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My (returning) guest is Andrew Grant Jackson, author of the newly-published 1973: Rock at the Crossroads.

In which SATB listener favorite Jeff Martin returns, and where we honor you, the listener, by running down nearly three hours’ worth of your suggested events to revisit (as winged insects). 

My guests Alex Cain and Terry McCusker are back, presenting a discussion of their newest work, Ringo’s White Album. Building on their previous work, Ringo Starr and The Beatles’ Beat, this work examines in great detail what Ringo brought to these tumultuous 1968 sessions (which he did walk out of at one point), pushing the boundaries of his art with stylistic innovation as well as advanced studio technique. We also talked a bit about Ringo’s work on Abbey Road, which will be the subject of their next deep dive. Alex and Terry are both drummers themselves; tune in to find out which one of them saw The Beatles in Liverpool at The Cavern (with Ringo’s predecessor).

2019’s Danny Boyle rom-cam featuring a Beatles subtext has inspired a lot of discussion among fans this year, given the pretext of a struggling English musician apparently being the only person on Earth who can remember existence of the group. Most of the chatter was about the film itself, but I thought there were even richer discussions to be had, using the film’s core idea as a springboard. The idea for this show was prompted by an article by my guest, Noah Berlatsky (I would encourage listeners to check it out). He forwarded the notion that buying into the film’s premise required universal agreement that 1) The Beatles were the greatest rock band ever and 2) that their music was so great that its inherent genius would be universally recognized no matter who was performing it, and when. We shall see…. There has never been a musically more diverse episode of SATB than this one: in addition to The Fabs, you will be hearing from artists ranging from Chuck Berry and Moon Mullican to R.D. Burman and Rhianna; Dee Dee Sharp and Elvis to Mobley and Nick Drake. Yet it all fits together: what it means to be a successful artist and what are the factors that result in our bestowing the term “genius” upon them.

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In what will be an occasional theme of SATBs going forward, I welcome to the show Gary Wenstrup. In addition to being a regular listener, Gary is a college-level teacher and lecturer, whose expertise encompasses an array of 1960s music acts. He saw an opportunity for following up shows to dig deeper, in ways that might not have been possible given time constraints. This episode uses as the starting off point my interview with Susan Shumsky, detailing The Beatles’ 1968 visit to Rishikesh; but it also encompasses the White Album, Lennon Remembers, and other ancillary subjects.