In Abbey Road’s Studio One, under the long open staircase to the control room, there was a cabinet full of exotic instruments left behind by other musicians who had worked there down the decades. The four had always enjoyed rummaging through this miscellany of tambourines, sleigh bells, and Moroccan hand drums; now it became an ally in the fight to prove themselves top dogs again, as did Martin’s classical background and every possible resource of the studio itself. Implicitly, from the very start, this was not stuff intended to be played live onstage.
