May 2025 – SATB

305: Contentious Credits

In recent years, the quality of Beatles scholarship has risen considerably, and the old days of accepting and repeating any old data (even coming from sources that should be credible) – without examining it deeper to see if it really stands up – are long gone. With The Beatles, music is always at the heart of their story, and in particular, what they did in the studio. Examining how their recordings were produced tells us a ton about how the group operated, and therefore getting it right is pretty important to understanding what we’re hearing. My two guests – Marcus Phelan and Andrew Shakespeare – are 2nd-gen fans, hailing from Australia. Both are musicians who’ve been playing for decades and have been studying The Beatles’ music for just about as long. We selected a group of songs that have been disputed as to who is playing what and how the recordings were constructed for this first installment of Contentious Credits. Here’s the episode’s playlist:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWJwXBl8_fsfe9Nu1Z1HqZgRAXcu4kb7G&si=_b46MSAyw8VcipS4 Plus Marcus Phelan’s Guitar Videos: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsvcWjz7Ghh6byDBitzvVHeB9IKzRKth3&si=MdIaGZZaznwUW4kQ And: youtube.com/@RBStems2

304: Badfinger’s Head First with Bob Jackson

Podcasts / By admin

Beatle proteges Badfinger were an Apple band that simultaneously produced some of the finest pop/rock of their era while beset by management malfeasance leading directly to their decimation by suicide. It was fifty years ago that Pete Ham, their songwriter responsible for “No Matter What,” “Day After Day” and “Baby Blue” and co-writer with Tommy Evans of “Without You” took his life at 27. Only a few months before, he and the band recorded one final album (at Apple Studios), Head First. Multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter Bob Jackson, the group’s newest addition, was fully on board with the project, which went unreleased at the time but through his determination, was tracked down and fully realized in late 2024. In this conversation, Bob discusses his tenure in the band alongside Pete, Tommy, Mike Gibbins and the late Joey Molland, as well as his work with them through the years that followed as well as the lasting impact of the two tragedies. Official band site: https://badfingeruk.com/home Episode 304 playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWJwXBl8_fsf5tniBjOirCrKE-SSQL7z8&si=Oqa0_xKDPi3ds6s0 The Autumn 1974 UK tour setlist:The Winner Blind Owl Suitcase In the Meantime/Some Other Time Gotta Get Out of Here I Don’t Mind Love is Easy King of the Load Andy Norris Give It Up Get Away