“I have never heard a better ‘rock’ piano”: From The Beatles to Bowie, Queen to Elton John, how the rich, distinctive tone of the Trident Studios house piano graced the grooves of some of the finest s
On 31 July 1968, The Beatles walked through the doors of Trident Studios, situated down a narrow alleyway in the heart of London's Soho, to begin sessions for recording Hey Jude. This was a rare departure for the band, who by then had virtually colonised the spacious environs of Studio 2 at EMI's Abbey Road Studios.
The band had been lured to Trident by its defiantly creative ethos and its eight-track Ampex recorder. In an era when even The Fab Four had to still sometimes adhere to regimented sessions overseen by engineers in white lab coats, the easygoing ethos of Trident proved hugely appealing.
Trident Studios had been established in 1967 by brothers Barry and Norman Sheffield. The brothers were known for their relaxed attitude to engineering and for using the newest and most innovative equipment.
The band spent 31 July and 1 August 1968 recording Hey Jude at Trident. The piano played by McCartney on those sessions was the Trident house piano, a handmade 1898 C. Bechstein grand, installed in 1967 and rented from London music shop Jaques Samuel on Edgware Road, before being eventually bought by the studio in 1986.
With the tape running, The Beatles laid down Hey Jude, working on a carefully layered rhythm track that featured McCartney playing the Bechstein grand and singing a guide vocal. They recorded four takes, opting to use the first one. Producer George Martin warned the band that, at seven minutes and eleven seconds long, no DJs would play the new song on the radio. "They will if it's us," snapped John Lennon .
In the years that followed, the list of songs that the Trident Bechstein was used on came to read like a roll call of some of the finest music of the last 60 years: Hey Jude, Martha My Dear and Honey Pie by The Beatles; Changes, Life On Mars, Oh! You Pretty Thing, Lady Stardust and Aladdin Sane by David Bowie. Seven Seas Of Rhye and Killer Queen by Queen; Your Song, Candle In The Wind and Tiny Dancer by Elton John; Perfect Day and Satellite Of Love by Lou Reed; Without You by Harry Nilsson, You're So Vain and The Right Thing To Do by Carly Simon. It's a hugely impressive cv for any instrument and a testament to its rich, distinctive sound.
Surprisingly, this piano was notoriously difficult to play because of its stiff hammers, so musicians had to really hit the keys to get something out of it. But its bright and crystal clear sound held huge appeal.
"I have heard many pianos in my time but I have never heard a better 'rock' piano than that one," wrote Ken Scott in 2006. An in-house engineer at EMI Abbey Road Studios, Scott joined Trident Studios in late 1969, where he moved into production, co-producing David Bowie's Hunky Dory (1971), The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (1972) and Aladdin Sane (1973), as well as landmark albums for artists such as Elton John, Lou Reed and Supertramp.
"It had a tremendously bright sound that unfortunately was lost when the sound board had to be replaced. Because of its inherent sound it was remarkably easy to record. Two, maybe three microphones and just a little EQ."
As the '70s dawned, the Trident piano became a selling point for artists, particularly the new wave of singer-songwriters such as Elton John. His eponymous second studio album, featuring the breakthrough single Your Song, was recorded at Trident from November 1969 to January 1970. He returned for the follow-up, Tumbleweed Collection and in 1971 for his fourth studio album Madman Across The Water. He continued to use the studio and its piano on later albums including Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
The early 70s were a golden era for Trident Studios, as its growing reputation lured artists from across the Atlantic. When American singer Harry Nilsson undertook his seventh studio album Nilsson Schmilsson (1971), Trident was the chosen studio. In an interview with Radio 1 in 1992, Nilsson said. "Trident Studios was the most important singular studio in the world when music was the most important singular subject," he said. The Trident Bechstein, played by Gary Wright, is the sole instrumentation on the intro and first verse of Nilsson's soaring epic, Without You.
One year later, Carly Simon was seated at the same piano for her third album No Secrets, which yielded the hit single You're So Vain. Then in August 1972, Lou Reed recorded his seminal album Transformer, with co-producer Mick Ronson playing the Trident piano on Satellite Of Love and Perfect Day.
Ronson's piano playing and his flawless skills as a strings arranger are often overlooked. Ronson worked on the album as he and co-producer Bowie simultaneously undertook rehearsals at the Theatre Royal East Stratford, for two landmark shows on 19 and 20 August on the Ziggy Stardust tour, at London's Rainbow Theatre.
Ronson's piano and arranger skills were evident on Bowie's own material. It was Ronson who sat down at the Bechstein and guided a talented young session player called Rick Wakemen through his iconic piano parts for Life On Mars. "He was a tremendous human being with oodles of talent," recalled Wakeman in Guitar Player magazine.
Bowie first recorded at Trident in 1969 and chose to revisit the studio for his breakthrough album Hunky Dory. The Bechstein features throughout. Wakeman, then an in-demand session musician, played much of the piano on the album, while Bowie – in his own words on the sleeve notes – tackled the "less complicated piano parts". Tracks such as Changes and Oh! You Pretty Things are defined by the Trident Bechstein piano, but it is arguably Life On Mars that remains its true masterpiece. By the end of 1972 Bowie had become a household name.
Queen, meanwhile, were just getting started. For the cash-strapped band, the only way to make their debut album was by recording at Trident in off peak hours, an opportunity that drummer Roger Taylor described as "gold dust".
The Sheffield brothers arranged for the band to record there for free, during downtime, in the middle of the night when all the big league paying artists had left. Roger Taylor recalled seeing David Bowie coming down the stairs while they were going up. "We were very pleased to be there," Taylor said, "But when we were there we'd arrive at three in the morning and then go on for all the hours that we could grab. It was just a grind."
Freddie Mercury played the Trident Bechstein from the outset, the most notable early example being the intro of their first single Seven Seas Of Rhye. The piano also featured on the Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack albums, both released in 1974.
It's often been claimed that Trident's Bechstein piano was used on Bohemian Rhapsody. "Vocals, vocals, Bechstein debauchery and more vocals," quipped Freddie Mercury in the liner notes for the band's platinum-selling 1975 album The Night At The Opera.
But according to the same liner notes, the album was recorded in five different studios and none of them were Trident. So unless the liner notes are incomplete, the possibility of it being the same Bechstein seems doubtful. That said, online forums have been awash over the years with anecdotes supporting both viewpoints.
From the outset of the 70s, Trident's Bechstein piano featured on tracks by bands who would soon become defined within the emerging prog rock scene. Genesis used Trident Studios and the C. Bechstein grand on their albums Trespass (1970) and Nursery Cryme (1971), while the piano's distinctive tones grace Supertramp tracks Crime Of The Century and Bloody Well Right.
T. Rex used the piano when they recorded their eponymous album at Trident in 1970 and the instrument also featured on Ringo Starr 's 1971 single It Don't Come Easy, with the piano part played by American musician and composer, Gary Wright, whose keyboard skills graced Nilsson's Without You that same year.
Over half a century on, the ultimate fate of the instrument has taken on almost mythical status. The piano was badly damaged when it fell two floors in the move from Trident's Soho premises to a new building in 1974. But that didn't seem to diminish its perceived value.
Trident Studios was sold in December 1981 and reopened as Trident 2 at a new location in 1986. Its Bechstein went up for auction in New York in May 2011 with a guide price of £300,000 – £400,000. Neither the purchaser or eventual price have been publicly revealed, but online forums have buzzed with speculation.
On 15 June 2017, a British Plaque Trust permanent blue plaque was unveiled outside the building at 17 St Anne's Court, London in recognition of the numerous iconic David Bowie albums and songs that were recorded there.
Trident and its engineers and producers were fundamental in helping artists such as The Beatles, Bowie, Elton John and Queen realise their creative visions. In its own way, the C. Bechstein grand piano that sat in the studio at St Anne's Court for over 20 years played its own integral part.
