When They Was Fab: Electric Arguments About The Beatles

This week I am joined by the host of Fans on the Run and our own Chas Newby (and the guy who made that really neat graphic of "Rocky"), Ethan Alexanian.    He joins us to discuss the Mark Lewisohn kerfuffle.   For those who don't know, here is the dictionary definition of Kerfuffle: a commotion or fuss, especially one caused by conflicting views. "there was a kerfuffle over the chairmanship"

WHO is talking?    You might not know, as we get a quick flyby from "Toppermost of the Poppermost" hosts "Queen of All Beatles Media" Kit O'Toole and "Yeah, he is also among the co-hosts of the show" Martin Quibell.    (In baseball terms, they are "openers").     The bulk of the show features BC the Beatles co-host Erika White, and "Writer, Occasional Troublemaker and Full-Time Whovian" Jim Ryan.      We talk the intersections of "Doctor Who" and the Beatles (who knew Brian Epstein hung with Verity Lambert), and review/discuss "The Devil's Chord", the recent episode featuring actors portraying Cilla and JPGR.

As with practically every other Beatles podcast in the multiverse, the topic of the week is the 2024 release of "Let It Be" on Disney+.    Lonnie Pena and I sit down, discuss the VHS, Laserdisc, new streaming version and more.

Marv, Lonnie and I talk the new Record Store Day Mind Games EP and two more episodes from the "Life In Lyrics" podcast.  A nice preview of the box set coming later this summer, and we return to Paul McCartney's Life in Lyrics podcast for episodes covering "Here There and Everywhere" and "Give Ireland Back to the Irish."

A review of the Geoff Emerick Lagos tape as auctioned off last September.     Two high-profile "Dutch Imports" have hit the market recently (confusingly, each coming from a different dub of the Emerick masters).    The variants were classified, artifacts removed and a single "good" copy of the tape exists, and we review it!     How does it compare to the "underdubbed" release?     We also review Linda Perry and the new Ringo EP "Crooked Boy".

Kit O'Toole joins the show this week as we run through the voluminous Beatles news from the past week (Record Store Day, Ringo, Let It Be) and discuss the Beatles portion of "Around the Beatles."     Costumes, Shakespeare, Trevor Peacock and some kicking rock and roll.

Lonnie Pena and I discuss Wings at the Hammersmith Odeon - the Concert(s) for the People of Kampuchea.     Through circumstance, December 29, 1979 would end up being the final Wings concert ever.     Got to Get You Into My Life, Coming Up, Maybe I'm Amazed, Mull of Kintyre and Let It Be.    One-Two-Three-Four!

Marv and I sit down and chat about the Ringo selections on Rob Sheffield's "100 Best Solo Beatles Songs" list.    As Dana Carvey might say, "isn't it conveeeeenient" that each claims one of the top four.      More seriously, we discuss the nature of such lists, how, when and why - and we talk about the thirteen selections.    Does Ringo deserve 25% of the take?     Is thirteen too little? 

More of our thoughts on the "Life in Lyrics" podcast.    Martin Quibell and I discuss Episodes 6, 7, and 8.     The episodes are entitled "Silly Love Songs", "A Day in the Life" and "Hey Jude".    However, roughly fifteen different songs get covered within the three episodes...

A Beatles special you might not know about.     In 1977, NBC purchased "The Beatles Forever", a variety-entertainment special from ITC Entertainment (aka: The company led by Sir Lew Grade).    The Toppermost gang "comes together" to discuss this Thanksgiving spectacular!

Martin Quibell and Sam Whiles (Paul or Nothing) join to discuss the final Wings show of the summer 1973 tour.      If your experience of Wings Live begins with Jimmy McCulloch, you are in for quite a different experience.     Excerpts have been available for years (and are now on the official McCartney YouTube channel), but we are discussing and describing the full show, including "Turkey in the Straw."

Martin Quibell joins this week as we discuss the recent "fan mixed" Underdubbed version of "Red Rose Speedway".    Sorry Paul, the term still is not going to catch on among the general public.        This mix is probably more accurately referred to as an "Elements" or (to borrow a term from the Lennon camp), a "stripped" mix - it is not something that ever existed for Paul, or that he used to make decisions on future directions, but it *is* a reflection of the stages these songs passed through.

Welll...It's one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready now go cat go!    George "Don't Call It a Comeback" Harrison joined his buddy Carl Perkins and his other buddies Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton to pay tribute to their friend and mentor Carl Perkins in a Cinemax special filmed in 1985 and aired in the UK (and later in the US) in 1986.   Lonnie Pena co-hosts.

A grand old painter died last night.     I must've done something wrong.    More life, more lyrics from McCartney and Muldoon.     Lonnie Pena and I run through three more episodes of the "Life in Lyrics" podcast, talking about their talking, but also presenting some general chat about "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", "Yesterday" and "Picasso's Last Words."    

Paul McCartney and Paul Muldoon return for the second season of the "Life in Lyrics" podcast.    We sit down to consider the first two episodes of the new season ("Love Me Do" and "Band on the Run"), and talk about the slight stylistic change between the two seasons.    We also talk a bit about the return of Paul McCartney's 1961 Hofner, and the Apple-approved, Sam Mendes directed quartet of biopics planned for 2027 release!

It was Sixty Years Ago Today...   Beatlemania finished its reach as the Fab Four use New York City, Miami Beach and the Ed Sullivan Show to broadcast across the United States.    We not discuss the Fab Four, but Fred Kaps, Mitzi Gaynor, Rossi and Allen, Pillsbury, Aero Shave (Wet, Wet, Wet!) and Kent Cigarettes, and even manage a bit of Davy Jones and Leonard Nimoy.

Before he jetted off to New York, and then Vegas, Sir Paul and his team dropped the fiftieth anniversary release of "Band on the Run", highlighted by the "Underdubbed edition."     This week we consider the new release and look at what is under the orchestra and horns.

Lonnie Pena and I consider the recent production "The Beatles and the BBC".     An interesting collection of BBC clips ranging the Beatles years and beyond with some effort putting the "Threetles" in the historic context of the band they once were.

Marv and I finish our review of episodes nine to twelve of the McCartney "Life and Lyrics" podcast and look forward to what we might find in the second series which is expected in the coming weeks!    Magical Mystery Tour (roll up), The Birds of McCartney (not Linda or Nancy), Too Many People and Helter Skelter

Lonnie Pena and I sit down to consider the John Lennon episode of "A Life in Ten Pictures".     One hour is barely enough time to give an overview of a "regular person's" life, much less a complex superstar.     How well did the BBC accomplish that task, and are the photos chosen really representative of a chameleon-figure like John Lennon?