The Portland Studio Master Tapes

Portland Place, London 1979

Much has been said in Slade circles (off the record) about the so-called 'Portland Tapes' which have been said to exist for the last couple of decades. I heard the story a few years back and was told that they had been transferred to tape but nobody seemed to have a copy. I dismissed it at the time as an 'urban myth' until recently when I received a cassette tape. Asking questions about the recordings put me in touch with the present owner of 'The Portland Tapes' who was kind enough to supply photos and documentation that prove the authenticity of the tapes.

Portland Place is a street in the Marylebone district of central London, sandwiched between the Langham Hotel and BBC Broadcasting House. The major record companies all had their own recording studios but opposite the BBC in Great Portland Street there was a small independent studio that played its own part in music history.

This was the INDEPENDENT BROADCASTING CORPORATION at 35 Portland Place, London, W1N 3AG.

IBC Studios were the leading independent studio in London and the British Isles after WWII. During the 1960's IBC was responsible for many of the UK's best musical moments and many of the UK's best musicians during the 60's & 70's will have recorded there at some time.

When IBC decided to sell their studio in 1976, Chas Chandler was interested. He had been using IBC for some of the acts he produced including Slade and within weeks he became the new owner. The stereo room was still in good working order and he made it even better by employing the legendary George 'Porky Primecut' Peckham, which insured that the place was full of laughter. He also retained cutting engineer Brian Carroll who had worked there since 1965.

Now it became Portland Recording Studio incorporating Barn Records, which meant that Slade now had their own studio. It was unfortunately the time of their decline in popularity and when Polydor Records dropped them in 1977 they began to release records on the Barn label.

A few streets away there was another studio. Advision was set up in the 1960's, initially to record voice-overs for TV and cinema commercials. London at that time was the centre of the European Film business and was the culture capital of the world.

During the seventies, the industry changed and Advision had to find a new niche - they became one of the leading rock industry facilities.

In the late 70's, Geoff Oliver started a company called RadioTracks in partnership with Chas Chandler. He later formed The Sound Company and took over the ex-Advision building.

"I was based at IBC as part of Broadcast Marketing Services who shared a common director. BMS block-booked Studio B and built another small studio in the mews part of the building, opposite The Dover Castle in Weymouth Mews - where the wonderful barmaids would attend to our every need. When Chas Chandler bought IBC & imaginatively renamed it Portland Recording Studios, Chas & myself formed RadioTracks specialising in radio commercials and the then Post Office "Dial a Disc" service. Later, when Chas sold out to Don Arden, I eventually raised enough to buy myself out and relocated RadioTracks to Great Titchfield St.

I believe a number of bands would record at both studios depending on availability, and due to their close proximity there would have been some staff social interaction in the pubs - though they were great rivals."
Geoff Oliver - The Sound Company

Chas Chandler later sold the studio to Jet Records which was owned by Don Arden. Three large reels of 1/4 inch tape and three boxes of smaller reels were found, that had apparently been left behind in the building. The recordings, commissioned by Barn and produced by Chas Chandler, were performed by Slade in 1978/9.

Jeanie, later re-named Ginny Ginny, was engineered by Paul Hardiman in February 1979, probably in Studio A. There are two versions and the second is marked as the groups preferred version. Ginny, Ginny was officially released three months later on 18th May 1979

Don't Waste Your Time was engineered by Andy & Dave (Andy 'Pugwash' Miller) in Studio A, on the 13th March 1979. The recording is marked Dolby A, +3db, with an EQ Curve of N-A-B and there seems to be T2 and a copyright symbol after the title (see pic below). If anybody would like to explain that studio gibberish, I'd be happy to read it. It was officially released, for the first time, on the album, Return To Base, on 1st October 1979.

Rock 'n' Roll Bolero bears no date or engineer but there are four versions offered.

Two are on a 10" reel and the other two are on a 5" reel. There are three of the smaller reels but two of them are empty spools.

The 10" tape has notes stating 'Same as 5" reel' but the 5" reel is recorded at 7.5 inches per second (and labelled "For Chas") instead of the usual 15 IPS. There is a 'No Dolby' option marked on the empty spool boxes.


As I did not perform the transfer the original master tapes I am unsure which version is which. In the chrome tape transfer, Take 1 & 2 have very similar wave forms as do Take 3 & 4. I think it's fair to say there were only two studio recordings made by the group.

It would be interesting to know which two came from the tape marked "For Chas". Rock 'N' Roll Bolero was officially released 6th October 1978.

The original 'finder of the tapes' worked at Portland Studios and said they had been left behind when the building was cleared out. The tracks are all original studio master recordings and, as you would expect, they all sound very similar to the officially released recordings but with varying degrees of EQ in the mix-down.

• Don't Waste Your Time
• Jeanie (Version 1)
  
• Jeanie (Version 2)
• Rock n Roll Bolero (Take 1)
• Rock n Roll Bolero (Take 2)
• Rock n Roll Bolero (Take 3)
• Rock n Roll Bolero (Take 4)

"I have got them, they are the master tapes with full studio notes in all the original boxes and in good condition. I bought them in good faith from someone over 10 years ago and had them transferred to digital audio tape.

They were first seen in public at the Slade Exhibition in Walsall. I don't know how they got into the display. There was a lot of filler in the display cases but I remember the tapes caught my eye because they were the only items I hadn't seen before.

A few years later I received a phone call from this guy saying he had some master tapes that he thought I might want to buy them. I was told by the seller that he knew someone in the studios. They were discovered and passed on to him when Portland closed down."
The Current Owner 2009

Around 1995 the original owner took them into a studio in Edinburgh and had them transferred to CD prior to selling them to somebody overseas. This was probably the recording that found its way into my collection.

Since these tapes were found during the closure of Portland Studios, I would say there's a fair chance that these are the master tapes that the officially released versions of the songs were taken from.

The Download Link is here: Download
Filename: The Portland Tapes.rar Filesize: 55.26 MB

The historical info on this page has been borrowed from two great sites, one put together by Brian Carroll who worked at IBC and the Advision info is from The Sound Company site which is full of interesting trivia. My thanks to Mark Lion who pointed me in the right direction and a big thank you to the current owner of the tapes for providing the media.

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Don Arden

Manchester: 4th January 1926 – 21st July 2007

12th September 1961: Law Courts in the Strand, London

Born Harry Levy, was a manager, agent and businessman, best known for overseeing the careers of rock groups Small Faces, Amen Corner, Electric Light Orchestra and Black Sabbath. Arden managed several top acts, including Gene Vincent in a successful but controversial career.

Arden, a.k.a. Mr Big and The English Godfather achieved notoriety in the UK for his aggressive business tactics which led to him being known as The Al Capone of Pop. He married Hope Shaw, a former ballet dancer/teacher, and was the father of Sharon and David.

Don Arden is the subject of one of the most famous stories in British showbiz, a fabled altercation between himself and one of the other big movers and shakers of the British pop scene, Robert Stigwood.

Sometime during 1966 one of Stigwood's staff made the mistake of discussing a possible change of management with of one of Arden's top acts, The Small Faces. Not surprisingly, Arden took exception to this, and in spite of the fact that Stigwood had never met the group personally, Arden decided to pay him a visit with some of his minders, to teach him a lesson:

"I had to stop these overtures - and quickly. I contacted two well-muscled friends and hired two more, equally huge, toughs. And we went along to nail this impressario to his chair with fright. There was a large ornate ashtray on his desk. I picked it up and smashed it down with such force that the desk cracked - giving a good impression of a man wild with rage. My friends and I had carefully rehearsed our next move. I pretended to go berserk, lifted the impressario bodily from his chair, dragged him on to the balcony and held him so he was looking down to the pavement four floors below. I asked my friends if I should drop him or forgive him. In unison they shouted: ‘Drop him’. He went rigid with shock and I thought he might have a heart attack. Immediately, I dragged him back into the room and warned him never to interfere with my groups again."

21st March 1968: Don Arden, manager of the pop group Amen Corner outside court during one of his many legal disputes.
Photo: Frederick R. Bunt/Getty Images

He took over management of singer-songwriter Lynsey De Paul in 1973 and by 1976, was embroiled in a lawsuit with the distraught singer over what she claimed was late payment of money owed to her. De Paul commented:

“It was a time in my life that I'll never forget and I'll never forgive him. If anybody was near suicide, and if ever I was, it was then, because it was awful."

She eventually reached a settlement with Arden in 1978.

In 1979, one of Arden's successes, Black Sabbath, sacked their vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. Arden's daughter Sharon began to date Osbourne, and took over his management from her father. Arden was livid. Reportedly, the next time Sharon visited Don, his vicious pet dogs savaged her. She was pregnant, and lost the child. Sharon eventually married Osbourne and had no contact with her father for 20 years

In the 1980s Don Arden bought Portland Recording Studios (formally IBC Studios) from Chas Chandler, and installed his son David as manager. The studios were by this time very out dated and some of the income was being generated by another company who ran half the facility known as RadioTracks (who helped keep Portland afloat for awhile), and by George Peckham (Porky Prime Cuts), a well known cutting engineer whose cutting rooms were on the ground floor at the back of the building. Don Arden had acquired shares in RadioTracks, buying out Chas Chandler without the knowledge of the other directors.

Don's son, known legally as David Levy, appeared at the Old Bailey in 1986 for his role in an alleged assault on an accountant working for Jet Records. The incident occurred in the offices at Portland Place. Convicted, Levy spent several months in an open prison. Don, tried separately on related charges, was acquitted.

The drawn-out legal problems meant Don was unable to attend to business, and legal bills proved a fatal strain on Jet Records, which collapsed. Portland Recording Studios were considerably in arrears with rent to the Prudential, who owned the building in 35 Portland Place in London, close to BBC Broadcasting House. Eventually, the Prudential evicted Jet Records.

Don had already fallen out with his daughter Sharon, who embarked on her own successful management career with her husband and major client, Ozzy Osbourne. In 2001 she told The Guardian newspaper:

"The best lesson I ever had was watching him fuck his business up. He taught me everything not to do."

Don Arden died in Los Angeles on 21 July 2007.

More info on Don Arden here and here.

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Robert Stigwood

London, 1955

Photo: Michael Putland/Getty Images

Robert Stigwood was born in Adelaide, Australia in 1934, the son of an electrical engineer. He began his career as a copywriter for a local advertising agency and then in 1955 moved to England.

Manager/producer Robert Colin Stigwood used his involvement with key British pop and rock stars of the '60s into a series of music-oriented movies in the '70s. At his height, his projects achieved a synergy in which recording artists he managed performed the music for and sometimes appeared in movies he produced, and the soundtracks for which were released on his own record label.

Stigwood emigrated to the U.K. in the late '50s and founded a theatrical management agency. A client of his, television actor John Leyton, earned a recording contract. Cast as a pop singer on the television series Harpers, West One, he sang Johnny Remember Me on the show, and it shot to the top of the UK charts in 1961.

Stigwood, along with Joe meek, became Britain's first independent record producers. Before the advent of mavericks such as Stigwood and Meek, it was almost unheard of for managers, agents or publishers to be directly involved in record production.

The brief partnership would change the face of the British recording industry. Robert George "Joe" Meek was a gifted recording engineer who had, by 1960, accumulated enough equipment to build a studio in his London flat and he began producing records for his own company, RGM Sound Ltd.

In late 1961 Stigwood made a record production deal with EMI but there was a major flaw in that the minuscule percentage that EMI was paying meant that Stigwood was barely able to make a profit from these recordings. Nevertheless, the system he pioneered changed the UK pop charts forever and allowed Stigwood to expand his business, becoming simultaneously agent, manager and producer, a role he evidently relished.

"He became fascinated by... the apparent ease with which money could be made ... And what made Robert Stigwood different from his predecessors is that he expanded laterally. He didn't remain simply a manager or an agent. He moved into music publishing as well, and into pop concert promotion. But his real contribution to the British music scene was independent record production."

"He was in every way the first British music business tycoon, involved in every aspect of the music scene, and setting a precedent that was to become the blueprint of success for all future pop entrepreneurs."
Simon Napier-Bell

The small percentages he received from his productions meant that he was largely dependent on agency and management commissions to maintain his cash flow. He also promoted pop concerts "as a way to make a quick buck" and top up the books during slow periods. He began to focus on music clients but became overly ambitious with the 1965 package tour headlined by Chuck Berry and financially crippled himself.

By 1966, while recovering from a period of bankruptcy, he latched onto his two main clients, Eric Clapton, then with the band Cream, and the Bee Gees, also Australian immigrants. Both became very successful in the late '60s (Stigwood took production credits on their early records). It was around this time that he stepped on the toes of Don Arden and became the subject of one of the most famous stories in British showbiz.

He kept his Robert Stigwood Agency intact and worked to rebuild his career as a manager and independent producer. In January 1967, Stigwood's organization merged with Brian Epstein’s NEMS Enterprises. Why is uncertain. Epstein is reported to have turned down more than one multi-million-dollar offer from American interests, so it is unlikely that it was simply for the money. It appears that Epstein was probably the only person in NEMS who was in favour of the merger.

Initially, Epstein had reportedly considered simply selling his managerial contract with the Beatles to Stigwood, but the group (no fans of Stigwood’s abrasive style) would have none of that.

"We told Brian, 'If you do.... we'll sing out of tune. That's a promise. So if this guy buys us, that's what he's buying.'"
Paul McCartney

Stigwood already had a reputation as a shrewd, tough operator but Epstein soon found himself at odds with his new partner and it is claimed that he subsequently decided that he didn't want Stigwood in the company.

Stigwood's future with NEMS may have been uncertain, but it was decided in dramatic fashion by Brian Epstein's untimely death in August 1967. Stigwood found himself in control of two major groups: the Beatles and the Bee Gees. Apple, NEMS (North End Music Store) and Stigwood would join together to form a large company but after negotiations Robert decided to start his own company with the Bee Gees and Cream which would result in establishing the Robert Stigwood Organization (RSO) which he ran from, 67 Brook Street, a favourable W1 address in Mayfair. Brian's brother Clive took over as Managing Director and Stigwood left NEMS to form his own company in December.

At the end of 1968 Stigwood bought the Bag O'Nails and the music management agency from Rik Gunnell and his brother John. They continued to work in association with him although Rik did so from within America.

He also established a business relationship in early 1969 with Chas Chandler, formerly of The Animals, and the pair had formed a production company called Montgrove Ltd. Chandler would find and develop new talent and Stigwood would finance the operation although Chandler had entered the partnership affluent following his payoff after the Hendrix split.

The subject of Robert Stigwood's sexuality (he is understood to be gay) and its role in his career, is one which has rarely been discussed. It certainly would not have been a disadvantage, considering how many important figures in the music industry at that time were gay.

"Historically, the gay movement has also been well represented in show business and other areas of entertainment. Since British pop music and traditional show business were inextricably linked, at least until the mid-sixties, the homosexual network during that period was particularly strong."
Johnny Rogan: Starmakers & Svengalis:
The History of British Pop Management, 1988

Some music writers have suggested that the so-called "Pink Mafia" dominated British showbiz and prevented Australian acts breaking into the UK music scene in the Sixties. For sure, The Bee Gees, owed their international success to the fact that they were managed by Stigwood who was, by the time he met them, an influential part of London's gay showbiz establishment.

By the early '70s, the Bee Gees had fallen into disfavor and Clapton was inactive due to drug use. Stigwood turned to film work, producing the 1973 movie version of Jesus Christ Superstar, and he founded RSO Records , to which he signed Clapton and the Bee Gees. He managed to resuscitate the careers of both artists. In 1975, Stigwood produced a movie version of The Who's rock opera Tommy, cast largely with rock stars.

Stigwood's next project was the most successful of his career. In the fall of 1977, he produced the film Saturday Night Fever, which turned John Travolta into a household name. The Bee Gees scored three #1 hits from the ost album, which sold an estimated 25 million copies worldwide.

Stigwood quickly followed in the summer of 1978 with Grease, a movie version of the Broadway musical starring Travolta and Australian pop singer Olivia Newton-John. It was another smash at the box office with a #1 multi-platinum soundtrack album that threw off a number of major hits, among them the title song, sung by Frankie Valli, which had been written for the film by the Bee Gees' Barry Gibb.

By the mid-1980s, RSO had shuttered and its catalog had been sold off, while Stigwood was giving his attention to television broadcasting, much less visible than he had been in the 1970s.

Stigwood with Cynthia Rhodes: 1983

Robert Stigwood remains active, primarily in the theatrical musical industry. He lives at his Barton Manor Estate on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England.

For more on Robert Stigwood click here.

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Irving Martin

Wolverhampton, 1967

Irving Martin has Black Country connections, if not roots. One time A&R man for CBS, Martin was paid to headhunt talent for both Jack Baverstock at Fontana and Decca Records. He scoured the country searching for potential talent and would record demos for possible hit makers. Irving confirms he 'discovered' Finders Keepers, Montanas and the Californians. After leaving CBS he spent a lot of time in the Midlands searching and producing local talent.

"He is responsible for some of the best UK pop productions in a variety of styles; Pop-beat, Harmony Vocal and dramatic Spectorian Productions, to name just a few."
Martin Roberts 2003

In 1967 he was invited to Wolverhampton by Roger Allen to look at five groups, including The Californians, Finders Keepers and The 'N Betweens. Martin remembers Roger Allen as a typical Northern agent, loud and brusque but sincere and genuine.

He produced both the Californians and Finders Keepers on a variety of records. The Californians actually made eight records between 1967 and 1969. John O'Hara describes the experience of recording as follows:

"Irving Martin used to send me brown envelopes regularly containing demos of numbers which he felt we should consider doing."

"Going into a studio was amazing. It was like entering another world. You lost all sense of time and space. You could be in there for hours, even days, and you would have no idea when you came out if it was going to be day or night or what day it was. I loved it."

"Decca No.1 studio was as big as the Civic Hall. It could house orchestras of 40 or 50 players. I've been in there laying a backing track for a record for hours. It all had to be done live because of Musicians' Union requirements. Once you got the nod that that was a take, the musicians would leave and then you would carry on with the engineers for more hours. It was quite exhausting but also exhilarating."

"Despite all the time we took I was never properly satisfied with the records we made. In many cases I felt the records were over-produced by A&R men like John Stewart or Irving Martin."

It was in 1968 that The 'N Betweens recorded with Irving Martin, in his early twenties at the time. He remembers two studio sessions, possibly a third. 

On one occasion they were accompanied by a member of The Move, Chris 'Ace' Kefford, who had recently tried to commit suicide and still had his wrists bound. He was believed to be a friend of Noddy's. Martin recalls that he sat reading a copy of Auto Trader throughout the session. 

"I remember recording three tracks, a raucous rock number, an upbeat instrumental ('Blues In E') and another vocal track I think?"

Martin sent his productions to Jack Baverstock (a good friend at the time.) Jack told him the group was rubbish and he had no interest in signing them. He found out later that Baverstock had gone behind his back. 

Jimmy Lea explains:

"Jack Baverstock had heard our version of Journey To The Centre Of Your Mind, the Ted Nugent number, and another instrumental which we called Blues In E. Irving Martin had produced both tracks for us. Jack rang up and told us he wanted to make an album with us. We just could not believe it. Apparently it was the instrumental he rated as quite distinctive because of the stomping sound."

Unknown to Martin, Jack Baverstock contacted the group directly. This 'robbed' Martin of a 2% royalty on future productions, (he believes Baverstock got 3%). At the time Martin could not afford to sue Jack financially or professionally. He knew that he would be perceived as a troublemaker within the industry, essentially putting an end to his own career. He has always believed that, in his own words, 'the truth will out'.

"There was Jack Baverstock and this big guy (Maurice Jones). Baverstock was not a nice man but I thought he was a friend. He screwed me and he screwed Roger Allen. I spoke to Jack's wife many years later and she admitted that he took a backhander." 

Martin wasn't green to the cut-throat business, he'd worked with Carter Lewis in the mid 60's, who were signed to Robert Stigwood's agency. Irving Martin was in the building when Don Arden.  Arden turned up with his henchman and hung Stigwood from the balcony. Although he was not directly involved, he would later find himself on the receiving end of Arden's wrath.

Martin's colleague Vic Smith was considering an offer to work for Don Arden. Smith asked Martin what he thought and Martin advised caution considering Arden's reputation. Shortly after, Martin received a call from Arden, who threatened to maim him. Meeting him again some years later, Arden claimed it was nothing personal, just business. I'm told Dick Leahy (George Michael's publicist) can confirm this. 

He recalls that Noddy & Dave were both ambitious, 'by any means necessary' guys while Jim wasn't that bothered and Don was just quiet. Later when he met Jim Lea, Jim remembered him and had the good grace to be embarrassed but spoke to him. 

A couple of times he said he wasn't sure whether Chas Chandler knew about it or not but he did say "Chas was not good." Chandler may not have been aware since he wasn’t involved with the band until the Spring of 1969. When I asked why he thought Chas was not good he said, "He didn't let the band develop musically." 

Personally, I agree with the statement but it would appear that there are still a few wrinkles to iron out.

My thanks to Irving Martin for his time. More info about Irving Martin Productions 

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