The panel discusses the new documentary Beatles '64, released November 2024 on Disney Plus. Using a lot of behind the scenes footage from the Beatles first U.S. visit, which includes their landmark appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. Although this is not the landmark event that Peter Jackson's Get Back doc was, it's still really fun for Beatles fan.

A lot of the behind the scenes footage is from the journalists Albert and David Maysles. As Will points out, a lot of it was featured in a VHS tape called The First U.S. Visit. But the doc add a lot of interviews with Paul and Ringo, as well as journalists, musicians (Smokey Robinson) and some of the original Beatles fans captured on film at that time. 

Will was a bit grouchy -- he'd seen a lot of this footage in an old VHS tape called The Beatles First U.S. Visit and wasn't into the talking heads interview. The other panelsts enjoyed it a lot! 

What do you think? Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts. 

 

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The panel guesses at what the next Beatles album might have been if they hadn't broken up. This is a common pasttime for Beatles fans, and is one of the most commonly suggested topics for an episode! Well, we try it!

We decided that the album could be 48 minutes maximum, and could include any song that was available for the Beatles to record by December 1970. 

Will, Joel, Katie and Brett each had very different approaches to their albums. Listen to hear our picks, and then join our Discord (info at screwitpodcasts.com) to discuss what you would have done.

NOTE: We forgot to consider "It Don't Come Easy" by Ringo Starr. We were thinking of it as a 1971 song but of course it was recorded in 1970 and should have been in consideration. I'm sure there's others but this is a big enough oversight that we wanted to flag it here.

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Joel: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6rBVnGnl4XIPCjhjlItCd6?si=ef20f0fb4b0444d5   Brett: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5aUUsGDpqQyUCTBzEciJNQ?si=08dc61daea214c28   Katie: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6d0Pf9Mjf7y97rs8wt2BKL?si=cc7a557f509b4ef4   Will: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1v9OXDFHiH3NSIJpPrCbf5?si=d382dc3d7bb44c1d   Will (more conventional): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/52cNnJmRdmNo3Bj4oYNhpI?si=1fad739432134267

The panel had never seen this 1972 concert film of George Harrison's seminal fundraising concert. We watched and it and, of course, loved it.

The Concert for Bangladesh was the first celebrity concert fundraiser, at least in the rock and roll space, and it's a great one. You've got incredible musicians on stage: George, Ringo, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Badfinger and more. You've got George doing live versions of While My Guitar Gently Weeps (trading solos with Clapton), Something and Here Comes the Sun. You've got Ringo doing "It Don't Come Easy" to raucous applause. Even the disorganized moments (so many guitars? George forgetting lyrics to Something?) and the notable absecnes (no Paul, no John) do not take away from the overall joy of this terrific concert.

We get into it!

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This is a short except from a bonus episode available in our subscriber feed. We discuss the FILM "One Hand Clapping!" To subscribe go to screwitpodcasts.com.

Here is the description from our bonus ep:

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The panel discusses the recently re-released version of One Hand Clapping, the documentary! it's footage of Wings in the studio, originally filmed for the BBC. Now, it's a precious time capsule of young Paul McCartney executing the beginnings of his post-Beatles catalog.

We also get into: the director's intereste choices of extreme close ups, Geoff Britton's karate gis, whether or not the conductor of the orchestra looks like Geraldo Rivera, how cool Linda looks, and lots of other stuff! 

The panels takes a look at what essentially is a live Paul McCartney solo album: One Hand Clapping. Done as part of a television special for the BBC in the 1970s, this album are some songs Paul recorded with a lineup of Wings shortly after he'd (they'd?) done their amazing album Band on the Run.

Although passed around as a bootleg for years, a well mixed and professionally mastered version was released this past June with some extra tracks.

We got a lot of live, loose, energetic Paul McCartney. Some of the versions of songs here, like Live and Let Die, surpass the studio versions. Some are just as good (Jet). And the ones that don't (Band on the Run) are still so fun to hear. Paul's confidence and joy come through in every track. There's also several unfinished songs that end up on future Paul projects (like I'll Give You A Ring).

We also listen to the "Backyard Sessions" which is a recording of an impromptu solo acoustic performance Paul did on lunch while the main album was being recorded. No lunch for the recoring engineer when Paul is around!

We love it! 

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We had planned on doing a "watch along" of Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984 Paul McCartney film), which we did. But then the next day we were texting so much about it, and we soon all realized we watned to record ANOTHER WHOLE EPISODE ON IT.

So this episode is that: a follow-up to our viewing of Broad Street.  A one hour follow up. Maybe you only want to hear this discussion. Maybe you only want to watch the film along with us. Maybe you will do nothing but consume media about the film "Give My Regard To Broad Street" for the rest of your life!

The movie is truly interesting. Not so much the movie itself, but what it could have been. And what Paul's motivations might have been for doing it. There's lots of good ideas in it, and also lots of things that just don't work. As you can hear, we really enjoyed watching the film and talking about it.

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The panel does a "watchalong" of the 1984 Paul McCartney film "Give My Regards To Broad Street." 

We are watching a version that is, as of this podcast release,  on YouTube. "Give My Regards to Broad Street Full Movie Full HD." We start watching at 12:03. 

This movie is a fictional day in the life (no pun) of Paul McCartney. There's also a plot in which a friend seems to have stolen the masters of an upcoming album, and Paul needs to find these masters and determine if his friend actually betrayed him. Along the way, there's several performances of Beatles tracks and McCartney solo tracks, including the lovely new song "No More Lonely Nights." Ringo makes an appearence, as does George Martin, and Linda and Jeff Porcaro (drummer from Toto) and John Paul Jones (bass player from Led Zeppelin) and... it's wild!

This movie is basically not well-regarded. It was a flop commercially and critically. But there's really interesting sequences. And as Beatles fans, it's interesting to try and guess why it appealed to Paul to do.

We were so fascinated by it that we got together the NEXT DAY and recorded another whole episode discussing it! That episode will appear next in this podcast feed, probably tomorrow.

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Okay we go a bit crazy and spend over 2 hours talking about the new release of John Lennon's 1973 solo album Mind Games.

But it's understandable! First we had to talk about Mind Games in general -- how he and Yoko broke up as he started recording, the incredible session band (assembled by May Pang -- who became his girlfriend, as 'assigned' by Yoko), how John's previous lackluster album Some Time in New York City pressured him to go "back to basics", etc.

Then we had to talk about all the mixes included in this release! We've got the Ultimate mix (bringing John's voice out), the minimal Elements and Elemental mix, the Raw Studio mix that lets you hear the band's take with minimal studio effects, and the Evolution mix that includes snippets of demos and rehearsals.

And THEN we go song-by-song. 

If you just want to hear us go track by track, that starts at about 58 minutes.

Okay! Get your friendship meters calibrated, pledge your loyalty to Nutopia and buckle up for a deep dive into the underrated Lennon album Mind Games.

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Our special guest this episode is Eric D. Johnson of the incredible band Fruit Bats. In addition to being an accomplished singer, songwriter and guitarist, Eric is a massive Beatles fan. He joins us to discuss a fascinating topic: the Beatles in the 1980s.

When you're done listening to this episode, buy the Fruit Bats latest album "A River Running to Your Heart" or get their new live album "Starry-eyed, in Stereo."

(And check out the video to "Sick of this Feeling" featuring your co-host Will Hines.)

Okay, the 1980s. Be warned: opinions ahead.

This is a strange and fascinating time for the Beatles and their music. Of course, it begins with the tragic murder of John. We hear the surviving Beatles each deal with that in their music in different ways. There's also the challenge of them reaching middle age, trying to adapt their sound to the MTV generation. There's also the lawsuits, which prevent Paul from joining the others as they get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame.

Those are some of the lowlights. But there's also immense creativity. While John gets turned into a saint in the media, Paul experiments (McCartney II, Tug of War, Press to Play, etc) more than ever. George too seems to break free of his Beatledom first with a hit album (Cloud 9) and then by forming his own super group, The Travelling Wilburys. Though John never got to enjoy this time, the fans get two more Lennon albums: the underrated Double Fantasy and the excellent Milk and Honey. 

There's a lot. We discuss.

I fully admit we give Ringo short shrift on this discussion. Though we do take a quick journey into the (appropriately) insane song "Drumming is My Madness." We'll make it up to you, Ringo!

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Next month: More discussion that we expected about Paul's 1984 movie "Give My Regards To Broad Street."

Beatlesque songs. Or is it Beatles-esque? We say it both ways in our traditional not-quite-sure-we're-right style!

But the point is we bring songs to the table that have reminded us of Beatles songs. There are so many ways this can happen! Sometimes it's the harmonies, sometimes the arrangement, other times the quality of the vocal. Sometimes it's something even more subtle.

This is not by any means a definitive or iconic list. This represents a thing all Beatles fans go through, which is hearing a song and going "oh man, this feels like The Beatles."

Some of the songs / artists discussed:

• Zuder Zee

• Adrian Belew - Men In Helicopters v4

• Squeeze - Up The Junction

• Prince - Around The World In A Day period

• Elton John - Yellow Brick Road

• The Knickerbockers - Lies

• Michael Rault - I’ll Be There

• The Nerves - When You Find Out

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Next month on June 15: We talk 1980s Beatles with guest Eric Johnson of Fruit Bats!