comparison. Abbey Road is still a working studio. Olympic isn't. And as the Stones did the vast majority of their recorded work elsewhere, you cant associate it as a 'Stones studio' in the way you can identify Abbey Road as a 'Beatles' one.

That is very subjective at best, when your speaking of bands in general maybe that could apply but...when you are contrasting that analogy with a legendary band such as the Stones, that does not apply.

When it comes to "marquee" historical figures everything associated with that person or group becomes cherished. From the childhood home to the death bed. It becomes "that person lived here" "that person dined here" "that person worked here" etc...

Once again it takes on more significance years after that person has passed.

Olympic is about much more than the stones!

I just hope the building survives and doesn't get demolished or radically changed outside. The 'classic' innards are long gone so that doesn't really matter too much. Is it listed at all?

The surrounding area and people are nice, there's a cool little cafe beside it which had some very nice cake when I visited in 2009.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see who's actually bought the place and what they plan to do with it.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2010-03-02 16:52 by His Majesty.

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The Sicilian

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Gazza

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VoodooLounge13
It will never cease to amaze me how much more support there is for The Beatles compared to the Stones......we'll save Abbey Road, but F--- Olympic Sound....unreal

Theres no comparison. Abbey Road is still a working studio. Olympic isn't. And as the Stones did the vast majority of their recorded work elsewhere, you cant associate it as a 'Stones studio' in the way you can identify Abbey Road as a 'Beatles' one.

That is very subjective at best, when your speaking of bands in general maybe that could apply but...when you are contrasting that analogy with a legendary band such as the Stones, that does not apply.

When it comes to "marquee" historical figures everything associated with that person or group becomes cherished. From the childhood home to the death bed. It becomes "that person lived here" "that person dined here" "that person worked here" etc...

Once again it takes on more significance years after that person has passed.

I agree with the historical interest, but there's no subjectivity needed.

The Stones used Olympic from 1967-70 and hardly again after that. A fraction of their career. They recorded as much if not more released material at RCA Hollywood or EMI Pathe Marconi in Paris as they did at Olympic (the latter studio is gone too). Outside of Stones diehards, the studio isnt as well known internationally and unlike Abbey Road (which was obviously used by more than one act as well) isnt as inextricably linked with the career of ONE band.

Unfortunately merely being of historical interest doesnt pay off debts. The studio hasnt been used for a couple of years and with the recording industry being in decline, its time has passed unfortunately.

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The Sicilian
I've been to New Orleans many times and thru the gulf coast to Mobile whats the point? No I don't live there.

I'm from one of the original 13 colonies.

Which one, Georgia?

A lot of the architecture in New Orleans is tremendous and many people go through very very expensive renovations to fix, repair or restore the original craftsmanship that was done.

I may have confused the point with what you said pertaining to the 19th century in England with your post about your love for history and the last 100 years etc. I guess, letting you know that there is a place in the US that gives a shit about the same kind of thing you described etc.

I love New Orleans. I especially miss the bus ride from downtown to the Jazz Fest while Aretha Franklin played over the speakers.

BTW there are a lot of cities that care about preservation of older homes...only after they tear down everything first.

A sad but very true fact is that most of the white homeowners fled those beautiful homes for the sprawl of the suburbs leaving those large houses to be partialed out to renters and minorities that wrecked them.

I know I'll get a lot of flack for that but it is true especially in Buffalo where I live. It is a rock solid fact that everyone is afraid to say to avoid being labeled a racist but it is true here and in almost every northeast city.

Well it is true. White Flight it was called. But there's no flack for it that I've heard around here. If someone was to complain about that, better go back to the very beginning of coming to North America to begin with.

Actually, the funniest thing is what's happening across the lake from New Orleans, the Northshore. It's known to be "the piney woods of the Northshore" and so on. Not so much anymore - a lot of the pine trees have been cut down because of, er, what's that word....

PROGRESS! Strip malls, "big box" stores, parking lots, future developments. Not that I'm a big fan of the pine trees, which will fall over on your house in a wind that is 13 mph or higher if you look at them wrong but where no one lives, they're being cut down every day.

And in this suckass economy too, all kinds of things are still being built with illegal "immigrant" workers and Chinese products - and then, ah ha ha, they remain unoccupied for months and now years.

Don't you just love progress?