admin

Greetings all;  Let’s get the sad news out of the way first before moving on: first, the passing of EMI engineer John Kurlander. He began working with The Beatles while still in his teens; a class field trip when he was 13 saw him witness a bit of the Help! sessions, but he found employment there at 16 and it was when he was brought on board the Abbey Road sessions that he became a key player.  The Kurlander story concerns what happened inadvertently: he was on hand when The Beatles, or at least Paul, were listening to a playback of “The Long One” as the side two medley was called. As originally designed, the medley alternated between John and Paul songs. Following “Mean Mr. Mustard” was Paul’s “Her Majesty,” but upon hearing it fully realized, he declared that it didn’t work and asked Kurlander to excise it. It was Kurlander’s job to fulfill any Beatle’s wish, but he was also mindful of standing Parlophone rules (by 1969) not to discard anything the group recorded. Faced with this, he opted for what he saw as the best option: remove the song but splice it to the end of the master reel, following a suitable length of silence. This would be how the world came to hear the song, as a “hidden track.” (Those who believe it to be the world’s first apparently never listened to 1967’s Their Satanic Majesties Request, for starters.)  Kurlander went on to work on other Apple projects (Mary Hopkin’s Post Card and Badfinger’s No Dice), as well as with the four ex-Beatles. His greater achievements came with the soundtracks he worked on at the Abbey Road facilities in later years, including three Grammy wins for – ironically – Peter Jackson’s Lord of The Rings film trilogy. Here’s a terrific article on Kurlander’s work with The Beatles. He was 73.  Another sad farewell – for now at least – is to Erin Weber from the world of Beatling. When I first solicited feedback from you listeners for the 300th episode, asking for your favorite moments or conversations, hands down she came up at top of the list. It’s not hard to see why: her book, The Beatles and The Historians was a game-changer, showing us all how to read a book about the group, and how to judge them by the solid criteria employed by historians. Personally, I can’t look at history – any history – the same way again, and for that I thank her. I am happy that we had the opportunity to meet in person at The Fest a couple of years back, and look forward to the day when we cross paths again. But there is nothing more important than family and, for now, her energies must be directed elsewhere. But we owe her all a big thanks for what she’s given us and how it has impacted our enjoyment of Beatles history going forward.  Says Erin: “When McFarland published The Beatles and the Historians, I fully expected it to be little more than an obscure textbook for college history historical methods classes. (To be honest, I was trying to corner a small and uncompetitive academic market: there aren’t too many books on historical methodology and historiography, but history students still have to take those classes). I would have been fully happy in my little historian’s niche. Instead, I was given the great opportunity to discuss the greatest band in music history with a number of amazing authors, fans, and musicians. I’ve attended conferences and had incredible discussions with some excellent podcasters, and made some fab friends, too.”  Erin, if you never publish another word on The Beatles, your esteemed place in every SATB listener’s heart is indelible.     In good news: first, the recent Ringo shows in Nashville, taped for broadcast, have been announced as coming on March 10 – details here. Second: the amazing surprise Paul shows at Manhattan’s Bowery Ballroom – three in all. Here’s a write-up, but if anyone reading this was there, please contact me (subject line “Bowery”) if you’d like to serve as a stringer for the show. We’d love to hear your impressions. (Not sure how long this link will be working but here you go.) And then to follow it all up, Paul came on live as show closer for the Saturday Night Live 50 special on Sunday night. These are the things to savor while we can.  Does it seem odd when we are in the Ed Sullivan Show anniversary mode to consider that we are only 58 years out from the issue of the “Strawberry Fields Forever”/”Penny Lane” single? The lightning quick speed in which The Beatles evolved is staggering to consider in this day and age. Here, via the AdamBound channel, is a collection of all the footage shot for the SFF promo, directed by Peter Goldmann. He’d been recommended to the group by Klaus Voormann; given the staggering results of the collaboration, it is surprising that they never again worked with him. It was shot at Knole in Kent at Sevenoaks. Here is some background from folks who were there.  Last: here’s where the value of this Newsletter as a direct pipeline for your feedback has proven most helpful. Jerry Hammack and I knew in advance that using so much color in the new book, Ribbons of Rust, meant certain limitations: in addition to being a more costly printing process, Amazon – in certain Pacific markets (Australia and Japan specifically) – were not set up to produce a color print run. Personally, I am not so presumptuous to assume that surely there’d be a demand for this book absolutely everywhere, but hearing back from some of you was motivation enough to find a solution, and Jerry and I believe we have…  Essential  in our thought process when putting this book together was placing the reader into The Beatles’ world as best we could. That meant the sights and the sounds, which

Hey there folks,  Welcome to the working week. We just now passed the anniversary of the Ed Sullivan Show debut on February 9 (aligning with the 1964 calendar on a Sunday). I am thinking that the tardy arrival of Beatles ’64 in November rather than the actual 60th anniversary months earlier may make the milestone seem a little tired by now, but on the other hand, I do feel like we are really lucky to have so many 1st-gen fans around whose lives were changed that night, utterly, that share their stories. We’ve had quite a few on the show, and most recently, again with 299. Speaking for my own generation (as well as that of my kids), we didn’t get a unifying and impactful event of our own (that I can think of), experienced by millions that likewise touched our lives for the better, so consider the importance of that day: they don’t come along every generation.  This week has milestones of its own to recognize. February 11 must rank as surely one of the most auspicious days in Beatles history, and I have often wondered whether they themselves were aware of it. (Doubtful!)  1963: The Please Please Me album sessions. (Which began that morning with “There’s A Place”  1964:  The Washington DC concert (shared in newsletter #3.5) 1965: Ringo and Maureen were married (60 years if only…) 1966: The McCartney-penned “Woman” released by Peter and Gordon in the UK. (Beating John to the title by 14 years, Klaatu by 22.)  1968:  Filming day for the “Lady Madonna” promo, capturing instead The Beatles tracking “Hey Bulldog.”  1970:  The Plastic Ono Band taped appearances to promote “Instant Karma” on Top of the Pops. The entourage, besides John and Yoko, included Klaus, Alan White, Mal Evans, and journalist BP Fallon. The “crocheting” take aired the next day, followed a week later by the “cue card” one. (Apparently The Beatles spent 1967 and 1969 OTD slacking off.)  So let’s unpack this a bit. You cannot do better for completeness in curating all known footage together than the AdamBound channel on YouTube. Here’s his Bulldog compilation.   Ringomania continues this week unfettered. Son Zak must be sitting on an enormous pile of unseen photos; remember it was he who shared the first photo taken in 1979 at the Clapton-Boyd nuptials jam, showing himself onstage along with Uncle Paul and Jim Capaldi. (More recently, Pattie shared another, this one including her ex at around the same moment.) Anyway, in a now-deleted post on Instagram, Zak shared a fast-moving reel of never-before-seen pics, including Beatles and other well-known personas. He’s since deleted it, saying it was meant only for private sharing, but one day he will have a fabulous book to publish, should he so decide to. (Did anyone else think his mother was one of the best things never before seen in the Get Back film?)  There was a Record Store Day (April 12, 2025) announcement this past week: a Plastic Ono Band EP of newly-remixed performances from the 1972 One-To-One show. George will have one out too, and on the subject of vinyl, Paul recently announced the release of a 50th anniversary Venus and Mars 180-gram double issue.  If you want to say anything about SATB for the 300th show (next in line), this is the place to send it, and honestly, there’s been a bunch of submissions (thanks!) but this is last call – say by this weekend.  Finally, February 11 is the publication day of the book Jerry and I wrote. This was not contrived, it was just the way the calendar fell, so for those who believe in portents, I’ll take it. This was just launched into cyberspace.

Hey there Beatle folk;  For this week’s edition, we’ll lead with actual news: the Grammy Awards handed out last night yielded one win for team Beatles (“Now and Then”); one for the John Lennon’s Mind Games reissue and two acceptances by one person, Sean Lennon. (Per Sean, Giles was supposed to be the one to collect for NAT.) The Beatles’ award was not without some controversy, being an AI-assisted recording, which now sets a precedent. Also interesting was what Giles told the Los Angeles Times:  “‘Now and Then’ as the last record, to me, is incredibly poignant, a song that John wrote to Paul,” Martin said. “Paul lost his best friend. Whatever differences they had, they lived an incredibly close life. I think Paul missed him, like he missed my dad. He missed him creatively, and he wanted to work with him again, to collaborate again. This technology was a pathway towards that.” I wonder how it is that Giles thinks he knows this with such certainty?  Also in the news last week was the passing of Marianne Faithfull at 78. She was another one that got away: when I spoke with journalist Sylvie Simmons back in 2020, she mentioned Marianne in passing as someone she spoke with regularly. I made the effort, but Marianne sustained a near-fatal bout of COVID not long after and it sapped her energies to the point where sitting for a Beatles-centric conversation just wasn’t in the cards. It would’ve been interesting: she and The Fabs were intertwined socially at least during the 60s; when they took up TM with the Maharishi, Marianne and then-boyfriend Mick Jagger went along for the ride.  (That’s her top left, along with John and Cyn; Jenny Boyd, Pattie and George, Ringo, then Paul and Jane. Maureen had just given birth to Jason.) George was at the notorious party at Keith’s Redlands home in February 1967 and departed before the cops swooped in, making Marianne a casualty with their salacious (and embellished) description of how they found her. The next year, she appeared on the same bill as John with the Dirty Mac at the Rock and Roll Circus. Marianne’s comeback album, 1979’s Broken English was hard-sledding for most yet finally won her the critical acclaim her talents warranted. It was a monumental statement, reclaiming a legacy as something considerably more than Mick’s bird, featuring a sound as brutal as the then-current punk scene (which she certainly had an affinity for), delivered with a rasp far removed from her Andrew Oldham presentation so many years before. The set included a cover of “Working Class Hero” that many compared favorably to the original. Unfortunately, her subsequent 1980 appearance on SNL did her no favors with the public (back story here), but to those who appreciated what she was putting across, with the ravages of a hard-lived life pouring out of every note, it was intoxicating stuff.  It’s another new month and therefore another serving of Seederman’s Simple Chronology. Part 4 begins, fittingly, during the January 1969 sessions at Twickenham and ends in June 1971, with John and Yoko onstage with Zappa at the Fillmore East.  Other things: Ribbons of Rust Volume 1 1954 – February 1954 written with Jerry Hammack will officially be out on February 11. There will be an array of interviews and other promotional stuff going on, and as soon as I know what’s what, I’ll let you know.  I do hope that most of you gave a listen to the conversation with Gary Astridge (299), because in my mind, it’s something really special – as is Gary. I’ve been getting some really awesome feedback, for which I am most grateful.  This leaves 300 next… I am thankful to all who have passed along messages and contributions to the show. I am thinking that February 11 makes a nice cut-off for anyone else wishing to send a note describing fave moments on the show or else submit audio contributions. Everything submitted will get used.  Once again: Thanks all of you for signing up and for the continued support for the show. I hope that these newsletters remain welcome additions to your in-box (and if not, just reply to “unsubscribe” and we’ll fix that). All past newsletters available upon request (subject line “old newsletters). Be sure to share this with any like-minded friends – thanks!   

Hey everyone!  Maybe it’s my COVID-induced dementia, but I meant to include a couple of more Ringo things in yesterday’s mailing:  First, for those who can see it in real time, Ringo will be appearing tonight on Jimmy Kimmel’s show to promote his hit album, Look Up. I will try to be mindful of these things as they pop up, for anyone needing a reminder. For everyone outside the US, the segment will likely be on YouTube within the next day or so.  Also worth mentioning in passing: Ringo’s firstborn made the news and not in a good way. We of course wish him all the best.  And they said journalism was dead! From that same periodical, this stellar reporting (which stayed online for days). 

Hello folks;  Thanks to all of those taking the time for well-wishes. The recent COVID event was prolonged, but not as bad as it might have been. It’s behind me now and I appreciate all the kind words.  Hopefully by now most of you have listened to the conversation with Richard Mills. He is a terrific guest, likewise his book, The Beatles and Fandom, and I really look forward to having him on again. His new book will be coming in May, but I have an idea that I may float to him sooner – we shall see! On the subject of books, the new one with Jerry Hammack, Ribbons of Rust: The Beatles’ Recording Career in Context volume one 1954 – February 1963 has been given an official publication date: February 11, 2025. If that date rings familiar in Beatles history, it should! More on this next time.  Up sooner than later will be the next podcast, #299. This is a conversation with Gary Astridge, Ringo’s drum curator and author of the book, Beats and Threads, combining a history of Ringo’s kits with a stroll through his wardrobe. Trust me when I tell you it works amazingly well! Gary’s a great friend and a superb storyteller. And he’s got the stories to tell… I’d mentioned in 296 the Magical Mystery Camp event in the Catskills, coming in late June. (Did you know that June 25th is recognized as Global Beatles Day?) If those of you inclined to plan your vacations now figure New York into your plans, this should dovetail quite nicely. The four day event will bring together guests, presentations, workshops and lots of music. Jack Petruzzelli, whom you know from previous appearances on the show (sometimes along with Cameron Greider and Walter Everett, both of the RPM School) is a member of The Fab Faux, who will be appearing. He and I had a recent talk about it, which I will be sharing in the podcast feed and also as a video on YouTube. More on this in the next newsletter.       There was a report in the news this past week, wherein Dhani Harrison was quoted as saying that he and Sean Lennon had listened to AI enhancements of the two Anthology Threetles tracks, suggesting that some kind of release was imminent. Those who looked into it concluded that 1) it was an old interview, not news and 2) that his actual words were that he thought it was possible, not that it was a done deal. Personally, I thought it was something they should have had done and dusted concurrently with the “Now and Then” release, but if there’s any truth to it at all, it would make sense as part of a revamped 30th anniversary issue of Anthology. There has been no lack of effort by unsanctioned engineers to tackle “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love” – an official release could be amazing (especially if they address the Jeff Lynne production…).   This is, of course, the 56th anniversary of the wrap up of the Let It Be sessions, which climaxed on the rooftop of Savile Row. Personally, I was not among those who got to the theater to see the Peter Jackson IMAX presentation (it came and went superfast here) but hopefully most of you did. And for everyone else, here’s a restored print of the rooftop sequence as it appeared in the 1970 film (minus the retakes).  For anyone wishing to hear the complete rooftop performance, here you go. As alluded to in an earlier newsletter, I am expecting to produce a brand new show on the Let It Be/”Get Back” project, with a new guest with a new book. Stay tuned!  To repeat: Thanks all of you for signing up and for the continued support for the show. I hope that these newsletters remain welcome additions to your in-box (and if not, just reply to “unsubscribe” and we’ll fix that). All past newsletters available upon request (subject line “old newsletters). Be sure to share this with any like-minded friends – thanks!    

Hello all;  Turns out “a touch of flu” actually means “a case of COVID.”… But a mild one in the scheme of things (the other extreme being the Ray Connolly kind). When all the symptoms weren’t shaken off as fully as I would’ve liked, I checked into it further and realized that there are reasons. So listen to your body and get fully boosted – flu shots aren’t a bad thought either.  On the subject of maladies: I am sorry to report on the ongoing illness of Badfinger’s Joey Molland, the band’s sole surviving original member. Though known for working virtually non-stop through the years as a performer and a recording artist, he took ill in November and it was actually quite serious – the life-threatening kind. You can read about what he’s been going through here at his GoFundMe page. It would appear, guardedly, that the worst may be behind him, but the road to recovery is fragile and long.  He and I have been friends since the 80s. He’s always been a congenial, upbeat guy and an artist of no small talent, having contributed to seven of the group’s albums as well as his own solo releases plus works by George and John. (He was also at the Concert for Bangladesh.) Some samples here:  Joe had promised a conversation for the show when last we talked – he’s a strong guy and stubborn, and I know that when he’s ready, Joey’s gonna come around.  A sad loss this week was filmmaker David Lynch. You may wonder what the director of works like Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, and Twin Peaks has to do with The Beatles – I would tell you, “Plenty,” because like so many others millions of us, his life trajectory was profoundly impacted by the group; specifically, in his embrace of the brand of meditation known as TM, or “Transcendental Meditation” – the kind espoused by the Maharishi.  Lynch saw The Beatles as a high school senior at their first US concert – the one in DC. From then on he was hooked, and their artistic daring certainly inspired him. But when they in effect became the public face of TM in 1967-8, he too checked it out and not only got on board, but he then utilized his platform to advocate for it to be taught in schools and brought to the masses at an early age. The David Lynch Foundation began in 2005, focusing on at-risk populations (veterans, refugees, inner city students and so forth). In 2009, Lynch presented an all-star charity concert in NYC: among the artists performing were Paul and Ringo, united onstage for the first time since 2002’s Concert for George. You can check out highlights from the show here. Astonishingly, “Sexy Sadie” was not dusted off for the occasion, but “Cosmically Conscious” – a McCartney composition with origins going back to Rishikesh – was trotted out.   You can check out a conversation between Macca and Lynch here but for anyone interested in learing more about his life’s work that doesn’t concern film, this documentary is quite captivating.  In other news, the Brian Epstein biopic Midas Man had been available for awhile streaming outside the US on Prime, but will be coming to North America this week for purchase.    Last, Ringo had quite the time in Nashville last week launching Look Up with a stage loaded with guests. Several folks I know were there and I expect we will hear from at least one of them on the show soon…. In the meantime, this.  The show I have started cutting and the book I am set to launch will not hit the finish line by themselves, despite my best efforts at wishing this were so, so I’m off. Thanks for all the new newsletter sign-ups and definitely share with anyone you know who would be interested. 

Hi folks! This one will be a bit brief, as I am battling a touch of flu at the moment, but I wanted to get something out to you as soon as I could. Normally, a new show would’ve dropped by now, but I am hoping that taking a bit of rest will get me past this sooner rather than later. I expect it’ll be out by the weekend, so 🤞. Boy, what a difference a week makes. To our west coast friends, the year has gotten off to a horrific start, and knowing that it has directly affected both SATB listeners and guests alike, I can only extend the deepest condolences for what you are going through. If anything emerges that I/we can do to help, count on us. In the meantime, maybe carrying on with the show can at least serve as some kind of pocket of respite from what will be an ongoing recovery. I am so sorry for what you are dealing with, and sincerely hope the show can be at least a momentary diversion.       Besides the Get Back project anniversary this month represents, it is also the anniversary of the first US broadcast of the Shea Stadium concert film, which came in early January 1967. It’s astonishing to consider the progress the group had made in the eighteen months since the show took place; a time when they were still playing “oldies” like “Twist and Shout” and “Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby” onstage. This broadcast arrived just as the “Penny Lane”/”Strawberry Fields Forever” single was about to be issued, a foretaste of what the end of touring meant for them creatively. Being as this will be the 60th anniversary year, it would be nice to think that Apple has plans for some kind of comprehensive Shea release. Until such time, this one will have to do. (Note the special added features!) In the last newsletter, I’d mentioned the Magical Mystery Tour Revisited documentary and noted that it could probably be tracked down, at least in the states. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me in the moment that it was already in my holdings and I could easily share it here, which I just did!  In other news, Ringo is in Nashville, presenting Look Up, a follow-up almost 55 years in the making to Beaucoups of Blues. He will be the subject of an upcoming show. My book project with Jerry Hammack has hit a technical snag, which we are remedying as we speak – it won’t be out on the 21st but should be not long after. I’ll keep you posted. That’s about it for now, except to say I am extending the deadline for anyone wanting to contribute anything at all (audio or video) to the upcoming 300th episode, which I may push back a little if I need more time to prepare it. We’ll see. 

Happy January, folks!  Thanks to all the new sign-ups, and by all means, hip your Beatle pals if they aren’t already. The “why?” is easy – I really enjoy sharing with like-minded fans, and if I am going to put in the time, we might as well try to reach as many people who would enjoy it as possible. Some sixty+ years ago, the world discovered that challenging times could be made a little easier with some Beatles joy, and that hasn’t changed one bit. We can’t manufacture more time, but we can certainly choose how we spend it.  To that end, being January and all, what comes to mind is the 1969 sessions we’ve been commemorating on the show in depth in recent years. I would be curious as to how many people have reached the saturation point on the Get Back/Let It Be stuff….have we had enough or is there more to suss out? I recently came into contact with someone with another take, and am seriously thinking about producing a show on it. For those who can’t get enough of the subject, you can’t do better than our own Dan Rivkin of the They May Be Parted blog, which if you haven’t followed to this point, do check it out.  And for the hardest of the hardcores, check this out: Adambound has long provided one of the best YouTube channels for Beatles-related footage, which he scrupulously collates, curates and re-assembles to provide the most thorough collections of film on virtually anything Beatles caught on camera you can think of. In collaboration with LedZepFilms, he has produced the most complete collection of the Let It Be project footage assembled. For those wishing for a long trip down that rabbit hole, here’s the Twickenham set. (The Apple Studios part is a work in progress.)  Speaking of shared footage, time now for another installment of the Seederman Chronology, part three. This one commences with the 1966 Tokyo shows and ends just before January 1969 with some Beatles covers as performed on TV, providing a good context for how ubiquitous their music was during the 1960s, even when it wasn’t them performing it.  On the day after Thanksgiving, four winners of the Beatles ’64 mono vinyl sets were selected entirely at random. They were:  John Jagler of Watertown, WI Amy Flanagan of NYC Michael Roth of Santa Monica, CA, and  Marc Stewart of Vancouver, BC Canada Here’s Marc with his set.  Congrats to all the winners and it is gratifying in the 21st century to have something – anything – new(ish) from The Beatles under the Christmas tree.   The next podcast will be coming soon – 296 – (yes, it got skipped over for reasons that don’t make sense even to me – let’s put it that way). It’s a conversation with Richard Mills, and if you don’t yet know the name, you probably will. This book is out and another is on its way. Frankly, I don’t yet have a title or theme for the discussion, because it was unclassifiable, but a lot of fun nonetheless. You SATB listeners have not heard the last of him.  Also in the works are several shows on topics ranging from Ringo to US fan mag coverage of The Fabs (can you guess who?) and other stuff I don’t want to reveal just yet.  And then there’s the 300th episode. I have been thinking about staging a group Zoom call with past guests and a few listeners. I can see it erupting into a free-for-all, which personally I quite enjoy but I’m sure you guys can share your thoughts on whether you think it’s a good idea. Anything usable would then get edited into the actual show. Thanks for all the contributions received so far – keep ’em coming if you are so inclined, and they will get used. I’m looking for your thoughts on the show, specifically stand out moments. Getting your contribution in by the 10th would be fab. And gear as well, if I’m being honest.