Something About The Beatles

Category: Podcasting

  • 231B Beatles Olympiad: Help! & Rubber Soul + part 2

    231B Beatles Olympiad: Help! & Rubber Soul + part 2

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    The conclusion of the discussion Gary Wenstrup and I had in rating individual tracks on the albums named here, as well as the 1966 Capitol release, “Yesterday”…and Today.

     

    I think, is so overlooked, both message-wise and musical construction-wise. It’s one of those songs, first of all, musically, based on piano. Not a lot of guitar, except those little stabbing, which was a 1965 sound in other people’s records that year. Nice block harmonies. Then John breaking out his own for the verses, starting this implicitly spiritual song, the first words out of his mouth of the verse in the beginning. Nice touch. That’s beautiful. It’s this precursor to certainly, All You Need is Love and Give Peace A Chance. It’s him. It’s messianic John for the first time, really wanting to use his platform to promote something good. They’d said that they’re all potheads at this point. I mean, they’d taken acid a couple of times at this point, but not the full immersion by the time of Revolver.
    That has to be what’s informing his wanting to evangelize on behalf of love at this point. It’s interesting that they didn’t use this one for Yellow Submarine, because that whole love thing at the end in pepper land, in the face of the mayonnaise, it seems like it would be enmeshed right in there. I guess, they had All You Need Is Love. That was what they went with. I think, it’s a great message, a great performance, nice arrangement. I love that organ. Then there’s that whole musical, we’re going to build a song around one note and it’s got that drone throughout it, so you’ve got that musical experimentation going on at the same time.
    Not a song that got a lot of airplay. I don’t know if anybody ever covered it. One, they never seemed to look back at it, but it’s an early clue to the new direction. It’s just this forerunner of lots of things that would come and they just pull it off. They don’t sound like you’re being preached to. It works as a pop ditty, but also, it’s like, wow, it’s got a really good message to it, that’s bigger than boy-girl relationships.

     

  • 231 Beatles Olympiad: Help! & Rubber Soul +

    231 Beatles Olympiad: Help! & Rubber Soul +

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    In which Gary Wenstrup and I return where we left off in offering our picks in ranking Bronze, Silver and Gold tracks off of The Beatles’ 1965 releases, as well as a little beyond. This show represents the first hour of our conversation – part two coming next.
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    We commence Beatles Olympiad 2, where we left off, which was starting with their fifth album released in the summer of 1965, Help! Got two albums out of them that year, one being a soundtrack, more or less. It certainly was in the States and Capitol. Then the year ended with a bang, with Rubber Soul; two versions of that. Then in the next year, we got only one new album of material out of them, Revolver. In the States, it being the States, we got another one of those Capitol-only issues, which I think we will talk about today. Because I don’t know if we’re going to talk about Oldies, which came out on Parlophone, the end of ’66, while they were working on Strawberry Fields, but we’ll see what we feel like. For the show, I think we can talk about the UK Help!, both Rubber Souls and Yesterday and Today.
  • 230: Erin Weber Q&A

    230: Erin Weber Q&A

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    Given Beatles author and historian Erin Weber’s recently announced sabbatical from Beatling these days, I wanted to share with SATB listeners the Q&A we held last year for Fab4ConJam, where she fielded questions on the Beatles’ literary canon.

    Authors covered included:

    Lewisohn (of course)

    Michael Braun
    Peter McCabe
    Barry Miles
    Mark Hertsgaard
    And much more…Also revealed: her favorite Beatles music – favorite Beatle – and why she detests “Jet.”

  • 228B: A Women’s History of The Beatles part two

    228B: A Women’s History of The Beatles part two

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    “Every aspect of what they put out there just became so attractive to people who encountered it, whether it was in the 60s, (when) it was all new, or later generations interfacing with that material, and still being dazzled by all the aspects of it. Not just the music, but the evolving style that they had. Again, as Brian Epstein said so beautifully, he was overwhelmed by their personal charm. Everybody is overwhelmed by The Beatles’ personal charm. Everybody.”
    The concluding hour of my conversation of Dr. Christine Feldman-Barrett (A Women’s History of The Beatles) covers
    • The role of women in setting examples for The Beatles when they were young.
    • The effects that The Beatles had on the women who enjoyed watching them.
    • Perspectives on screaming at concerts and what it expressed.
    • How The Beatles held themselves played a role in changing cultural norms for women.
    • How The Beatles have helped people to see the beauty in everyday life.
  • 229: Something Deconstructed

    229: Something Deconstructed

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    A new phase SATB episode: audio with full video accompaniment!

    My guests are returning musician Jack Petruzzelli (Fab Faux, Joan Osborne, Patti Smith), joined by Cameron Greider (Freedy Johnston, Sean Lennon, Rufus Wainwright), who in the past year developed a series of online Beatles classes. For the latest, The Beatles and You, they are joined by musicologist Walter Everett (The Beatles As Musicians: The Quarry Men to Rubber Soul and The Beatles As Musicians: Revolver to Anthology).

    RPM School is presenting a holistic approach to getting inside Beatles music, combining lecture and discussion, music instruction and recording and performance sessions, geared to your individual level. Their approach is unique and individualized, as shown with the demonstration here on George’s “Something.” Learn the influences that informed its construction (and where else they were used), as well as the technique utilized to capture the song as we know it.

    As this is an interactive presentation, you can see ALL of the conversation here.

    Check out Walter’s lecture here.  (password: SATB )
    His slides here.
    Sign up for The Beatles And You here.
    RPM School site
    Also discussed: their take on Peter Jackson’s Get Back
  • 228A: A Woman’s History of The Beatles part one

    228A: A Woman’s History of The Beatles part one

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    My guest today is Dr. Christine Feldman-Barrett, author of A Women’s History of The Beatles – an essential new work exploring the group’s story through the lens of the women they interacted with and influenced, as well as how they were received and experienced by female fandom. Christine was also once a musician herself, and listen as she describes both her journey as well as what was experienced by young women and girls during the group’s lifetime.
  • 227B The Girls’ Get Back part two

    227B The Girls’ Get Back part two

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    In this continuation of the conversation with Debbie Gendler (1st US Beatles fan) and cartoonist/author Carol Tyler (Fab 4 Mania), Dr. Allison Bumsted and I explore the 1st generation fan’s perspectives on:

    • Supporting players in Get Back Mal Evans and Billy Preston
    • How Get Back may influence future generations
    • The life-changing force of The Beatles
    • Carol’s missing original albums

     

    Check out this excerpt from the I Was A Teenage Screamer panel at the first Fab4ConJam

  • 226C The Musician’s Get Back part three

    226C The Musician’s Get Back part three

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    In this concluding hour of the conversation with Dennis Diken (The Smithereens), Pat Sansone (Wilco), Arion Salazar (ex-Third Eye Blind) and Luther Russell (Those Pretty Wrongs), we discuss:

    The Get Back film as therapy for fans (and the world)
    Billy Preston

    Ringo and Paul observations
    Jamming with Heather
  • 226B: The Musician’s Get Back part two

    226B: The Musician’s Get Back part two

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    Our panel of Pat, Arion, Luther and Dennis continues their conversation on Peter Jackson’s Get Back documentary.
    Among the topics:
    • The rooftop performance
    • The “Flowerpot conversation”
    • Bass stuff
    • The road to Abbey Road
    • Let It Be – the film
    Partial transcript of the “Flowerpot Conversation” here.
  • 226A: The Musician’s Get Back part one

    226A: The Musician’s Get Back part one

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    Any analysis of the Get Back documentary would be remiss in not factoring in insights gleaned from those who’ve followed in The Beatles’ professional footsteps: working musicians. To that end, I assembled a panel of some illustrious pros who also happen to be hardcore fans. Three are returning guests; one is new to SATB:

    Luther Russell: (Those Pretty Wrongs) – multi-instrumentalist

    Currently performing as one half of the duo Those Pretty Wrongs alongside ex-Big Star Jody Stephens, Luther has become a semi-regular on the podcast. As a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist/producer, he has discussed The Beatles’ recording techniques, work as a collaborative, and the magic of Ringo’s drumming.

    The first two albums from Those Pretty Wrongs are being reissued as a double album set, while a third is due out this year. He will also have a new solo set out as well.

    Arion Salazar: (ex-Third Eye Blind) – bass

    In his first appearance on SATB, he discussed Paul McCartney as an innovator, impacting generations beyond the 1960s. It was Arion who offered up the back cover design of Third Eye Blind’s multi-platinum 1997 debut (“Semi-Charmed Life”) which evoked the back cover of The Beatles’ 1966 Revolver album. In early 2021, the bassist put together ensembles of musicians from bands including Smash Mouth, Smashing Pumpkins, Stevie Wonder and Testament, among others, to perform heartfelt covers of Beatle-related material for the first Fab4ConJam. He recently recorded with Flipsyde in Muscle Shoals for a pending release this year.

    Pat Sansone: (Wilco) – multi-instrumentalist

    He waxed eloquently for over two hours on the Sgt. Pepper album on a 2021 episode of SATB.

    Pat’s radio show: Baroque Down Palace – a 2 hour show every month that centers on Rock, Pop, Soul, Folk music of the 1960s and 1970s that feature symphonic embellishments, or influence in some way from the classical music world:https://wyxr.org/baroque-down-palace/

    Pat has released a 7″ vinyl single ; a book of his photography, 100 Polaroids, was recently reissued.

    New to the show (but not The Beatles): drummer Dennis Diken, founding member of The Smithereens. In addition to their work over the course of several gold and platinum releases, he and his band recorded a pair of studio albums and one live one honoring The Beatles. They currently continue to perform live, alternately fronted by Gin Blossoms vocalist Robin Wilson and recording artist Marshall Crenshaw (also a previous SATB guest), in place of the late Pat DiNizio.

    He also records with Bell Sound, whose critically acclaimed album Late Music was released in 2009. Look for new material from both bands in ’22.
    Dennis’s radio show: Denny’s Den airs weekly on Wednesday at 2-4pm Eastern Standard Time.

    Go to wfmu.org and hover over “LISTEN” then go down to “ROCK ‘n’ SOUL RADIO”, slide to the right and click on “ROCK ‘n’ SOUL RADIO HOMEPAGE” to access archives and the weekly broadcast.