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| The latest issue, #174, of the Swedish Beatles fanzine, "Beatles Nytt" ("Beatles News"). |
Staffan Olander, Swedish Beatles expert and collector is held in high regard by the important people at Apple Corps Ltd. In his house in Sweden, he has used his collection to make what he calls an "Abbey Room". Abbey Room is a music archive dedicated to The Beatles, their record producer Sir George Martin, The Beatles as solo artists and their own company Apple. There are thousands of vinyl records, compact discs, books, magazines and newspapers there, as collected by Olander throughout the years. Thanks to a giant database, it's simple to search for what one wants and locate the item from the archive to look at, read, study, listen and enjoy. There are more than 7.000 vinyl records stored in Abbey Room, and more than 1.500 books and magazines. Among them many exciting biographies, encyclopedias, collector's guides etc. Among the magazines you'll find "Record Collector", "Beatles Monthly Book", "Rolling Stones Monthly Book", "ICE Magazine" and the Swedish magazine "BildJournalen". You will also find lots of concert-programmes and press-kits. Other publications, sheet music and newspaper clippings are stored in special binders.
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| Swedish magazine "BildJournalen" no.17-1965. |
Abbey Room is open only after an agreement and is mainly intended as a resource for people who are seriously interested in this kind of music, and for students at the Universities and Music Collages. Sir George Martin and his wife have both been guests of Olander and have visited the Abbey Room several times. Also, people from Apple have made visits to the Abbey Room in order to scan stuff for their releases,
theBeatles.com website and for other promotional purposes.
In the latest issue of the Swedish Beatles fanzine "Beatles Nytt", Olander writes about this and how the new collaboration between Apple and Universal Music is determined to work hard to maintain the heritage left us by The Beatles. In his unique position, Olander tries to convey to the powers that be what the fans would like to see in the future. Like other people who have been close to Apple, Olander testifies that they are working slowly, and the decision making process is a long one. However, he assures us that their standards are set high and that good things are going to come our way again, in the near future. Of course, Olander can't reveal exactly what it is that's in store for us - we just have to wait for the word from Apple.
Abbey Room on the internet.
