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In the 2nd of a quartet of shows recorded (in part) at the White Album Symposium at Monmouth University (as well as the 2nd in a trio of shows covering Apple in its 50th year), I speak with my friend, Ken Mansfield: former manager of US operations of Apple, as well as author of several books, including two published this year: a novel, Philco and a memoir, The Roof: The Beatles’ Final Concert.
Ken is a natural storyteller as well as a confidant of the Beatles, whose accomplishments include work with artists ranging from the Beach Boys to Waylon Jennings. We cover it all here.
NOTE: as pointed out in the show’s intro, field recordings are susceptible to issues beyond our control, in this case a fluctuation in the current every time the heat came on in the room we were in. That’s why you hear crackling/static noise throughout the first half hour. Like Live At Leeds, do not attempt to correct – Ben Rowling and I have already tried.
I quite liked Mansfield’s White book. Coincidentally, speaking of Johnny Mercer, he’s my sisters father in law. (late of course)
Good to hear, at the beginning of this podcast, Lennon speaking in glowing terms of Bill Oddie’s version of the traditional English folk song On Ilkla Moor Baht’at, done in the style of Joe Cocker’s rendition of With a Little Help From My Friends with members of the Grease Band and recorded for DJ John Peel’s Dandelion label in the UK; it is done totally straight and all the funnier as a result. I don’t know whether Oddie will be known to US listeners but he was a contemporary of the Pythons and part of the student revue Cambridge Circus, which also featured John Cleese. He is best known in Britain as a former member of a comic trio called The Goodies.
ha, well I just bought this flippin’ book. I think i’d better go look at that first, then circle back to hear this episode. 🙂
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Really enjoyed this guys. The live and raw version of Get back, which wasn’t perfect yet was magnificient and possibly better than the released version imho… and those Beach Boys harmonies… really moved me. Good stuff.
well I enjoyed this SATB episode quite a bit. Just great.
BUT, re: the book…. when the title is “The Roof”, I think it’s reasonable for someone to think there’s gonna be substantial discussion of “actually on the roof”. Not 9 pages. So while I enjoyed the book in the overall, I was disappointed how brief the actual on the roof coverage was, and like I say I felt almost tricked into purchasing it by that somewhat misleading title.
But to be clear, I *did* enjoy the book, learned some new things from it, and recommend it to any deep-dive Fab fans. 🙂