Between July and September 1983, for the first time the doors to Abbey Road's famous studio 2 were opened to the public. They were treated to a tour of the studio and a 90-minute audio-visual show, "The Beatles At Abbey Road". Your WogBlog host was there, enjoying biscuits and soft drinks, while I was able to check out the studio for the first time - and eventually we were seated for the specially prepared video. It was the closest I had been to heaven at the time, as images of the Beatles appeared on the big screen, many of the films still unknown to me, accompanied by a narrator (Capital Radio DJ Roger Scott) and the Beatles voices in the studio where they were recorded. We were also treated to some outtakes and songs which no fans had yet heard at the time. And the sound coming out of the Abbey Road speakers made it sound as if they were there in the room with us. The reason for opening their doors to the public was that the control room at Abbey Road Studio 2 was due for an overhaul, to enable the installation of updated recording equipment. So the studio couldn't be used for bookings during the installation time, and Abbey Road Studios would lose money. With ticket receipts as an incentive, EMI took the unprecendent step of throwing open the doors to Studio 2 during the 'down-time', and allow the fans in.A ticket to rideThe new underground DVD+CD release from His Master's Choice commemorates "The Beatles at Abbey Road" 1983 event. Actually, a bootleg video of "The Beatles at Abbey Road" has been in circulation among collectors since some time in the late eighties, as I recall. This new presentation draws in different sources to enhance the presentation and upgrade the film, as well as provide a stereo soundtrack. They also boast about some hitherto unseen video material. Some of that material may be what we have previously featured samples from in this blog, as offerings from Revolver Video. There's also new footage from "Hey Jude", "A Day In The Life", "Rain" and "Strawberry Fields Forever", as well as the 1966 Ed Sullivan show with "Rain" and "Paperback Writer" in full colour and in stunning quality. As a bonus, you’ll also find some black and white footage from the "And I Love Her" sessions from Studio 2 at Abbey road, previously shown on SAT3 German television.